At the risk of stating the blindingly obvious the key to Market projects is funding. Support streams, deadlines and eligibility criteria come and go as post-Brexit Britain replaces EU support with MHCLG funding. Rachel Reeves’ June spending review offered some hope to those Councils still looking down the back of the sofa to finance Market improvements and deliver Social Value.
The Chancellor confirmed the Government’s latest steps towards delivering its ambitious ‘Plan for Change’ mission to grow the UK economy through a revised Plan for Neighbourhoods www.gov.uk/government/collections/plan-for-neighbourhoods.
The scope of projects which will benefit from this £1.5bn fund has been doubled to 350 deprived communities and names 75 recipients and 25 ‘Trailblazer’ areas previously announced in March 2025. Local Neighbourhood Boards will be appointed to set targets and administer the delivery of community cohesion, regeneration and an improved public realm. This is a revamp of the Shared Prosperity Fund which itself was a substitute for European ERDF support. Quarterbridge offers bespoke Business Plans to support bids (or deliver projects already underway) incorporating the Economic Impact Assessment favoured by MHCLG assessors.
Markets clearly represent an excellent focus for bids. They are ‘low hanging fruit’ i.e. highly visible, cheap and within the gift of a Council to deliver. They are best promoted within the framework of employment creation and delivering social value as per The (Social Value) Act 2012 with plenty of evidence to illustrate how they create jobs and boost the local economy thanks to research by the New Economics Foundation and Joseph Rowntree Trust. MHCLG has also promised to simplify the appraisal process which comes as welcome news to anyone reading the HMG ‘Green Book’ guidance so popular with insomniacs.
Further discretionary grants are also available from the Welsh and Scottish governments through organisations such as Busnes Cymru https://businesswales.gov.wales which is particularly active at encouraging SME businesses who represent the Customers of any Market. Support for SME’s needs to form part of any Business Plans to stimulate demand for Market stalls. Delivery (in England at least) will be through Council-based support teams now Local Enterprise Partnerships are no more.
So the big picture is encouraging but the devil lies in the application and assessment process, as always. Give us a call to see how we can help. We’re always keen to chat through how Markets can be used as a focus for bids.
