The Isle of Wight is celebrating the first year of successfully funding 27 local rural projects, leading the rest of the UK in delivery. This success has been a direct result of attracting an additional £115,000 of LEADER funding from the South East Region which was unable to utilise their funding. The grant monies are available for projects to enhance the vitality of the Island’s rural community by supporting agriculture, rural business and local people.

The Isle of Wight has already attracted £2.6m LEADER funding which is in place until 2013, with up to £50,000 of grants available. The funding derives from the Rural Development Programme for England (RDPE), through its local LEADER initiative, with projects ranging from farm diversification across the Island, to rural business investment and local community action.

Judi Griffin, chairman of the local LEADER Action Group said “we are delighted to have been able to secure the funding for the Isle of Wight and after only six months we are proud that we have been able to support projects which will have a positive impact on our rural communities.”

Thanks to LEADER, islanders will have the ability to purchase an extended range of local products, including yoghurt made from Island milk as a result of Calbourne Classics’ successful bid for funding. Their aim was to produce the Isle of Wight’s first local yoghurt using their RSPCA Freedom Food Accreditation to market the product as well as the environmental aspects of buying local food. The yogurt is now available at Three Gates, Farmer Jacks, Briddlesford Lodge and King’s Manor farm shops.

Louise Hart of Calbourne Classics said ‘The LEADER funding has given us an opportunity to increase our range of products and improve our mail order service, without it we could never have entertained this expansion.”

Other projects include The Isle of Wight fruit Co-Op, a recently formed group of three Isle of Wight based growers wishing to improve the returns from their soft fruit crops and an egg grading machine allowing local farmer, Matt Bowman, who already produces Stone ground flour, to grade eggs more efficiently and giving him the opportunity to select the larger eggs and sell them at a higher price.

Bridget Welling, Programme Manager, Isle of Wight Economic Partnership added; “attracting extra funding was only possible through the hard work of the project leaders and the successful and strong partnership working on the Island. We are extremely pleased with the amount of projects which have been approved, but we continue to look for innovative ideas from rural areas”.

The funding programme is controlled by the LEADER local action group and managed by the Isle of Wight Economic Partnership. The Isle of Wight Council is the Accountable Body.
If you have a project that will specifically benefit the Island’s rural economy, or are a community group with a significant project that will enhance local services, please contact Carol Flux on 01983 535836 or visit www.iwep.com for further information.