£12 million rural boost for the East Midlands
New Rural Development Scheme for Local Action Groups
East Midlands Development Agency (emda) is to breathe new life into the region’s rural communities with a new ?£12 million funding initiative.
Local Action Groups, which are public, private, voluntary and community sector partnerships, are invited to tender for a share of a new rural development scheme.
The money is being managed through an Invitation to Apply for Grant Funding (IAGF) scheme by emda. Local Action Groups will be asked to express an interest in the funding before September 30th 2007. Some groups will then be asked to prepare a Local Development Strategy and plans for spending a share of the money, based on their own local needs and priorities. The plans will then be assessed ?“ the successful schemes will be ready to start spending early in 2008.
The criteria for funding must fall under one or more of the following categories:
- Diversification into non-agricultural economic activities
- Support for creation/development of micro-enterprises
- Encouragement of tourism activities
- Conservation/upgrading of rural heritage
The money is part of the ?£3.9 billion Rural Development Programme for England (RDPE), which will be overseen by Defra. The programme, which will last until 2013, is currently awaiting final approval in Brussels and preparations are underway for its launch next year.
emda's Head of Rural and Communities, Richard Tulloch, said: "This ?£12 million funding package will offered through the LEADER* approach to give local action groups the chance bid for this money to enhance the quality of lives in our rural communities. The East Midlands is the third most rural region in England and this funding will focus on the areas of greatest need, targeting key areas, which include heritage, tourism, micro-enterprises and diversification into non-agricultural activities. This funding opportunity will help towards achieving the vision for the East Midlands to become a flourishing region by 2020.”
For more information, or to apply for funding, contact Melanie Fischer in the Rural and Communities team at emda on 0115 988 8309.
* What is LEADER?
It is a French acronym which means - ‘Links between actions for the development of the rural economy’. The LEADER approach is based around local action groups developing and implementing a Local Development Strategy in a coherent geographical rural area (maximum 150, 000 population), via a locally delegated, ‘bottom up’ approach
last updated: 01-08-2007 13:08