Rural businesses report council-backed success

Rural businesses from across Lancashire that engaged with county council support programmes have reported positive results.

More than 130 businesses took advantage of Lancashire County Council's £400,000 Rural Recovery Fund, reporting an increase in orders, confidence and sustainability.

Now the its business growth team conducted an in-depth study to evaluate the impact of the programme.

Those taking part saw an average growth of 101 customers each, 91% said they felt more confident afterwards, 50% became more sustainable and 31% benefitted from digital skills training.

The programme also had a major focus on helping rural business leaders overcome isolation by meeting each other to share their knowledge and experience, and 77% said receiving support from their peers had the biggest impact on their business.

The study found that 95% of the businesses supported were 'micro-businesses' with less than 10 employees. Over a quarter had been trading for more than 10 years, with 18% of them trading for less than two years. 36% had developed a new route to customers as a result of the programme, with 27% developing a new product or service.

County counc Aidy Riggott, cabinet member for economic development and growth, said: "The visitor economy is vital to Lancashire, and our business growth team recognised that there was a real opportunity to support the sustainability of Lancashire's small rural businesses, and help them realise their potential following what had been a period of great uncertainty.

"We worked with organisations such as the National Farmers Union and other partners to better understand the needs of this sector and came up with a package of support and training which businesses could choose from to suit their individual needs.

"I'm very pleased that our investment through the Rural Recovery Fund has achieved so much added value in terms of the growth of those businesses which participated, and the connections between businesses that have been fostered which will benefit them from for years to come."

The Rural Recovery Fund is just one of many projects throughout the county to receive funding from the Lancashire Economic Recovery and Growth Fund (LERG), a £12.8m programme established by the county council to help the local economy bounce back from the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic.