About The Economic Recovery Fund in Sheffield

The Fund’s objectives are:

To help build the foundations for economic renewal across Sheffield by investing in communities and high streets, helping to build resilience to the cost-of-living crisis and future economic challenges.

To make high streets and local centres feel safe and welcoming, so that residents want to spend time and shop there.

To encourage businesses and groups to work together on ideas to improve their high streets, and bring new energy to those that already are.

To support high street businesses to work with their communities and leave a lasting legacy of community infrastructure that can continue to thrive once projects are complete.

The Economic Recovery Fund is about empowering local communities to identify and deliver the solutions that will work for their neighbourhood, so the objectives purposely have been left broad so that applicants could develop their own ideas to better fit local circumstances and needs.

As a result, the programme has seen local businesses take on new roles in their local areas, forge new connections, and make changes that their communities have welcomed.

The story so far...

Partnerships of businesses and local organisations could apply for funding for up to £50k for a small project or £50k - £200k for a larger project.

The first round of funding was launched in March 2021 and 26 projects were awarded funding. A second round was launched in February 2023, which also supported 23 projects, before the fund finally closed in April 2025.

The 49 ERF projects which were supported with funding are:


ERF Round 1	ERF Round 2
Abbeydale Road	Abbeydale Road
Angel Street Kinema	Banner Cross
Bear Trail Extension	Broomhill
Broomhill Traders Association	Chapeltown
Castlegate Festival	Crookes
Chapeltown	Darnall
Community in Unity	Ecclesfield
Division Street Markets	Firth Park
Festival on the Square	Greenhill
Firth Park	Hackenthorpe
Game City Adventure	Harborough Avenue
Hillsborough Regeneration Project	Newfield Green and Gaunt Precinct
Leopold Square Summer Festival of Music	Hillsborough
Manor Park	Infirmary Road
Mosborough	London Road
Nether Edge	Lowedges
Orchard Square animation	Middlewood
Page Hall	Northern Avenue
Pollen Market	Spital Hill
Sheffield Music Trails	Stannington
CIQ animation	Walkley
Spital Hill	Westfield
Totley Rise	Woodhouse
Tudor Square Animation
Walkley
Woodhouse

For more information on each of the ERF projects in Round 1 and Round 2, click the links below.

ERF Round 1

The first round of the Economic Recovery Fund (ERF) was launched in March 2021, offering grants for both small (£50k) and large (£50k-£200k) projects. With a total budget of £2.3 million, 26 projects across Sheffield were supported. See a full list of the project summaries.

ERF Round 2

The Council allocated an additional £2 million for a second round of funding. Currently, 23 new projects are being delivered across the city. See a full list of the project summaries.

ERF in action

Below you can find see some of visual examples of the achievements and positive changes in local areas, which ERF made happen.

Highlights from Round 1

A whistle-stop tour of some of the brilliant things that people made happen using ERF funding in 2022.

Helping communities rediscover their local area

Chapeltown

Choose Chapeltown created a series of markets and events in a square set back from the high street, helping people discover businesses they don’t pass every day

Cultural Industries Quarter

Site Gallery and partners ran a series of weekenders at CIQ Square to draw in passers by with art, performance, workshops and music.

Woodhouse

Revive Woodhouse devised fun events to bring people to the market square, like Woodhouse by the Sea.

Connecting businesses with new customers through fun events

Manor Park

At Manor Park Summer Fair, stalls and games linked the spaces between flat blocks with the shopping parade

Firth Park

Blessone’s Kitchen serves customers at Firth Park’s Summer Fair.

Chapletown

Events by Choose Chapeltown extend right down the high street, tempting people to explore.

Walkley

Beeches of Walkley provided the barbecue for the fun day finale of the Walkley Festival.

Creating local area brands

Broomhill

Local businesses in Broomhill commissioned elegant banners and a vivid planting scheme to give the area a unique edge.

Walkley

Walkley’s bright banners remind people to shop local.

Broomhill

Broomhill’s shop front renovation scheme drew on its conservation area status, drawing the area together with a rich, muted palette.

Chapletown

Choose Chapeltown’s eye-catching brand emphasises the richness and variety of the area.

Creating happier, healthier streets

Hillsborough

New benches and cycle parking delivered by Hillsborough Together make it easier and more pleasant to visit.

Totley

More bins on the high street in Totley mean a cleaner environment where visitors are likely to spend more time.

Nether Edge

Community environment days have been arranged around Nether Edge’s new planters, helping local people engage with nature .

Abbeydale Road

Abbeydale Street Trees created a parklet to turn a small tarmacked area into an attractive space for visitors to rest and enjoy local businesses.

Evaluating the impact of the ERF

A full evaluation of each round showed the positive impact ERF had, with key points including:

Delivered a net social return on investment of £2.24 per £1 in Round 1 and £3.60 per £1 in Round 2.
Hundreds of outputs have been delivered across the city, including:

- Over 150 individual art installations adding vibrancy and colour

- Nearly 100 events to give people a reason to visit their local high street and see it in a positive light

- Branding and marketing across 20 areas to raise the profile of the high street and encourage people to spend in local independent businesses

- 580 items of street furniture installed or green spaces improved to improve perceptions and make high streets feel more welcoming

- Over 100 shop fronts improved

- 8 new business forums created
Supported communities across Sheffield, built new partnerships and helped to foster, consolidate and deepen community networks
Received positive feedback from businesses and communities
Visibly improved district centres
Empowered community and business groups
Achieved successful budget control
Overwhelmingly supported by stakeholders
Received positive media coverage
Created a foundation for future business and community work

In this Article

The Economic Recovery Fund

What is The Economic Recovery Fund?

The Economic Recovery Fund (ERF) is a unique, innovative grant fund that aims to support local economic recovery in local high streets across Sheffield, by empowering local groups of businesses to implement changes themselves.

The Fund’s objectives are:

The story so far...