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The Lancashire Rural Recovery Action Plan (LRRAP) is a five year dedicated funding programme to aid the regeneration of the rural economy across Lancashire. The LRRAP is already assisting a broad range of initiatives throughout the region and to date has committed almost £10 million of its available funds.
Brief information on projects can be found below or visit our news section for the latest project news.
Funding has been approved to assist the following key projects:
Rural businesses across Lancashire are benefitting from a new development grant from the Lancashire
Rural Recovery Action Plan. £1 million has been approved for Rural Lancashire Development
Grants managed by Lancashire County Developments Ltd, the economic development company of Lancashire
County Council. The scheme has been designed as a straightforward and accessible capital and revenue
grant fund for rural businesses not eligible for existing grant schemes and to complement or replace other rural funding.
Visit the LCDL website for further details
Budding young entrepreneurs in rural areas are being given a welcome helping hand by the Lancashire Rural
Recovery Action Plan under the Action For Rural Development project. The countywide scheme, managed by
The Prince’s Trust, is targeting unemployed people aged 18-30 who have difficulty accessing business
support and funding and will assist them primarily through The Prince’s Trust "Business Start Up"
programme. A Rural Business Adviser will work closely with other business support organisations, education and
training providers locally, to promote and provide required services.
Visit the Prince’s Trust website for further details
The LRRAP approved £60,000 for this project to provide premises improvement grants
to businesses in the market towns of Colne, Darwen, Kirkham, Longridge and Poulton. The scheme aims to encourage
investment and attract additional visitors by helping to revitalise four town centres and the wards of Darwen
which form part of the West Pennine Moors. Grants have been awarded to support frontage renovation and decoration,
new signage and replacement of lost historical features. The scheme is being managed by Lancashire County
Developments Ltd, the economic development company of Lancashire County Council, in partnership with the five
borough councils representing each of the towns.
Visit the LCDL website for further details
This project received £250,000 of funding from the LRRAP to extend the
NWDA’s Rural Small Buildings Scheme locally. The project, which ran until March
31st 2006, has helped to create jobs and support business growth through new build or refurbishment of
premises. It has been successfully delivered by Lancashire County Developments Limited, the economic
development company of Lancashire County Council, together with Lancashire Rural Futures. It is
anticipated nearly 70 new jobs will be created through the development projects supported across the county.
Visit the LCDL website for further details
This project which finished in March 2006 extended the grant assistance available for small businesses
into rural areas not covered by the Council’s existing scheme to help them expand. This helped maintain
and/or increase economic activity in rural areas as part of broader efforts to ensure the vitality of rural communities.
Visit the Lancaster Council website for more details
This scheme is working to renew and strengthen the recreation and tourism offer across the county.
The initiative aims to create working partnerships between rural tourism operators and establish
groups of businesses that can work together to increase consumer awareness of Lancashire’s rural
tourist attractions and secure increased visitor spend and numbers. The funding supports strategic
marketing, group marketing, events and product development in rural Lancashire from a single point of contact.
Visit the Lancashire Tourism website
for more details
The West Pennine Moors is a discreet upland area of around 90 square miles set between the large urban
areas of Bolton, Bury and Blackburn. The area attracts significant numbers of day visitors made up of walkers,
cyclists, horse riders and car borne visitors. The LRRAP contributed to the production of
the West Pennine Moors Sustainable Tourism strategy and action plan to develop the economic potential of the
environmental assets of West Pennine Moors. The Statement of Intent provides the strategic policy framework
and project development and implementation programme for the management of the West Pennine Moors until 2010.
View the
West Pennine Moors Statement of Intent Review
The LRRAP awarded funding to The Forest of Bowland Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) EUROPARC Sustainable Tourism Strategy project to help produce a sustainable tourism strategy and action plan for the whole of the Forest Of Bowland AONB, an area of national and international importance because of its unspoiled and richly diverse landscapes and wildlife.
