South Norfolk Small Rural Business Builder Capital Grant

We have been allocated funding for 2025/26 to help support some capital expenditure projects for businesses in areas of the district defined as rural by Department for Environment, Food and of Rural Affairs (DEFRA). The grant funding is provided by DEFRA under the Rural England Prosperity Fund.

South Norfolk Council are directing that funding to help support businesses with capital investment in micro and small enterprises in rural areas. By capital we mean spending on lasting assets such as building or equipment. The Small Rural Business Builder Capital Grant scheme aims to encourage and support capital investment projects (costing between £2,000 and £10,000) being made by businesses within the district by providing part funding towards the proposed capital expenditure, up to a maximum grant award of £5,000.

Which themes should a business develop a future expression of interest for funding support

We will consider supporting capital expenditure projects that will deliver one or more of the following:

1. additionality in productivity in the business, or in the efficient use of resources (by productivity we mean the rate of productivity in your business operations, not just achieving greater levels of production capacity)
2. additionality in diversifying into new income streams (this is available to farm businesses, as well as other businesses)
3. additionality in the carbon reduction of the business, or other positive environmental impacts
4. additionality in the growth or development of the business (this might for example be expenditure that is anticipated to lead to increasing turnover, jobs, customer numbers etc)

By additionality we mean “the positive impact or outcome that would not have otherwise occurred without that capital investment”.

I’m interested in submitting an expression of interest, what do I need to know?

We would encourage businesses to develop details of a project which they might want to seek support towards. In doing so we hope the following further information (which forms part of our terms and conditions) will give an understanding of how we’re administering the scheme:

1. Businesses will be invited to submit an expression of interest for funding support via a webform. Through this process we will collect basic information about the business and high-level details of the capital project expenditure.
2. There are a great many South Norfolk businesses who have not yet had support from us from this funding source so we will only be considering expressions of interest from those businesses who have not previously been paid a Rural Business Builder Capital Grant or Small Rural Business Builder Capital Grant to date, or who do not have a live case approved for payment.
3. A case officer will be assigned to visit each business to build the business case for your project to be considered for funding. A request for funding will only be deemed to be complete when in our view all information has been gathered to a standard that makes a robust and compelling case for a decision on whether to support.
4. Grants will pay towards the approved cost of the capital investment being made by the business up to a maximum amount of £5,000 per business in the South Norfolk Council area (subject also to point 11 below).
5. Grants will be paid only in cases where we have approved that expenditure in advance in writing, and not for expenditure already made or for items bought prior to such approval. We pay retrospectively on production of receipts for the relevant purchases – showing proof of payment for items of expenditure.
6. We will pay the costs including any VAT, except where the business is VAT registered, in which case, we will pay costs excluding any VAT.
7. Under the requirements of our funding provider you will need to provide three quotes for any individual expenditure item of £2,500 or more. This is to demonstrate value for money. Our case officer will collect this evidence from you at a later stage and only once collected will the case be able to go forward for approval.
8. Where the capital project will require planning consent, the case will only go forward for a decision on approval of grant funding where the applicant has already made a planning application (either full application or paid pre-application).
9. Once the case officer has visited and received all the supporting information we require we aim to get you a decision on grant funding within two weeks.
10. If Rural Business Builder Capital Grant support has already been approved/provided to a business, given the limited extent of the funding available, we will not be able to accept a further expression of interest application from a business over the course of this grant scheme being in operation (that includes previous years from July 2023).
11. Where businesses (enterprises) are linked we will not be able to consider applications in respect of a business that is linked to another business already supported under the South Norfolk Rural Business Builder Capital Grant or Small Rural Business Builder Capital Grant scheme. By linked we mean where in our view one or more of the following links exists: a) There is a director in common between both an enterprise that has already received support and one which is seeking support and/or b) One enterprise holds a controlling interest in the other, or is subject to a controlling interest of another enterprise that has already been supported.
12. Where a business operates from the same property at which the business proprietor(s) reside we will not grant support capital works that in our view enhance the personal asset of a business proprietor.
13. This is a discretionary grant scheme and as such the final decision whether or not to make a grant award will be at the discretion of the Council.
14. Progress on your project will be monitored by the Business Builder team throughout – and possibly beyond - the period of its delivery. We reserve the right to visit any grant recipient to ensure the grant has been used for the purpose stated in the Offer Email, inspect records to show that costs have been evidenced and make a formal assessment of the impact of the project. Grant recipients are obliged to cooperate with this process.

