LEADER – £12 million scheme to improve rural communities

LEADER is a French acronym meaning ‘Links between actions for the development of the rural economy’. It is based around local action groups (public, private, voluntary and community sector partnerships) developing and implementing a Local Development Strategy in a coherent geographical rural area (maximum 150,000 population) – via a locally delegated, ‘bottom up’ approach.

emda has now created a £12m LEADER funding initiative to assist rural communities in improving the quality of life and economic prosperity of their local area through small scale innovative projects.

The money is being managed through an Invitation to Apply for Grant Funding (IAGF) scheme by emda. Groups will be asked to express an interest before September 30th 2007.

Some groups will then be asked to prepare a strategy and spending plans. These will then be assessed with successful schemes ready to start in early 2008. A scheme must fall under one or more of the following categories:

The initiative is part of the £3.9 billion Rural Development Programme for England (RDPE). The programme will last until 2013 and is currently awaiting final approval in Brussels.

To find out more and to apply download the Invitation to Apply for Grant Funding CLICK HERE

For more information contact Richard West in the RDPE team at emda on 0115 988 8421.