New vision being shaped for Sleaford’s Market Place

Plans are being drawn up to reinvigorate Sleaford’s Market Place as an enhanced public space where people can spend longer enjoying the town centre and all it offers.

Looking to fulfil long-held aspirations to make better use of the central space, for public events, an improved market and as a welcoming place for people to meet and relax, North Kesteven District Council has presented a vision for this through a planning application. See HERE for more information on the plans.

If successful, the scheme will be funded by more than £1m from the UK Shared Prosperity Fund for economic renewal. Work would take place over the second half of 2024 into spring 2025.

The plan is now open for comments, visit HERE, the planning reference is 23/0803/FUL and the deadline for comments as per the site notice is 20 August 2023.

Applications are now open for the Rural Business Grant

The Rural Business Grant (RBG) will support rural businesses to invest in sustainable growth across the District.

The minimum grant available through the RBG is £5,000, and depending on the project and investment needed applicants may be required to provide match funding. This fund will run until the fund is exhausted and all projects must be deliverable before 31 March 2025. The first window for applications closes in March 2024. The fund will support capital investments only.

You can apply for the Rural Business Grant HERE

The grant is being delivered by North Kesteven District Council for DEFRA under the Rural England Prosperity Fund. This allocation is an addendum to the UK Shared Prosperity Fund.

Four projects will look at employability, skills and engaging young people.

The VCS Move Project will help people into paid work and improve crucial skillsets for engaging and progressing in their professional lives. This project is aiming to help at least 56 young people over 2023 to 2025.

Three projects from the YMCA will also run until March 2025, including ‘Employability & Skills’, ‘Mind, Body & Spirit’ and ‘Youth Engagement’ all of which are aimed at supporting and engaging with young people. Over the project lifespan, we are hopeful to engage with over 1,500 people in providing this support.

This project is funded by the UK Government through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund.

Funding for first time events in North Kesteven

Funding is now available for first time events to be held within the District of North Kesteven.

For further information and to apply for the funding please visit HERE.

This fund will run until the fund is exhausted or no later than December 2023, all funds must be spent by March 2024. This fund will open again in April 2024. This project is funded by the UK Government through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund.

Regenerating and enhancing historic shopfronts in Sleaford

The Sleaford Shopfront Grant Scheme aims to help reverse the decline and enhance the historic environment in the Sleaford conservation area through offering funding towards targeted repairs, reinstatement and replacements of shopfronts.

We encourage you to get in touch to explore the possibilities which the grant can offer. This project is funded by the UK Government through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund. 

Further details of the grant scheme are available HERE.

Sleaford town centre footfall

Sleaford Town Centre footfall was previously monitored by a single camera located within Southgate. A system called Huq is now being used, which monitors footfall in the town centre. Other packages are also being used to monitor visitor frequency and dwell time.

Using Huq, footfall can be reviewed on a monthly, daily, or hourly basis, looking at any trends or patterns that may be emerging. As the data goes back to January 2019, comparisons can be made between current and historical data held in the system. 

The reports generated from the system allow us to track the activity in the town centre, whilst supporting the completion of the outputs and outcomes required for the Levelling Up fund. 

If you would like more information on the Huq system, you can visit the website HERE. 

This project is funded by the UK Government through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund.

Social media and digital skills training for businesses 

Businesses in North Kesteven can get funded access to the Maybe* platform, equipped with free digital skills training and social media tools, worth over £400.

You can access it now, by signing up HERE.

The training and tools include everything from where to get started with social media to advanced strategies about how to use Facebook ads to deliver winning sales tactics. You can find out more information about Maybe* here. 

Social media support in North Kesteven has received £36,000 from the UK Government through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund. This project will be funded up to March 2025, with the aim to help around 3,500 businesses across North Kesteven access social media tools and advice.