Rural Development Funding for England

Summary compiled by Gabrielle Lanceley, for Organic Farmers & Growers Ltd
August, 2008

The Rural Development Programme for England (RDPE) is a seven-year programme, worth £3.9 billion overall, jointly funded by the EU and national government.

The RDPE aims to support and promote sustainable farming, forestry and food sectors and also to bring wider benefits for the economy, the environment and rural communities during the period 2007 - 2013.

The Regional Development Agencies (RDAs) are working together with Natural England and the Forestry Commission to manage the funding.

Each region has identified its own funding priorities, so please contact your RDA as soon as possible (links to contact details for each English region are given below), to discuss your project.

They are very helpful and their aim is to discuss the proposed project with you and explain whether the project is likely to be suitable for funding before you are asked to write a detailed application.

It may be that funding isn’t available for the whole project but is available for capital grants, training, or marketing. It may also be that funding priorities will change over time, so your project may not be eligible for funding now, but money may become available later, your RDA will advise.

We have spoken directly to each of the agencies and they would be delighted to receive your applications. A number of them stressed that the money is there to support rural enterprise and won’t do any good until it gets used!

South West of England Regional Development Agency (South West RDA)
Region includes: Gloucestershire, Wiltshire, Somerset, Dorset, Devon, Cornwall, Isles of Scilly

Northwest Regional Development Agency (NWDA)
Region includes Cumbria, Cheshire, Merseyside, Greater Manchester and Lancashire

South East England Development Agency (SEEDA)
Region includes Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Berkshire, Hampshire, Isle of Wight, Surrey, Sussex, Kent, Medway

East Midlands Development Agency (emda)
Region includes: Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Northamptonshire, Nottinghamshire and Rutland

East of England Development Agency (EEDA)
Region includes: Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Norfolk, Suffolk

One NorthEast (ONE)
Region includes: Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, Co.Durham, Tees Valley

Advantage West Midlands (AWM)
Region includes: Shropshire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire, Worcestershire and Herefordshire

Yorkshire Forward (YF)
Region includes: Yorkshire and Humber