An Evaluation of the South East.doc

An Evaluation of the South East
Small Rural Towns Programme
Prepared by
The Rural Consultancy March 2011
Contents
Executive Summary
Background
SEEDA Small Rural Towns Programme Objectives
The South East Rural Towns Partnership
The County Co-ordinators
Mid Term Review of the Small Rural Towns Programme
Actions Since the Mid Term Review
The Process for Towns to Access SEEDA Funding
Projects Supported by Small Rural Towns Programme Funding
Town Partnerships
The Programme from SEEDA’s Perspective
Conclusions
Appendix 1 List of Small rural Towns in the South East
Appendix pleted Small Rural Towns Programme Evaluation Questionnaires
Executive Summary
In January 2011 the South East Rural Towns Partnership board appointed The Rural Consultancy to undertake a review of the Small Rural Towns Programme.
The Small Rural Towns Programme was launched by the South East England Development Agency (SEEDA) in April 2004 and had a value of more than £7 million.
There have been projects supported by the SRT programme in all nine Counties of the South East Region.
A total of 62 projects have been approved, 54 of which are pleted on in progress. The remaining 8 have all been contracted to start.
SEEDA spend on projects including management fee £5,721,151
Total project costs £16,798,938
Average project cost is £270,950
Average grant from SEEDA £92,276
The outputs listed below have been extracted from SEEDA’s project management system.
Number of jobs created or safeguarded 214
Businesses supported 1055
Training opportunities 76
New Business or people helped into employment 237
munity facilities (Infrastructure) 59
munity services (Revenue projects) 9
munity facilities (infrastructure) 23
munity services (Revenue projects) 3
Regeneration- Private Sector Leverage £2,230,468
Regeneration - Public Sector Leverage £9,401,587
SEEDA in partnership with the SERTP produced a list of 179 small rural towns in the South East that could potentially