The Cotswolds Conservation Board has received an allocation offer of 2.49 million Euros (equating to £1.99m) for the delivery of a new Cotswolds LEADER Programme covering significant parts of rural Oxfordshire, Wiltshire, and Gloucestershire.

This European funded grant programme in the Cotswolds is scheduled to be ‘Open for Business’ for applications starting in the Autumn of 2015 until 2020. A Local Action Group (LAG) - Executive has been established, and an Advisory Network is being further developed to actively support engagement and delivery of the programme with a broad range of organisations and communities.

LEADER funding is focussed on supporting farmers, foresters, and small rural businesses, enabling them to realise sustainable productivity and growth potential, including further strengthening their competitiveness and position in the market. The programme is forecast to create 98 new permanent jobs, and will support transformational change within the Cotswolds rural economy. It will further support sustainable innovative investment in tourism, rural services, culture and heritage, as well as securing a range of additional wider benefits such as: community-led development, improved productivity, and resource management.

Expressions of Interest

Do you have a project idea that you think would be eligible for LEADER funding? Click here to download a Expression of Interest form and send it back to James Lloyd.

Click here to view a map of the Cotswolds LEADER area (file size = 2MB).

For further information, guidance, and support about this exciting new grant funding opportunity please contact:

James Lloyd LEADER Programme Manager

Tel: 01451 862033

Email: james.lloyd@cotswoldsaonb.org.uk

Who will be eligible to apply for a grant?

Grants will be available if you are:

• a farmer or grower
• a rural business owner
• living in a rural community
• managing land or woodland

There are 6 priority areas for the Cotswolds LEADER investment (listed in order of priority):

• Micro enterprises and farm diversification
• Rural tourism
• Increasing farm productivity
• Increasing forestry productivity
• Culture and heritage
• Rural services

What is LEADER?

LEADER is part of the Rural Development Programme for England, which is jointly-funded by Defra and the European Union. It stands for ‘Liaison Entre Actions de Developpement de l’Economie Rurale’ which translates as ‘Links between the rural economy and development action’.

It is a community-led rural development programme which aims to improve the quality of life and prosperity in rural communities through locally driven and sustainable rural development initiatives and projects.

LEADER is a grant fund which could bring significant benefit to small businesses and communities in the Cotswolds.

LEADER as a whole has its origins in a series of EU initiatives dating back to 1991 and seeks to deliver rural development at the neighbourhood level. The programme grew out of the Integrated Mediterranean Programmes of the 1970s, and was formally constituted in 1988 by the European Parliament.

How much funding will be available?

The Cotswolds Conservation Board, together with its partners submitted two bid options for the Cotswolds area from 2015-2020. The allocation of LEADER funding across England was a competitive process based on the submission of a Local Development Strategy (LDS); only those places with the best LDS were chosen. The LDS clearly sets out the local issues facing rural businesses and identifies what needs to be done to address them.

Defra and the Rural Payments Agency supported the larger proposal and have allocated £1.998m for the programme.

Click here to download the LEADER Local Development Strategy for the Cotswolds area which covers the whole of rural Stroud, extends further into West Oxfordshire and incorporates the whole of Cirencester.

Click here to view an infograph for the Cotswolds Local Development Strategy

Timescale

• February 2015: Defra make national announcement on LEADER programmes.
• March/April 2015: Contract paperwork to be agreed.
• May 2015: Training programme for LEADER staff led by Defra.
• September/October 2015: Open for business.

Further information

Download the LEADER Local Action Group Structure

Download the Cotswolds LEADER Delivery Plan Summary

Download the Local Action Group (LAG) Executive Group Terms of Reference.

Download Membership of the LAG Executive Group

Useful Contacts:

James Lloyd LEADER Programme Manager

Email: james.lloyd@cotswoldsaonb.org.uk

Tel: 01451 862033