The tourism strategy and action plan was an important step in the Forest of Bowland’s achievement of the
Europarc Charter for Sustainable Tourism in protected areas giving the AONB international recognition as
the first AONB in England to achieve this prestigious award. The Charter requires a clearly identifiable
and discrete sustainable tourism strategy.
Visit the Forest of Bowland website for more details
Coordination of advice and support for rural business is another strategic aim of the programme.
This is being delivered in the main by this key project which provides first-stop rural business advice
and guidance and assists businesses to access a range of economic and environmental grants.
Visit the Lancashire Rural Futures website for more details
The Lancashire Rural Recovery Action Plan has approved funding for an initiative to help tackle key issues
facing the farming community. The Building Farmer Collaboration in Lancashire project will assist farmers
and farmer controlled businesses (FCBs) to strengthen profitability, competitiveness and to reduce the
numbers of people leaving the industry.
Visit the EFFP website for more details
This project maintains the Made in Lancashire brand to support food producers and processors in rural Lancashire.
It also complements the work of the North West Fantastic Foods Partnership locally. This is a group of organisations
from across the North West whose role is to assist local food producers to develop their businesses and market their products.
Visit the Made in Lancashire website for more details
Funding from the LRRAP will help put rural art and craft on the map and support enterprise
to stimulate the economy. Made in Lancashire Art & Craft is intended to support self-employed
craftspeople and micro businesses to become more sustainable and competitive through developing supply
chains and routes to market; improving the capacity of businesses; and providing a sector specific web portal.
The overarching objective is to grow existing art and craft businesses and encourage new start-ups at the same
time as extending the Made in Lancashire brand to embrace quality and authentic art and craft products.
Visit the Made in Lancashire website for more details
The Lancashire Rural Recovery Action Plan is helping the RSPB to create one of the largest areas of
semi-natural habitat on the UK coastline in the heart of Lancashire. The programme has approved funding
for an exciting new restoration project to enhance the Ribble Estuary Regional Park by creating a 30 square
kilometres haven on the Ribble Estuary, the UK’s most important estuary for birds.
Visit the RSPB website for more details
Horse-riding and mountain-biking could hold the key to regenerating the rural economy of the West Pennine Moors.
One of the projects to receive funding from the Lancashire Rural Recovery Action Plan aims to stimulate the local
economy by creating an off-road bridleway route to better service these activities. Funding of £90,000 from
the LRRAP has been agreed to help the £730,000 project create a West Pennine
Moors Bridleway Loop to provide much needed infrastructure to strengthen the tourism offered
and attract more visitors to the area.
Visit the
Lancashire County Council Environment website for more details
This project forms part of the long-term development of Lytham Hall as an Historic House and Country Park.
The funding has enabled the restoration and conversion of the West Wing at Lytham Hall in order to develop a
new venue for conferences, meetings and community activities focused around building and heritage conservation
skills in West Lancashire.
Visit the Heritage Trust website for more details
One of the LRRAP’s aims is to sustain the environmental inheritance. The Cuerden Valley
Park Restoration project has now completed an extensive restoration of an historic landscaped park.
As well as the restoration of many of the original Victorian Estate features, the project also included the
enhancement of the tourist and recreational facilities available, providing an improved tourism and educational
resource for school visits and lifelong learning. New Deal for the unemployed was a key part of the delivery
providing training opportunities and new jobs.
Visit the Wildlife Trust
website for more details
This initiative which finished early in February 2005 laid some foundation towards developing and promoting
new recreational access to Lancashire's countryside as well as to realising the value of the landscape and
accessibility of Lancashire as a recreation and tourism asset.
This work is being continued through Lancashire County Council.
Visit
Lancashire County Council's website for more details
An extension of the Enterprising Rural Communities model, this project supports community-led rural regenertion.
It is working to tackle the issues of social and economic exclusion in rural Lancashire through the development
of new community enterprise and co-opertive activity. The project focuses on assisting rural communities to
develop either new or existing community facilities to a level where they will act as a hub for the surrounding
communities and on building the capacity of communities to improve their ability to develop and manage projects and funding bids.
Visit the Community Futures
website for more details |
