Peak District Rural Action Zone

The majority of the DDEP area is classed as rural stretching from the internationally significant Peak District National Park in the North West down to the National Forest in the south of the sub-region with the Derwent Valley Mills World Heritage Site corridor in between. It is a mixture of small rural villages and larger market towns and the rural economy is a significant attractor for tourism.

Up until 2008 DDEP has mainly focused rural delivery on the Peak District Rural Action Zone (RAZ) area which includes the High Peak and Derbyshire Dales districts within Derbyshire and parts of Staffordshire Moorlands and East Staffordshire districts in the West Midlands. The RAZ has been designated based on the unique challenges faced by the area and builds on cross boundary partnership working in the Peak District since the early 1990s. A new RAZ Action Plan has been prepared for 2008-11| and, following a successful bid to emda and Advantage West Midlands, has been aligned with the new Local Development Strategy to deliver the LEADER approach in the area through the Rural Development Programme for England up until 2013.

The Peak District RAZ area was also designated as the Rural Delivery Pathfinder for the East Midlands, one of eight Rural Pathfinders in England. The initiative, now completed, was about developing innovative ways of encouraging enterprise amongst business and communities in the area. The initiative delivered a number of notable success stories summarised in the final summary report.

However, prompted by the preparation of the East Midlands Rural Action Plan 2007 - 2013, and the lack of a rural action plan beyond the RAZ boundaries, a Sub-Regional Rural Action Plan |has also now been prepared for the period 2008 - 2011 to give a higher profile to rural issues and influence DDEP’s and other partners’ future investment activity. The Plan has a socio-economic focus but seeks to make linkages with partnership activity addressing wider rural issues such as affordable housing.

The plans, which “nest” together have a collective aim of:
“raising the game of the rural economy” in terms of its contribution to productivity and improving quality of life.

The delivery of the plans will be overseen by the newly created DDEP Rural Forum which will help champion rural issues within the Sub Region and beyond.  To view both action plans and tables click on related documents.
  

Partner Links:

Peak District National Park Authoritywww.pdnpa.gov.uk|
emda-ruralwww.emda.org.uk/businesssupport/rural|
emda-tourisum,culture and 2012 Gameswww.emda.org.uk/tourisum |
DEFRAwww.defra.gov.uk |
DEFRA - RDPEwww.defra.gov.uk/rdpe|
Business Link East Midlandswww.businesslink.org.uk/EastMidlands
East Midlands Businesswww.eastmidlandsbusiness.co.uk |
East Midlands New Technology Initiativewww.eastmidlandsnti.co.uk|
EMRAFwww.ruralaffairs.org.uk/emraf|
The National Forest Companywww.nationalforest.org|
Natural Englandwww.naturalengland.org|
Visit Peak Distict and Derbyshirewww.visitpeakdistrict.com|
Advantage West Midlands -RDPEwww.advantagewm.co.uk/|
 Derbyshire-Wellconnected www.derbyshire-wellconnected.co.uk|

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