The BBPA has welcomed a Government announcement for a new £24 million Growth Programme which aims to benefit rural communities by unlocking the huge potential for growth in the countryside.
Brigid Simmonds, Chief Executive, comments:
“I welcome the Government’s £24 million funding available through Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) which will help rural communities to create and grow local businesses. We have around 8,000 pubs in rural areas, not to mention the big impact that barley, hop growing, malting, and a host of other industries have on the rural economy.
“We will continue a dialogue with Government on rural issues, as I am sure more can be done particularly for rural pubs; we would like to see reform of Rural Rate Relief, for example, which would help rural pubs to invest and grow their businesses.”
Applications for the grants are now officially open and are set to give businesses a real boost by supporting projects that can make a big difference to the rural economy.
Local priorities have been established across the country meaning that this funding will be directly targeted at initiatives that will bring the biggest benefit for those local areas.
Opportunities could include helping people to expand or set up or new businesses, developing new food processing facilities and promoting tourism.
Individual grants are worth upwards of £35,000 depending on the individual project and will be offered in nine Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs). A further two rounds of the growth programme are expected in August and September and the remaining LEP areas will be invited over the next few months to apply for grants to help them support their local rural communities.
Further information about applying for grants can be found here.
ENDS
For further information please contact:
David Wilson, Public Affairs Director: Tel (020) 7627 9151
Neil Williams, Head of Media: (020) 7627 9156
Notes to editors:
The British Beer & Pub Association is the leading body representing Britain’s brewers and pub companies. The Association is more than a century old and was originally founded as the Brewers’ Society in 1904. Our members account for some 90 per cent of beer brewed in Britain today, and own around 20,000 of the nation’s pubs.
Neil Williams
Head of Media
British Beer & Pub Association