Question draws out benefits of Wiltshire’s involvement in Europe.

Councillor Michael Cuthbert-Murray (Westbury East) has put the following question to Wiltshire Council:

"I note that Wiltshire Council are partners of the SWUKBO , South West UK Brussels Office, and that North Somerset withdrew from SWUKBO In 2009. What are the costs to Wiltshire Council of being involved In this organisation and what benefits have we derived as a result of our membership?"

In reply WC points out that although there's a membership fee of £15,000 per year, because the council runs the SWUKBO secretariat it gets back a proportion of everyone else's membership fee so turns in a small profit amounting to £2,000 this year.

In addition the council says:

"The South West European Partnership serves the interests of Wiltshire Council and other local authorities, higher education institutions, third sector partners and businesses in the south west of England. Activities are based around three major areas of work:

1. Policy - Following policy developments on the EU level which are of significance to the Council;

2. Programmes - Providing information and support to the Council on EU funding programmes, with the aim of developing potential projects;

3. Profile - Raising the profile of Wiltshire in Brussels and the rest of Europe through the European Commission, European Parliament, UK Permanent Representation to the EU and various European networks.

Specific benefits to date have included:

• • Help with securing over €7 million (£6.035 million) for Wiltshire as part of the Rural Development Programme for England (RDPE) over the period 2007-13. This programme has provided grant aid to a wide variety of community and business development projects with grant aid across the county.
• • €177,000 (£110,000) has been secured to support a programme to promote energy efficiency within schools and the wider community - this programme is in collaboration with partners in England and France as part of the Sustainable Energy Across The Channel Space (SEACS) project Other opportunities to secure European funding are currently being explored with assistance from the South West European Partnership"