Elizabeth Wood

Cheshire East Council has recently launched two grant schemes targeted at stimulating growth of the local business community.

The Flexible Workspace Grant and the Sustainable and Inclusive Growth Programme Grant are available to applicants via the council’s business growth and investment team, with applications being welcomed now.

The Flexible Workspace Grant is offering grants from £25,000 up to £100,000 to landlords or leaseholders to refurbish empty or underused property into flexible co-working spaces.

The criteria for application is straightforward. Applicants need to:

• be businesses owning a commercial property in an urban centre in the borough;
• be liable for paying business rates to Cheshire East Council (where rates are payable);
• hold their own business bank account; and

Apply for the grant through the application form, which can be found on the support packages and services for business pages on the council’s website.

The Sustainable and Inclusive Growth Programme offers grants from £1,000 to £10,000 to businesses looking to invest in new equipment, technology and business practices, which will decarbonise their operations.

The eligibility criteria for this grant is that organisations must:

• Trade from a property within the borough;
• Have a decarbonisation plan or growth plan to support their application;and
• Only apply for expenditure that has occurred since 1 April this year.

To enable businesses to get the right help to access these grants, the council has set up a specialised business support hub.

The hub works with organisations looking to grow, adapt, diversify and expand their current operation to support long-term sustainability. It has everything a business needs to know to start a business, or scale and grow an existing business with a team of specialist advisers, who can support with grant applications. Businesses can register for support through the hub.

Councillor Mark Goldsmith, chair of Cheshire East Council’s economy and growth committee said: “These are two very different grants which I hope will appeal to a wide remit of businesses in our borough.

“Increasingly, showing versatility and flexibility are typical attributes that many forward-thinking organisations are having to show, so on that front the Flexible Workspace Grant is something I think will resonate well.

“The Sustainable and Inclusive Growth Grant is very much focused towards companies with a strong environmental conscience, which connects directly with the council’s own ambitious target of being carbon neutral by 2025. I’d urge businesses of any size to look at this grant and to get in touch with our business support hub colleagues directly, who will be very happy to help.”

These grants are distributed by the UK Shared Prosperity Fund and are part of the government’s Levelling Up agenda, which is providing £2.6bn of funding through local investment by March 2025.

Cheshire East Council has been allocated £12.4m, with a further (circa) £1.5m allocation specifically for an adult numeracy programme known as ‘Multiply’ from the UK government through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund.

With the cost-of-living crisis at the forefront of everyone’s mind, the Everybody Foundation is proud to be helping to relieve some of the pressures within the local communities.

The Everybody Foundation recently relaunched with a focus of giving clubs in Cheshire East the opportunity to apply for grants on behalf of young people they know will benefit and to keep them playing the sport they love.

Kerry Shea Director of Health & Communities at Everybody Health and Leisure shares:

“When we started to hear reports of local sport clubs seeing a drop-off in numbers of young people attending sessions, we knew this was where the Everybody Foundation comes in. Having provided multiple grants to local clubs over the last few months, we have started to see how this support has had a beneficial impact to the club and young people involved.”

The Everybody Foundation has been able to give out £6,400 in grants to 26 different local clubs in Cheshire and have heard from a selected few to see what it means and how it has helped keep young people playing sport.

LS Gymnastics Academy in Crewe was awarded £250 in grant support. Owner Candy Lakin, shared:

“The grant has enabled a whole team to purchase a new regulation uniform for the British finals. Uniform changes can have a big impact on families with changes to codes adding £150 to family costings. The knock-on effect of supporting one team will hopefully allow us to support other teams who will require a change of uniform as we have over 200 competitive gymnasts at different levels. Offering support at this time allows us to focus our funds into our SEN programmes and community links which is a high priority on this amazing community led club.”

Candy continued, “Without the support from the Everybody Foundation grants we would not be in a position to inform you of the great success that LSGCA has achieved this year. The grants have supported many of our athletes to train in centres as an additional physical support to their base training. Many of our top GB athletes earn nothing from their success at Europeans and struggle to maintain the everyday needs to maintain physical fitness alongside their training programs. I want to take this opportunity to thank you for allowing the talented athlete programme alongside the Grant award as this should not go unnoticed.”

Everybody Health & Leisure recognises the importance of supporting local talented athletes enabling them to pursue sporting excellence. The Talented Athlete Support Scheme is a discounted membership that allows local athletes in Cheshire to use local leisure facilities and get expert advice and support to achieve their sporting goals.

AFC Alsager was awarded £250 by the Everybody Foundation.  Andy Miller, Chairman shared:

“For a volunteer club like AFC Alsager, a donation like this means we can continue encouraging the young people and adults of Alsager to play football in their community. Football is essential for the mental and physical health of our members and we are proud to be part of the Alsager community. This donation will fund the equipment we need to keep playing on!”

If you would like to find out more about the Everybody Foundation and how you can apply for a grant or to fundraise please visit: www.everybody.org.uk/about/everybody-foundation/ or email foundation@everybody.org.uk

A new National Rail Contract (NRC) for the West Coast Partnership (WCP) has been agreed with the Department for Transport (DfT). WCP comprises Avanti West Coast  and West Coast Partnership Development – the Shadow Operator for the HS2 programme.

The NRC will commence on 15 October 2023 and will last until 17 October 2032 subject to ongoing DfT approval. It begins with a core three-year term to 18 October 2026. Commenting on the announcement, Avanti West Coast Managing Director Andy Mellors said: “The National Rail Contract for the West Coast Partnership announced today provides stability for customers and colleagues as we continue to rebuild trust as well as confidence. “Over the last six months, we have delivered significant and sustained improvements in operational performance and customer satisfaction. Cancellations that Avanti West Coast is responsible for have stabilised at below two percent of scheduled services. The last year has been challenging but I would like to thank our customers as well as stakeholders for their patience.

“There are still challenges ahead but plenty to look forward to on our network including customer benefits such as the continued award-winning refurbishment of our Pendolinos and the introduction of our new Hitachi fleet, which will increase capacity and further improve our sustainability credentials.”

Shamit Gaiger, Managing Director, of the West Coast Partnership Development, said: “The new National Rail Contract will enable us to continue to focus on the design, development and implementation of future high-speed services on the network as we aim to set new standards in UK rail.

“We are committed to working with our partners to realise the benefits these services will provide to our economy, communities and passengers. As the infrastructure is built, we will ensure customers are at the heart of future high-speed services on the West Coast.”

Terry Hayward, CEO of the North Cheshire Chamber of Commerce, said: “Many people have been frustrated with the West Coast service since Avanti took over from Virgin in 2019.  This contract provides some certainty to the operator and will allow them to continue their investment into the service.  If Avanti can continue with the improvements we have seen in the last few months, it will restore confidence and ensure that this vital transport route is operating to a standard the business community needs and expects.”