Scottish Rural Communities Policy Review: stage 2 - England case study

6. Case Study: Northumberland

The county of Northumberland, adjacent to Scotland in the North East region of England, exemplifies how the English support framework can work in practice. Northumberland is the largest and most sparsely populated county council area of England (63 pp/km²), including a national park as well as former coalfield towns. Its former district and town councils have been amalgamated over the years to form one unitary Northumberland County Council, which is now itself part of the North East Combined Authority. Some of the former district councils promoted community development, helping establish Community Development Trusts, such as in Wooler and Amble. Constraints imposed on council spending have restricted such support in recent years.

“Severe isolation, ever declining access to services, an increasingly top-heavy age profile, significant low pay and limited employment opportunities present massive issues for many people living in rural Northumberland. The superficial gloss of affluence masks the reality of rural life for significant numbers of people in need.” (Community Action Northumberland Business Plan, 2020-24).

The bedrock of support for rural communities is the Rural Community Council, Community Action Northumberland (CAN), founded in 1951, and a member of the ACRE (Action with Communities in Rural England) network. CAN’s mission is to help and sustain rural communities in Northumberland. It does this by: providing and supporting a ‘rural voice’ to influence policy, programmes and action; empowering, supporting and developing local communities and organisations; delivering solutions – identifying, developing and managing projects to address needs; and addressing climate change.

CAN has a diverse range of sources of income, totaling £833k in 2024, including £43k from Defra (through ACRE), but with the vast majority coming from contracts, direct service provision, consultancy, projects and grants. Important activities include support for a network of 120 village halls and community buildings across the county; support for parish and town councils; community-led development; and support for communities with housing solutions; innovative warm hubs, rural employment hubs; and health and wellbeing initiatives. Following the successful Climate Action in Rural North East (CAIRN)⁹ grant application, CAN’s income in 2025 has increased to £950k and its staff complement is now 21 (15.5 FTEs) including its core team and a range of project workers such as rural housing enablers, fuel poverty and energy advisers, climate action staff^[10], and work coaches.

Alongside CAN, LEADER Local Action Groups (LAGs) existed in Northumberland prior to Brexit: from 2007-2020 rural Northumberland was fully covered by two Local Action Groups – the Northumberland Uplands Local Action Group and the Northumberland Coast and Lowlands Local Action Group. These Local Action Groups worked energetically to pursue their local development strategies, with many projects and substantial investment. Notably, this enabled small grants for micro-firms which mainstream grant schemes would not have provided, until the UK government directed Local Action Groups to disregard local strategies and focus instead on jobs and growth. While LEADER schemes made a valuable contribution to rural Northumberland, this could have been greater if Local Action Groups had been allowed to continue to pursue locally attuned strategies, offer funding beyond capital grants^[11], and employ more staff to build capacity and so support a broader range of applicants (Shucksmith et al., 2021). While no Local Action Groups remain today, a Community Led Local Development approach informs the Borderlands Place Programme which supports local communities to pursue the regeneration of small towns in Northumberland, Cumbria, Dumfries and Galloway, and the Scottish Borders.

To mitigate for the loss of the LEADER programme, in 2024 Northumberland County Council launched "RAMP", the Rural Asset Multiplier Pilot programme. This provides capital grants (minimum £10,000) to rural organisations and businesses based in the rural areas of the county, but does not involve anything equivalent to a LEADER Local Action Group. This programme was extended in 2025 with funding from the North East Combined Authority Investment Fund, the UK Shared Prosperity Fund and the Rural England Prosperity Fund, with the North East Combined Authority as lead authority. RAMP focusses on growing the economy, enhancing the environment, and supporting communities by enabling development and testing of new, innovative and locally based approaches to tackling economic, environmental, and community challenges and opportunities in rural Northumberland. There has not yet been a formal evaluation of RAMP as it only launched in 2024 but in time there may be useful learning for future CLLD programmes in Scotland.