Anders Bekeken

The Prince of Wales: The Prince’s Countryside Fund

The Prince’s Countryside Fund is the brainchild of The Prince of Wales who has a long-held commitment to supporting Britain’s hard pressed rural areas.

The Fund is raising money from a wide range of businesses who have responded to The Prince’s call to action to help improve the long-term viability of the British countryside and its rural communities. The intention is to inspire other businesses and the general public to get involved and recognise the importance of the countryside to the nation’s well-being and the wider British economy.

“The vision and commitment of The Prince of Wales has brought together in common cause this extraordinary alliance of food businesses. The Fund will be a lifeline for Britain’s most vulnerable farmers and communities, helping them to secure a sustainable future for themselves. I hope that other companies will be inspired to contribute to the Fund so that more and more can be done to improve the long-term viability of hard-pressed rural areas,” said Mark Price, Managing Director of Waitrose and Chairman of The Prince’s Countryside Fund trustee board.

The funding raised will be channelled into providing grants to projects, large and small, that are delivering the three core objectives of The Prince’s Countryside Fund. These objectives focus on improving the sustainability of British farming and rural communities, targeting the areas of greatest need; reconnecting consumers with countryside issues; and supporting farming crisis charities through a dedicated emergency funding stream. All the companies that have partnered with Business in the Community to launch this Fund, which has a starting pot of £1m, have a special connection to the British countryside through the products they make or sell. They will feature The Prince’s Countryside Fund’s logo on selected packaging from next month and help communicate the importance of the countryside to consumers. In addition, from the autumn, The Post Office will make it possible for consumers to donate over the counter to The Prince’s Countryside Fund at their 12,000 branches.

Stephen Howard, Chief Executive, Business in the Community, said: “We are delighted to have helped develop this initiative and now to be running it. We have attracted remarkable support from the British food industry from companies who care about how they do business and want to be a positive force for change.”

Decisions about which projects to fund will be made by an independent Board of Trustees. The trustees are Mark Price (Managing Director, Waitrose), Edwin Booth (Chairman, E.H. Booths & Co), Lizzie Kershaw (Group Director of Publishing, National Magazine Company), Brian Stein (Group Chief Executive, Samworth Brothers), Sir Don Curry (Chairman, NFU Mutual), Stewart Gilliland (Chairman, Müller Dairy ), Sue Huggins OBE (Director of Network Development, The Post Office), Mark Allen (Chief Executive, Dairy Crest), Elizabeth Buchanan (Consultant and farmer), Stephen Dunmore (Chair, CapacityBuilders), and Paul Murphy (CEO, Jordans & Ryvita).

Three initial pilot programmes have been approved by the trustees of the Fund. These are:

UTASS  provides practical support to farmers with the completion and submission of complex forms and paperwork, including the computerisation of farm records; and advocacy and liaison work with government agencies.

Pub is the Hub encourages rural pub owners, licensees, and their local communities to work together to support, retain and locate local services where possible within the pub whilst often improving the viability of the business itself. Pub is the Hub is affiliated to His Royal Highness’s Rural Action Programme and is a ‘not for profit’ advisory organisation. Pub is the Hub requires funding to roll out in Wales.

The Farmer Network  a farmer-owned and run not-for-profit company which encourages local farmers to work together to improve efficiency, increase knowledge and skills, educate the public, cope with paperwork and increase revenue. They hope to deliver a hill farmer training scheme for new entrants. Source: Prince of Wales

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