Expansion East Kent

In October 2011, Kent County Council, with the support of the Sandwich Task Force and the East Kent Districts, was successful in their application to the Government’s Regional Growth Fund.

The approved RGF funding will provide – subject to contract - £40 million in Government money to deliver Expansion East Kent, a programme of direct grant support to businesses in Canterbury, Dover, Shepway and Thanet districts.

The application proposed that Expansion East Kent will operate three types of grant:

• Springboard grants of up to £25,000 for start-ups and small businesses with less than 10 employees
• Larger Grants for Investment and Growth, worth up to £2.5 million
• Business Critical Infrastructure Grants, to support the delivery of infrastructure projects which will benefit a number of businesses such as High Speed rail line enhancement on the Ashford – Ramsgate route.

All grants would:

• Be made against a specific project, which would be fully appraised before a grant is issued
• Require matching investment. Expansion East Kent will only pay for a proportion of total project costs. This proportion will vary from 50% for some grants to small businesses to 10% for large grants to major firms. A schedule of proposed grant rates is set out in Annex 1. Matching investment could come from a variety of sources, including firms’ own funds, bank loans and equity investment.
• Need to demonstrate job creation and good value. All project proposals will be assessed against clear criteria, which will include the number of jobs created or safeguarded, additionality, impact on existing businesses, the skills levels of jobs created, impact on productivity and risk.

When will businesses be able to apply?

Although Government has confirmed that we have an allocation of funding for the Regional Growth Fund programme, we still need to go through a process of due diligence before we are able to launch Expansion East Kent.

At present, we anticipate that the set up of the programme will take place in April 2012, with the grants becoming open to applicants in the spring.