RDPE - Rural Development Programme for England

27th February 2009

Categories: Funding - North East

RDPE - Rural Development Programme for England

Description

RDPE is a nation-wide, seven year (2007 - 13) programme for delivering funding allocated to England by Europe and DEFRA (the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs).  The total fund is £3.9 billion.   80% of this is for improving the countryside and land management, 10% is for improving the competitiveness of farming and forestry and 10% is for improving the quality of life in rural areas and rural diversification.

In North East England there are six priority areas:

• micro-enterprise development
• bioenergy
• sustainable farming and forestry
• natural and cultural assets
• sustainable communities
• tourism and recreation

In terms of tourism and recreation, the purpose of the fund is to increase the quality, range and competitiveness of the region's regional tourism offering and to encourage networking, partnership working, collaboration and innovation.

Eligibility

The fund is available to new and existing businesses and to community projects, for both start up and expansion.  To be eligible you must be able to show your project meets the aims and themes of the fund and that you are well organised and capable of delivering the project.  Up to 50% of a project's cost can be met (to a total of £10,000) or up to 70% off a community project. You must be able to demonstrate you can find the rest of the funding required and that the project could not go ahead without the RDPE grant.

Find out more

All requests for information or applications for the funds must be handled through Business Link North East.  To find out more you should:

• Contact Business Link on 0845 600 9 006
• Visit the RDPE North East website at www.rdpenortheast.co.uk
• Download this comprehensive guide to RDPE in North East England

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