What we aim to do

The Eastern Plateau Rural Development Programme is an exciting new investment initiative that is being administered by East Herts District Council. The key aim of the programme will be to invest in local business ventures which operate within a defined geographical area of rural East Herts, North Herts & Uttlesford. The vision for the programme is "a low carbon future for the rural economy".

What is the Leader approach and a Local Action group?

The "Leader approach" is a form of partnership working developed by the EU and has been successfully used since 1989 to administer rural development funding across EU member states. The leader method is built around the principle of "bottom up" governance. At the heart of this method is the Local Action Group (LAG). The LAG is a partnership of mainly local professionals from the private sector with an interest in their area. The LAG is responsible for policing the Leader method by using their local knowledge and expertise to identify then fund local projects that will address the needs they identified within their local development strategy.

Supporting the development of collaborative approaches to increasing the sustainability of rural tourism in the Eastern plateau area
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