D2N2 Local Enterprise Partnership: Update bulletin for the VCS - 9
Welcome to the final update bulletin from One East Midlands on the work of D2N2 LEP and opportunities for relationships with the VCS.
If you not fully aware of the role of LEPs then more information can be found on our policy page at www.oneeastmidlands.org.uk/leps including links to individual LEP websites, including D2N2.
Final Update from outgoing VCS Board Member – Rob Crowder
As people may know, my two year term as Voluntary Sector representative at D2N2 has come to an end and we are in the process of appointing my successor. Time has gone very quickly and it has been a great honour to represent the sector over the last two years. I think that we have a strong reputation at Board level and I am pleased to report some of the successes we have had.
Over my time with D2N2 I have attended all of the Board meetings, the away days and the business sector events which I have been invited to. In addition, with my work hat on, I have been pleased to Chair the Rural Reference group, feeding information to the Board.
Achievements over the last two years:
With the help of One East Midlands and in particular Rachel Quinn, we have managed to have a big influence on the working of D2N2.
In February 2014, as I was battling to get my head round all of the different funding streams, I pulled together a document “Local Enterprise Partnership D2N2 and all you need to know.”
Over the summer of 2014 I led the sector in thinking through what it was that was important for ensuring people were socially included. This led to the development of the D2N2 “Social Inclusion Framework” which was enthusiastically received by the Board and used as the basis for future tender documents.
We were again asked for our comments on the Local Implementation Plan that would eventually form the basis of the tenders. Our comments were very critical of the document but again well received and taken on board.
Thank you to everyone who commented on this document as your involvement built our credibility and enabled us to work with the Big Lottery to develop the Big Lottery Fund Opt-in D2N2 Social Inclusion Programme.
We worked with the sector in April of this year to develop bid ready consortia. Once again the sector was magnificent at meeting the opportunities by forming partnerships and for the 3 invitations to tender that went out; there were 13 bids across the D2N2 area. The Board have now met to review these and the successful tenders will be invited to the second stage.
My final area of work has been around the creation of the Community Programme. Whilst the majority of large scale D2N2 funding will be used to support projects of impact and scale with benefits across D2N2, we wanted to add a smaller grants scheme that can add value to ‘mainstream’ delivery by promoting differentiated locally distinctive and innovative activity in communities across the diverse D2N2 area. Again with the help of Rachel and One East Midlands, I took a report to the September Board and have been asked to come back with some detailed proposals for the November meeting.
In addition to this work, D2N2 have funding through the European Agriculture Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD) - allocation of £5,523,249 to support economic growth in rural areas. As Chair of the Rural Reference Group I have, along with the group, been involved in developing the Calls Plan and endorse the proposed activities and calls. These were developed in light of the recent D2N2 Rural Conference (March 2015) which attracted nearly 100 delegates.
The aim of EAFRD funding is primarily to add value and build upon the delivery of the main ERDF/ESF Programme of business growth and support by recognising the need in rural areas to have equitable access to the business growth services.
EAFRD CALLS
Calls for applications are published and managed by DEFRA. The three themes that D2N2 shall put to DEFRA, to a total of £2,033,000 for our first wave of EAFRD activity starting Summer 2015, are:
Business Investment (Measure 6, sub 6.2) – grants at 40% intervention rate for businesses/social enterprises – (£933,000)
Recreation infrastructure/tourism (Measure 7, sub 7.5) with the ambition for projects with scale and impact to begin with grants of £50K minimum to include strategic cycling activities – (£750,000)
Tourism joint collaboration & developing marketing tourism (Measure 16, sub 16.3) for the promotion of new destinations and new marketing activity (£350,000)
Business Investment
The Capital grants call for the Rural Economy is now open and invites applications for investment that support growth in micro and small businesses based in the rural areas of Derby, Derbyshire, Nottingham and Nottinghamshire
This call will make available capital grants for eligible businesses to fund activity designed to stimulate growth in the rural economy such as:
investment in equipment, technologies or innovative processes to develop new or higher quality products
food and drink processing
farm diversification activities that will create business growth and new markets
construction or establishment of workshops, factories or machinery (where clear evidence of demand can be shown)
The EAFRD funding will aim to create at least 68 new jobs in the D2N2 rural area, boost tourism and visitor numbers, increase the turnover of businesses and increase productivity in the rural economy. The total grant funding available for this call is £933,000 and grants will be available from £35,000 up to £140,000 (€200,000)
For more information follow the link below:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/growth-programme-grants-for-the-rural-economy
D2N2 RURAL GRANTS EVENTS
A number of funding events have been organised for capital grants available through D2N2’s programme. These free information sessions are about the EAFRD funding and how to access it. The next event will be held on:
Thursday October 15, 4pm to 7pm - Council Chamber, Gedling Borough Council, Civic Centre, Arnot Hill Park, Nottingham, NG5 6LU.
