The Rural Development Programme for England (RDPE)

“The Rural Development Programme for England (RDPE), with Environmental Stewardship at its heart, aims to safeguard and enhance the rural environment, improve the competitiveness of the agricultural sector and foster competitive and sustainable rural businesses and thriving rural communities.” (Defra, November 2007)

RDPE is the new mechanism for delivering money allocated to England from the EU and Defra via the European Fund for Rural Development from 2007 until 2013.

There is a national budget of £3.9bn, of which approximately £22.5m will be allocated to the agri-environment and other land management schemes (Axis 2) in North East England. These schemes will be managed by Natural England and the Forestry Commission.

Around £6.6m each year will be allocated to One North East to deliver the socio-economic elements of the programme (axis 1 and 3) in the region. This money will be targeted at making agriculture and forestry more competitive and sustainable, and to enhance opportunity in rural areas.

At least 25% of the socio-economic RDPE funding (around £1.5m per year) will be delivered through the LEADER approach – a great opportunity for community-led development. More information on LEADER 

The North East Implementation plan (NEIP) provides the overall strategy for the delivery of RDPE in the region.

For all enquiries about the socio-economic programme, including the new LEADER approach, please contact our enquiries coordinator Chrisi Doherty, on 0191 229 6862, or email: christine.doherty@onenortheast.co.uk

The RDPE user guide will provide you with more information on how RDPE is being delivered in our region. This is available at: http://www.rdpenortheast.co.uk/page/userguide.cfm

ERDP Legacy Schemes

The ERDP Project Based Schemes are now closed to new applications. The schemes, originally delivered by the Rural Development Service (RDS), included the Rural Enterprise Scheme, the Processing and Marketing Grant, the Vocational Training Scheme and the Energy Crops (SRC) Producer Group Scheme.

One North East now manages their delivery, and is committed to all existing agreements.

For any enquiries regarding the above schemes please contact Tuppy Kearse on 0191 2296541, or email tuppy.kearse@onenortheast.co.uk 

Supporting Documents and Downloads

RDPE User Guide [pdf] (609 KB)

BLNE - Operations Development Programme [pdf] (15 KB)

RDPE Update - December 2007 [pdf] (42 KB)

RDPE Update - November 2007 [pdf] (58 KB)

RDPE Update - July 2007 [pdf] (45 KB)

RDPE Update - May 2007 [pdf] (55 KB)

RDPE Update - March 2007 [pdf] (72 KB)

RDPE Update - December 2006 [pdf] (63 KB)

RDPE Update - Oct 2006 [pdf] (64 KB)