Cumbria County Council
Regeneration Team
United Kingdom
Cumbria: a background
Cumbria is a county of around half a million inhabitants in the North-West of England. Its image as a rural region belies its industrial history, particularly on the west coast of the county. Those former industries – coal and iron mining, shipbuilding, steelmaking – have all declined, leaving a precarious economy in the west. Similarly, the lack of prosperity and economic activity in the rural parts of the county have led to the county’s economic decline over recent years, exacerbated by the Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) outbreak in 2002. Administratively, Cumbria has a County Council for the NUTS 2 area, which comprises 6 District Council areas (Allerdale, Copeland and Barrow, which constitute the West Cumbria NUTS 3 area, and Carlisle, Eden and South Lakeland, constituting the East Cumbria NUTS 3 area) In employment terms, three areas predominate: the public services; distribution (wholesale, retail and hotels and restaurants) and manufacturing. The last two of these areas are ‘over-represented’ in Cumbria – in particular, manufacturing employment, especially at Sellafield (Nuclear reprocessing site) and in the Barrow shipyards. is nearly one-and-a-half times more significant to the County than is nationally typical. In addition, many of these jobs are dependent on Cumbria’s very significant tourism industry.
EU Funding
The western part of Cumbria has been designated an objective 2 area since 1989. In the 2000-2006 programme period, the majority of the sub-region is designated for objective 2 funds, directed through 3 principal priorities:
- Business & Ideas
- People & Communities
Strategic Regional Investment
This programme is delivered through action plans (packages of projects delegated to the sub-region), of which there are 6 in Cumbria. In addition, there are a number of ESF projects financed by objective 3, a variety of transnational projects (financed by INTERREG, LEONARDO, FP6 and others) and two LEADER+ programmes are designated (Fells and Dales, and a part of the North Pennines area)
The partner in Cumbria for the SRN project is Cumbria County Council. Within its economic development division is the Regeneration Support Team. The function of that team is "To maximise the benefits of economic regeneration in Cumbria by supporting partners to develop and deliver effective regeneration projects"
Partner contact details
Ian Hill
European Policy Development Officer
+44 1900 325922
Ian@rstcumbria.org.uk
Gillian Elliot
Regeneration Support Team Manager
gillian@rstcumbria.org.uk
Project examples (see Cumbria website)
- 'arms-length' companies
- Cumbrian Economic Regeneration Action Plan
- The Regeneration Support Team
SRN Europe is not responsible for the content of external links.
