This is an archived project and is for information only. The fund is no longer active and the project is closed.

Overview

The West of England is the combined area of Bath and North East Somerset, Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire Councils.

Under the LEADER programme funds have been allocated to support the development of rural businesses, social enterprises and communities. All available funding has been allocated and the grant scheme is now closed to new applications. Monitoring of approved projects continues.

The LEADER Programme is managed by a partnership body called the West of England Local Action Group. The partnership is supported by the West of England Rural Network on behalf of the accountable body, the West of England Combined Authority.

Who can apply, what can be applied for?

To help in your application please read our Local Development Strategy. This was prepared as part of our application to ensure the West of England was successful in applying to be a LEADER fund holder and describes our ambitions to create employment, encourage innovation, educate, help reduce poverty and mitigate climate change, in a geographical area often overlooked by larger investments.

Key criteria

Under this fund the key criteria are:

You should be a business, social enterprise or community organisation
The project should be in a defined rural part of the West of England (although the applicant may be based elsewhere)
The project should create jobs and business growth
Your project fits one of the 6 LEADER priorities and also the West of England local priorities
You can meet the match funding requirements

What is the rural area of the West of England?

There is an agreed definition for eligible rural areas. In general though for the West of England we include all the areas outside the two cities of Bristol and Bath together with the major towns. However we have included Thornbury, Paulton, Yatton and Congresbury.

National and local priorities

The six national LEADER priorities of generating jobs and growth are:

Increasing farm productivity
Micro-enterprises and small enterprises including farm diversification
Rural tourism
Rural services
Culture and heritage
Increasing Forestry and woodland productivity

To help meet these national priorities a set of core objectives and policies have been developed for the West of England LEADER Programme to secure and create jobs through:

1 An expanding, future-proofed food, farming and horticultural sector

2 Rural micro and small businesses making the most of the goods, services, diversity and traditional richness of the West of England’s rural landscape

3 A mature and successful tourism infrastructure based on the local distinctiveness

4 Well connected, healthy, active and resilient rural communities, where people are able to mutually support each other and develop creative solutions

5 A diverse and vibrant range of culture and heritage resources based on people, communities, traditions, properties and landscapes

6 An innovative and sustainable forestry (and woodland) sector in the West of England

7 Maximising the benefit from the close linkages between the cities and the rural areas

8 A thriving social enterprise sector underpinning the rural economy

Programme priorities and Inspiration

We are looking for projects applications that are bold and creative. As this is a new fund in the West of England there are no local examples of LEADER funded projects in our area yet so we have tried to define our local policies in more practical terms and to direct you to similar projects.