Isle of Wight Rural Fund

Overview

The Isle of Wight Rural Fund was a competitive fund managed by Natural Enterprise on behalf of the Solent Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP), which sought to support the Isle of Wight rural economy.

The Fund awarded grants to rural SMEs with the potential for economic growth, leveraging in private sector investment and creating or protecting jobs.

Grants were available for capital expenditure between £2,500 and £50,000 and needed to be matched with private funds of equal or greater amounts. All projects needed to create or safeguard jobs and to demonstrate how they would benefit the Island’s rural economy.

Members of the Local Action Group (LAG) held panel meetings throughout the programme, to decide which projects to support. The LAG had representatives from: the Country Land & Business Association, IW Council, Natural Enterprise, Community Action Isle of Wight, IW Chamber, National Farmers’ Union and Solent LEP, as well as an independent chair.

As part of the Isle of Wight Rural Fund the Isle of Wight Rural Business Resilience Fund was launched in March 2020 in response to the Coronavirus outbreak. It sought to provide small grants with an immediate decision to SMEs to help them develop alternative ways of working, delivering products and services to the marketplace, marketing expenditure and other resilience initiatives in order to continue trading through the pandemic. Grants of up to £2,500 came from the main IW Rural Fund and needed to be matched with private funds of equal or greater amounts.

Since its launch in February 2016, the Fund has:

Supported 99 projects.
Provided grants totalling over £1.3 million.
Stimulated a total investment of over £3.5 million.
Supported the creation and safeguarding of 406 jobs on the Island.

Of these projects, 65 were part of the main IW Rural Fund and 34 from the IW Rural Business Resilience Fund.

Isle of Wight Rural Fund

The IW Local Development Strategy (LDS) identified the following key sectors as being important:

Agriculture/Horticultural - to increase the economic value of farming, horticulture and land management, encouraging and supporting innovation, enterprise and new entrants.
Forestry - to support the continued development of the woodland sector to deliver increased returns and employment opportunities.
Rural Businesses - to support the continued diversification of the rural business economy to deliver quality jobs in rural communities.
Local Food - to increase the economic value of local food and its role in promoting local food producers and the Island as a quality destination.
Rural Tourism - to enhance and extend the Island’s rural/countryside tourism offer by supporting innovation and the quality of provision to increase the economic contribution of the sector.

Within the LDS strategy, there were a number of overarching principles which were adopted:

promote and support innovation and enterprise – new services, new products, new ways of working and new partnerships.
support business and social enterprise start-ups, young businesses and young entrepreneurs.
ensure a focus on the market – locally, nationally and internationally.
add value and lift quality standards – delivering greater economic return.
maintain high environmental and animal welfare standards.
attribute the need for public funding (high up-front costs, absence of collaboration, lack of alternative funding) and the impact of stimulating and enhancing private sector investment.
align to existing strategies and policies to ensure value for money is delivered and public sector investment is maximised. Promote greater investment in people and skills - improving fulltime job opportunities and wage rates.
support capital investment in key infrastructure projects.

The 65 projects that were supported by the main IW Rural Fund fell into the key sectors below:

Within Agriculture & Horticulture the fund supported projects such as installing solar panels to improve the business’ energy efficiency and carbon footprint and installing temperature control systems and refrigeration units to maintain quality & accurate monitoring.

In the Forestry sector, the Fund supported a project to purchase specialist equipment to support the extraction & transportation of larger logs for processing.

The Rural Business projects were incredibly diverse, including the setting up a mobile veterinary service, extension of business premises to allow for diversification of services, setting up a cycle hire scheme and the expansion and refit of a community gym.

Local Food projects ranged from those to increase productivity through larger & newer equipment, to the development of a new distillery, with a new commercial maturation and cutting facility for meat and the provision of a new self-service milk vending machine to name but a few in between.

Rural Tourism projects included the creation of unique holiday accommodation, the extension of catering facilities to broaden the tourism offering and the purchase of AV equipment to allow for the production of an IW promotional tool.

Isle of Wight Rural Business Resilience Fund

This fund was launched in March 2020 in response to the Coronavirus outbreak. It sought to provide grants to SMEs to help them develop alternative ways of working, delivering products and services to the marketplace, marketing expenditure and other resilience initiatives in order to continue trading through the pandemic.

The grants were available for capital expenditure up to £2,500 and needed to be matched with private funds of equal or greater amounts. All projects needed to safeguard jobs and to demonstrate how they would benefit the Island’s rural economy.

The fund was aimed primarily at the food and drink sector but did not preclude other rural businesses, providing they could demonstrate a benefit to the Island’s rural areas.

The key priorities for the Fund were to support:
developing alternative ways of working - IT, new equipment etc.
finding alternative ways of delivering products and services to the marketplace.
extending marketing / communication messages.
other resilience measures
Wight Vets received a grant from the Rural Fund to build a fully fitted, electric, animal ambulance to use for consultations and minor procedures all around the Island. The finished project created three full-time equivalent jobs and provides a much-needed service to the Island’s rural community.

A.E Brown (Farms) received a grant from the Rural Fund to create a food hall in their new premises, to sit alongside a butchery/meat processing unit and café. The completed project created and safeguarded seven full time equivalent jobs and provides a fantastic showcase of Island food and drink, supporting Isle of Wight growers and producers.

West Wight Sports & Community Centre received a grant from the Rural Fund to expand and refit their gym in order to encourage a greater footfall and revenue. The completed project created and safeguarded 25 full time equivalent jobs as well as supporting the community and economy of the West Wight.

The 34 projects that were supported by the IW Rural Business Resilience Fund fell into the sectors below:

Within the Food & Drink projects, a number of businesses developed on online presence and takeaway service, with others developing apps for on-premises use and marketing campaigns to develop brand awareness & drive sales through social media channels.

The Rural Tourism sector projects included the set-up of e-commerce sites, purchase of equipment to mitigate against the risk of Covid-19 transmission and an art exhibition moved online.

Rural Business projects ranged from the purchase of IT equipment enabling remote working, to the set-up of virtual sessions at a community learning centre which supported those unable to leave their homes in the pandemic.

Some Projects Supported by The Fund

PJ & M Bradley received a grant from the Rural Fund in order to install a milk vending machine at their farm. The finished project created and safeguarded two full time equivalent jobs and enabled members of the public to buy farm fresh, pasteurized milk at their convenience, which in turn supports dairy farming on the Isle of Wight.

Wight Vets received a grant from the Rural Fund to build a fully fitted, electric, animal ambulance to use for consultations and minor procedures all around the Island. The finished project created three full-time equivalent jobs and provides a much-needed service to the Island’s rural community.

A.E Brown (Farms) received a grant from the Rural Fund to create a food hall in their new premises, to sit alongside a butchery/meat processing unit and café. The completed project created and safeguarded seven full time equivalent jobs and provides a fantastic showcase of Island food and drink, supporting Isle of Wight growers and producers.

West Wight Sports & Community Centre received a grant from the Rural Fund to expand and refit their gym in order to encourage a greater footfall and revenue. The completed project created and safeguarded 25 full time equivalent jobs as well as supporting the community and economy of the West Wight.