Rural businesses in Worcs given EU funding to the tune of £2.2m

WORCESTERSHIRE is to receive £2.2m from European funds for the period 2015-18.

An announcement from the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA) confirmed the money is to be allocated to the county from the European Agriculture Fund for Rural Development and comes from Common Agricultural Policy direct payments. 

It is specifically intended for businesses in rural areas, including farming. Businesses will be able to apply for funding of activities that support Worcestershire Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP)’s’s wider European structural and investment funds strategy. 
 
Particular priority areas identified by the Government include building knowledge and skills in rural areas, funding new, and developing non-agricultural, micro, small and medium sized rural businesses and funding small scale renewable and broadband investments in rural areas.

It is also intended to support tourism activities in rural areas.
The funding is in addition to the notional allocation of £56m for Worcestershire announced by the Government last June. 
 
Worcestershire LEP will be delivering its final European funds strategy to Government by the end of this month, having received favourable feedback on its draft proposals submitted last October.
 
Peter Pawsey, executive chair of Worcestershire LEP, said: “Worcestershire has important rural areas, interests and businesses and, as such, we welcome any additional funding streams that recognise the particular challenges faced by rurally based businesses.” 

Huge strides made towards improving rural broadband services

THE first rural communities to benefit from the £15.47m roll-out of superfast fibre broadband in Coventry, Solihull and Warwickshire have been announced by project partners BT and Warwickshire County Council.  

Beginning in the spring, the superfast broadband will be available for the first time in parts of Alderminster, Fillongley, Henley-in-Arden, Kineton, Quinton, Long Marston, Snitterfield and Welford-on-Avon. In addition, fibre will also go live in areas of Stratford-upon-Avon and Wellesbourne not already enabled by any commercial roll-out.

The launch of the new services, long called for by business support organisations, is expected to prove majorly beneficial to firms in the various areas.

CSW Broadband is a partnership between Warwickshire County Council and its five district and borough councils, together with Coventry City Council, Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council and BT.

BT said that since the partnership was announced last summer, engineers had been surveying the network to ensure roll-out of the new technology was carried out in the most cost-effective and efficient manner.  

The project builds on BT’s on-going commercial investment in fibre across the area. The company has already pledged to bring faster fibre broadband to more than 1.7m homes and businesses across the counties of the West Midlands by the end of this spring. 

Improving outlook for Staffordshire’s livestock farmers says YB economist 

THE outlook for Staffordshire’s livestock farmers is set to improve this year, as the global recovery begins to take hold, a leading economist has said.

However, Tom Vosa, head of Market Economics at Yorkshire Bank, said that in the near term the region’s arable agriculture businesses still had significant challenges to overcome.  

Speaking to an audience of nearly 50 of the region’s farmers at Yorkshire Bank’s Business and Private Banking Centre in Stafford, Vosa suggested the UK’s livestock industry could benefit from less competition as increasing EU welfare standards may see many low-cost continental producers exit the market.  

Coming at the same time as the US lifts its ban on EU meat, this should give farmers the chance to regain pricing power and increase margins, he said.

For arable farmers however, he said the picture was more mixed with bad weather in recent years impacting crop yields at home while growing foreign output continues to drive down wheat prices.

With interest rates remaining low, one of the main points discussed at the event was financing investment in diversification.

Phil Tarimo, Yorkshire Bank’s Regional Director in the West of England, said: “In the face of falling yields and international competition, the UK’s farming industry has endured a deeper recession than most sectors, so it’s reassuring to see new opportunities now opening-up for our livestock producers.”