Over the last 5 years the Cumbria, Fells & Dales Local Action Group (LAG) has delivered funding under the Rural Development Programme for England with a project grant budget of £5.9 million. Grants have been awarded to farms, foresters, small businesses and rural communities across the LAG area. Combined with match-funding we have facilitated a total investment of more than £13.9 million. This investment has supported the creation of 150 jobs and safeguarded 50.  It has also delivered 10,000 training days to 5,000 beneficiaries.

An Executive Summary of the Programme Evaluation can be found here

The LAG has been awarded Defra funding to cover the period of ‘transition’, during 2014, to enable the development of a new Local Development Strategy which will set priorities for the new 2015-2020 Rural Development Programme.  This funding has been matched by contributions from Cumbria County Council, Eden District Council, Allerdale Borough Council, Copeland Community Fund, South Lakeland District Council and Lake District National Park, and support from Action with Communities in Cumbria (ACT).

In order to inform our work during 2014, we are seeking the views of as many individuals, rural networks, local businesses, community groups and public bodies.  We will do this through,

-A programme of consultation with stakeholder organisations and individuals in the area.

-Consultation workshops, focus groups and meetings

-Online surveys to identify the needs of businesses and groups

-Recruitment of new LAG members

How you can get involved:

-Take part in one of the Consultation events - The LAG holding a series of Consultation meetings and workshops in Spring 2014 which will provide an opportunity to share your views, opinions and ideas about development priorities for the area.

-Project ideas – although funding will not available until 2015, we would still like to hear from you if you have a project idea that you would like to discuss. We are keeping a list of prospective projects so we can contact you when future funding becomes available. Please contact the Cumbria, Fells & Dales office via email if you would like to be added to this list and receive further news of funding opportunities.

-By completing a survey which will come online in the next few weeks.