Love Your Market Town Fund

Do you have an idea for something that will support and grow your local economy, increase pride in your area, and increases footfall into the town centre?

The Love Your Market Town Fund is a pilot scheme being held in Breckland, with an investment fund of £5,000.

Your community group or business can apply for a grant of up to £1,000 to bring your ideas and initiatives to life and help generate footfall and activity into local town centres in the Breckland area.

The £5,000 investment fund has been created through matched Breckland Council and Norfolk County Council funding and will give local community groups and businesses the opportunity to sell their ideas to a panel, with successful applicants receiving funding to put their plans into action.

How it works:

There will be a series of 'Dragons Den' style competitions in Breckland areas held in autumn 2023, where your local community group or businesses can present your idea to a panel to ask for a small share of funding.

To be considered for the 'Dragons Den' style competition, you must submit an Expression of Interest form no later than 5pm on Friday, 22 September 2023. 

Are you eligible?

• Applicants can be from any local groups/consortia, business, including Town or Parish Councils and representative bodies like the local Chamber.
• Any activity must be a brand-new idea, (funds cannot be used to fund existing programmes) and should support multiple areas and/or services of your local town.
• There is no limit to the kind of activities that can be funded but your idea must have a tangible link to creating interest and/or footfall in town centres.
• Applicants must demonstrate deliverability and achievability of plans at the Dragon's Den style competition, and after implementation provide a written report of how they used the grant and the measurable impact the idea has had on the town centre.
• Applicants will supply data to Norfolk County Council for longer-term impact evaluation.

Delivery

• Projects should be ready to start within 2 months of grant award, however, consideration will be given to events planned to be delivered in early 2024.
• The last date for projects to be delivered and impact evaluated is 5 April 2024
• Match funding is not essential but will be taken into account.
• You can ask for a grant up to £1,000
• Anticipated grant cap of £1,000 per Breckland town centre (Attleborough, Dereham, Swaffham, Thetford and Watton).
• The investment fund is administered in partnership between Norfolk County Council (NCC) and Breckland Council as a pilot scheme, with the potential to scale up to wider district councils if successful.

Find out more

For further information email our partner, Norfolk County Council's Economic Development team: econdev@norfolk.gov.uk.