Rural England Prosperity Fund - South East cash announced
Councils across our region allocated funding - here's what we know
Good news at last, the funding allocations are now available for the recently announced extension to the Rural England Prosperity Fund (REPF).
The fund has now been extended to March 2026 with an additional £33 million made available to support productivity in rural communities.
This year's fund equals just 30% of the original budget, but is welcomed all the same and has a fixed 12-month spending window between 1 April 2025 to the end of March 2026.
The REPF will continue to provide support for rural business and communities and is integrated into the UK Shared Prosperity Fund to support prosperity in places that need it most.
The CLA has lobbied extensively for this fund, which is more important than ever given the challenges our rural communities face.
Across the South East, we have seen some brilliant projects kickstarted by the fund, examples from across the region include micro dairies, viticulture infrastructure, tourism pods, educational facilities, brewery equipment, forestry and timber equipment, solar panels, stonemason equipment, mobile coffee shops, ceramics kilns, access improvements and EV chargers, just to name a few.
Be 'oven ready'
There has been varying success and differing approaches by authorities in the delivery of this fund, but CLA national and regional teams will continue to provide advice and support to ensure funds are accessible and available.
If you are thinking about a capital project in the next 12 months, it would be worth contacting your local authority to register interest and understand how they intend to allocate the funding.
Many authorities have opened small grants schemes for previous rounds and I would envisage a new round of application windows opening.
The rural fund can only be used to meet costs relating to activity that takes place between the 1 April 2025 and 31 March 2026 (inclusive), so the window is tight and projects will probably need to be relatively “oven ready” to be considered. The fund must be used on capital projects like lasting assets such as a building or equipment.
It provides capital funding 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.
Extra guidance
Additional guidance has been issued with this year’s allocation regarding agricultural businesses:
"The REPF must not be used to fund farming equipment or infrastructure or to diversify within agriculture. Applicants looking for funding for this type of activity must use existing Defra grant schemes.
"REPF can however provide funding (capital grants) for small scale investment in micro and small enterprises in rural areas where this is intended for farm business diversification projects outside of agriculture (for example, creating rural leisure and tourism facilities) as set out in the interventions table.”
The South East allocations and links to the relevant authority websites are detailed below, they are yet to be updated with the new allocations but many have business newsletters that members should register with in order to receive regular updates.
The spending window is short so don’t hesitate to get in touch with your local authority if you are interested.
How much funding is available in your area?
Local Authority
Year 3 (2025/26)
Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council
£131,842
South Oxfordshire District Council
£219,934
Vale of White Horse District Council
£158,381
£120,261
£261,477
£548,516
West Oxfordshire District Council
£214,829
£179,363
£178,026
Folkestone and Hythe District Council
£171,402
£161,890
£158,021
£150,866
£150,364
Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council
£134,211
Tunbridge Wells Borough Council
£133,057
£120,26
£251,402
£223,489
£215,508
£181,160
£162,005
£160,781
£154,200
East Hampshire District Council
£147,163
£120,261
£120,261
£120,261
