The council's new two-year Business Builder fund is worth up to £250,000. Build Up grants pay half your costs up to £1,000, Development grants up to £5,000.

Broadland District Council has put up to £250,000 behind a new two-year run of its Business Builder scheme, which pays half the cost of things small businesses need to grow, up to £5,000.

The money is real and the rules are specific, but the council’s own announcement sends readers to a web address that does not work. We have read the scheme pages instead, and this is what they actually say.

What you can get

There are three strands open now and one that is shut.

  • Foundation support. For people who have not started trading. No grant, but the council meets the £65 cost of an online start-up course, and an economic development officer works with you on the idea.
  • Build Up Grant. For businesses trading for less than 24 months. Pays 50% of eligible costs, on total spending of £2,000 or more, to a maximum grant of £1,000.
  • Development Grant. For businesses trading for 24 months or more. Pays 50% of eligible costs to a maximum of £5,000 per application.
  • Rural Business Builder Capital Grant. Up to £20,000 towards capital projects costing over £10,000. Closed. The council says the funds are fully committed and it is seeking money to run it again in 2026/2027.
Panel showing Broadland's four Business Builder strands: Foundation support with a £65 course paid, Build Up Grant up to £1,000, Development Grant up to £5,000, and the closed Rural Capital Grant up to £20,000
What each strand is worth and who can apply. Graphic by Broads News.

Both grants are match funded, so you have to find the other half yourself. Both are paid in arrears: you apply, wait for written approval, buy the thing, then claim back against receipts. The Build Up Grant page is explicit that spending made before the date of your application cannot be supported.

The conditions people trip over

The eligibility rules are tighter than the headline suggests.

  • The business must be in the Broadland district and trade at least 16 hours a week. Development Grant applicants must be full time.
  • You cannot get a Build Up Grant if Broadland has already paid you one since 2023. The same applies to the Development Grant.
  • If you have had a Build Up Grant, at least 12 months must pass before you apply for a Development Grant.
  • Grants cannot buy stock. Computer hardware is refused unless you can show the business could not develop without it.
  • You must be up to date on business rates, council tax where you work from home, commercial waste and any rent owed to the council, and you must have the right planning consents in place.
  • Charities, community interest companies and local clubs are excluded as a general rule, though the council says it will consider an application where the organisation employs staff.

Decisions on a Build Up Grant are normally made within three weeks, and on a Development Grant within six. Both schemes are discretionary, first come first served, and the council states plainly that there is no automatic right to a grant.

Who has actually had one

Fourteen Broadland businesses have published case studies with the council, and they give a fair picture of what the money buys.

Bishy Barney Boats, which hires out mostly electric day boats from Thorpe River Green, added a boat to its fleet and took on local young people as a result. Dancing Bee Bakes, run by Sophie Yaxley, who was 14 when she was supported, replaced a domestic mixer with a commercial one and went from two batches at a time to 20. CIM Signs, a firm of 24 employees, brought forward the purchase of a new cutter. Farmyard Frozen bought a blast freezer.

The newest example is a florist. The council reported on 3 September that Lorraine Harwood opened The Little Florist Box in Thorpe End in 2025, taking on premises that came free when the village’s florist of 50 years closed. She had years of floristry behind her but had never run a business. A council economic development officer helped her negotiate the lease, and a Build Up grant went on fixtures and fittings for the shop.

The council’s press release tells businesses to visit www.southnorfolkandbroadland.gov.uk/business-builder. That address returned a 404 “page not found” when we checked it on 4 September.

The page that works is southnorfolkandbroadland.gov.uk/business/broadland-business-builder-programme. Note the “broadland” in the middle: there is a separate South Norfolk version of the scheme at a similar address, and the grant amounts and rules are set per council.

What it means for you

If you run a Broadland business and you are planning a purchase in the next few months, apply before you spend, not after. That single rule disqualifies more applicants than any other, and it cannot be waived.

Work out which strand you are in by counting months of trading, not turnover. Under two years is the Build Up Grant, over two years is the Development Grant, and the older scheme needs your most recent year-end accounts or a profit and loss statement.

Get the paperwork together first. Both applications want a business plan, or accounts if you have traded more than 12 months, and a 12-month cashflow forecast. The council publishes templates for both on the programme pages. The webform times out after two hours.

Questions go to the economic development team on 01603 980441 or business@southnorfolkandbroadland.gov.uk.

If you are weighing up premises rather than equipment, our Broadland house prices page tracks what the local property market is doing, and Broadland planning news follows the applications that change what is being built in the district.