Shared Prosperity Fund: Gwynedd

Cyngor Gwynedd, with the help of local partners, has selected 40 projects from across Gwynedd to receive funding directly from the £24.4 million the county receives from the UK's Shared Prosperity Fund (SPF).

The fund has directly funded significant and diverse projects across a number of sectors and with partners across Gwynedd.  Read the success stories of the projects, and the difference this has made to the people and communities of Gwynedd: SPF Celebrating Success

The fund had three priority areas:

• Communities and place – £10.94 million
  Supporting projects to improve public places, develop local infrastructure and strengthen community services.
• Supporting local business - £6.73 million
  Investing in local businesses to help them grow, increase productivity and create new jobs
• People and skills – £5.45 million
  Creating opportunities for people to develop new skills, improving their chances of gaining employment.

It’s not just large projects that have received support.

Several Key Funds were also set up by Cyngor Gwynedd to support smaller initiatives and communities.

Community Regeneration Support Fund: £1.8 million
Voluntary Sector Support Fund: £1.5 million
Business Development Funds: £1.8 million
Diwyllesiant Fund: £850k

You can read details of each project under the three SPF investment priorities below:

• Community and Place 
• Supporting Local Business 
• People and Skills

The UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) is a central pillar of the UK Government’s Levelling Up agenda and will provide £2.6 billion of funding for local investment across the UK by March 2025.

The overarching objective of the Fund is to build pride in place and increasing life opportunities.

The UKSPF aims to achieve this through three investment priorities: 

• Community & Place
• Supporting Local Business
• People & Skills (including adult numeracy – Multiply) 

The UK Shared Prosperity Fund Prospectus provides a comprehensive overview of the Fund.

All the documentation relating to the Fund published by UK Government is accessible from: Levelling Up and Community Investments Documents

All parts of the UK will receive funding from the UKSPF. A total of £126.46i million has been allocated to the North Wales region which includes the counties of Wrexham, Flintshire, Denbighshire, Conwy, Gwynedd, and the Isle of Anglesey. The total includes £15.24 million which must be used to support adult numeracy (the Multiply programme).  

The allocation for Gwynedd is £24,423,747, of which £2,942,620 is ringfenced for the Multiply Programme.

Delivery of the UKSPF in Gwynedd

To minimise cost and complexity, Local Authorities in North Wales are working together to administer the UKSPF. However, Cyngor Gwynedd decided which projects received money in Gwynedd with the advice of a partnership of local stakeholders.  

During January and February 2023 there was an opportunity for any organisation needing over £250,000 of SPF funding to submit an outline application.  In Gwynedd 114 applications were received from projects seeking over £51 million of SPF funding. Based on an assessment of the applications, and the advice of the Shared Prosperity Fund: Gwynedd Advisory Group, in May 2023 Cyngor Gwynedd chose to invite 47 projects to submit a detailed application for funding.

• Application procedure 
• Project selection procedure

It is not anticipated that there will be another opportunity to submit applications for over £250,000 of SPF funding in Gwynedd. 

Following the receipt and thorough assessment of the detailed applications, on July 20, 2023 Gwynedd Council's Cabinet agreed a to offer £21.96 million of Gwynedd SPF funding to 39 projects.