North Pennine Dales LEADER covers the west of County Durham and the Southern parts of Tynedale in Northumberland. Most of the area lises within the North Pennines Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty See map. 

It is largely characterised by upland agriculture with rearing sheep and beef with grouse shooting being an important component of the local economy. Most of the area lies within the North Pennines Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, is predominantly classed as ‘severely disadvantaged’ and agricultural terms and have very high nature conservation value indicated by its large area of SSSIs. Tourism is largely based on the natural and cultural heritage of the area and most of the businesses are micro enterprises.

The Local Action Group (LAG) is a strong partnership of private, public and community sector organisations built on existing structures and networks like the 4 LSP’s, Leader+ and the West Durham Rural Pathfinder. There are currently 34 members of the LAG including 7 observers, and a broader stakeholder membership which balances sectors and geography, with the Enterprise Agency for Wear Valley & Teesdale taking the lead role. Our approach is to link local priorities to strategic objectives to provide opportunities for long term, sustainable and transformational change. We also seek to add value to the Leader project by using assets such as BENE and the CDTP.

Key issues which the North Pennine Dales LEADER Project is seeking to address:

• Viability of agriculture and its potential effects on the natural and cultural assets of the area.
• Locally accessible services. It is becoming increasingly expensive to deliver services in conventional ways, innovative approaches need to be developed for rural communities to have equitable access, this includes access to high quality broadband and communications technology.
• High value tourism. Increasing tourism connectivity, improving the quality of the offer and collective, cohesive marketing.
• Business growth and support. Appropriate support and resources to stimulate growth, improve competitiveness and create sustainable higher value employment.
• Young people. Retaining young people through raising aspiration and the provision of high quality developmental and career opportunities.
• Environmental footprint. Reducing the environmental footprint in rural areas through raising awareness, promoting and incentivising best practice and improving business’s environmental performance.

Strategic aims and objectives:

• To develop sustainable economic opportunities and generate community cohesion from the area’s natural and cultural assets and working landscapes.
• To build on the existing entrepreneurial culture to provide higher value employment and increase business competitiveness
• Improve the financial and environmental performance of local businesses.
• To provide training and development opportunities which continue to meet the changing needs of people and employers performance.