Outer Hebrides LEADER

“The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that as many people as possible have broadband access and have already carried out a significant amount of work in this area.  With broadband being used by more and more households as standard, I hope that this new challenge fund will further enhance Scotland’s broadband infrastructure and help rural organisations gain a level playing field at a time when they need it most.  Fresh investment through LEADER will bring faster speeds, improved coverage or simply research to identify the digital needs of an area”.

 Councillor Archie Campbell, Chair of the LEADER Innse Gall Local Action Group added:

“The Local Action Group are delighted that the Outer Hebrides have the opportunity to bid for this broadband funding which will provide an excellent platform for local community development in the field of communications.  The development of this sector is of huge importance to the Western Isles and I am confident that this funding has the potential to bring massive benefits to our Islands”.

 Projects should be in keeping with the LEADER principles and applications made should highlight the positive rural development impact which they consider improved broadband access would bring.  For more information on the LEADER Innse Gall programme visit www.outerhebridesleader.co.uk.

 Applications should be submitted to the LEADER team by 5pm on Wednesday 1^st September 2010.  The LEADER Innse Gall Local Action Group (LAG) will assess projects and approved and eligible projects will be forwarded to the Scottish Government to be entered into a bidding process for the Challenge Fund.

 Examples of potential projects include:

• community groups wishing to upgrade exchanges
• pilot projects into next generation broadband
• supporting a business collective to access better broadband

 No match funding is required i.e 100% costs under Challenge Fund.

 Background

 Presently €1 million equals just over £800,000 and the €1 million amount is fixed, regardless of exchange rate.

 Broadband in Scotland:

• Following broadband projects delivered by the former Scottish Executive and successful completion of Scottish Governments Broadband Reach Project in March 2010, basic broadband coverage, defined as 512 kbps (kilobits per second), is now generally available throughout Scotland. 
• In a separate project, BT is investing £3 million in a programme of upgrades to 81 rural and remote exchanges located throughout Scotland, by agreement with the Scottish Government.  The exchanges are all experiencing capacity issues.  The programme is now two thirds complete; the remainder will be complete by the end of November 2010.
• This latest announcement means that communities will have the opportunity to define their broadband needs and, develop a project which meets these needs. It will then be for the Local Action Groups to assess the merits of these applications and bid for funding to the Challenge Fund.

LEADER 

LEADER aims to increase the capacity of local rural community and business networks to build knowledge and skills and encourage innovation and co-operation in order to tackle local development objectives. LEADER accounts for 5 per cent of the total Scottish Rural Development Programme allocation (around £38m). The LEADER Innse Gall Local Action Group were awarded £2.93m LEADER and Convergence funding to assist projects which are primarily pilot, small-scale, community driven, and innovative in nature and have a wide community benefit.

For more information please visit the LEADER Innse Gall website at www.outerhebridesleader.co.uk or 01851 709248/ 01870 603860.