Update from Adele Metcalfe and Dan Yates, Live & Work Rural Officers at the Peak District National Park Authority
Since April this year, following the completion of the Peak District Community Planning project, we have both been working on the new Live & Work Rural Programme. This is a £1.253 million scheme involving the East Midlands Development Agency (emda), the Peak District National Park Authority and the Derby and Derbyshire Economic Partnership (DDEP) to support rural businesses and communities.
The three-year programme aims to help businesses create new jobs and safeguard existing ones and enable communities to carry out projects to benefit local residents. It is funded by a £595,000 grant from emda and DDEP, £458,000 of funding from the Peak District National Park Authority and £200,000 of additional support from various other partners.
The Live & Work Rural programme aims to:
- Offer advice to anyone who has a business idea or is thinking of setting up a rural company that uses the Peak District environment as an asset with the aim of sustaining existing and creating new jobs
- Work with existing companies to help them get grants from local and regional funding bodies
- Give companies advice about how they could use the Peak District environment to develop a business. This will complement business advice that will be offered by Business Link
- Help businesses reduce their carbon footprint, care for the environment and get recognition for their green credentials.
The programme will also be used to develop the Peak District National Park Authority’s existing community planning work. Live & Work Rural officers will work with Peak District communities to:
- Enable them to develop plans to tackle community issues, such as environmental projects, village facilities, etc
- Encourage local people to use their skills for the benefit of the community and help strengthen community groups or initiatives
- Help find funding to enable communities to deliver these projects
Parwich is a village we are keen to work with at an early stage in the Live & Work Rural Programme, supporting local residents and groups to build on the many successful projects that the village has achieved since the launch of the Parwich Management Plan in 2001.
If you believe that Live & Work Rural may be able to help your business idea, or if you have ideas on how Adele and myself might be able to support a community project in Parwich, please contact us on (01629) 816338.
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