Ceredigion County Council website

Supporting local communities and businesses in Ceredigion

As part of our ongoing commitment to supporting economic development and businesses throughout these challenging times, Ceredigion County Council are delivering the Cynnal y Cardi Fund which is funded by the UK Government’s Levelling Up agenda via the Shared Prosperity Fund.

Two schemes of funding opportunities are re-opening on Thursday, 1st of February 2024: Cynnal y Cardi Community Development and Support fund and Cynnal y Cardi Supporting Local Business Fund.

Cynnal y Cardi Community Development and Support Fund is delivered through 2 packages:

1. Small Grant Scheme £1,000 - £10,000
2. Larger Grant Scheme £10,001 - £50,000 (Larger bids will not be excluded but a robust rationale will be required)

This fund will support a range of revenue and capital activities, which include;

• Support and engage local people, businesses and communities in delivering sustainable yet innovative solutions to address some of the economic, social and environmental challenges facing our areas
• Pilot new ways of working
• Enabling communities to invest and restore community spaces and relationships
• Creating the foundations for economic development at neighbourhood-levels
• Supporting the social fabric of communities enabling people to want to live, work, play and learn in

The fund will focus on;

• Improvements to existing, community and neighbourhood infrastructure including local green spaces
• Development and promotion of local year-round events and experiences which encourage people to visit and explore the local area
• Testing piloting approaches and feasibility studies
• Supporting the creative industries
• Investment in capacity building and infrastructure support for community groups including succession planning
• Community measures to reduce the cost of living including measures to improve energy efficiency and combat fuel poverty and climate change
• Investment and support for digital infrastructure for local community facilities

Cynnal y Cardi Supporting Local Business Fund is delivered through 2 packages

1. Small Business Grant £1,000 - £10,000
2. Business Development Grant £10,001 - £50,000 (Larger bids will not be excluded but a robust rationale will be required)

The aim of this fund is to strengthen local entrepreneurial ecosystems and support businesses at all stages of their development to start, sustain, grow and innovate, including through local networks.

This fund will support a range of revenue and capital activities, which include;

• Boost the Ceredigion economy, support businesses and enable employment
• Support new entrepreneurs with their business start-up aspirations
• Support existing businesses with their growth plans
• Facilitate and support the Social Enterprise Sector to realise their opportunities
• Build resilience and knowledge within businesses particularly in relation to decarbonisation, energy efficiency and digital support

The fund will focus on;

• Entrepreneurship activity
• Support Business start-up and growth development
• Innovation and Skills
• Digital exploitation for local businesses
• Support to strengthen decarbonisation and energy efficiency
• Strategic commissioning / Feasibility work
• Enterprise hubs and collaborations to enable businesses to share good practise

In the meantime, as to ensure project eligibility send a short brief outlining your ideas (bullet point format) and a breakdown of expenditure to ce.cynnalycardi@ceredigion.gov.uk.

How to Apply:

All applicants should download an application form and the guidance document. Please scroll down for links to these and supplementary documents.

Send your completed applications to ce.cynnalycardi@ceredigion.gov.uk.

Application Pack and Supplementary Documents

• Guidance Cynnal y Cardi Community Development and Support Fund
• Guidance Cynnal y Cardi Supporting Local Business Fund
• Output Indicators
• Outcome Indicators
• Boosting Ceredigion's Economy: A Strategy for Action 2020-35

The Mid Wales UKSPF Regional Investment Plan can be found on the the Mid Wales Regional Investment Plan page (scroll down to the bottom) on the Growing Mid Wales website.

If you have any queries, please contact the Ceredigion team on ce.cynnalycardi@ceredigion.gov.uk.