Application Process

The application process for local rural communities and businesses launches on 22nd May 2025.

An online briefing was held on Thursday 22nd May. The briefing explained some overall information on the Rural England Prosperity Fund along with the application process.

The closing date for applications is 5pm on Friday 20th June 2025.

Following the application deadline all applications will go through our internal evaluation and democratic decision-making process.

We expect decision-making to take place during June 2025. We will of course keep applicants informed and we may be in contact during this time for any minor clarifications to the information submitted to assist our evaluation process.

Once decisions to award funding have been made, we’ll meet with all successful applicants to finalise their project details and of course launch their projects at the earliest possible opportunity.

We envisage that the earliest start date for projects will be July 2025.

The Rural England Prosperity Fund application can be downloaded from the link below:

• Rural England Prosperity Fund - Application Form  (DOCX, 189KB)

Once the application form is complete, and you have collected any other supporting information, please email all documents to UKSPF@lancaster.gov.uk by 5pm, Friday 20th June 2025.

We will acknowledge all applications received.

The funding is entirely designated as ‘capital' funding, which means it can only be spent on ‘lasting assets such as buildings or equipment’.

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.

The funding must be used to deliver business or community projects (i.e. not domestic) within rural areas, defined as:

• towns, villages and hamlets with populations below 10,000 and the wider countryside
• market or ‘hub towns’ with populations of up to 30,000 that serve their surrounding rural areas as centres of employment and in providing services

Eligible areas can be found on Defra’s MAGIC interactive map by applying the REPF layer via the following link: https://magic.defra.gov.uk/

The Lancaster UKSPF Project Team can be contacted by emailing UKSPF@lancaster.gov.uk