GRANTS of up to £100,000 are being offered to local businesses and projects with a view to creating jobs on the south Devon coast.

The South Devon Coastal Local Action Group, who are offering the grants, was set up in 2008 to invest in economic, environmental and community-based projects, and encourage innovation and promote prosperity in the rural coastal area between Plymouth and Exeter.

The programme has now been awarded more than £1.5 million to allocate to projects in the area that meet the objectives of the strategy.

Samantha Short, Kingsbridge vice chairman for the Kingsbridge and Salcombe Chamber of Commerce said: ‘The focus for applications this time must be on job creation, something tourism businesses in this area will always struggle with when their market is so seasonal.

‘However, the SDCLAG are actively encouraging collaborative working and I believe the opportunity here is to look at how working together with other small businesses could justify that extra salary and in turn help each individual business to grow.

‘The creation of South Devon Outdoors, a group of sustainable activity providers, is hoping to achieve just that and I can see many other sectors where this same principle could be applied.’

The focus of this next rural programme will be creating jobs and helping the rural economy to grow, with the main areas being support for farm diversification and increasing productivity, supporting increased forestry productivity and processing, creation or development of micro and small businesses and tourism, rural services and culture and heritage activity.

Grants will start at £2,500 with a maximum of £100,000. The grant can be made for up to 40% of eligible application costs.

Your project must be based within the South Devon Coastal LAG area and it will need to fit under one of the South Devon Coastal LAG objectives.

Project ideas need to be of an economic nature with job creation being the main focus. For further information, contact the DR Company on 01837 658643, [email protected] or visit www.drcompany.co.uk/scclag.