SealStop, the ground-breaking automatic shut-off valve designed to eliminate water waste and save gardeners’ time, has won a “game-changing” grant of £60,000.
SealStop, which is now sold across six countries, was invented by Yorkshire farmers Jason and Belle Richardson of Pocklington.

The £60,000 grant is an integral part of Great Ideas innovation programme under the Mayor of York and North Yorkshire's Business Innovation Fund ⁠Business Innovation Fund.

Eligible local businesses pitched investment-ready projects to secure up to £60,000 to implement their ideas – and SealStop triumphed.

SealStop’s triumph was featured on BBC-1’s The One Show on Monday night (September 7).

This is game-changing for us. I’m still processing the fact we’ve won. It seems unreal, pitching our ideas against some of the brightest young businesses in Yorkshire, being filmed by the BBC’s One Show – and winning.

The grant is essentially for research and development, so it will enable us to replace our existing pressure-driven diaphragm with a direct float shut-off using buoyancy alone, at near-zero head height, in dirty rainwater.

Saving water has never been so important. It has been predicted that, by 2050, there will be a five billion litre water shortfall daily in the UK. Meanwhile the Government, realising this potential water crisis, has set a 20 per cent reduction target for household water use.

Our new variation on our original SealStop will tackle this crisis head on, saving millions of litres of rainwater from the 10m UK homes with a water butt. At the moment, there is no device which does this.

The Richardsons have just appeared on BBC-2’s Dragons’ Den with Belle describing the experience as “absolutely amazing. We learned so much and it was a honour to meet five of the UK’s most successful entrepreneurs.”

David Skaith, Mayor of York and North Yorkshire, said: "Seeing so many of our businesses with the drive to innovate and reach the next level is exactly why we set up the Great Ideas Fund.

"We’re backing businesses like Sealstop to get their brilliant water saving product ready for the world through transformational grants and expert advice.

"The Great Ideas Fund is here to support our forward-thinking businesses to grow, innovate, and create high-quality jobs across our communities."

SealStop has already won a host of awards during the past 12 months, praising innovation, sustainability, growth and manufacturing. These awards include the Newcomer of the Year category in Yorkshire Business Insider’s 2026 Made In Yorkshire Manufacturing Awards.

The judges of the awards commented: “This outdoor water-saving device addresses a market need, with sustainability a core theme across the business.”

The judges also highlighted SealStop's strong commitment to local manufacturing and applauded the company's expanding international sales footprint.

These awards celebrated the most innovative and dynamic manufacturing companies across Yorkshire and the Humber and the products they are making there and selling across the world.

This award follows hard on the heels of Sealstop being recognised as one of the UK’s leaders in sustainability-led manufacturing, when it was selected as part of the Green Growth 100, an initiative launched by Small Business Britain in partnership with BT to spotlight small businesses successfully using sustainability as a core driver of growth.

The Green Growth 100 champions 100 small businesses across the UK that are embedding sustainable practices into their operations - from cutting waste and energy use to rethinking supply chains, attracting new customers, and strengthening long-term resilience.

Founded in 2024, Sealstop has been led by Jason and Belle who have placed sustainability at the core of the business. Through hard work and commitment to a green agenda, the business has shown how responsible practices can deliver both environmental impact and commercial success.