More than £5million is to be made available to help rural businesses in the D2N2 Local Enterprise Partnership’s area.
LEADER – the French acronym stands for ‘links between the rural economy and development actions’ – is a European Union initiative which provides funding at a local level to help rural businesses and create new jobs.
Four new LEADER programmes – two which have been launched and two which will shortly be, offering a total of £5.8m – cover large parts of the D2N2 LEP’s area of Derby, Derbyshire, Nottingham and Nottinghamshire.
The LEADER programmes recently launched are:
- Peak District – Derbyshire Economic Partnership, backed by Derbyshire County Council, has secured £1.7m for businesses in the Derbyshire Dales, High Peak and Staffordshire Moorlands. For more details on this programme see the website by clicking HERE.
- Bolsover and North-East Derbyshire (BNED) – Awarded £1.3million for businesses in the Bolsover and North-East Derbyshire area. See website HERE.
Two further LEADER programmes will be launched at the beginning of January 2016 –
- North Nottinghamshire – Up to £1.5m in grants for rural businesses in Newark and Sherwood, Bassetlaw and Mansfield. See website HERE.
- South Nottinghamshire – £1.3m available for rural businesses and organisations in Rushcliffe, Gedling and Ashfield. See website HERE.
The funding is to cover projects for the six priorities of:
- increasing farming productivity
- micro and small enterprises, and farm diversification
- rural tourism
- provision of rural services
- supporting culture and heritage activities
- increasing forestry productivity.
The minimum grant which can be applied for is £3,500. The LEADER programmes’ funding will last for five years (until 2020),
The D2N2 Local Enterprise Partnership works with LEADER programmes funding bodies, to develop and support rural businesses.
D2N2 also receives additional, separate EU funding to promote economic growth in rural areas; its £5.5m from the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD).
This D2N2 EAFRD allocation is being used to back two funds, currently still open to applications from businesses in the LEP’s catchment of Derby, Derbyshire, Nottingham and Nottinghamshire. They are:
- £933,000 in total to help new or established small or micro businesses in rural areas to expand and create new jobs. The application deadline is 5pm this Friday (November 27). For more details go to website HERE.
- £350,000 total to help businesses and organisations interested in creating a strategic plan to grow (mainly rural) tourism in the D2N2 area. Applications must be received by 5pm on Friday, January 8 (2016). Further details at website HERE.
Media wanting more information about the work of the D2N2 LEP can contact Sean Kirby, D2N2 Communications Manager, on 0115 9578749 or email: sean.kirby@d2n2lep.org
