Community development

Christmas has come early for a community’s bid to double the size of a vast new nature reserve in Dumfries and Galloway, thanks to an anonymous private donation of half a million pounds and public crowdfunder donations surging past £50,000.

Regeneration projects in some of Scotland’s more disadvantaged and rural communities will share more than £25 million of funding to support community projects and local economies.

The Regeneration Capital Grant Fund will support 22 locally developed place-based projects that tackle inequalities and promote sustainable and inclusive economic recovery from the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

Communities play a crucial role in encouraging others to walk and cycle by making places more enjoyable to travel through or to. By encouraging more people to walk and cycle, traffic congestion is reduced, public health improves and carbon emissions and air pollution is lowered.

Sustrans is a charity that aims to make it easier for people to walk and cycle and as part of that mission they are delivering the ArtRoots NCN fund, a community fund for artistic and aesthetic improvements to traffic-free paths along the National Cycle Network in Scotland. 

Do you want to be part of a global network of island changemakers? Island Innovation is open to applications for its 2022 Island Ambassadors programme.

New measures announced for a just transition to Net Zero.

Investment of £12.3 million has been awarded so far this year by Scottish Enterprise, South of Scotland Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise as part of the £100 million Green Jobs Fund and is expected to create and safeguard over 850 green jobs.

Spearheaded by the Mull and Iona Community Trust, ambitious plans are underway to transform Ardura's dark conifer plantations into a vibrant community woodland, that will benefit nature, climate and local communities.

Could connecting with a researcher help your community group run a project exploring a local climate change issue?

Could 20-minute neighbourhoods, where people can meet their daily needs within a short walk from their home, be the answer to Scotland’s net zero ambitions? Locals living in villages east of Loch Lomond are about to find out.

Councils will be given powers to ensure short-term lets are safe and meet the needs of their local communities under legislation laid before the Scottish Parliament.