Funding for businesses in rural areas

If your business is in a rural area, or if you work closely with food producers, you could be eligible for funding from The Rural Development Programme for England.

There are three different types of funding depending on the kind of business activity you’re involved in and what stage your business is at - click the links below for further details. And just in case you were wondering, you don’t need to be running a farm to be eligible - any business that’s based in a rural postcode can apply.

As Yorkshire’s development agency, Yorkshire Forward is responsible for delivering the benefits of the Rural Development Programme for England (RDPE) in our region.

RDPE allocates money provided for rural development in England by the European Community (via EAFRD) and Defra. RDPE will run from 2007-2013 and enables Yorkshire Forward to invest £63m across our region (from a national budget of £3.9bn).
Under RDPE, Yorkshire Forward can offer grant investment through:

We also provide other programmes to support the development of rural services and skills, and the dissemination of information.

Contact

To discuss the Rural Enterprise Investment Programme (REIP) or Farm Resource Efficiency Programme (FREP) please contact:

Nick White

West Yorkshire Rural Business Facilitator
E-mail.  (Nick.White@Yorkshire-Forward.com)
Tel.  0113 394 9986 / Mobile 07896 809050

Chris Franklin

South Yorkshire & Humber Rural Business Facilitator
E-mail. (Chris.Franklin@Yorkshire-Forward.com)
Tel. 01709 766 474

Andy Pickard

North Yorkshire Rural Business Facilitator
E-mail. (Andy.Pickard@Yorkshire-Forward.com)
Tel. 0113 394 9841 / Mobile 07896 809070

To discuss the Rural Business Support Programme please contact Business Link Yorkshire on 08456 048048.

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Rural Enterprise Investment Programme (REIP)
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