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Who can apply

Community organisations and businesses located in an eligible rural area with legal status in the UK as listed on this page can apply for the grant.

REPF business grants will fund capital projects for micro-, small- and medium-sized businesses.  Your business must have fewer than 250 employees and a turnover equal to or less than £50m or a balance sheet equal to or less than £43m (including any partnership your business is a part of).

Your legal status must be one of the following:

  • partnership
  • private limited company
  • company limited by guarantee
  • unlimited company
  • community interest company
  • sole trader registered with HMRC
  • public limited company
  • limited liability partnership
  • co-operative society

For REPF community grants, your community group or organisation must be one of the following:

  • charitable incorporated organisation (CIO)
  • charitable trust
  • charitable community benefit society
  • company limited by guarantee (CLG)
  • community benefit society (CBS)
  • town or parish council 
  • cooperative society 
  • community interest company (CIC)

Additionally, your business/organisation must be below Subsidy Control limits (you will be required to confirm this as part of the application process). 

Other eligibility requirements are given in the application form. 

Eligible rural areas

Eligible areas of North Somerset for the purposes of REPF have been determined by DEFRA (the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs). These are broadly classed as:

  • towns, villages and hamlets with populations below 10,000 and the wider countryside
  • market or 'hub towns' with populations of up to 30,000 that serve their surrounding rural areas as centres of employment and in providing services

Applications can be made by businesses and community groups located in eligible rural areas. This includes (but is not limited to) farmers including those looking to diversify, growers and foresters.

Your trading address must be in an eligible part of North Somerset and your project must be too.  You can check if your trading address and project is in an eligible area using our map. 

Who can't apply

You are not able to apply if you are:

  • individuals who are not running a registered business or part of a constituted community organisation
  • those who are already in receipt of DEFRA funding from the Farming in Protected Landscapes programme, The Farming Investment Fund or The Platinum Jubilee Village Halls Fund
  • businesses and community groups who are not trading or based in an eligible part of rural North Somerset
  • those who cannot meet the eligibility requirements within the application form

You can view our guidance notes for the REPF grant programme in North Somerset. Please refer to it for full information about the opportunities available.