North Wessex Downs LEADER Programme

Deadlines for applications for the final grant award panels

It is still not too late to apply for a grant from the North Wessex Downs LEADER programme.  However, if you have not yet submitted an Expression of Interest then you really need to get your EoI together very quickly (by the end of February).

If you have received feedback on your EoI's and have been sent the application forms to proceed to a full application, then in order to stand the best chance of receiving part of the remaining money, you need to get your complete application in as speedily as possible.

We currently have about £300k to allocate and anticipate awarding the remaining grant available in the forthcoming months. This will be the end of the NWD LEADER funding.  It is always difficult to anticipate which applications will be submitted and what the panel decisions will be - and therefore at which point all the funds will be committed.

The forthcoming panel meetings and deadlines are:-

LAG & panel meeting 28th February - deadline for applications is closed

Panel meeting 28th March - deadline for applications is 1 March

If there are remaining funds:-

LAG meeting and panel 3rd week in May tbc - deadline for applications will be 23 April.

The key message is, that we still have money to award to good projects, but if you want to benefit from this LEADER funding this is your last chance.

If you want to discuss your ideas, please contact Corinna Woodall on 01488 680456 or complete the EoI form and email it to nwdleaderprogramme@wiltshire.gov.uk

LEADER Conference - Reducing On Farm Greenhouse Gases and Saving Money

On Monday 27th February 2012 North Wessex Downs and South Oxfordshire LEADER Programmes are sponsoring a conference for farmers and farm advisors organised on our behalves by Adam Twine.

The focus of the event is about reducing Greenhouse gas emissions on farms and how this might also save money.  We have been fortunate in securing Poul Christensen local farmer and Chair of Natural England to speak, as well as other key speakers such as Jonathan Scurlock NFU Chief Advisor on Renewable Energy and Climate Change. Key to the day will be a session on carbon accounting and how to audit your farm by Jonathan Smith of the Carbon Cutting Toolkit.

Clare Balding showcases grants at LEADER Forum 2011

What: North Wessex Downs LEADER Grant Forum

When: Thursday 17th February 2011, 09.30am - 1.30pm

Where: Hungerford Town Hall, Hungerford

With grants of up to £50,000 available, this annual gathering was targeted at farmers, foresters, rural businesses and communities based within the North Wessex Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty who are seeking funding to develop their businesses or provide facilities for the benefit of their local area.
At this year's event we were delighted to have Clare Balding as a guest speaker who used her expert interviewing skills to draw out real experiences from three very different LEADER grantees. Clare dug deep to find out how they found the LEADER process, what difference they made locally, and reveal some useful advice for budding enterprises.

Please play the sound clip below to hear Clare's inspirational presentation:

Having grown up in Kingsclere, Clare has a strong personal link to the North Wessex Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and explains: "Every time I travel home from London, I feel a strong spiritual connection to the landscape and believe we have a strong responsibility as landowners." Clare continues: "What excites me about the LEADER grants is that they reward invention and loyalty to the landscape. If we feed back in, we have more to feed on. LEADER grants also help to save both countryside and community. Obviously there has to be a careful balance between making a living and protecting the landscape but the trick is to maintain the best of the past and the best of the present to make a better future."

As Chairman of the North Wessex Downs LEADER Local Action Group, Ian Ritchie explains: "We have helped new businesses get off the ground; supported existing businesses make major investment in the latest equipment and technology; assisted communities to improve local amenities and helped create many new jobs. We have around £1million to award and are looking to invest in more such opportunities in the next two years."

If you have a seed of an idea and think that up to £50,000 could help you, please go to our website www.northwessexleader.org.uk and download an Expression of Interest form or for more information, contact Corinna Woodall, LEADER Programme Manager on 01488 680456, email corinna.woodall@wiltshire.gov.uk

From left to right, image shows previous LEADER grantees being awarded certificates of completion of their project (bracketed):


Clare McMurray (Three Trees Farms)
William Betts (Hamsptead Norreys Community Shop)
Pamela Betts (Hamsptead Norreys Community Shop)
Clare Balding
Oliver Rowlands (Seasoned Timber Company)
Gary McMurray (Three Trees Farms) - stage right of Clare
Michael Rowlands (Seasoned Timber Company)

Money for farm efficiency

Source: Farmers Weekly, Feb 2011.

If you're a farmer, you might have heard of FRIP (Farm Resource Improvement Plan) which offers grant money towards improvements or new kit which help you to manage water wisely, save nutrients, avoid pollution, or save energy. Or all of the above!

Check with your Regional Development Agency about how to apply, and when the next round of grant applications goes through. SEEDA has just ended Round Four but it might be worth contacting them to find out if another round will begin soon.

Farmers in the South East should contact the South East England Development Agency's RDPE team on 01483 470123 or email frip@seeda.co.uk.

Farmers in the South West should look up the South West Agricultural Resource Management (SWARM). Farmers can access the funds following an advisory visit under either the Resource Efficiency for Farmers (R4F) or Soils for Profit (S4P) projects. To attract grant aid, the equipment has to be in the list of kit identified as priorities in the relevant action plan.

RDPE funds and the cuts

The RDPE Network will continue to operate through to 2013. Overall responsibilities for the Network will now transfer to the new Rural Communities Policy Unit in Defra from the 1st Dec 2010 onwards.

In the mean time, it is 'business as usual' and we remain committed to delivering LEADER funds, so please keep feeding in your ideas and opportunities to us.

Keep updated on the RDPE Network through its website, by telephone (01242 534054), e-mail or twitter.

Prince's Countryside Fund

If yours is a rural project The Prince’s Countryside Fund might be another grant source relevant to you. The Prince's Countryside Fund has three goals:

- To improve the sustainability of British farming and rural communities, targeting the areas of greatest need;
- To reconnect consumers with countryside issues; and
- To support farming and rural crisis charities through a dedicated emergency funding stream

The charitable objects of the Fund are:

 

1. the conservation, protection and improvement of the physical and natural environment in farming and/or rural areas;
   
2. the advancement of education in all matters relating to farming and/or rural areas;
   
3. the prevention or relief of poverty in farming and/or rural areas;
   
4. the advancement of health in farming and/or rural areas;
   
5. the promotion, for the benefit of the public, of any charitable purposes and in particular charitable purposes connected with rural regeneration in areas of social and economic deprivation throughout the UK by all or any of the following means:
   
   (a) the relief of financial hardship;
   
   (b) the advancement of education, training or retraining, particularly among unemployed people, and providing unemployed people with work experience; and
   
   (c) the provision of financial assistance to promote employment opportunities in farming and/or rural areas.
   

British LEADER project database

Unsure of whether your project is worth a LEADER bid?

Case studies of sucessful projects are available for you to read at the RDPE Network. There is a whole database of hundreds of examples of business investments such as A Corner of Eden which have been through the LEADER application process, and were awarded money by their Local Action Group.

Please remember that each LEADER area has its own local priorities, so you must check that your proposals are in line with the themes of the North Wessex Downs LEADER Programme.