RDPE Approved

The Rural Development Programme for England (RDPE) has been approved by the EU.  The set of schemes, worth a little over €4bn inthe period 2014 to 2020, was signed-off by the European Commission on the 13^th February.   This will now allow DEFRA and other organisations to start the roll-out of the various schemes under the so-called ‘second Pillar’ of the CAP.  However, the launch of some schemes may be delayed by the General Election.  The period of ‘purdah’ when policy announcements cannot be made for fear of influencing the result runs from the 30^th March to election day on the 7^th May.  It may well be June before applications are accepted to some elements.

To recap, the RDPE is organised under a number of headings;

• Environment – agri-environment schemes will take up the biggest slice of RDPE funding (87%).  The new Countryside Stewardship Scheme (CSS) (see November article) will be the flagship programme, although much of the money will actually go to funding existing ELS and HLS agreements, rather than being on offer for new contracts.  Around £2bn will honour existing commitments leaving around £900m for the CSS.
• Competitiveness – this will comprise 4% of total funds.  It will include the ‘Countryside Productivity Scheme’ – the successor to the Farming and Forestry Improvement Scheme (FFIS).  This will fund projects to improve animal health and welfare, water and soil management, or woodland productivity.  Detailed scheme rules are awaited.  Also under this heading is training.  It is claimed the RDPE will create up to 120,000 training places.
• Growth – the 5% of RDPE funds channelled into this area will go into Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs).  These quangos will set their own funding priorities, and it will be up to the farming sector to know (and influence) what their local LEP is doing.  More details can be found at www.lepnetwork.net/.  LEPs are likely to want to offer relatively large grants (up to £0.5m) significant projects.
• LEADER – these ‘community groups’ will have 4% of RDPE funds.  Local Action Groups (LAGs) in each LEADER area will set priorities.  Like LEPs, it will be important to know what is happening locally.  Most LEADER groups are likely to offer 30%-50% grants for small scale projects up to £100,000 in scope.  For more details see – https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/leader-approach-in-the-rdpe-national-delivery-framework/leader-approach-in-the-rdpe-national-delivery-framework

As can be seen, accessing funding under the RDPE may be complex (there are at least half-a-dozen acronyms in this article – Ed).   We will keep readers informed of any major announcements, but much is likely to happen at a regional or local scale.  Therefore keep an eye out over the coming months.  Full details of the RDPE can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/rdpe-programme-document-2014-to-2020