NEW and established small and medium businesses in Sedgefield and East Durham can tap into a support programme designed to help them grow.

The North-East Rural Growth Network Business Support Programme is jointly funded by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and the European Regional Development Fund.

Eligible companies can receive support for up to 13 hours of consultancy help in a number of areas including marketing and communications, strategy planning and training.

They can also register for workshops and events.

Sarah Marshall, East Durham Business Service’s rural enterprise development officer, said: “There are businesses which are eligible for help from the programme but either don’t know about it or assume they won’t qualify because they don’t consider themselves rural.

“In fact research has shown that many rural businesses don’t utilise the help available to them and that’s something we’re determined to change.

“There are a number of ways in which a growing SME could benefit, whether they would like support to develop a brand or website, help putting their profile out to the media or perhaps guidance on how best to develop a strategy to drive forward expansion.”

Some of the businesses to have benefited include a digital provider, a clothing company and a tea producer. The programme runs until March 2015.

Towns and villages in East Durham which fall within the programme area include parts of Castle Eden, Easington, Wingate, Thornley, Murton, Haswell, Wheatley Hill and Shotton. In Sedgefield they include Mordon, the Trimdons, Fishburn, Bishop Middleham, Chilton, Rushyford, Byers Green, Kirk Merrington and Sedgefield itself.

Contact Sarah Marshall on 0191 5863366