Community development

The South of Scotland’s largest community buyout is set to go ahead following one of the most ambitious community fundraising campaigns ever seen – with the community of Langholm in Dumfries and Galloway raising the final funds needed in the nick of time.

The world’s first Smart Village for young people is on the hunt for digital champions age 18-28 from across Angus, Lanarkshire, Outer Hebrides, Rural Perth and Kinross and the Scottish Borders.

Residents of Carstairs Junction are being encouraged to get involved in projects identified in the new Community Action Plan, 2020 – 2025, to help make the Junction a better place to live, work and play.

Projects from across the UK which are working to create resilient rural communities are invited to apply for grant funding of up to £10,000 from The Prince’s Countryside Fund.

‘Supporting local businesses helps protect local jobs’ is the message behind a campaign launched by the Stranraer Development Trust.  The campaign encourages people to ‘Support Stranraer’, with the aim of building back confidence in the community and encouraging people to feel confident about enjoying local facilities and buying from local businesses.

As we enter uncharted waters, the Young Rural Change Makers Programme is a online initiative to help young people, like you, build confidence, develop new skills, be part of a network and thrive in the rural area you call home.

Am I the right fit for this programme?

A “game-changing” £300,000 has boosted a small community’s attempt to secure southern Scotland’s biggest community land buyout – bringing its funding total to £3.1 million – as a 31 October deadline looms.

Where is home and what does it mean to you? It can be a physical building but for many of us it is a feeling, a place, a smell or a view. The people who know you, being a ‘regular’, stopping for a chat, a beaten track and reassuring landmarks. When you’ve lived somewhere all your life and these things are part of your routine it can be hard to think how you might live without them.

Island communities will benefit from a £2 million programme of locally-led green projects designed to help support their economic recovery from the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.