High Peak receives £400,000 from Government fund for rural development

The £110million Rural England Prosperity Fund tops up allocations for from UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) – including £2.4m announced for High Peak in 2022 – to meet the development needs of countryside communities.

The council is currently bound by pre-election purdah rules, so little information is being released to accompany the announcement, however a spokesperson said the authority was pleased to receive the funding.

They added: “It will be spent on addressing the specific challenges facing rural areas in the High Peak based around three key themes: increasing productivity, improving connectivity and improving access to key services. More details about how the funding will be distributed will be made available in due course.”

The funding terms allow for investment in initiatives such as farm diversification, projects to boost rural tourism and increase access to the arts, and community infrastructure projects including electric vehicle charging stations. The money could also be used to help people start up local businesses and create employment opportunities.

High Peak received the same amount as South Derbyshire, but less than Derbyshire Dales’ £748,737 and Bolsover’s £427,884 – the only other eligible councils in Derbyshire.

For comparison, £5m was awarded to Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, £3m to Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, more than £3m for North of Tyne, more than £2.5million for West Yorkshire, £2.5m for Shropshire and almost £1m for Cheshire East.

Among those to welcome the news was local Conservative MP Robert Largan, who says he wants to see UK funding at least match that lost from the European Union’s Rural Development Programme for England.

Mr Largan said: “It is very clear that there are a unique set of challenges that rural areas like the High Peak face, but this funding demonstrates the Government’s clear recognition of that and matches our ambition to truly level-up the country.”

Environment minister Thérèse Coffey added: “Driving investment in rural areas is a vital part of our vision for levelling up the country. The new Rural Prosperity Fund replaces the bureaucratic EU funding system – allowing us to work closely with local leaders to direct funding where it is most needed to close the rural productivity gap, create job opportunities and protect the English countryside.”

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