European funding up for grabs for border countryside
Countryside areas on the Shropshire border can still be in the running for a share of almost £1 million of European funding over the next two years.
The Wrexham Action Group is one of three Cadwyn Clwyd voluntary groups.
Denbighshire, which includes Llangollen, also has more than £650,000 to spend.
It means areas including Chirk and the Ceiriog Valley, Overton, Penley, Bangor on Dee, Hanmer and Bronington could benefit.
The money is from a pot of almost £8m of funding which is being administered by Cadwyn Clwyd part of the Welsh Government Rural Communities - Rural Development Programme 2014-2020.
Funded by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development and the Welsh Government it is part of a six-year plan to revitalise rural communities and their economies.
To date Cadwyn Clwyd has allocated over £5m, which has had a positive impact on the rural economies and on the quality of life of the people living there, manager Lowri Owain says.
“The LEADER projects launched over two years ago are already having a major impact and because local people are part of the process it means the money can really be targeted very effectively.”
A project to find new uses for red telephone boxes has run across all three regions with a number now back in use as local information points and even to house defibrillators to treat heart attack victims.
Wifi and solar power schemes are also now up and running as well as a hydro electric power scheme for Corwen.
David Darlington, Chairman of the Wrexham LAG, said: “The Cadwyn Clwyd Local Action Groups are made up of volunteers with a range of expertise and experience from every sector of the rural communities and we decide if a project is viable and then Cadwyn Clwyd makes it happen.
“Our shared expertise and enthusiasm encourages and supports micro businesses and community enterprise.
“North East Wales has the giant Wrexham Industrial Estate and Deeside Enterprise Zone as well as the Airbus factory at Broughton but alongside these hubs of hi-tech industry we have beautiful countryside which is equally important to the life of the area.
"Cadwyn Clwyd has a real will and the expertise to bring jobs, innovation, community cohesion and visitors to keep the rural economies healthy.
Since 1995 Cadwyn Clwyd has attracted over £20m in European funding for North East Wales’s rural areas and has also successfully rolled out the Prince of Wales’s favourite charity, Pub is the Hub, across eight counties of Wales, bringing new life to many rural pubs and their communities.
They have also run the Welsh Government’s Glastir agri-environment scheme with partner organisations Menter Mon, from Anglesey, and Planed, Pembrokeshire, which ploughed £35m into the Welsh rural economy between 2011 and 2015 to help farmers and graziers on common land.
