Yorkshire Forward is pleased to have been one of the main funders of the rural target fund in North Yorkshire. It shows how small projects can have a big impact in our rural communities

Andy Tordoff - Yorkshire Forward

FROM village hall improvements to a course in how to build a dry stone wall - North Yorkshire is celebrating a hugely successful funding programme designed to promote economic and social wellbeing in rural areas.

North Yorkshire is the biggest county in England, and one of the most rural. In the last two-and-a-half years the County Council has distributed nearly £1.5m of funding from the regional development agency Yorkshire Forward, and the EU, in a series of projects large and small which qualified for aid under the Rural Target Fund.

"This has been a very successful operation to target funds at projects which, while often small in themselves, have the potential to bring real and tangible benefits to our rural communities," said County Councillor Greg White, Executive Member for Economic Development.

Among the projects to receive funding under the Rural Target Fund scheme, which began in 2006 and ends next March, were:

• Newby Village Hall refurbishment, (Hambleton district)
• Dishforth Village Hall relocation, (Harrogate district)
• Dry stone walling courses, (Hambleton district)
• Creation of a vocational training kitchen in Whitby (Scarborough district)
• Yorkshire Dales National Park disability outreach (Craven district)
• Reeth Community Transport (Richmondshire district)
• Pickering Playing Fields (Ryedale district)
• South Milford Newsletter (Selby district)

Andy Tordoff, Assistant Director Environment (Tourism and Rural Renaissance) at Yorkshire Forward commented: "Yorkshire Forward is pleased to have been one of the main funders of the rural target fund in North Yorkshire. It shows how small projects can have a big impact in our rural communities."