BREXIT will result in a range of projects in Scotland missing out on part of a £1.2 billion funding programme from April – and could cost jobs and lost opportunities, a senior figure has warned.
The LEADER programme, part of the EU Structural Funds, invests in local initiatives and enterprises to drive economic and social change in local communities.
Between 2014 and this year the Scottish Leader initiative invested more than £63 million, benefitted more than 1000 projects and helped more than 2.25m people.
However, 21 rural parts of Scotland will lose funding on economic, environmental and social measures from the Structural Funds.
Each programme lasts for six years, and the latest ends in April. While a replacement Shared Prosperity Fund (SPF) was proposed as an alternative by the Scottish Government, it has been rejected by Westminster, which has opted for an initial £220m pilot scheme – a UK-wide SPF – in 2021-22, announced last month by Chancellor Rishi Sunak.
The UK Government also intends to support the scheme with a further £1.5bn in 2022-23, to be divided between rural authorities throughout the UK.
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However, the acting coordinator for one of the schemes in Scotland – Angela Lamont of Tyne Esk Leader – said the proposed alternative might lead to some firms folding.
“The funding is absolutely critical for rural areas and the prospect of losing the volume of funding next April will be catastrophic for the organisations affected,” she said.
“The pilot year planned is going to be extremely difficult for a number of businesses, and some may fold because of it.
“Combined with the desolation of the Covid-19 pandemic, businesses need all the help they can get and this withdrawal of funding will hit them twice as hard. The fear is this new pilot scheme will take a lot of time to set up, and with the anticipation this level of funding will be divided throughout the UK instead of Scotland, it may be too much for some businesses to cope.”
Tyne Esk, has invested more than £3.4m with grants of up to £200,000 in its target communities in rural East Lothian and Midlothian over the six-year programme. One initiative is the Cousland Smiddy near Dalkeith, Midlothian, an early 18th-century blacksmith’s shop still in operation today.
Sheena Irving, chair of Cousland Smiddy Trust, said: “The final result allows the smiddy to continue as a working space for the tenant farrier as well as being easily accessible and safe for all visitors to experience the craft demonstrated in its authentic setting. Delighted with the results.
“Had it not been for the match funding and efforts of Historic Environment Scotland and the LEADER scheme this restoration would not have been undertaken. It is relatively small projects like ours which will suffer most from the lack of funding.”
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