Community development

Six projects to benefit Orkney's communities and economy have secured support from the latest rounds of Orkney LEADER funding.

So far, the current Orkney LEADER programme has awarded grant funding of over £460,000 to eight community driven, innovative projects, with a total value of over £1 million of project investment.

The latest six projects to be awarded funding are:

Dumfries and Galloway Local Action Group had their latest meeting on 17 November 2016 and approved three projects, awarding £178,949.95 in total. 

The projects awarded funding were:

Kirkcudbright Galleries Project | Applicant: Dumfries and Galloway Council 

Two projects about sports and enjoying the outdoors are the latest to benefit from funding from the Cairngorms LEADER programme.

A total of £106,913.20 has been awarded to the Kingussie 2017 project for major improvements to the facilities at Kingussie Shinty Club. Facilities at the pitch will be upgraded to the standard expected of a 21st century modern day sports club and to a high enough standard that in the future Kingussie could apply to host major occasions such as National Shinty Finals and International matches.

The Outer Hebrides LEADER Local Action Group announced recently that over £1 million has been awarded in grants to community groups and businesses across the Outer Hebrides since the programme opened for applications in April 2016.

The SRUC Rural Policy Centre has launched its Rural Scotland in Focus 2016 report.

The report provides a fast-track to up-to-date evidence and commentary on key topics of rural and national importance, in order to inform policy, practice and research.

Rural Scotland in Focus 2016 is the fourth report in the series, and was launched at an event in Edinburgh on 29 November attended by over 90 people.

A new report published by the Carnegie UK Trust highlights key lessons on towns and their development across the UK and Ireland.

The 'Turnaround Towns' report by Jane-Frances Kelly sets out the stories of eight towns from around the world, from Duluth in Minnesota to Newcastle in New South Wales, that have experienced difficult times but have made significant transformations.

LEADER Local Action Groups from almost every part of Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland gathered on 8 and 9 November in Newry, Co. Down, to exchange past experience and develop ideas for future cooperation.   

Hearing about the positive impacts of working jointly to benefit communities on both sides of the border really helped to highlight the importance of cooperation. 

The Plunkett Foundation have announced the regional shortlists in the 2016 Rural Community Ownership Awards.

A diverse range of community cooperatives across Scotland, England, Wales, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland have been shortlisted for the awards.

The Scottish finalists are:

• Buth Bharraigh Ltd, Isle of Barra
• Glenwyvis Distillery, Dingwall
• Raasay Community Shop, Isle of Raasay

Peter Couchman, Chief Executive of Plunkett Foundation, said:

The Carnegie UK Trust are inviting applications for a project which takes a fresh approach to town twinning.

Twin Towns UK will pair towns across the UK with similar characteristics or socio-economic challenges, to consider how to make positive change happen in their communities.

The initiative will support up to ten towns to trial 'twinning' arrangements over an 18-month period.