The Government’s Rural England Prosperity Fund (REPF) is an England-wide £110 million capital fund from Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), designed to complement the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (USKPF) administered by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities. Initially delivered from 2023 to 2025, REPF provides a top-up for eligible authorities, such as Wealden District Council, that have already submitted an investment plan for UKSPF, helping to address the specific needs of rural areas.
In March 2025, DEFRA confirmed that REPF funding would be extended for a further year, enabling eligible councils to continue investing in local growth through 2025–2026.
This extended programme builds on the previous REPF delivery and remains integrated with the UKSPF. It continues to support the investment priorities of ‘communities and place’ and ‘supporting local business’, with a strong focus on tackling the unique challenges faced by rural communities.
Wealden Rural Business Grants Programme 2025-2026
The grants programme is now fully subscribed.
The Rural Business Grants Programme has been extended for a further year. Rural businesses across Rother and Wealden can once again apply for funding through the Rother and Wealden Rural Business Grants Programme, which has relaunched with £380,000 in additional support from the Rural England Prosperity Fund (REPF).
This second round of funding offers capital grants of up to £35,000, covering up to 50% of eligible project costs, to help rural SMEs grow, diversify, and innovate.
The grant is designed to fund capital projects that will strengthen the rural economy. Examples of eligible expenditure include:
• Purchasing new machinery, tools or production equipment
• Farm diversification projects (excluding agricultural production)
• Refurbishing or extending business premises
• Creating or expanding rural tourism and leisure services
• Investing in green technologies or more sustainable operations
• Acquiring commercial vehicles linked to rural service delivery
This is a limited fund operating on a first come, first served basis. Once the pot is gone, it’s gone. All applications must be submitted by September 2025, and all projects must be completed and claimed by March 2026.
The scheme is being delivered by East Sussex County Council on behalf of the Council, for full details of project eligibility please view the Rural Business Grants Programme guidance and eligibility and email your interest and contact details to ruralbusinessgrants@eastsussex.gov.uk
This funding has enabled Wealden District Council to deliver the following projects to date:
Wealden Rural Business Grants Programme 2023-2025
The Wealden Rural Business Grants Programme provided capital grants to rural businesses of between £2,500 to £35,000 which were matched by the businesses. Eligible projects included farm diversification outside of agriculture, property adaptions, creation and expansion of rural leisure and tourism businesses, equipment, machinery and commercial vehicles. Grants of over £15,000 required the creation of jobs and all applications needed to demonstrate business growth and increased productivity.
The programme has supported 30 businesses with grants totalling £548,932 delivering total project costs of over £1million within the district. 42 Full time equivalent jobs have been created and 20 jobs safeguarded. 19 businesses have introduced a new technology or process into their operations and a further 19 have delivered projects supporting net zero/low carbon outputs.
Wealden Wine Trail
To support the local tourism sector, particularly local vineyards, the Council launched the Explore Wealden Wine Trail.
The project included new digital content on the Explore Wealden website, on-site information boards at 12 participating vineyards, and numbered trail discs to guide visitors along the route.
For more information on the trail, go to the Explore Wealden Wine Trail webpage.
EV Charging
The Council allocated £150,000 of REPF funding to support the delivery of four EV charging points on Council owned land, which was match funded by Connected Kerb with £100,000.
50KW dual fast chargers were installed in the following locations: Mill Road in Heathfield, Sea Road in Pevensey, The Dene in Alfriston and Croft Road in Crowborough.
Wealden Community Infrastructure and Spaces Grants Programme 2024-2025
Wealden District Council’s Infrastructure and Community Spaces Grants programme allocated £42,878.86 towards twelve projects to help improve local rural green spaces and community infrastructure.
The grants programme was launched in May 2024 and projects were completed by March 2025.
For further information on projects funded through this programme, go to REPF Wealden Community Spaces Projects webpage.
Wealden Community Spaces Grants Programme Round One
Wealden District Council’s Community Spaces Grants programme has allocated £15,850.76 towards seven projects to help improve local rural green spaces.
The grants programme was launched on Friday 29 September 2023 and projects were completed by June 2024.
For further information on projects funded through this programme, go to REPF Wealden Community Spaces Projects webpage.
