£33 million for Rural England Prosperity Fund

The government has announced up to £33 million will be directed to the Rural England Prosperity Fund (REPF).

The Fund is used to improve local infrastructure and essential services that benefit rural communities and help businesses in rural areas to expand.

Projects that will be eligible for funding from the REPF include, community gardens and greenspaces, kitchens in community hubs and improvements to premises used by local volunteering groups, and new footpaths and local visitor trails.

Funding could also be spent on the creation of rural business hubs providing shared workspace and networking opportunities for rural businesses and the development of new products, facilities or building conversions to help rural businesses diversify outside of agriculture.

Defra has also announced up to a further £5 million in funding to go towards the continuation of important services for rural communities. Some of this funding will go towards The Rural Community Assets Fund, which provides capital funding for the refurbishment and development of community-owned assets, such as village halls or community centres.

REPF allocations to individual local authorities will be made in line with the existing allocations methodology, with final confirmed allocations to be published in due course.