New Year boost for the Horsham district’s tourism businesses

Horsham District Council’s Economic Development team has successfully secured over £72,000 of funding from the Local Enterprise and Apprenticeship Platform (LEAP) Small Business Grants Scheme to support small businesses in Horsham District .

The scheme will be launched on 31 January 2018 and will be aimed at the district’s small visitor economy businesses in order to boost the tourism economy.

The council will be granting funds of up to £4,000 per organisation in three tranches throughout out the year:

• Tranche 1 – opens on 31 January and closes on 28 February 2018
• Tranche 2 – opens on 31 May and closes on 30 June 2018
• Tranche 3 – opens on 30 September and closes on 31 October 2018

Applicants will need to show how their project/initiative will increase the number of visitors coming to the district and how their project will help to promote the core themes in the recently published Visitor Economy Strategy:

• Promoting Horsham as a hub & host for visitors
• Growing the district’s own talent base – the “roots and shoots” of our tourism economy and
• Showcasing the novel and unusual aspects of our district by encouraging the “curious nature” of potential visitors.

This is an excellent opportunity for our small visitor economy businesses – food and drink, accommodation and visitor attraction providers – to enhance their services and help build our vision of Horsham as the number one Hub and Host District in the South East. I encourage local tourism related business to apply for funds now.

Cabinet Member for the Local Economy Cllr Gordon Lindsay

Businesses applying must be based in Horsham District and be registered with HMRC and/or Companies House.

Any business interested in applying for LEAP funds , should contact the Economic Development team at Horsham District Council by emailing business.development@horsham.gov.uk