Welcome to the England LEADER+ Programme
The England LEADER+ Programme is now closed. These web pages are an information resource only. For details about the LEADER approach in the Rural Development Programme for England 2007-13 please refer to the section below. Many of the documents listed throughout these pages are linked to an archived version of the website hosted externally by the National Archives.
LEADER+ was a European Community Initiative for assisting rural communities in improving the quality of life and economic prosperity in their local area. Twenty five areas in England benefitted from the funding.
Local action groups, partnerships
between local organisations and people, identified
development needs within their rural communities which they set out in
a development plan. LEADER+ funding assisted these local action groups
to encourage and support the development of small-scale, innovative projects
to meet local development needs in a sustainable way.
Twenty five local action groups were competitively selected in 2002 to deliver the England programme.
To see our publication on what this model meant in practice [PDF 830KB]
In the UK each country operated a separate programme. Defra was the Managing Authority for the England LEADER+ Programme.
The programme in England received €55m (approximately £38m) EU funding. This was matched by Defra funding (£16m), other public sources (£28m) and the private sector (£16)
Each Government Office for a region in England was responsible for implementing the Programme in its area. A regional Government Office Secretariat provided support for and monitored the progress of the local action groups in their region.
LEADER Approach for England 2007-13
The Rural Development Programme for England (RDPE) 2007-13 utilises the EAFRD:
- LEADER, known as Axis 4, is a delivery mechanism for the RDPE programme, contributing to the objectives of the three main axes.
- A minimum of 5% of the RDPE budget must be spent via the LEADER delivery method.
- Please see the Rural Development pages for Questions and Answers on the RDPE programme.
- Regional Development Agencies (RDAs) are responsible for managing the LEADER approach.
- Please see the Rural Development pages for Questions and Answers on the LEADER approach 2007-2013.
Page last modified:
17 March, 2009
Page created: 10 December, 2002