Businesses awarded grants to help them grow

Harborough District Council launched the grants in January to help local businesses to develop and prosper. Eligible businesses were invited to apply for a grant of up to £2,000 and applications were open to any business in the Harborough district.

The council’s grant funding of £58k from the UKSPF has supported 43 businesses with projects that total £183k.

Grant categories followed the same themes as those in the successful Additional Restrictions Grants (ARG) administered by the council in 2021: Go Green; Go Digital and Go Innovate.

10 grants have been awarded in the Go Green category. These include sustainable packaging projects, a business switching from a diesel generator to solar technology, E-bikes to help a mobile business travel around and electric radiators powered through solar electricity generation.

18 grants have been awarded in the Go Digital category. Amongst these, a transport company has been awarded a grant towards a digital cloud-based system to support quotations, booking and invoicing facility and track driver and vehicle movement, and several companies will benefit from improvements to their company websites thanks to a grant.

15 grants have been awarded in the Go Innovate category. Among those awarded grants in this category, businesses will benefit from specialist equipment including an industrial sewing machine, a potter’s wheel and a specialist printer.

Cllr Phil King, Leader of Harborough District Council, said: “I’m delighted that the council has been able to support over 40 local businesses from its allocation of UKSPF government funding. The council has been very responsive to the needs of local businesses and has been able to allocate this funding within a very short timescale. This is yet another way that the council is supporting the development and future growth of the local economy.”

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 https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/uk-shared-prosperity-fund-prospectus