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Farmers and rural communities have benefited from £9.3m in targeted support from One North East in the past year.

The regional development agency topped its target of £8.5m for the financial year 2009-10 to help deliver more far-reaching support to this important sector.

The Rural Development Programme for England 2007-2013 is jointly funded by Defra and the European Union, and is managed in North East England by One North East, Natural England and the Forestry Commission.

As a result of the investment programme in the past financial year, 981 jobs are anticipated to be created, 811 jobs safeguarded and 521 skills days created.

Projects which have benefited from investment include:

• A grant of £80,000 to upgrade storage, processing and bottling facilities at Rock Farm Dairy, and a grant of £120,000 to Lanchester Dairies, both County Durham, to enable local farms to handle increased sales after the collapse of Dairy Farmers of Britain in Blaydon

• Two grain storage facilities in Northumberland are benefiting from around £1.75m investment which will allow scores more local farmers across the North East to have their grain processed and stored

• Funding of £860,000 towards a Newcastle University project at Cockle Park Farm, near Morpeth, Northumberland, to create a state-of-the-art anaerobic digester which converts manure from pigs and cattle into green energy

• Helping farms to diversify to secure a successful future including Homer Hill Farm, Rainton Gate, Durham, to relocate its shop to on-farm premises and Carrs Farm in Wolsingham, Durham, to open an education and training centre

• A grant of £400,000 specifically for Tees Valley businesses to help rural farms diversify and boost the local economy

• Funding of £457,000 to Lintz Hall Farm in Burnopfield, to expand and modernise its egg processing, grading and packaging facilities in response to changes in legislation, benefiting eight businesses who were unable to cope with the changes

• Grahame O’Kane of G T O’Kane Timber, Rothbury, Northumberland, who specialises in forestry contracting in small woodlands, has received over £60,000 in two phases and is one of many such businesses to receive funding to help improve the region’s biomass supply chain.

Alan Clarke, One North East Chief Executive, said: “We are thrilled that we have exceeded our targets essentially because we have ensured that farmers and rural businesses in the region are receiving money that has been specifically set aside to help allow them to prosper and secure a successful future.

“Partnership working has been critical to the success of the RDPE programme with stakeholders, local authorities and delivery partners cementing a real regional effort.

“While the success of the RDPE programme in the North East to date is encouraging, we will not rest on our laurels and will continue to work hard to ensure that this important sector gets the right help and guidance it deserves in order to ensure it contributes to the continued recovery of the North East economy.”

Landskills North East also forms part of RDPE and is managed by Lantra, the Sector Skills Council for the environmental and land-based industries, on behalf of One North East. 

An example of projects it has approved during the year is Border Crop Management which comprises a 15-strong group of forward thinking farmers who received £12,000 to enable them to take part in training sessions to help keep them at the cutting-edge of arable technology. They shared their own experiences to help make their individual businesses stronger with considerations for the environment.

LEADER also forms part of the RDPE programme delivering £1.5m of the allocated budget through a community led approach and is seen by One North East and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs as an important way of addressing rural needs. Each of the four LEADER areas has a Local Action Group (LAG) made up of public and private partners.

One successful project delivered during the year was Heatherslaw Light Railway at Ford and Etal, Northumberland, which received £42,530 from the Northumberland Uplands LAG for a new steam locomotive and two additional carriages. 

The improvements will boost visitor experience at the attraction, securing the existing six jobs at the railway and creating a further full time and part time job. It is also estimated that ten jobs in the local economy will be secured and a further three will be created as a result of the trickle-down effect of an additional 40% boost to visitors to the railway by 2011.

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. 

RDPE Business Support is part of Solutions for Business, the Government’s package of publicly funded support products offering help to companies to start, grow and succeed. Solutions for Business makes it easier for companies to get the advice and assistance that they need.

For further information on the full package of support, visit www.businesslink.gov.uk/northeast or call Tel: 0845 600 9006.

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 about the RDPE funding, contact Alison Laggan (press office) on 0191 229 6613 or email alison.laggan@onenortheast.co.uk.