PROJECTS to boost tourism in Wallingford and the surrounding area can qualify for more than £1m of EU funding.

The Southern Oxfordshire Leader programme has already handed out £468,804 of its £1.89m budget to 23 local projects, including a new micro-brewery, a milking parlour, a community shop and a children’s food festival.

And the group overseeing the project is urging people to apply for the money — which must be spent by 2013.

Because the fund uses money from the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy and is targeted at the rural economy, projects in larger towns, including Didcot, Abingdon and Wantage, are excluded from applying.

But schemes and businesses in Wallingford, which has a smaller population, are able to benefit if they can demonstrate their projects will improve tourism in the area.

Wallingford’s new moorings were part-funded with Leader money, and the town museum is to apply for a grant for a museum extension.

Kate Forrest, who oversees the project for South Oxfordshire District Council, said: “It is all European money, but local people determine where the money goes.

“There are quite a few strong ideas coming through, particularly ones supporting rural businesses and farming.

“What we are lacking is tourism and heritage projects. If you have that sort of project, this funding could be available for you, be they market town initiatives, or ideas to help local visitors, or support the rural economy.

“Oxford city is the tourism mecca for the area, but this is to make people realise there is more to Oxfordshire than just Oxford.”

Wallingford town clerk Andrew Rogers said tourism was essential to the town’s economic viability.

He said: “Most market towns welcome tourists, but we are especially blessed with having the river, and we need to make the most of it and get more visitors to the town.”

Last week, Brightwell-cum-Sotwell's new community shop, which was awarded £30,000, opened for business.

Village stores committee member Nick Spencer said: “In the end, the Leader grant provided about 15 per cent of our project costs and claiming the funds has not been difficult.

“Would we have found that money elsewhere? Possibly, but it would have been very difficult.”

The group gave £22,000 to last year's Children's Food Festival at Wittenham Clumps, £27,000 towards extending Upton village hall, £17,220 towards a new milking parlour near Faringdon, and £8,028 towards a home delivery vehicle for a farm at East Hanney.

The funding is available to most of South Oxfordshire and Vale of White Horse districts, stretching from Shrivenham to Chinnor.

Grants of up to £50,000 can be made, but are more usually less than £30,000, and can only be used to cover up to 50 per