North pennines celebrates success of leader+
The success and achievements of the North Pennines LEADER+ programme are to be celebrated at a special event this month (September).
Since its launch four years ago the programme's Local Action Group, made up of local people from the community, voluntary, business and public sector, has distributed nearly £2.5 million in grants to 172 projects in the North Pennines area, which covers parts of Durham, Northumberland and Cumbria.
The LEADER+ funding has also helped attract an additional £6 million from other public and private sector sources.
LEADER+ is a European Community initiative, managed in England by
Defra, that promotes dynamic rural communities and economies by funding grass-roots projects, conceived and implemented by the communities that will benefit from them.
The success of the North Pennines LEADER+ programme will be marked at a special event coinciding with its annual meeting at the Irthing Centre, Brampton, Cumbria on Wednesday, 14 September 2005. (Media are welcome to attend 12-3pm)
James Bradley, Head of Rural Partnership Division at Defra in London will be attending the event and will make a short presentation on the future of LEADER+. He will also launch a new Defra publication, a case study guide allowing those unfamiliar with the LEADER+ approach to see how its principles work on the ground and how they contribute to sustainable rural development.
The Local Action Group is a key element of the LEADER+ programme as local people decide the area's priorities and which projects should receive funding. During the day members will take part in workshops to highlight the achievements of the North Pennines programme and what makes a "good" project.
Members will then enjoy a buffet lunch provided by organic Fairtrade caterers 'Well Stuffed' with invited guests including people involved in some of the projects supported by LEADER+ and representatives from partners and other organisations involved in supporting sustainable rural communities.
The North Pennines programme has received particular recognition for the active involvement of local people in the Local Action Group and for the number and quality of the partnership projects developed with other EU countries.
The event will also provide an opportunity to look forward to the future. The management structures and timescales for the new programme are still to be finalised and this event provides an opportunity to consider and to learn from the achievements and success of LEADER+.
It will also offer a chance for people to meet the programme's new coordinator Nigel Mills. Mr Mills, who took up his post in June, has a wealth of experience in working with local communities having previously worked for West Durham Groundwork Trust and more recently for the Creswell Heritage Trust, where he was involved in a wide range of heritage and community-based regeneration projects.
Mike Downham, Chairman of the Local Action Group of North Pennines
LEADER+, said:
"Together with our partner programmes in Cumbria Fells and Dales and in North Northumberland, I believe LEADER+ has made and continues to make a major contribution to maintaining and developing sustainable communities throughout the rural areas of north east and north west England.
"This is clearly demonstrated in the range, variety and quality of the projects we have funded, in the recognition by project applicants of the special quality of the LEADER+ approach and in the outputs the programme has achieved.
"The key to this success has been the empowerment of the local community, through representation on and ownership of the Local Action Group, which is at the heart of the programme's decision-making process, and in the true partnership working that has been a characteristic of the North Pennines programme.
"It will be important to ensure that any successor programme continues to recognise the particular contribution rural communities and landscapes make to the quality of life in northern England, taking account of the diversity, small scale and local nature of rural issues and the way everything links to everything else - farming, jobs, businesses, community life, healthy living.
"LEADER+ must continue to make a major contribution to delivering regional development strategies for rural areas, working alongside other partners and delivery organisations.
"We intend to carry out more qualitative assessment of the achievements of the programme to date and to review our organisational structure so that we are in the best position to adapt to and deliver the next LEADER+, which seems likely to follow when the current scheme ends in 2006."
The North Pennines LEADER+ programme has supported a wide range of projects including rural businesses, tourism, community projects rural services, environmental and heritage schemes, health initiatives and arts opportunities. They have included:
* Langdon Beck YHA which received grant funding to help it become the Youth Hostel Association's first truly green hostel with the installation of solar powered hot water systems and a 2.5 kilowatt wind turbine. The project has led to the Green Beacon hostel programme throughout the UK;
* Low Luckens Organic Resource Centre received start-up funding and now develops and manages a wide range of projects that promote sustainability across food, farming, countryside conservation, waste, energy and water use through training and education.
* The SNAP project brings together young musicians from the North Pennines, Halsingland in Sweden and Brittany in France to experience and share their musical heritage. Young people rediscover the value of their own local traditions and find new inspiration in the music of other places.
* Tynedale Wheels to Work project helps local unemployed people living in rural areas to get to work or training through the loan of a car or scooter.
* Teesdale and Weardale Search & Rescue Team received a grant to help fund Project Iceland to help take members of its youth team to Iceland to forge new links between the two countries and offer more opportunities for local youngsters;
* Kirkoswald After School Club will provide opportunities for children to cook, taste and prepare healthy recipes as well as growing their own organic food. The children will keep a diary and produce a newsletter detailing their experiences.
In the coming months the programme aims to focus on several specific areas including healthy lives, living and working landscapes, interterritorial and transnational projects, support for micro-businesses and social enterprises and those involving young people.
