The Towns Fund is a £3.6 billion fund for towns across the UK to support local economic growth. Penzance and St Ives are two of 101 towns nationally, and 4 in Cornwall, that have secured Town Deal Funding. Cornwall Council is the Lead Authority for the Town Deals programme in Cornwall. We support the governance of the Town Deal Boards in both towns.
Further information about other Town Deal activity in both St Ives and Penzance can be found on their individual websites
The Town Deal Enterprise Grants will support Small and Medium Sized businesses. It will provide capital grants to encourage business start-ups and scale ups. This growth and development will provide new opportunities, jobs and stronger supply chains.
Each town has a bespoke offering. Please select from the following options to find out more about each specific fund:
Please follow the link below to show the current list of live approved projects.
Round 3 Funding
Background
After two very successful rounds of the Enterprise Grant Scheme we have a limited amount of funding still to allocate to projects that meet the Scheme priorities outlined below.
Please follow the link below to show the boundary area for St Ives Town Deal. Your project must be located within the boundary in order to be eligible for support.
Grants are available of £2,500 - £20,000 with a maximum intervention rate of 75%. All projects must be complete and claimed for by 31 December 2025.
In very exceptional cases we may be able to accommodate larger grant requests, but this will be very much judged on an individual basis and at a lower percentage of grant. Therefore, if you have a project that requires support over £20,000 please speak to the Enterprise Grant Co-ordinator (grants@cornwall.gov.uk) in the first instance.
Round 3 Key Criteria and priorities
- All projects are expected to achieve growth within the applicant business either through:
a) a measurable increase in business turnover and/or
b)increased year-round employment and/or
c) converting seasonal employment into year-round employment. - All projects will need to demonstrate how they expand and enhance the existing offer within the town rather than displacing trade from others.
- All applicants should already be open year-round (minimum of 11 months of the year) or will be following completion of the project.
As well as meeting the key criteria above, projects should meet at least one of the following priorities.
- Projects that enhance/improve the local service offering to residents of the town, including supporting year around retail.
- Projects that widen the economic base of the town, i.e. reduce the reliance on tourism/hospitality.
- External improvements to premises which enhance the streetscape of the town where the designs are sympathetic to the overall character of the town and surrounding properties and the enhancements will result in increased footfall into the premises.
What is eligible?
- Equipment / capital purchases to diversify / expand your business offering.
- Exterior building enhancements to improve the visual impact of the premises on the town and increase footfall to the premises.
- Interior improvements to improve the look and customer flow of premises leading to increased turnover.
What is ineligible?
- Visitor bed space and residential accommodation.
- Repairs and maintenance
- Replacement of like for like equipment.
- Revenue costs e.g., salaries, training, computer software, marketing and overheads.
- Business as usual e.g., computer hardware to expand your workforce.
Please note capital equipment funded through asset finance is likely to be ineligible so please contact us to discuss this if you are considering it.
Process
Round 3 will open on 1st October 2024 and close midnight 15th November 2024.
Projects will be appraised in the order or receipt. The highest scoring projects will be contracted first, but no decisions will be released until after the round closes on the 15th. Lower scoring projects will be held on a reserve list.
Decisions which projects on the reserve list will be funded will be made when all the applications are fully appraised and scored, please note this could be as late as January 2025.
If a business has already been awarded a grant through the Enterprise Grant Scheme you can apply again, but please note that each project must deliver stand-alone measurable benefits and a lower intervention rate may be applicable.
Help and assistance
Applicants are reminded that this is likely to be a highly competitive process, in person facilitation support will be available in the town and you are recommended to utilise the service to ensure they submit the strongest application possible.
- Please see the applicant handbook for more information.
If you have any queries regarding an Enterprise Grant application or require application support please email grants@cornwall.gov.uk
Due to high levels of uptake the Penzance Town Deal Enterprise Grant Scheme is currently Closed. The full budget allocation has been allocated to 54 live projects.
Please follow the link below to show the current list of live approved projects.
Please follow the link below to show the boundary area for Penzance Town Deal. Your project must be located within the boundary in order to be eligible for support.
Aims of the Enterprise Grant Scheme
- To support Penzance and its business community to adapt to a changing economic environment caused by global and national issues. Awarding capital grants to businesses to enable them to adapt and grow in their operations.
- Investments in high street businesses to improve vibrancy in the town centre
- To support new start-ups, scale ups and businesses who want to diversify their offering into new growth sectors
- To support individual businesses to develop and grow to achieve sustainable growth and create new employment for local people
- Reducing the number of empty / underused premises through investment to enable them to be brought back into use.
- To add value to other Town Improvement Plan projects by supporting businesses which in turn will engage with TIP projects
