£9m EU Boost for Rural Projects and Broadband in Greater Lincolnshire

The European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD) has allocated £8,782,191 to the Local Enterprise Partnership area of Greater Lincolnshire in England, which among other things could be used to fund small-scale renewable and broadband infrastructure improvements in rural areas.

The new investment, which will also be used to develop knowledge and skills in rural areas and to fund new and developing rural businesses not connected to agriculture, comes from a pot of £177 million that is being split between the United Kingdom’s 39 LEPs and is intended to be spent between 2015 and 2020.

Ruth Carver, Manager of the Greater Lincolnshire LEP, said:

“This is an important allocation for us to get and one we worked hard for, so we are delighted with this award. We invested a lot of time in lobbying on a national level to make it clear that Greater Lincolnshire, as a largely rural region, deserved to be given an amount which reflected our needs.

This funding will go a long way towards securing the economic future of our area, allowing us to build and strengthen the local economy in a sustainable way. We look forward to working with our partners in the private and public sector to write and deliver a plan for growth.”

Sadly the final details on how the fund will be spent are still being investigated and a strategy is expected to be announced shortly, with the first eligible local projects being invited to bid from spring 2014.