Different UK regions continue to benefit from the Government’s Shared Prosperity Fund. If you are looking at investment planning in Oswestry and wider Shropshire, a new grant scheme has secured a funding pot of £30,000 to grow Shrewsbury’s town centre businesses.
Shrewsbury Business Improvement District (BID), a non-profit business partnership, said that upon satisfying eligibility criteria, successful applicants would be awarded between £1,000 and £5,000 from its Future Shrewsbury grant scheme.
Some of the project funding is being provided by the Government’s Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF), a £2.6 billion national scheme aimed at increasing productivity and regional development around the UK.
The remainder comes from the Department of Education’s ‘Multiply’ funding programme. The overall Shropshire allocation was set at £12,255,281 for the period October 2022 to April 2025, comprising £10,845,217 via the UKSPF and a further £1,410,064 through ‘Multiply’ funding.
The grant scheme funding is earmarked for revenue costs, not capital projects, but can be directed towards staff recruitment or renting office or retail space. The BID said other instances of how the money could be spent include staff training and work placements, improvements to shop fronts and work-related events in the town centre.
The Executive Director of Shrewsbury BID, Seb Slater, said that he and his team were ‘delighted’ to have the opportunity to support financial support for local businesses through the scheme. Interested organisations were urged to apply earlier this month, and successful candidates will need to spend the fully funded money by March next year.
