Funding

Background to South Devon Coastal Local Action Group

South Devon Coastal Local Action fgroup was set up in 2008 to invest in economic, environmental and community based projects that encourage innovation and promote the prosperity of the South Devon Coastal area.

We are a partnership of public, private and voluntary sector representatives sharing a common vision for our designated area. Operating at a true grassroots level and fully engaged with the local community through the partnership members, our Group seeks project that we can fund under this programme to foster the wellbeing of our communities and the competitiveness of our businesses, whilst safeguarding the beautiful landscape and natural resources of the area.

Our aim is to secure "a diverse and multifunctional landscape harnessed for sustainable economic and community benefits."

The programme is being run through Devon Renaissance with support from South Hams District Council.

We started by preparing a Local Development Strategy. This outlines our plans for how funding could help make improvements in the area. Our strategic aims are:

• linking and adapting businesses for improved economic performance;

• sustaining communities through community enterprise and linked service provision;

• marketing and sustaining the area’s unique selling points;

• building the capacity to deliver rural development locally.

This was approved by Defra in 2008 who then allocated us £1.8m to help deliver some of our aims and objectives. Please note that the fund was reduced to £1.6m in 2011 as a result of overall government cuts to the RDPE programme.

Every year we prepare a delivery plan each year to show our plans,

South Devon Coastal LAG Delivery Plan 2011 (note that the budgets in this plan have since been adjusted)

South Devon Coastal LAG Delivery Plan 2010

South Devon Coastal LAG Delivery Plan 2009

 

Location

The area covers 468 sq km of rural coastline, estuary and countryside in South Devon. The Area is tightly defined and bounded on the south by the sea; on the east by the urban area of Torbay; on the west by the urban area of Plymouth; on the north by the adjoining Greater Dartmoor Local Action Group area.

The Area lies wholly within the administrative boundary of South Hams District Council and occupies the southern half of the District, containing 15 wards and 3 part-wards which wholly encompass 38 parishes. These are listed below:

The wards wholly or partly in the SDCLAG area are as follows:

 

The parishes in the SDCLAG area are as follows:

Our South Devon Coastal area is a distinctive and coherent area for Local Action. The defining characteristic is its nationally important coastline and estuaries, with a rolling hinterland of mixed farmland. The deeply incised landscape gives the Area a strong sense of rurality and remoteness despite its proximity to the Plymouth and Torbay urban areas. The Area’s physical geography closely determines its social and economic characteristics with important traditions of farming, maritime activity, fishing, food processing and tourism.

 

Source of Our Funding

This funding comes from Europe and from Defra, under the Rural Development Programme for England, which aims to safeguard and enhance the rural environment, improve the competitiveness of the agricultural sector and foster competitive and sustainable rural businesses and thriving rural communities.

You can find out more about the background to this funding here.