Delivery - general

Following the recommendations of the Haskins Review of Rural Delivery, and the Government's response as set out in the Rural Strategy 2004, delivery of economic and social funding in the 2007-2013 Programme will be the responsibility of the Regional Development Agencies (RDAs).

Responsibility for delivery of agri-environment schemes (such as Environmental Stewardship) and of the Energy Crops Scheme is the responsibility of Natural England and delivery of forestry schemes is with the Forestry Commission.

Each region has produced a Regional Implementation Plan, setting out the priorities for the Rural Development Programme in their region, and how the next Programme will be delivered in their region. Please see Section E for further information on Regional Implementation Plans.

There is one single plan per region. The RDAs, Natural England and the Forestry Commission are writing the plan together, working closely with stakeholders and partners, with Government Offices helping to facilitate the process.

The plans will enable Natural England, the RDAs, and the Forestry Commission to identify opportunities for cross-cutting, mutually supportive activity, which helps deliver the agreed regional priorities.

The implementing regulations provide detailed guidance on how the rural development programmes should be delivered. There are three implementing regulations covering controls (finance and inspections), the transition from the current to the new rural development programmes and the main implementing regulation that sets out details of what the programme should include and how it should be structured.

The implementing regulations are important because they set the rules for the RDPE. The European Commission can delay approving member state's rural development programmes and issue fines if they believe the rules have not been followed.

Defra will undertake the role of Managing Authority and as such will be responsible for the operational implementation and management of the programme in an efficient, effective and correct way. In order to achieve this, it will work closely with the Rural Payments Agency (RPA) and the three delivery partners.

Because England is relatively urbanised and densely populated compared to much of the rest of the EU using the OECD rural definition, which is commonly used by the EU and is mentioned in the Implementing Regulation and in the Community Strategic Guidelines for Rural Development, means that England actually has no ‘Predominantly Rural’ areas and therefore zero population classified as living in PR areas. Therefore, this definition is not useful for examining rural issues in England, which is characterised by more heterogeneous regions than may be the case in other OECD or EU countries.
An advantage of England’s own rural definition is that it takes into account population density as well as the distances between settlements. The OECD definition does not take into account the context or accessibility of rural settlements in this way. Details of the UK’s rural definition can be found at the following link: www.defra.gov.uk/rural/ruralstats/rural-definition.htm.

Yes. One of the ways will be through the RDPE Programme Monitoring Committee (PMC). This is reponsible for maintaining a regular scrutiny of Programme implementation and evolution. It will also be responsible for approving progress reports to the European Commission and the content of any amendments to the programme. It may also propose, to the Managing Authority, ways of improving programme content and delivery.
The PMC met for the first time on 6 June 2007 when it received an update on RDPE progress and began consideration of its terms of reference. Minutes and papers are now available. The PMC met for a second time on 16 October 2007. Minutes and papers of this meeting will be available shortly.

Page last modified: 28 August, 2009
Page published: 21 July, 2005

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