'People power' can make the most of £3.9bn rural fund inaugural Leader event told

Local Action Groups (LAGs) across the West Midlands have been urged to share best practice and pool skills, in order to make the most of a share of a £3.9 billion rural boost between now and 2013.

The rallying cry was made at the first ever Rural Development Programme for England (RDPE) Network event held in Aston recently and was designed to support LAGs in delivering RDPE grants to best benefit local people.

At the heart of the presentations and interactive workshops was the desire to use the ‘local knowledge’ of the LAGs to ensure key issues in villages and towns are tackled and opportunities exploited so that the quality of life in rural areas can be improved, competitiveness increased and jobs safeguarded and created.

Rebecca Frost, Programme Manager of the newly-formed RDPE Network, picked up the story:

“Funded by the EU and UK Government, RDPE supports a range of schemes for land based businesses (farmers, growers, foresters and primary processors), rural tourism organisations, rural businesses and community organisations.

“Through small capital grants, strategic investment funding and action plans, the programme will aim to safeguard and enhance the countryside, helping communities to thrive in the process.”

She continued: “Yesterday’s conference was shaped by the LAGs and the organisations that they work with and was the first time we have been able to get all 64 of them together. We discussed the important role they play and how we can provide mutual support in implementing the ‘Leader’ approach to ensure they retain all of the funding available to them.”

‘Leader’ enables a ‘bottom up’, community-led approach to the delivery of RDPE funding in rural areas and will be implemented through LAGs, which represent public and private partners and community and voluntary groups.

Local Action Groups have developed Local Development Strategies that set out their plans and include criteria for the types of projects that can be supported.

“’Leader’ will provide a more integrated approach to making decisions on who gets funding, focusing on adding value to existing local assets and ensuring economic potential is retained, whether that is food produce or heritage features, for example.”

The RPDE Network, which is managed by the Commission for Rural Communities, has been created to support the implementation of the programme through the exchange of experience, good practice and lessons learnt.

The event gave an insight into projects that are already working and how they can be replicated across the rest of England, with future activities in the pipeline for later in the year.

The West Midlands, which will have a major influence in how the funding is spent, has already been awarded over £10.22 million in funding to deliver the ‘Leader’ approach and this will be administered by eight LAGs in the region, including Shropshire Hills, Rural Staffordshire, North Warwickshire, Central Warwickshire, Rural Worcestershire, Rural Herefordshire, Northern Marches and the Peak District.

It will be channelled into helping meet six main priorities in the region, which range from enhancing the value of the countryside and improving skills, to increasing access to services and developing a sustainable and diverse business base.

Julie Jones, Chair of the Northern Marches LAG, added her support: “Through RDPE, the Leader approach is a fantastic opportunity to enhance the lives of people in rural areas and our role is to enable local people to make the most of their new ideas through applying to the Programme.

“Success will be all about working in partnership to help people help themselves and the LAGs are crucial to achieving this.”