November 19, 2015 3:07 pm
The NEW West of England* LEADER fund will be open early in the new year for applications for grants from rural businesses and communities to support; employment creation, business and community innovation in rural areas and to help make rural communities more resilient to climate change. If you are a rural business or community organisation and think this might help you then do contact us to make an initial enquiry. We will check if your project is eligible and register your details so we can notify you when the scheme goes live.
Contact us on:
leader@westofenglandrdp.org.uk
(if email access Is a problem contact the Programme Manager on 01275 333701)
Applications are encouraged in following areas; Increasing farm productivity, Micro-enterprises and small enterprises including farm diversification, rural tourism, rural services, culture and heritage and increasing forestry/woodland productivity. Grants are available from £10,000 to the maximums shown in the table below:
| Support for Increasing Farm Productivity | £41,000 |
| Support for Micro and Small Enterprises including Farm Diversification | £145,000 |
| Support for Rural Tourism | £83,000 |
| Support for Culture & Heritage activities | £41,000 |
| Provision of Rural Services | £62,000 |
| Support for increasing Forestry Productivity | £41,000 |
LEADER is a European rural development fund established to address barriers to rural growth and well-being. Communities and businesses in the rural parts of North Somerset, Bath & North East Somerset and South Gloucestershire will benefit from £1.4 million of Government and European Union funding over the next five years. We will be running 2 calls per year from April 2016.
*The West of England includes the unitary authorities of Bath and North East Somerset, Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire but funding is only available for certain Output Areas defined as rural by Government. Thornbury, Paulton, Yatton and Congresbury are included as the defined rural area but other major towns, Bath and Bristol are not eligible.
The fund is managed by the West of England Local Action Group, a partnership of local organisations with strong ties into the rural businesses, communities and networks of the area. The partnership is supported by Bath and North East Somerset Council.
Contact details for more information:
West of England LEADER, c/o WERN, The Mill, Tunbridge Road, Chew Magna, Bristol BS40 8SP.
Email: leader@westofenglandrdp.org.uk Tel: 01275 333701