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Funding opportunities
Accommodation upgrade grants | Innovation vouchers | Interest free energy efficiency loans
Grants for tourism accommodation businesses
Whether you are looking to start, grow or improve a business in rural Yorkshire, you could be eligible for funding from the Rural Development Programme for England.
Grants from £25,000 and equivalent to 50% of total project costs are available for accommodation meeting a set of criteria.
Find out more about the grants available and how to apply.
Innovation vouchers - up to £3,000 FREE business support available to Yorkshire & Humberside SMEs
Yorkshire Forward is funding a support programme aimed at SMEs (up to 250 full time equivalent employees), administered by Business Link Yorkshire, with specialist support provided by Yorkshire’s universities and other academic institutions, to help businesses grow and develop.
Companies, charities, social enterprises and sole traders are eligible to apply but not public sector.
Every month 50 companies are selected and awarded a voucher. A company may have one ‘active’ voucher at any point in time and no more than one active voucher per calendar year.
The funding can be used for a wide variety of purposes, for example
• Improving resource efficiency
• Sustainable supply chain and procurement options (local sourcing, reducing waste and promoting a range of more ethical and environmentally friendlier options)
• New or improved business model
• Service or product design and delivery (productivity, shoulder season products).
It cannot be used for:
• Achieving compliance with statutory regulations or legislation
• Sales and marketing activities
• Website design
• Advertising and promotion
• Attending a training course
For further information on what the support entails and how to apply, please contact
Catriona McLees, Sustainable Tourism Manager
cmclees@yorkshire.com or
0113 322 3521 or see
www.businesslink.gov.uk/yorkshire/innovation/
0% business loans available from Carbon Trust to cut energy bills
Unsecured, interest free business loans from £3,000 to £500,000 are now available to replace old, inefficient equipment with new, energy saving equivalents.
The tourism sector is fully eligible. Funding can be used for new energy efficient boilers, refrigeration, lighting or cooking equipment, and much more.
You don’t need to spend £3,000 on one single piece of equipment. Purchasing a few items that add up to the minimum £3,000 spend when combined will also be eligible.
The loans are also supported by a free energy efficiency assessment from the Carbon Trust, designed to help businesses work out the areas where they can achieve the greatest savings. The Carbon Trust calculate how much a business will save from making the investment in new equipment, so that they can make an informed investment choice based on realistic, projected savings.
In many cases, businesses taking one of these interest-free loans to update their equipment find the savings they make on energy bills exceed the cost of the loan repayments. This means they benefit from brand new equipment, increased efficiency and reduced running costs, all at no net expense to themselves.
For further information call the Carbon Trust direct on 0800 085 2005 or visit
www.carbontrust.co.uk/loans.