The West Midlands told to make the most of £25m RDPE fund at Rural Summit » Communities » 24dash.com

The Rural Development Programme for England (RDPE) will be increasingly important in providing vital rural support a national summit held in the West Midlands was told last week.

Advantage West Midlands’ Partnerships Director Phil Roberts urged over 80 delegates at the Commission for Rural Communities (CRC) event to make the most of RDPE, with more than £25m available to assist crucial projects and local businesses involved in food and drink, tourism, environmental technologies and livestock.

He also outlined the range of specialist support being directed into rural areas including a £11m market towns initiative, the introduction of rural hubs and tailored help from the Rural Regeneration Zone.

“These are tough times. The West Midlands is suffering more than any other region in this recession. In some of our market towns unemployment has risen by 50 per cent,” explained Phil Roberts.

“The West Midlands Taskforce, chaired by Regional Minister Ian Austin and coordinated by AWM, is focusing business support in market towns to help larger employers retain jobs and build resilience. In addition, £150,000 of extra support for advisory bodies, such as Citizens Advice, and a £250,000 package to support retailers is being rolled out.”

He continued: “These measures are above and beyond Advantage West Midlands’ current rural programme - but it’s vital that we continue to listen to the businesses trading in the ‘front line’ of the recession and the summit was an opportunity to do just that.”

The summit, which aimed to push rural economies higher up decision makers’ agendas, is the third in a series of events following a report last year to the Prime Minister from Dr Stuart Burgess, the Chairman of the CRC and the Government’s Rural Advocate on releasing the potential of England’s rural economies.

It was jointly hosted by the Commission for Rural Communities, Advantage West Midlands and the East Midlands Development Agency (emda) at Dunchurch Hall Hotel in Warwickshire and featured keynote addresses from Rural Regeneration Zone’s Peter Pawsey, BIS’ Mark Turner and Paul McKelvie of UK Talentmap.

Heather Gorringe, Managing Director of Wiggly Wigglers in Herefordshire, gave the business perspective and in particular her desire for more rural businesses to use social media and the internet to grow their economies.

Dr. Burgess said: “Rural businesses and employees are a vital part of the nation’s and regions’ economies yet they can be overlooked in government support packages and policies. We are aiming to tackle this head on by bringing together some of the most influential rural practitioners at the four summits we are holding this year − on innovation, inspiration, investment and empowerment.

“We want these practitioners to take a key role today in developing a ‘blueprint’ for strengthening rural economies and preparing a path towards recovery from the recession by highlighting what kind of support businesses need, to grow into healthy enterprises with solid foundations offering secure employment.”
Later this year (24 and 25 November), the CRC will draw together the findings from the series of summits and examine ways of empowering rural communities to tackle environmental and economic shocks at a fourth, national summit to be held in the South West.