Ceredigion County Council has supported local business owner Steve Hartley to expand his business by purchasing a second boat for his ‘Dolphin Survey Boat Trips’ operating tourism and research based coastal trips out of New Quay.
Ceredigion County Council awarded the project a £10,000 grant towards the purchase of the RIB boat through the South West Wales Local Investment Fund (LIF), in conjunction with financial advice and assistance from Antur Teifi acting on behalf of the Welsh Government’s Regional Centre Service for Business in Aberystwyth. Within Ceredigion, LIF has now allocated 120 grants totalling over £500,000. Support has been given to a wide range of businesses, from tourism and creative industries to manufacturing and construction. Anyone feeling their business could benefit from a Local Investment Fund grant can obtain further information by contacting Michelle Davies, the Ceredigion LIF Assessor on 01267 242389 or visit the LIF website at www.lifcymru.org.uk
Passengers on New Quay’s Dolphin Survey Boat Trips may experience seals, dolphins, porpoises and a variety of birds all in their natural environment around Ceredigion’s beautiful coastline. The business uses its commercial operations to facilitate sustainable eco-research by providing nature based tourism trips within Cardigan Bay. A place on the boat is available to researchers via the Cardigan Bay Marine Wildlife Centre. Having a specialist researcher on board can add value to the tourist experience.
Steve Hartley said “I’m extremely grateful for the support given to me by both Michelle Davies, Ceredigion’s LIF assessor and by Julie Morgan, the Business Support Manager at the Welsh Government’s Regional Centre Service for Business. The process of applying and drawing down the LIF grant was both quick and very straightforward and has enabled me to increase the capacity of the business and extend our season so that we can show even more people what Cardigan Bay has to offer.”
The South West Wales Local Investment Fund is a partnership of the five local authorities in South West Wales covering Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion, Neath Port Talbot, Pembrokeshire and Swansea. The scheme is part financed by the European Regional Development Fund via the Convergence Programme for West Wales and the Valleys. The scheme is aimed at small and medium sized local businesses and can offer between £1,000 and £10,000 to meet up to 40% of the cost of eligible capital investments such as buying new equipment or machinery; buying IT hardware or making improvements to business premises. Grants for certain one-off marketing and promotional activities, such as website development, can also be considered.
