A CRUCIAL Government document which will underpin rural funding in England for the next six years has been investigated by West Devon Borough Council Local authorities across the country have been invited to submit comments on the Rural Development Programme for England 2007 - 2013. The Rural Development Programme is the framework used by the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) to distribute money from the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development. Funding from the EU is matched by funding from the Government. Cllr Jayne Hill, chairman of the council?s environment committee, said: ?This is an important programme which will determine the future economic landscape of the borough and the ability of our local businesses to compete in an increasingly challenging environment. ?We welcome the opportunity to be involved in the early stages of putting a programme together and want to draw attention to the particular issues facing West Devon.? The borough made several key points in their submission about the document: l Concerns were outlined relating to the continued problems to the local economy following the foot and mouth crisis in 2001; the large size and sparsity of population in West Devon with its transport and access issues; the low level of average earning, especially when compared with the high level of house prices l Cornwall, as an Objective 1 area, receives significant grant aid, which in, turn gives their businesses a competitive advantage impacting on adjacent areas such as West Devon l Particular attention was paid to the unique natural landscape of the borough as 80% of any future Rural Development Programme will focus on stewardship of the countryside issues. l Further concerns were raised about the need to add value to existing European and Rural Renaissance programmes as well as using existing partnership arrangements l The council argued for supporting small pockets of rural deprivation in sparsely populated areas such as West Devon l Measures to help small businesses and encourage innovative approaches were supported and the council welcomed the successful approach used in previous Leader programmes and suggested this could cover the whole of West Devon together with Dartmoor National Park and the Tamar Valley.