SWARD South Western Area Rural Development

Overview

Through SWARD, the Rural Development Programme offers a fantastic opportunity to support rural communities and enterprises to diversify into non-agricultural activities, support business creation, encourage tourism activities, village renewal, improve access to basic services and conservation and upgrading of the rural heritage.

Measure 3.5, Village Renewal, will open for applications on Wednesday 28 May 2014 and close at 4 pm on Monday 16 June 2014.

Eligible Activities

Eligible activities will be limited to those relating to the implementation of actions identified within a current village plan such as, but not limited to, environmental improvement works, leisure or recreational amenities.

The overall priority is physical regeneration and enhancement; applications will be prioritised based on the implementation of small scale developments, re-imaging and other stand alone capital works that have been identified as priority actions within current village plans and which can be completed within a limited period.

Levels of Funding

Funding for eligible costs may be available at the following rates/levels:

• Funding will be limited to a maximum of £50,000 per village/village-like settlement. Applications are welcome from individual settlements or clusters of village-like settlements that meet the eligibility criteria. Collaborative applications per district are also welcome and must not exceed the maximum allocation available per settlement.
• Private business/individuals – 50% of eligible projects costs
• Social economy enterprises, eligible community based organisations, non-departmental public bodies and local Councils – 75% of eligible project costs

Eligibility Criteria

To be eligible for consideration under Measure 3.5, valid settlements must have a population of 50 - 4,500 (as identified by the Census statistics)

Applicants must provide by the closing date of 4:00pm on 16th June evidence of meeting the following additional criteria in order to be deemed eligible for consideration:

1. As per RDP Axis 3 programme operating rules, project end dates cannot extend beyond 30th September 2014. Applicants must clearly demonstrate through the submission of an implementation plan how this can achieved, factoring in a timescale for procurement of a contractor and completion of works. It will be at the discretion of SWARD to determine if submitted implementation plans are realistic and achievable;
2. A current village plan which demonstrates evidence of extensive consultation with the local community and key village stakeholders to be submitted with the application;
3. Written confirmation of match funding and where applicable full Planning Permission (including change of use and any other Statutory Requirements) must be in place and evidence of same submitted with the application;
4. For projects involving capital works, evidence of ownership, a lease or other similar agreement permitting the project to proceed must be submitted with the application;
5. Demonstrate how the project actions are eligible under the Rural Development Programme and not the responsibility of another statutory body.

Items 1-5 above can be submitted either by uploading the relevant documents to the EU Grants Website when submitting the application electronically or by returning in hard copy to the SWARD Cookstown office before the closing date of 4:00pm on 16th June.

Applications may come from private individuals aged over 18 years, private businesses, social economy enterprises, eligible* community based organisations, non-departmental public bodies and local Councils.

(*Where the total project cost is greater than £10K Community/Voluntary groups must be registered as Community Interest Company, Limited Liability Partnership or Company limited by guarantee. Where the total project cost is £10K or less the Community/Voluntary group must have a constitution in place. In all cases a lease must be in place to cover the duration of the project (1 year, 2 years etc).