News
A support service for farms in Teesdale has boosted its capacity to take calls and enquiries – with help from the Rural Development Programme for England (RDPE).
Upper Teesdale Agricultural Support Services – or UTASS – has been able to upgrade to a modern telephone system and IT infrastructure at its new premises in Middleton-in-Teesdale, after receiving £4,000 capital investment from RDPE.
It means the charity, which offers a range of services to people working in agriculture and living in the local community, is equipped to work with more clients and provide new methods of support.
Manager Diane Spark said: “On a typical day we’ll deal with more than 40 individual enquiries and we have more than 1500 members who use our services, so this new technology is already helping us manage our workload and communications more efficiently.
“We’ve just moved into new premises with around twenty times the space we used to have, so it was the right time to make sure we’ve got the infrastructure in place to continue increasing our support to local farms and families.
“We’re delighted with the new systems and the RDPE investment was crucial to get them in place.”
UTASS opened in May 2000, initially as a part time support service for people involved with agriculture in Teesdale, but since foot and mouth disease has grown to offer and host a wide range of services - from Defra form-filling and Citizen’s Advice outreach to youth drop-in sessions, training, advocacy, and computer loans. UTASS also produces regular briefings, de-jargonising documents for farmers and helping them with form filling, along with an out of hours service for urgent enquiries.
Funded by the European Union and Defra and managed by One North East, the RDPE micro-enterprise programme is providing more than £1m this year to help small rural businesses start-up, grow and diversify. It can help with elements including start-up revenue and capital investment costs, technical and marketing support, product development, branding and design.
Tenant farmer and One North East rural board member, Ian Brown, said: “Investment in new technology is key to the growth and competitiveness of any business, and is one of the areas with which RDPE can help.
“The services UTASS provides are highly valued in Teesdale – helping farms and the wider rural community not just with day-to-day questions and issues, but also with some of the huge challenges faced by the land-based sector in recent years.”
The funding is available through the North East England Investment Centre (NEEIC), which works to help emerging and existing companies to develop and grow by investing public funds in those entering into business development projects, using external suppliers.
The NEEIC is accessed through Business Link’s expert brokers and all applications are assessed on the contribution they make to improving the economic prosperity of the region.
Businesses with an existing relationship with Business Link should ask their account manager for more information about the investments available, or for more information call 0845 600 9 006.
Business Link Rural Account Manager John Atkinson spent time with UTASS, analysing its needs and exploring various sources of financial support when he identified that funding may be available via the NEEIC. John said: “This shows just how flexible RDPE funding can be for a range of business development activities. UTASS’ office move was the logical time to look at their IT needs for the future, and they now have a much better system in place to continue improving their offer to clients.”
The Rural Development Programme for England 2007-2013 is jointly funded by Defra and the European Union, with the aim of delivering targeted support to rural businesses and communities. It is managed in the region by One North East, Natural England and the Forestry Commission.
The RDPE investment being managed by One North East combines larger projects to help many businesses in different sectors of the rural economy - including bioenergy and land-based skills, and projects adding value to agricultural and forestry products - with smaller investments to help individual businesses to start-up, grow or diversify, and support to develop more sustainable rural communities. Rural community partnerships are shaping how at least 25% of the funding is invested themselves, using the LEADER approach.
For more information on RDPE in North East England, visit: www.rdpenortheast.co.uk
For more information on RDPE, visit:
http://ec.europa.eu/agriculture/rurdev/index_en.htm
http://www.defra.gov.uk/rural/rdpe/index.htm
Ends.
For more information, contact Claire Mason (press office) on 0191 2296429 or 07765220755, or by emailing Claire.mason@onenortheast.co.uk
« Back to list