Other terms and conditions which affect who may apply and how the scheme operates

1. The scheme looks to support existing South Norfolk businesses located in the South Norfolk Council defined “rural” area (where they are in business premises or operating from a home address), or a business setting up in business premises in that area and works with us to provide a robust and compelling case for support.
2. The business must have its principal business base in the defined rural area of South Norfolk Council area. Please see a map of the South Norfolk area. Where the business address is within an area circled in red, or on the Norwich city side of a red line it will not qualify as being in a rural area. For the South Norfolk Council area the areas around the Norwich fringe that do NOT qualify are parts of Costessey/Old Costessey/New Costessey/Longwater. To access the Rural England Prosperity Fund boundaries, please click on 'map layers', 'Administrative Geographies', 'Other Administrative Boundaries' and 'Rural England Prosperity Fund'.
3. The Council has agreed with DEFRA that we will be providing Capital grants for small-scale investment in micro and small enterprises in rural areas. For this reason, we cannot accept applications from businesses that are too large to qualify as small and medium-sized enterprises (SME*). *To be able to qualify as an SME companies must meet at least 2 of the 3 following criteria in either their first financial year or two consecutive financial years: Turnover - not more than - £54M;  Balance Sheet - not more than - £18M;  Employees - not more than -250
4. The project will need to be deliverable within the timescales the funding is available. For any project to be supported from 2025/26 funding the project and all requirements of the scheme will need to be completed by 15 February 2026 (and ideally earlier) – including supply of all receipts, information on project outputs/outcomes, compliance with promoting visibility of funding source etc.
5. The support is open to businesses in all business sectors (including agricultural businesses looking to diversify into new income streams).
6. The business must operate on a full-time basis.
7. The support through this particular scheme will not generally be available to town or parish councils, charities or community interest companies. Exceptions may be made for charities or community interest companies where the organisation is employing staff.
8. We will not be able to support businesses with any expenditure already incurred before we decide that we can support the project and have communicated that approval to you in writing.
9. Only once approval in writing has been provided that a project will be supported will any funding be reserved for that project, until that point funding may run out. Funding will be reserved in the order that cases progress satisfactorily to approval, and not in date order of submission of expression of interest.
10. We will only consider funding capital projects of businesses that are fully complying with all regulatory services (including but not necessarily limited to: licensing, planning, environmental protection, food safety) and are not in arrears with payment required to be made to the council (for business rates, Council Tax – for a home based business, commercial waste collection, or commercial rent if a tenant of the Council). This means that for any existing business use of the premises you must have properly explored with the relevant service directly whether appropriate planning consents are in place, and whether the premises should be subject to business rates – if you have not done so we will make those enquiries prior to approval and it will slow down your case progressing which may mean that funds run out before we can reach approval stage.
11. Grant funds are limited and subject to approval and availability. There is no automatic eligibility so please don’t assume your request will necessarily result in a funding award.

Evidence and documentation for your application

You will need to provide various pieces of information to complete your expression of interest but those will be limited to:

1. a copy of the most recent year-end accounts or profit and loss statement. Where some time has elapsed since these were produced, we may come back to you to request more up-to-date figures.
2. proof of South Norfolk Council business address (for example business rates bill or tenancy agreement), or where trading from home address a Council Tax bill (and if you are not the bill payer a form of photographic ID will be required such as driving licence or passport).
3. An explanation of how the project will deliver additionality in your business, high level details of your capital expenditure project, the approximate cost and how you have arrived at that cost. If quotes are available please upload those, otherwise quotes for any single item costing £2,500 or more will need to be provided after the officer visit.
4. as part of your application process, you will be asked for your Companies House registration number and your VAT number, if VAT registered. Where there is not a limited company in place we will need to see evidence of your HMRC UTR number. Your expression of interest will not be able to be completed without one of these.

What are we likely to consider in evaluating the case for providing any funding support?

We are seeking expressions of interest as we are only going to be able to support a relatively small number of projects. We will be evaluating projects and in doing so the Council will:

1. Identify your business background, how long you have been trading and the business status or entity.
2. Assess the financial health of your business from bank statements, audited accounts and companies house data.
3. Evaluate your plans, expected outcomes and any market research you have undertaken.
4. Consider projected project timelines, establish need for planning consent, licensing, long lead times for equipment.
5. Be keen to support projects that create additional jobs.
6. Assess what additional benefits the project will deliver, such as increased turnover, reduced energy costs, better productivity.
7. Look for evidence of sustainability of the business model going forwards.
8. Assess the matched funding you have available and its source.

There is a competitive element to this process and we reserve the right to prioritise those applications which in our view have the greatest merit, with the best projected overall outcomes.