Welcome to the Scottish Borders LEADER website
Welcome to the Scottish Borders LEADER Programme 2007 – 2013 website. The Scottish Borders LEADER Programme has a budget of £2.42m to support locally-driven projects in the Scottish Borders. LEADER is a fund created by the EU and the Scottish Government. It takes its main aims from the ‘Scottish Rural Development Programme 2007 – 2013′. The aim of LEADER is to fund projects of a pilot nature which address local issues using innovative and sustainable methods.
On this website you can find out how the LEADER Programme works, what sorts of projects LEADER funds, who can apply and for how much.
Latest News
Scottish National Rural Network event in the Scottish Borders
The date for the Scottish National Rural Network (SNRN) Scottish Borders conference has been confirmed – 16 February 2010, at Springwood Hall, Border Union Showground, Kelso. Please save the date in your diaries. All rural stakeholders are invited e.g. farm businesses, land managers, other rural businesses, and community groups. The event is being organised by the Scottish Government’s Scottish National Rural Network, and will be an opportunity to hear about best practice projects funded by the Scottish Rural Development Plan and LEADER in the Scottish Borders and in other rural regions, and well as an opportunity to focus on future developments.
The event programme and booking information will be circulated shortly. We would welcome your initial ideas for showcasing best practice business and community projects to help shape the programme. As well as project presentations, there will also be exhibition space for showcasing projects.
Community Services and Facilities (CSF), Local Development Strategies and Additional funding for Broadband to stay with Rural Priorities – for now
Projects which fit these critera which are still in development should continue to follow Rural Priorities guidance and timescales, in consultation with Case Officers. Details on the arrangements for assessment beyond the March RPACs will be announced in due course.
Change of intervention rate for LEADER grant funding
The Cabinet Secretary recently announced that in 2010 applicants may be able to apply for LEADER to fund up to 90% of their project costs although this is at the discretion of each LEADER region. The LEADER Local Action Group partners in the Scottish Borders are discussing how this change and that of the transfer of the funding packages above can be managed in such a way that will enable the LEADER Programme to continue to fund a wide variety of innovative community-led projects in the region. Advice will be given to projects once we have confirmation of all the changes to the LEADER Programme. Please contact the LEADER Coordinator if you have any questions.
Application Deadlines to the Scottish Borders LEADER Programme
Grants are awarded quarterly. The deadlines are follows:
- 25 March 2010, with awards being made at the Decision Making Group on 6 May 2010.
- 24 June 2010, with awards being made at the Decision Making Group on 19 August 2010.
- 20 October 2010, with awards being made at the Decision Making Group on 2 December 2010
