Small businesses in North Yorkshire set to benefit from £1 million in funding

Small and micro businesses, which make up 98 per cent of the county’s economy, can apply for the small business grant scheme, administered by North Yorkshire Council through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund.

The scheme is focussed on increasing business growth, productivity and resilience and grants of between £1,000 and £10,000 are available.

This is the second round of small business grants, following an incredibly successful first round of this programme in the last financial year which saw £750,000 awarded to businesses across the county.

Alex Brown, a videographer based in Selby, was awarded a grant of £4,300 to purchase new camera equipment including a drone to expand and upgrade his services.

Thanks to the new equipment, Mr Brown was able to secure two commissions from a German international TV news channel, a job he would not previously have been able to take as his old camera did not meet the broadcaster’s requirements.

Mr Brown said: “The fact I’ve got a better camera which is Netflix-approved means people will be getting a better product.

“I’ve had two jobs already that I simply wouldn’t have been able to do had I not had the funding, so that’s great.”

Micro businesses, with less than 10 employees, and small firms with less than 50 employees can also access free support beyond the grant through the business advisory teams at the council and the York and North Yorkshire Growth Hub.

North Yorkshire’s economy is heavily slanted towards smaller businesses and there are more than 32,700 micro, small and medium-sized enterprises alongside 90 large businesses in the county.

Council leader and the chair of the SPF Board in North Yorkshire, Cllr Carl Les, said: “We are delighted to open this grant scheme once again after seeing such a positive uptake for the first round.

“Hundreds of small businesses applied for funding and accessed support and we hope to work with even more this year – including sole traders, start-ups, home businesses and social enterprises as well as landlords and people looking to diversify their farm businesses and limited companies.

“Our ambition is to see a broad range of applications which seek to make long-lasting improvements to our small and medium businesses across the county.”

To aid businesses with their applications, the York and North Yorkshire Growth Hub, with its partners at Enterprise Cube, has organised two webinars on writing a business plan and a cash flow forecast which will take place on May 16 and 17.

The development manager at the York and North Yorkshire Federation of Small Businesses, Carolyn Frank, said: “This scheme has provided a practical way that the local authorities have been able to work together with us and other partners to unlock Government funding and get it directly to businesses in our area, to help them to innovate and grow.

“It is exciting to see the transformations taking place across so many small businesses thanks to the small business grants and other business support.”

The closing date for applications is Friday, July 12.

Find out more and access the grant scheme here: https://www.northyorks.gov.uk/uk-shared-prosperity-fund/capital-grants-small-businesses-and-enterprises

Further details of the webinars can be found here: https://www.ynygrowthhub.com/blog/news/webinars-launched-to-support-business-grant-applicants/