Clwyd West MP, David Jones, welcomes today’s launch of the Big Lottery Fund’s “Village SOS Active campaign”. The campaign opens up access to a £5 million funding pot designed to help certain local communities to revitalise community-owned businesses, arts and heritage facilities to attract visitors and create employment in rural areas.
The project is targeted s at rural communities with a population of less than 3,000 and will bring together support, information and expertise on how to develop community enterprises. The “Village SOS” TV series, which begins this evening on BBC One, will track the progress of six villages which have already availed of Big Lottery Fund Money to great success, and the programme highlights some of the enormous benefits of the project.
David Jones said:
“The Big Lottery Fund and Village SOS campaign will provide people intending to set up community projects with the financial means and local knowledge necessary to give their projects a kick start.
It will help to stimulate employment opportunities for younger people, and will create an online community forum where people can discuss ideas and share solutions to common problems impacting upon the local community”.
Full details of the scheme are available online on the villages.org.uk website, which has a range of tools and information to help people bring their ideas to life.
