Rural Business Development Grant Scheme

Almost £600,000 in rural business development support has been offered to people across the district.

The Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) scheme is administered by Newry, Mourne and Down District Council and is open to businesses with less than 10 full-time equivalent employees.

The rural business development grant is designed to support the sustainability and growth of rural micro businesses, with figures released by the Council revealing it is becoming increasingly popular.

The scheme provides small capital grants of up to 50% of costs for capital items up to a maximum of £7,500.

In the latest funding round, £588,745 was offered to almost 130 applicants with the amount more than double that of the previous year.

Opened last September and following a series of workshops, the rural business support scheme attracted a total of 193 applications before the October 30 deadline.

Following completion of basic eligibility checks and full assessments, 129 letters of offer were issued up to the value of £588,745. In the previous funding round, 80 letters of offer issued to the value of £275,000.

DAERA Minister, Andrew Muir, recently visited BWE Equestrian Ltd, a rural micro-business in Ballyward, where he presented their Letter of Offer of £5,850 from the Rural Business Development Grant Scheme to enable the purchase of a ‘Shockwave’ linear soil decompaction machine which will assist with the development of their sand and grass arenas reducing risk of injury to horses and riders.

Minister Muir said: “I want to take this opportunity to highlight the significant investment of £6.17 million, from my Department’s Tackling Rural Poverty and Social Isolation Framework, to 1,310 rural businesses through the Rural Business Development Grant Scheme.”

He added: “It’s been great to meet the staff of BWE Equestrian Limited, a first-time applicant to the Scheme, and to hear how the grant will help their business’s sustainability and increase their potential for growth. This is exactly the type of support the scheme aims deliver across Northern Ireland.”

Newry, Mourne and Down Council Chairperson, Councillor Philip Campbell said, “it’s fantastic news that almost 130 small businesses across the district have secured this funding to allow them to expand.

“The grant scheme has proved very popular and the fact that micro businesses have collectively secured such a significant amount of money is especially welcome for the rural economy. These small businesses not only contribute to the overall district economy, but provide employment.”

Newry, Mourne and Down District Council staff will be working with the most recent successful applicants over the coming quarter to process their final claims ahead of the March submission deadline to DAERA.

Details of the letters of offer to successful applicants were confirmed at a meeting of the Council’s Economy, Regeneration and Tourism Committee on January 20.

Committee Chairperson, David Lee-Surginor said, “this investment will help strengthen the rural economy and improve livelihoods and help existing businesses.”