Rural Development Programme

The Rural Development Programme (RDP) is a national programme designed to bring about economic and social change in the countryside. It provides help to rural businesses and communities which need to adapt and develop.

On the Isle of Wight the RDP seeks to help Islanders regenerate the countryside outside of the comparatively large towns of Ryde and Newport.

The key aims of the RDP are to:

• Improve the rural economy and reduce levels of unemployment
• Improve the quality of life for the rural population
• Focus help on those groups in need, especially older and younger people
• Improve the environment of the rural area

Over the last fifteen years more than £15 million in rural grants has been issued and more than 1,000 jobs created on the Island.

The Isle of Wight Rural Development Programme, which funded by SEEDA, is administered through the Isle of Wight Economic Partnership. The programme started in 1994 and is due to finish in March 31st 2004.

The RDP has funded – either in total or in part – a high number of projects:

• Abattoir and Retail Feasibility Plan
• All Island Foyer
• Americas Cup Jubilee Education Project
• Angel Community Radio
• Arts Away
• Arts in Healthcare
• Bembridge Community Centre Upgrade
• BMX and Skateboard Facility, Cowes
• Brading into the Millennium
• Brading Partners
• Brading Roman Villa
• Brighstone School Environmental Project
• Business Mentoring Manager
• Cadet Boats and Safety Cover
• Corf Campsite – Improvement to Facilities
• Cowes Sports Football Club Development
• Cross Street Enhancement
• Delegated Projects Fund
• Developing Northwood Playgroup
• Domestic Violence Co-ordinator
• Ferry Road
• Green Island Awards
• Island 2000
• Isle of Wight Branding Marketing Initiative
• Isle of Wight Indoor Cricket Academy
• Medina Marching Band
• North Medina Community Development Trust
• Outreach Support for Older Persons
• Playworks
• Rolling Stock Restoration Project
• Rural Deposit Guarantee Scheme
• Rural Outreach Positive Engagement Team
• Sandown Bay Young Women’s Project
• Shalfleet Community Project
• Small Business Network
• Somerton Business Park
• Soundbeam
• Stroud Toddlers Playground
• Sustainable Tourism Workshops and Conference
• Ventnor Gateway Access
• West Wight Information Centre
• West Wight Nursery Training Centre
• Wight Wheels
• Youth, Community and Crime Prevention

Rural Deposit Guarantee Scheme

The Deposit Guarantee Scheme offers a guarantee to a private landlord on behalf of a tenant who wants to move into a property. The scheme was already a success operating out of offices in Newport but needed extending into rural communities for those who have difficulty in reaching the main office.

The aims of the project are:

• To assist rural people to access private rented housing
• To provide practical assistance for those wishing to engage in the private rental sector
• To raise awareness of the extent of homelessness on the Island
• To improve the supply of property available for rent
• To reduce rural homelessness

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Rural Outreach Positive Engagement Team

There is a good deal of evidence that people drop out of substance abuse programmes due to travel and/or money difficulties. This project provides a mobile visiting service to rural areas in East Wight to combat those problems, offering a comprehensive programme developed from visits by the mobile team.

Advice is also given on a variety of issues and helping clients to access adequate accommodation, primary healthcare, debt counselling, benefits advice and liaison with other agencies.

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Sandown Bay Young Women’s Project

In 1999 a consultant employed by the Management Committee found that there was little or no provision for young people, especially women, in Sandown. Therefore this project was set up to work with statutory and other voluntary agencies:

• Reduce the social exclusion experienced by many disadvantaged young women, especially young mothers, who are living in temporary or unsuitable accommodation in an area where public transport is difficult and where they are often separated from family and other support networks
• To improve the health of both mothers and children
• To improve the education, skills and employment prospects for young women

It is housed in one wing of Winchester House, comprising of three rooms – an office/interview room, a crèche and a café/work room with kitchen facilities.

The project meets the needs of young women in areas such as parenting skills, antenatal and postnatal care, crèche provision, health advice, counselling services and both formal and informal education.

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Shalfleet Community Project

Shalfleet is in an area of rural isolation, dispersed community and had no central resources centre for youth orientated services such as an after-school club, holiday and homework/projects club or a youth club.

Shalfleet Primary School has been funded to open as a facility to house all of these clubs as well as to provide opportunities for life-long learning and a mobile community advisory service for young people and students living in the area.

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Small Business Network

The Island has a culture of self-employment with a business start-up rate much higher than the national average. It also has a high proportion of SME’s which fall outside the natural remit of organisations such as Business Link.

This project encourages start-ups and supports them for the first two years by offering support to establish a self-help network of contacts, events and a newsletter. The newsletter will be a way of offering free press releases about business successes and provides a further method of networking with other Island companies in similar situations.

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Somerton Business Park

There has historically been a shortage of industrial space on the Island but especially in the Cowes area. Despite high demand, low rental incomes have meant that investors and developers have been reluctant to build speculative units.

This project creates 4,248 sq metres of industrial floor space in an area of previously developed land and improves a currently unused area for the benefit of new and existing occupiers, helping to meet the demand for work space that exists. In doing so it extends employment opportunities and the provision for work-based training.

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Soundbeam

Soundbeam is not a musical instrument in its own right but a way to play and control sounds by movement. The direction, speed and distance of body movement is translated into electronic music via a connection to a midi system. The sensitivity of the beam allows even the most disabled to make a sound literally ‘with the blink of an eye.’

This project will improve the quality of life for the disabled and disadvantaged of the Island by offering them a new and different facility. There will be a team of trained practitioners offering a programme of sessions across the Island.

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Stroud Toddlers Playground

Freshwater is an RDP area that is classified as deprived, with high unemployment and many low income and one-parent families. The playground provides a safe, clean environment for children to play with restricted boundaries and no dog fouling.

The provision of modern play equipment is designed to encourage the young to develop their co-ordination, dexterity, self confidence and social skills.

It also provides social inclusion opportunities for parents with small children, which breaks down social barriers and creates an area where parents can relax while their children play safely.

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Sustainable Tourism Workshops and Conference

The IW Council has stated that partnerships and local communities need to be the focus in rural regeneration. They seek to take a lead on this basis by bringing together providers, communities, agencies and interest groups in the field of sustainable tourism.

This will allow aiming for:

• Initiating and expanding local business opportunities in tourism related activities
• Promoting the value and worth of local, cultural and environmental heritage
• Providing networks for communities of interest
• Developing sustainable transport initiatives in conjunction with partner groups
• Developing the Island as a centre of environmental excellence and learning

This will all be established by organising a conference and a series of seminars for all-comers and major players to inform, advise and develop a process to achieve a co-ordinated goal.

More Examples

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