Scotland: National Rural Network
This is the first part of the event report from the Rural Network East Renfrewshire regional event which took place in Neilston on 4th February 2010. In this part you can find out about information updates on LEADER, Rural Priorities and the Scottish National Rural Network. In Part Two, you can find out about project presentations and the discussion session.
The East Renfrewshire regional event of the Scottish National Rural Network took place on 4th February 2010 at the Glen Halls in Neilston. Chair for the morning session, Councillor Stewart Miller, welcomed around 40 delegates to the event. The key message from the morning's information sessions was that funding is available for rural projects in the area, and both LEADER and Rural Priorities are keen for more projects to come forward.
Beverley Maclean, SNRN Regional Coordinator gave an overview of the Rural Network and its aim to connect rural Scotland and promote rural growth. Mrs Maclean gave an outline of the regional events programme, of which the East Renfrewshire event was the fourth of 20 taking place across the country.
Norette Ferns, SNRN Website Editor gave an overview of the website, the information that is available including news, events and documents, as well as the various ways users can get involved. She also highlighted the benefits of receiving the weekly email newsletter, which delivers all the latest news and information from the site direct to your inbox.
You can find out more by downloading the SNRN update presentation from the documents library.
Suzanne Tyrrell gave delegates an overview of the East Renfrewshire LEADER programme. This is the first time East Renfrewshire has had a LEADER programme, so it is new to a lot of people.
Ms Tyrrell explained that LEADER is part of the £1.6 billion Scotland Rural Development Programme. LEADER accounts for around five percent of the programme. The East Renfrewshire LEADER Local Action Group has 14 members including councillors, farmers, trusts, voluntary organisations and others. Ms Tyrrell explained that it is these people who had responsibility to give out the grants, not the Council.
The East Renfrewshire LEADER programme launched in April 2009 and will run for three years. Rural areas of East Renfrewshire are eligible, these are Eaglesham, Neilston, Waterfoot and Uplawmoor. Constituted community groups, social enterprises, micro-businesses, voluntary organisations, public sector bodies and individuals with public support are eligible to apply.
Ms Tyrrell said they were looking for as many enquiries as possible. The area has £340,000 of LEADER funding and they have already committed £157,000.
Projects must benefit rural areas and should be based in a rural area, however there are exceptional circumstances. For example, if someone in Barrhead had a project specifically to benefit rural areas then East Renfrewshire LEADER would certainly have a look.
The two themes they are focussing on are:
Ms Tyrrell explained these had been chosen out of possible themes as they were the two widest. Projects coming forward should fit these themes.
Ms Tyrrell then explained the application process to delegates and said they have tried to make it as straightforward as possible. The initial inquiry form is just one page long. Fifty percent of funds must come from elsewhere and you can't match fund with any other European money. She suggested that the Whitelee Wind Farm money could be a good source of match funding.
The next stage is a full enquiry form which is longer, but Ms Tyrrell said she was there to help you. Scoring is done by the LAG and a letter is sent to the applicant. There is lots of information on the East Renfrewshire LEADER website, including the scoring matrix so you can see how your application will be scored.
Ms Tyrrell said there has been a decision this year to award up to 90 percent from January to December 2010, however it is up to the Local Action Group to decide.
You can find out more on the East Renfrewshire LEADER website and by downloading Suzanne Tyrrell's presentation from our documents library.
Keith Wishart from Forestry Commission Scotland is the Chair of the Clyde Valley Rural Priorities Assessment Committee (RPAC). He gave an overview of opportunities under Rural Priorities, the overlap between LEADER and Rural Priorities, Regional Priorities and examples of community projects.
Rural Priorities is also part of the £1.6 billion Scotland Rural Development Programme. It makes up around 40 percent of the programme, which is just over £600 million. It is a competitive scheme.
The RPAC is made up of Forestry Commission Scotland, Scottish Natural Heritage, Scottish Government Rural Payments Inspections Directorate, SEPA, Scottish Enterprise and local authorities. They have met approximately every four months.
Mr Wishart said there is definitely overlap between Rural Priorities and LEADER. And there is no single rule of thumb for deciding which to apply for - it depends on the project, its location and so on. He said LEADER is better for smaller projects - these are less competitive and unlikely to score well in Rural Priorities. LEADER is also better for projects employing project staff, for feasability studies and projects involving training.
Mr Wishart said if an applicant was unsure they should get in touch with Ms Tryell at LEADER, or the Rural Direct service. There are links between the two - Tommy McGrory sits on the East Renfrewshire Local Action Group and is also a case officer for Rural Priorities.
Each RPAC has its own regional priorities, however Mr Wishart said these priorities were more and less the same across the regions. A breadth of projects are eligible including landscape, agri-environment, biodiversity, water and soils and many more. Mr Wishart said is likely that the priorities will be reviewed and revised over the coming year.
The types of community projects that could be funded under Rural Priorities include developing community buildings, projects identified through meeting service needs through Community Planning, and taking over community-led services from other public sector providers.
Mr Wishart said that if you had tried Rural Priorities early on and didn't get on well, it might be worth trying again as there have been improvements and some of the hurdles have been removed. There was a review of the SRDP recently and there have been improvements. For example, applicants can now bypass the first stage of applications (Statement of Intent), there is ongoing approval of most forestry cases. Two Centres of Expertise have also been set up, one for Historic Environment and one for Rural Communities. Match funding was proving to be challenging for some applicants, but the intervention rate has been boosted from 50 to 90 percent.
In Clyde Valley there have been 382 Statements of Intent, with about five percent of these being in East Renfrewshire. Around 75 percent of these were given an amber light. Most applications are from traditional industries and there have been few rural communities or public access applications. Mr Wishart said he was very keen to see more projects from the Clyde Valley area. There are around 100 applications across Scotland coming from communities for the next RPAC. Mr Wishart concluded by saying the key message is that funding is there - there is no lack of resource to fund good projects.
You can find out more about Rural Priorities on the Scottish Government's SRDP website and by downloading Keith Wishart's Rural Priorities presentation from our documents library.
In Part Two of the event report you can read about four project presentations and find out what happened during the day's facilitated discussion session.
Get involved in our ForumDuring the discussion session in the afternoon, a number of successful projects involving young people were highlighted as being inspirational. These included midnight football in the neighbouring Renfrewshire area and a litter clean up. Have you been involved in an innovative project that engages with young people? You can share your stories in the Inspirational projects involving young people discussion forum.
The East Renfrewshire event is one of 20 events taking place throughout the country as part of the Scottish National Rural Network. You can find out about events still to take place in our Regional Events page and in our Rural Network Regional Events archive you can find presentations, photos and event reports from previous events.
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