Community Initiatives
In addition to the mainstream Programmes, Scotland participates in four Community Initiatives. These are worth around 5% of the 2000-2006 overall Structural Fund budget. The Initiatives often include pilot projects/test beds for activity which, if effective, are mainstreamed into the larger funds.
The four Community Initiatives which benefit Scotland are as follows:
INTERREG IIIB
The ROADEX project involved the Highlands of Scotland, Finland and Norway exchanging knowledge and working practices on winter maintenance/construction of roads. National solutions were piloted in other participating countries to mutual benefit. Efficiency gains and savings have already benefited Highland Council, amongst others, as a result of the project.
The aim of INTERREG IIIB is to encourage inter-regional and trans-national co-operation. Scotland participates in four INTERREG IIIB Programmes and you can access the web pages which deal with each Programme - Northern Periphery, North Sea, Atlantic Area and North West Europe. You can download the INTERREG IIIB Community Initiative Plans from these sites.
There is also a relatively small amount of funding for inter-regional co-operation available under the Interreg IIIC Programme. All areas of Scotland are eligible to apply for funding under Interreg IIIC - for more information see the Programme web site.
URBAN II
The URBAN II European Programme (2000-2006) is aimed ae promoting innovative strategies for sustainable economic, social and environmental regeneration in urban areas of particular disadvantage. The Scottish Programme covers the CLyde Urban Waterfront, Port Glasgow and Clydebank South and is worth €12.822 million (approx. £8 million). You can access the Programme Compliment, which outlines the priorities of the programme from the Strathclyde European Partnership PME site.
EQUAL
The European EQUAL Initiative (2000-2006) aims to find new ways of combating discrimination and testing new approaches in connection to the labour market. The GB Programme is worth €34.9 million with separate implementation in Scotland worth around £25 million until 2006. In the first round of funding there were 7 Scottish Development Partnerships and in the second round there were 11. The EQUAL Community Initiative Plan outlines the themes of the Programme in more detail and can be accessed via the Objective 3 PME site. More information on the EQUAL Initiative's successes across the UK can be found at www.equal-works.com.
LEADER+
The LEADER+ European Proramme encourages and supports new ideas in sustainable rural development and has been designed to work alongside the Rural Development Plan for Scotland. The attached Programme Complement outlines the priorities of the Programme.
The Community Initiative Plan also outlines the priorities of the Programme in more detail. Business plans were approved in June 2002 and actions started in August 2002. You can find more information on the UK LEADER+ website.
You can get more information on LEADER+ Scotland and access the Leader+ minutes and papers from the Programme Monitoring Committe meetings and evalution documents by visiting our Information & Publications section.
INNOVATIVE ACTIONS
Additional to these Community Initiatives is the European Commission's Innovative Actions Programme.
The Scottish Executive submitted an application for funding under this initiative, entitled Innovative Works, which has now been approved by the Commission.