Each district in Greater Lincolnshire (with the exception of Lincoln) has an allocation of grant funding which has to be delivered by March 2025 under the Rural England Prosperity Fund (REPF).

The REPF was a £110m top-up to the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) specifically targeting rural businesses and communities with small grants for local projects.

As an example of the type of projects which can be funded, North Kesteven have recently highlighted a grant it gave to Cope Seeds & Grain near Sleaford to improve its service to farmers.

Gemma Clarke, at Cope Seeds & Grain said: "The Rural Business Grant has enabled our business to purchase a state-of-the-art grain testing machine. This allows us to conduct all grain testing in house rather than sending samples on to third party laboratories. This helps reduce the time getting results back to farmers, as well as reduce our carbon footprint."

The new equipment has improved its service to farmers, due to delivering quicker results, resulting in the ability to purchase and trade parcels of grain quicker. Cope Seeds & Grain is already seeing business growth thanks to new equipment purchased with help from the Rural Business Grant.

As funding is devolved to the district or unitary level, each Council has set their own priorities, but all follow the national framework.  Information on the UKSPF and REPF at district level is available at: