Grants of up to £150,000 available for Nidderdale farmers

Nidderdale farmers and land managers are being encouraged to apply for grants of up to £150,000 as part of a government scheme to improve the area.

The Farming in Protected Landscapes grant programme has been running since July but the team at Nidderdale Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) are eager for more people to apply.

The programme offers a financial boost for one-off projects that support one of four areas; nature recovery, mitigating the impacts of climate change, providing better access or engagement with the landscape or increasing the business resilience of farms.

The scheme will run for three years until March 2024.

In the first year alone, until January 2022, around £575,000 has been earmarked for projects in the Nidderdale AONB.

Matthew Trevelyan, Nidderdale AONB’s Farming in Protected Landscapes officer, said:

“Since the grant programme launched in July 2021, we’ve been able to provide support for a huge variety of projects ranging from habitat restoration to farm business diversification.”

“One of the great things about this programme is that we are able to help fund projects that fall outside the scope of existing agri-environment schemes. The best Farming in Protected Landscapes supported projects fulfil more than one of the outcomes.”

“We’re also keen to get project partners working together at a landscape level – after all wildlife doesn’t care much for where one farm stops and another starts.”

Some of the projects that have recently received funding include a group of dairy farmers monitoring soil carbon levels and experimenting with the new machinery to prevent soil becoming too thick to work with.

Another project will see several neighbouring farms working together to encourage endangered birds to nest on their land.

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The programme is open to all farmers and land managers, including from the private, public and charity sector, in the Nidderdale AONB, or where activity can bring benefit to the AONB.

Other organisations and individuals can apply but they must be working alongside a farmer or land manager.

Funding has also been set aside under the same scheme in the Yorkshire Dales National Park and North York Moors National Park.

It all forms part of the government’s Agricultural Transition Plan.

Those wanting to apply can contact the AONB team.

District’s market stallholders receive £8,000 grants

Market stallholders in Ripon and Knaresborough who applied for discretionary grants have each received an additional £8,000.

The payments have been welcomed but stallholders say they will continue to call for a rent reduction.

The money has come from the government’s Local Authority Discretionary Grants Fund, which supports small and micro businesses affected by Covid,

Harrogate Borough Council has administered the payments, which follow an award of £2,000 each in August to stallholders who made an application.

The traders who received the unexpected additional payment are among those whose goods were classed as ‘non-essential’ at the time when the government said that only scaled-down open air markets with strict social distancing measures in place could be held.

Food stall holders, whose goods were classed as essential, were allowed to trade throughout the lockdown period.

Andrew Sutcliffe (pictured above) who sells womenswear on both Ripon and Knaresborough markets, told the Stray Ferret:

“Traders still need to look to the longer-term and the fact that the council has increased our rents by more than 25 percent, which is unacceptable in the current economic climate.

“The additional payment was unexpected and is, of course, welcome as it helps offset the losses we made in the 11 weeks when we could not stand at any market.”

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The council’s rent increase for the supply and erection of stalls it provides came into effect on August 1, prompting traders in Ripon and Knaresborough to launch a joint Save our Markets petition.

The petition, which calls on the council to reduce rents, has been signed by almost 4,000 people.

Brian Murphy, who has a fruit and vegetables stall and represents market traders in Ripon, said:

“The food suppliers who came week in, week out to markets where there were only a handful of stalls, have received absolutely nothing  – except for a rent increase. That’s why we continue to call for a reduction.”

He pointed out:

“I also trade at Otley Market, which is controlled by Leeds City Council and they have gone out of their way to help all traders, with rent-free periods and rent reductions.

“They have just announced that rents will remain reduced by 25 percent until the end of December.”

A council spokesman said 20 market traders received the grants.

The spokesman defended the rent increase:

“We wanted to introduce a more flexible way markets are run and the traders we can attract. Many traders at Knaresborough and Ripon already use self-assembly stalls at other markets they sell at where the council will not erect stalls.

“Depending on the trader, they may actually pay less this financial year. The pitch rental remains the same as 2019/20 and we have offered traders an incentive if they erect their own stalls of a £5 reduction per week.

“Those who don’t wish to erect their own stalls will pay the same rate as 2019/20 but will pay a surcharge to cover some of the costs of us erecting a stall on their behalf.

“It currently costs us £15 each time we need to assemble a stall on behalf of a trader and given the number of stalls at both weekly markets, it ends up costing the taxpayer thousands of pounds per year.”

District B&Bs start applying for local discretionary grants

Harrogate Borough Council has announced a £2.3 million new scheme to support smaller businesses in the district such as charities and bed and breakfasts.

The discretionary grant aims to help those businesses that may have previously missed out on other coronavirus grants. The government allowed grants of up to £25,000 to be offered, but the council has capped this at £10,000 to help as many businesses as possible.

As a discretionary grant the council has more input into the final decision process, in comparison to previous grants offered during the crisis.

In particular, B&B owners are hoped to benefit from the scheme. The eligibility criteria also includes charities and small businesses including those in shared offices and flexible workspaces. The businesses must have been trading before 11 March 2020 and have fewer than 50 employees.

One bed and breakfast owner from the Harrogate District, who wanted to stay anonymous, said:

I’ve had no income since the second week of March and there are things we have to continue paying for so if we got any money it would mean I don’t have to pay it all. This grant is the difference between re-opening soon or being unable to.”

B&B’s are still awaiting formal notice that they can re-open, but before then grants allow them to secure some income.

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Kimberley Wilson, the chairman of accommodation Harrogate, said:

“In Harrogate most bed and breakfasts were covered by the initial grant. We are hoping the few that weren’t covered will now be able to access this discretionary grant to help their business in the future”.