As part of the UK Shared Prosperity Fund, we've been allocated £1 million to be spent throughout the district.

Between now and 2025 the money will be used to help pay for projects that support the fund’s three priorities:

• Community and Place
• Supporting Local Business
• People and Skills.

Funding will go towards projects that focus on the council's priorities, including: 

• Inspiring pride in place
• Helping the district to become greener faster
• Supporting a vibrant local economy

Initiatives that promote health, well-being and opportunity for disadvantaged communities will also be a key focus of the funding.

The funding is spread over three years, with a small percentage allocated in the first year (2022-23) and the majority of the funding (over 80%) allocated to year three (2024-25).

We have already undertaken consultation with a range of partners and stakeholders to start determining which projects and activities to fund, and this will continue over the duration of the fund.

The UK Shared Prosperity Fund is a central pillar of the UK government’s Levelling Up agenda and provides £2.6 billion of funding for local investment by March 2025. The Fund aims to improve pride in place and increase life chances across the UK investing in communities and place, supporting local business, and people and skills. For more information, visit the UKSPF Prospectus.

In addition to the UK Shared Prosperity Fund, Winchester City Council is announcing four grant funding calls in its rural areas under the Rural England Prosperity Fund. The capital grant scheme will support capital projects for small businesses and community infrastructure, to help to improve productivity and strengthen the rural economy and rural communities. There is a total of £745,000 allocation to the Winchester District over two years, with the majority falling in the second year of the project.

 

2023/24	£186,274
2024/25	£558,822
Total	£745,09

Applications for the 24/25 financial year must be received by 5th January 2024 and early applications are strongly encouraged. Please read the Application Criteria and Guidelines ^{(pdf, 678kb)} in its entirety before completing your application. Start your application here. Please note that the grants are subject to the release of funding by central government in April 2024.

For any specific queries, contact prosperity@winchester.gov.uk.

 

If you would like a preliminary discussion to determine whether your project would be eligible, please contact prosperity@winchester.gov.uk

Can you apply?

• Your project must be located in a Rural area of the Winchester District*
• Grants must be for a minimum of £15,000 and maximum of £40,000. In exceptional circumstances, we may consider higher grant amounts
• Businesses are required to match fund their project by 50%
• Projects cannot be funded by other DEFRA programmes
• Projects can span more than one priority – i.e micro-enterprise grants and Cultural Venue Grants.
• All project spend must be completed by March 2025.

What can REPF be invested into?

Local grants awarded using Rural England Prosperity Funding (REPF) will provide investment opportunities to:

Support new and existing rural businesses to develop new products and facilities that will be of wider benefit to the local economy. This includes farm businesses looking to diversify income streams.

Support new and improved community infrastructure, providing essential community services and assets for local people and businesses to benefit the local economy.

REPF funding will be for capital investment only to be spent on lasting assets such as buildings or equipment.

For further information on Rural England Prosperity Funding please follow this link: REPF Prospectus.

In the financial year 2024/25, we are looking for businesses and community groups working on projects that align with the below priorities.

Sustainable Growth Grants - ~£140,000

• Micro-enterprise grants
  • Creating jobs and boosting community cohesion
  • Increasing private sector investment in growth
• Circular economy grants
  • Supporting the setting up or enhancement of rural circular economy projects
• E11 - Net Zero Infrastructure
  • Provision of net zero infrastructure for rural communities and to support rural tourism
  • Community Hubs for Entrepreneurs
  • Funding for resilience infrastructure and nature-based solutions to protect the local community

Cultural Grants – ~£70,000

• E4 - Enhancing existing cultural, historic & heritage institutions offer
  • Improving visitor experience and accessibility of these assets. For example by: creating wheelchair accessible and step free access that goes beyond statutory requirements
  • Providing all terrain wheelchairs allowing access to new areas of sites
• E6 - Cultural Venue Grants
  • Maker spaces
  • Alterations in cultural venues
• E17 Development & promotion of visitor economy
  • Development of local visitor trails and infrastructure to support this
  • Development of local tourist attractions and local visitor experiences

Community Infrastructure Grants - ~ £90,000

• E9 - Volunteering and Social Action
  • Enabling people to develop volunteering and social action projects
• E15 - Digital connectivity for community facilities
  • Provision of gigabit capable digital infrastructure at rural hubs for community use – projects must align with Project Gigabit.
• E26 - Growing the local Social Economy
  • Creation of multifunctional rural business hubs providing shared workspace and networking opportunities for rural businesses
  • Establishment of rural community businesses / community owned shops
  • Purchase of equipment to showcase local food and drink products such as regional information display boards

Green and Blue Spaces - ~£50,000

• E3 - Enhancing rural green and blue infrastructure
  • Creating community gardens, green spaces, watercourses and embankments
  • Greening of streets and paths or incorporating natural features into wider public spaces

* For Rural Fund purposes, rural areas are:

• towns, villages and hamlets with populations below 10,000 and the wider countryside
• market or ‘hub towns’ with populations of up to 30,000 that serve their surrounding rural areas as centres of employment and in providing services.
• To see whether you are located within an eligible area for REPF, open the link to DEFRA’s Magic Map and follow the instructions below:
• DEFRA Map to show REPF eligible areas: Magic Map Application
• Under ‘Table of Contents’ select ‘Administrative Geographies’ then ‘Other Administrative Boundaries’ then select ‘Rural England Prosperity Fund’
• Search for the location by entering the postcode within the search bar (top left of page) or manually zoom in on a location
• You will find a toolbar of icons above the map. Select the ‘Identify’ icon and click on the location of your project on the map. A pop-up box will appear notifying you if the area is considered rural for the purposes of REPF
• The areas flagged outside Winchester Town centre are MoD site Worthy Down and areas of Whitely.