UK Shared Prosperity Fund

The Green Business Impact Programme supports local SMEs in their efforts to reduce their carbon footprint and embed sustainability into business operations and integrate climate change into decision making. This includes fully funded access to sustainability experts, to create a 5-year roadmap to help businesses reduce their carbon footprint, improve energy efficiency and cut utility bills.  Businesses will also have the opportunity to secure match funding capital grants of up to £5,000.

This is a jointly delivered project to support businesses to become greener within Cambridge City, South Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire districts. The scheme will be delivered by charity organisations Allia and PECT. 

The programme launched in September and will run until March 2025.

BIPC Jumpstart is a support programme and grants scheme for start-up businesses. It is being delivered by the Business & IP Centre Cambridgeshire and Peterborough on our behalf.

BIPC Jumpstart includes:

• Support programme: expert workshops and one-to-ones to help you gain invaluable insights and guidance from experienced industry professionals. BIPC Jumpstart connects entrepreneurs with a network of subject matter experts who can offer personalised advice to help new businesses start their business journey
• Access to resources: these will help entrepreneurs research their market, identify opportunities and make well-informed decisions when developing business plans. We want to equip new businesses with the tools they need to thrive in today's competitive landscape

• BIPC Jumpstart Grant: Grant applications opened in September 2023, and close on Dec 1 2023. Grants of up to £10,000 have been made available for application for eligible entrepreneurs.

The programme will run from September 2023 to March 2025.

Get Set and Grow

Get Set and Grow is a practical, result driven programme, delivered by BIPC to help East Cambridgeshire, Huntingdonshire and South Cambridgeshire based businesses grow. It provides a mix of workshops and one to ones to maximise the impact and learning lessons.

The key themes addressed in the programme will focus on:

• fundamental principles to help your business to innovate and scale
• how to refine business models
• monetising assets
• diversifying products or service offerings to reach new audiences

The programme will run 6 times up until December 2024. By December 2024 120 businesses will have been supported with their growth aspirations.

For more information including eligibility criteria and terms and conditions visit the BIPC website.

UKSPF funds have been allocated to help deliver some of the community infrastructure needed to support a thriving community in the new housing development of our biggest and newest community in Northstowe. Phased delivery of this infrastructure will ensure appropriate spaces are available as the population expands, with some of the funds going towards the temporary community building, Sports Pavilion and the permanent community building.

This project involves detailed work with communities, undertaken with support from professional landscape architects, to bring forward ambitious improvements at selected locations across South Cambridgeshire. It involves users in the design process, with a view to securing and/or improving community gardens and greenspaces.

The funding will be used to appoint a landscape architecture consultancy to assist communities in developing their own plans, and subsequently capital funding will be made available to communities, to bring in their own contractors and/or use voluntary efforts with materials purchased through a grant process to make the on-the-ground improvements, assessed against the plans developed.

This project will run from October 2023 to March 2025.

A grants scheme will be open for parish councils, community groups and local businesses to apply for to help support the improvement of the local high street. This can be funding for improvements to the vicinity of the highstreets such as repainting of rails, improvements that improve the appearance of the area such as hanging baskets, flowerbeds, planters, street cleaning, signage, or street art and sculpture.

The aim of this project is to support local small businesses who will benefit from the improved high street spaces, which will attract shoppers and communities and increase footfall and trade for those businesses. Green spaces, community centres and similar spaces located near the high street should also benefit to bring about improved community health and wellbeing, and pride in place will also be improved within the local community.

Another strand of this project will be working with Cambridgeshire Constabulary as part of our Community Safety Partnership, as an intervention to prevent the incidences of ATM robberies which are frequent in South Cambridgeshire. Funding will be used to purchase and install anti-ram raid planters, bollards or similar interventions.  Businesses that are impacted by ATM theft should see a decrease in attempts of theft and damage to their premises. This will also increase community confidence by providing a safer environment.

The scheme will be open from April 2024 to March 2025.

We will deliver a grant scheme to support in assisting new businesses get off the ground, or help those with a growth plan leading to the creation of jobs, via the funding application process.

This scheme is for businesses who:

• are looking to set up a new business
• are seeking support at pre-start up level to ensure a viable business proposition
• are looking to grow with currently less than 3 employees
• are seeking workspace opportunities.

The grant scheme will open in late Spring 2024.

This is a joint project between SCDC and Cambridge City Council. The programme is made up of three strands: 

• Markets economic and social impact assessment 
• Youth enterprise and business growth programme 
• Visitor economy destination plan

The programme will run from October 2023 to March 2025.