The East Staffordshire Borough Council, Tourism Development Grant have been set up to support organisations develop new and enhance existing visitor activity, initiatives and events across East Staffordshire.
These activities should help to promote East Staffordshire as a visitor destination, through improving capacity, developing a new activity or improving the quality of the offer available to visitors.
Grants of up to £5,000 will be available to support activities, events and initiatives which are designed to increase visitor numbers and tourism revenue in East Staffordshire, whilst aligning to East Staffordshire Borough Councils corporate priorities:
- Creating a prosperous East Staffordshire
- Developing a Green New Deal for East Staffordshire
- Protecting our heritage
- Standing up for our communities
Through these grants, East Staffordshire Borough Council aims to support organisations that share its vision of developing the visitor economy and who can put forward projects, initiatives or events that helps to develop East Staffordshire as a place to visit.
Grants are available to support projects which will:
- Increase capacity to visitor attractions in East Staffordshire
- To develop new initiatives, activates or events which will encourage increased visiting
- Launch targeted marketing campaigns to help promote East Staffordshire as a place to visit
- Develop digital initiatives to promote East Staffordshire or improve visitor intelligence
In particular, East Staffordshire Borough Council welcomes the development of new initiatives, activities or events which will enhance the visitor experience, whilst helping extend the visiting season.
East Staffordshire Borough Council Tourism Grants are not available to support:
- To cover the cost of existing events, activity or marketing
- To cover existing employee costs or salaries
- To cover the costs of repairs and maintenance
- Refreshments, clothing or footwear costs
- Replacement of existing operating budgets
- Planning application fee’s
- Consultation costs or management fee’s
- Projects which are not aimed at improving the visitor economy eg. Community events, activities or celebrations.
- Activity or events where the purpose is to support a political agenda or political party.
- Acts of Religious worship, (but Cultural events, activity or festivals may be supported).
- Any other event or activity which the Council consider is not suitable to support.
- The Tourism Grant will not support a second event that conflicts with an existing event.
Who is eligible to apply?
Organisations working in or in support of the tourism, events and hospitality sector who define themselves as any of the following will be eligible to apply for this grant,
- Registered business
- Charities
- Social Enterprises
- Registered Community Interest Companies
Other organisations not on this list may be considered in exceptional circumstances, please discuss this with the Tourism Officer before starting an application.
Grant Criteria:
East Staffordshire Borough Council will support organisations with grants of up to a maximum of £5,000. Although no match funding is required, this is encouraged in all applications.
- Funding must be used for an activity, initiative or event specifically designed to increase visitor numbers, visitor revenue, visitor experience or visitor intelligence in East Staffordshire.
- The application must show clear value for money. Applicants should detail how they will spend any grant funds and the direct impact this will have on the visitor economy.
- The applications should be aligned to East Staffordshire Borough Councils priorities.
- It should be either, a new project, event or initiative or development of an existing project, event or initiative which will attract new visitors. If an existing event, project or initiative, organisations must ensure their application demonstrates development, progression or how it will attract new visitors.
- The maximum grant available is £5,000, with one application from any one organisation in any one year. The Tourism Development Grants are is a one-off grant funding scheme and will not be used to fund on-going commitments or repeat applications for the same activity, initiative or event.
- The Tourism Development Grants cannot be used to fund projects or activities retrospectively.
- All supporting documents must be included with the submission of the application. Without this application cannot be processed.
- For applications of the value up to £3,000 a minimum of one written quote is required to support each area of the application. For applications over £3,000, three written quotes will be required, to demonstration best value. Quotations for any purchase with an application must clearly indicate costs excluding VAT. In the case of events companies, this isn’t applicable.
- The Tourism Development Grants open on the 1st April and closes on the 31st January each year or until the funding is spent, whichever occurs first. Grants are awarded at the complete discretion of the Council.
- Match funding is not a current requirement, however any contributions from either your own reserves or other funding streams will strengthen your application. Any match funding should already be in place before applying to the Tourism Development Grant.
- Applicants will also be expected to provide evidence that they have a clear understanding of their target visitors and how they will attract them to the area.
- Organisations must provide a clear outline of how they will evaluate the impact of their project, including how they will capture data from visitors or relevant information from the project and use this to develop their organisation and/or future events in the future.
- The Council reserves the right to claw-back or withdraw funding where the conditions attached to the grant award have not been adhered to, or to alter the criteria of the scheme at its absolute discretion.
- All Applicants will be required to enter into a Grant Agreement prepared by the Council and will be bound by the terms and conditions of the Agreement. No funds will be paid to Applicants until they have signed the Grant Agreement.
How grants are assessed:
- Past performance of the organisation.
- Credibility and accuracy of financial projections and timescales.
- How the application will help grow the business or visitor economy.
- The market need for the project and the demand that has been identified.
- Who will benefit from the application, is the application focussed on the visitor economy.
- How the activity, event or initiative will be marketed and promoted to maximise uptake.
- Value for money – how much funding the applicant is requesting compared to the number of visitors the activity will attract or extend of the development of quality.
- Whether the project is deliverable within the permitted timescales.
- Applicant’s skills and experience of delivering projects, initiatives or events.
- Quotations have been submitted with the application and are considered reasonable.
- Equality and inclusion is at the forefront of the activity
- That to application has demonstrated sustainability or environmental considerations
Grants will be processed and paid by:
- Grant applications will be processed on an ongoing monthly basis by an awarding panel. There is no guarantee of any funding award until the panel has met to consider the application. The application will be marked using a matrix which is aligned to the grant criteria. The decision of the panel is final and there is no appeals process. Unsuccessful applicants will not be able to re-submit their application.
- Applicants will be notified of the outcome of their grant application no later than 2 weeks after the relevant monthly panel meeting.
- Payment of the Tourism Development Grant is made by Bacs using the bank details provided on the application form. Quotations included in the applications must be official business documents.
- Individuals cannot be reimbursed; grant payment has to be made to the organisation named on the application form.
- All awarded grants must be paid within the current financial year (31st March).
- Confirmation is required for documenting the completed project, event or initiative, this can include photographs, invoices or a report.
- Publicity for projects and activities funded through Tourism Development Grant is the responsibility of the applicant. The Discover East Staffordshire and East Staffordshire Borough Council logo must be displayed on promotional materials (available upon request). East Staffordshire Borough Council will seek permission from the applicants upon the acceptance of any grant, to publicise and assist in promotion of any events or projects funded by the Tourism Development Grants.
Permissions and Licenses
It is the responsibility of event organizers to ensure all necessary permissions and licenses are in place. Full details can be found on the East Staffordshire Borough Council website: Safety for Public Events | East Staffordshire Borough Council.
Please make sure to submit your grant application well in advance, allowing enough time for the permissions and licenses to be processed within the required timelines.
Starting Your Application
Before starting your application, we encourage you to discuss your application with the Tourism Development Officer at East Staffordshire Borough Council, who will be able to offer you guidance ahead of completing the application. Once you’ve done this, please complete the application in full, and provide all supporting documentation.
If you require further information or would like to have an informal discussion prior to submitting your application, please contact Tourism@EastStaffsbc.gov.uk
Got a question?
Please contact our tourism team via tourism@eaststaffsbc.gov.uk
Ready to apply?