Scotland: National Rural Network
This is the first part of the event report from the Rural Network regional event in Dumfries and Galloway, which took place at the Town Hall, Lockerbie on 17th February 2010. In this part you can read about the Chair's opening remarks, and information updates on the Rural Network, LEADER and Rural Priorities. In Part Two, you can find out about two excellent project presentations and the facilitated discussion session.
Around 45 delegates attended the Scottish National Rural Network regional event in Dumfries and Galloway. Chair Cathy Agnew welcomed participants to the Town Hall in Lockerbie. Ms Agnew is chair of the Dumfries and Galloway Local Action Group and was involved in the Catstrand venue in New Galloway.
Ms Agnew said the whole aim of the day was for as many people as possible to get to know each other. There is an assumption that everyone in a rural area knows each other, but this is not the case.
Dumfries and Galloway is the third largest region in Scotland, with small settlements spread across a large area. Forty percent of schools have fewer than 50 pupils, and the proportion of elderly residents is the highest in Scotland. The average pay is nine percent lower than the Scottish average and house prices have increased 130 percent in the past ten years. However, she said there is a wealth of cultural and natural resources in Dumfries and Galloway.
Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations' Head of Rural Policy Norman MacAskill and Scottish National Rural Network Website Editor Norette Ferns gave an update on the aims of the Rural Network and its three components: the national Rural Gathering event, the 20 regional events and the Rural Network website.
Ms Ferns gave a brief overview of the content that is available on the SNRN website, including the events calendar, Projects Database and Featured Projects. She encouraged delegates to get involved with the website, to sign up to the weekly newsletter and add their content directly to the site using the step by step instructions in the How to Add Content section.
Nicola Hill, Field Officer with Dumfries and Galloway LEADER gave an interesting overview of the programme. D&G LEADER is based in Rural House, New Abbey. They had their first meeting of the new programme in September 2008 and it will run until 2013. D&G LEADER has a budget of £2.85 million, of this £1.1 million has been committed to 37 approved projects.
The Local Action Group has 19 members, and Ms Hill advised there are some spaces, and if anyone is interested they should get in touch with her. Community and business sectors make up 88 percent of the LAG membership with Dumfries and Galloway Council and Scottish Natural Heritage contributing towards operating costs.
D&G LEADER have five themes which mirror the Scottish Government's strategic themes. They also have 12 community priorities which came out of a consultation towards the end of the previous Leader+ programme. These include 'adding value to local product's and 'developing a diverse and dynamic business base'.
The average grant is around £30,000, and D&G LEADER can fund up to 50 percent of project costs. Ms Hill explained that they are not able to match any other European funding. There is a two stage application process, with quarterly rounds. Ms Hill said, if after the first round applicants were advised not to go on they would get help and pointers on where to go for funding. She said it generally took three months to work up an application.
Ms Hill then gave an overview of some of the projects that they've funded including the Motorcyle Tourism project (which you can find out more about in Featured Project: Motorcyle Scotland), the Savour the Flavours project, Dumfries and Galloway Cricket Development Group (again, find out more in Featured Project) and the Cults Loch Archaeological site.
And D&G LEADER isn't just about giving the money out - it's about more than funding, said Ms Hill. There are training opportunities - all projects undertake a claims process training course once their project is approved. There are also learning journeys, networking events and LEADER roadshows.
Ms Hill said they were also very interested in cooperation projects with regions of Scotland, UK and Europe. They have hosted visitors from Groningen Local Action Group from the Netherlands, and have participated in a seminar in Groningen with other groups from Estonia and Hungary. In 2010, D&G LEADER will launch the transnational project 'Day in the Region'. There is also a potential transnational project with Finland, and another with Fife involving the film industry.
You can find out more about D&G LEADER by downloading the D&G LEADER presentation, emailing Nicola Hill at nicola.hill@dumgal.gov.uk or calling 01387 850 228.
Chris Miles, Area Manager for Scottish Natural Heritage and Chair of the Dumfries and Galloway Rural Priorities Assessment Committee (RPAC) gave a presentation on the Rural Priorities programme. Rural Priorities is part of the £1.6 billion Scotland Rural Development Programme, which also incorporates LEADER and a number of other funding schemes.
Mr Miles said it was one of the key sources for land management projects but also for business and community activity. He said it is a one stop shop programme but one that is quite complicated because it covers so many options. There is a wide breadth of things that can be funded from soil and water management to community services and facilities. One hundred and twenty-six options are available, plus combinations of options.
There is an integrated approach with Scottish Government Rural Payments and Inspections Directorate, SNH and Forestry Commission Scotland managing the scheme. In Dumfries and Galloway there are 27 case officers across these three organisations, and expert advice is also sought from other organisations including SEPA, Scottish Enterprise and the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations. He said there was a collaborative approach, but they tried to make things as seamless as possible and one case officer would stay with applicants throughout the process.
Mr Miles explained that the move of the Community Services and Facilities option from Rural Priorities to LEADER was still being discussed and no announcement had been made yet, so applicants can still come to Rural Priorities. He said applicants should get in touch with either himself or Nicola Hill at LEADER if they were unsure which programme they should apply for. He said to date larger community projects were better suited to Rural Priorities.
Rural Priorities has been successful in Dumfries and Galloway to date. Mr Miles said there has been pretty good geographic coverage of projects across the area. A total of 347 projects have been approved - which is 81 percent of those applied for - with a total grant value to date of £28.4million.
Mr Miles then gave an overview of some of the successful projects. These included Ovebreed Ltd, sheep breeding services, being awarded funds to expand into new purpose built facilities, RSPB's creation of new native woodland near Newton Stewart and Nether Keir Farm's installation of a new milking system and housing for an expanded milk herd.
You can find out more by downloading Chris Miles' Rural Priorities presentation and by visiting the Scottish Government's SRDP website.
In Part Two you can read about project presentations from Here We Are in Cairndow, Argyll and the Xcel Project from Dumfries and Galloway.
The Dumfries and Galloway event is just one of a series of 20 taking place across rural Scotland. You can get details of events still to take place in our Regional Events section and get reports from events that have taken place in our Rural Network Regional Events archive.
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