General Guidance

Links to sections in this page - Eligible Expenditure | Funding Restrictions | Selection Criteria

LEADER projects must not start before approval of funding has been given by the LAG.Retrospective funding for physical work undertaken on a LEADER project prior approval is ineligible.

Applicants will need to identify match funding, normally 50% or more of the total project cost. The LEADER grant cannot be released until match funding is confirmed.

Project funding will be made up of two or three elements as follows;

  • up to a maximum rate of up to 50% LEADER funds towards eligible costs
  • local match funding
  • applicant's contribution of a minimum of 5% of the project costs

The total amount of all public grant support may not exceed 95% of the LEADER project's eligible costs.

The exception to this is where the applicant is a public organisation in which case 100% may be from public funds. Public funding is all funding from public Agencies whether national or local and also from the various Lottery funds.

Eligible Expenditure

Projects generally fall into two categories:

  • Capital: Infrastructure such as building works or material goods
  • Revenue: Cultural, educational, historical, social enterprise staff costs

Eligible costs may include:

  • Site/building acquisition
  • Professional fees
  • Site preparation
  • External services
  • Internal services
  • Fixtures and fittings
  • Environmental improvements and enhancements
  • Feasibility studies
  • Staffing costs for personnel directly engaged in a LEADER project
  • Marketing costs relevant to the project
  • Non-Recoverable VAT
  • In-kind Contributions - the supply of landing kind costs as part of the direct delivery of a LEADER project may be considered as eligible costs.
  • Contributions which are "in kind" must be able to be assigned a monetary value (eg based on standard hourly labour costs) and must involve a logical audit trail.

Details of eligible expenditure are explained in the Application Guidance document and also in the LEADER LAG Guidance Document which is located in the Document Library

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Funding Restrictions

  • the minimum LEADER grant is £1,000
  • existing/ongoing core staff costs are ineligible for LEADER funding
  • general running and overhead costs of an organisation which are not directly related to the LEADER project are ineligible
  • no funding will be granted for activities which are statutory obligations of regional corporate bodies (SEPA, SNH etc)
  • prize money is not eligible for funding
  • professional fees for architectural, landscape design and engineering services can be funded up to a maximum level of 10% of the total building costs.
  • within the context of collaboration, the costs of land and buildings which are to be used as part of a trans-regional or trans-national joint venture can only be funded with Scottish LEADER resources if they are situated within Scotland. Scottish funds can be used for the co-financing of trans-regional or trans-national projects situated outside Scotland, provided the Scottish Government can determine their use

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Selection Criteria

The Criteria the Rural Aberdeenshire LAG will base their decisions on LEADER applications are:

  1. Project located within the LAG area.
  2. Project can evidence that equal opportunity policies are in place and that the project is designed to be inclusive of all individuals and social groups.
  3. The project will bring community benefit whether that be through environmental, social or economic additionality.
  4. Project will assist the LAG in implementation of the Local Development Strategy and relates to at least one of the strategic priorities in the Strategy.
  5. Project confirms compliance with funding restrictions under LEADER.
  6. Project is innovative.
  7. Amount of match funding available from other sources, i.e. leverage.
  8. Project can prove that value for money is being obtained from grant funding.
  9. Project can demonstrate that it will be economically viable over the longer term.
  10. Where support is for building projects and land purchase it is expected that the project will deliver the originally funded intention for 10 years, and five for completion or delivery for all other types of intangible items.

11. The LAG must take the following into account when assessing a project:

  1. Ability of applicant to deliver the project. The project must have controls and procedures to safeguard delivery of the objectives.
  2. To what extent is there a need for the project and a need for LEADER funding.
  3. Community involvement - degree of participation, involvement and support from the community.
  4. Sustainability - evidence of continuing benefit.
  5. Transferability - ease of transferring ideas and lessons learnt to other projects, e.g. the Rural Network, SRDP, and Rural Development Contracts.
  6. The capacity for the project to create new employment for all sectors, but especially women, young people and the under-employed.

12. Applicant must be:

  • properly constituted organisations and social enterprises
  • private individuals where sponsored by public bodies, clubs and societies
  • business partnerships and capital companies
  • public agencies
  • collaborations between groups and individuals listed above in an appropriately legally constituted form
  • selected LEADER Local Action Groups for administration costs and possible umbrella projects.

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