To book online go to - www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/rural-eafrd-funding-workshop-south-nottinghamshire-tickets-18453283267
Tourism joint collaboration & developing marketing tourism
The D2N2 Tourism Co-operation call is now live and can be found at https://www.gov.uk/european-structural-investment-funds/tourism-call-in-derby-derbyshire-nottingham-and-nottinghamshire-08rd15to0002
The guidance (handbook) for applicants, including ‘who can apply’ etc, is accessible via the link on the front page of the call specification, https://www.gov.uk/guidance/tourism-cooperation-grants-growth-programme
It has been a great privilege to represent you all over the last two years and I thank you for the opportunity to do so.
Big Lottery Fund Building Better Opportunities – the D2N2 Social Inclusion Programme
Calls for expressions of interest for this programme closed in August 2015. After an early assessment process, Big Lottery Fund, with input from D2N2, will invite one organisation for each investment theme to move forward to full application.
Applications are currently proceeding through the assessment process. If you are interested in being part of this strategic programme but have yet to contact a lead applicant there may still be time to do so. The successful lead applicants for each of the themes will be announced in November via the Big Lottery Fund’s BBO web page – visit the D2N2 LEP area link for local information:
https://www.biglotteryfund.org.uk/global-content/programmes/england/building-better-opportunities
As a reminder the 3 themes are:
Towards Work
Multiple & Complex Needs
Financial Inclusion
As Programme Development Fund provider for the D2N2 area, One East Midlands has ensured that information about this programme is fully accessible to any interested organisation. This information remains on our website for future reference and can be accessed via this link Building Better Opportunities.
VCSE Board Member Recruitment - update
As you will already have read above, this is the last bulletin with input from current D2N2 VCSE Board member Rob Crowder. Rob’s 2-year tenure as representative is now up and One East Midlands recently issued a call for expressions of interest from individuals in the role.
Interviews will be taking place over the next few weeks and we will announce name and contact details of the successful candidate on our website at Building Better Opportunities.
D2N2 Community Programme – a new opportunity
As mentioned in Rob’s report at the top of this bulletin, One EM and Chimera Consulting have been heavily involved in the development of a rationale for a Community Programme across the D2N2 area.
In its European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIF) Strategy, D2N2 Local Enterprise Partnership set out its intention to deploy a portion of ESIF funds into a community programme to facilitate community level solutions to very local economic development issues. The community programme allocations includes both ESF and ERDF funds which could be invested across a wide range of activities including business start up and growth, low carbon initiatives, skills and employability and combating social exclusion.
Following extensive research with a wide range of stakeholders and potential match funders, the following priorities have been identified:
In September 2015 the Community Programme Working Group, led by Rob Crowder, presented our findings and recommendations to the LEP ESIF Programme Board. We are delighted to announce that the Board have given approval to progress the Community Programme towards commissioning early in 2016.
For more information on the programme and to read our research and recommendations follow this link.
So long and thanks for all the fish…..
Lastly, we would like to remind you that this is the last D2N2-specific update bulletin produced by One East Midlands. We hope that our work has really helped the VCSE sector’s understanding of ESIF funds, the role and work of D2N2 and how you can get involved. There are still many opportunities for the sector in the future and we hope that you will all continue to engage productively with D2N2 and the future VCSE representative once they are appointed. In the meantime we will ensure that all the contact details we hold are made accessible to D2N2 so you can continue to receive at least some form of information in the future. If you would prefer that we did not pass your contacts on please let us know by 1st November 2015 by emailing office@one-em.org.uk and ask to be removed.
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