Rural fund's £4m boost for island

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Rural communities on Anglesey are to benefit from a new £4m fund set up to support the countryside.

The Rural Development Plan, which will be launched at the Anglesey Show, will deliver activities to support communities on the island until 2011.

It will help rural businesses and tourism, promote the development of innovative new food products and safeguard natural environments

The funding has come from the assembly government and Europe.

Some of the £4m available through the new fund has already been earmarked to provide the Swtan folk museum - Anglesey's last thatched cottage - with a new roof, to support the Anglesey Geodiversity project, called GeoMôn, as well as a number of outdoor pursuits schemes.

Anglesey's Rural Development Plan (RDP) co-ordinator, Eifion L Jones, said it would provide an "important boost" for the area over the next two years."

"The local RDP programme will support hugely diverse projects and enhance economic value on the island," he said.

"This will include help for rural businesses and tourism, promoting the development of innovative new food products and safeguarding natural environments."

Deputy First Minister Ieuan Wyn Jones will launch the fund during the first day of the Anglesey agricultural show.

Councillor Bryan Owen, Anglesey council's economic development and tourism portfolio holder, added: "Our local economy is hugely dependent on the Island's countryside, environment and natural beauty."