Community Led Local Development

'Community Led Local Development' or 'CLLD' gives local communities the power to tackle their own, local challenges. By building knowledge and skills, supporting new ideas and encouraging cooperation, CLLD helps to create viable and resilient communities.

The Scottish Government has committed £11.6 million of funding for financial year 2023-24 to support CLLD across rural and island Scotland.

This follows on from £11.6 million of CLLD funding over 2022-23 which is being delivered in two tranches:

  • £8.6 million has been allocated to Local Action Groups (LAG) to support CLLD within their areas through the Rural Community Led Fund (RCLF). A breakdown of the funding allocations across the LAG network can be found here. 
  • £3 million of funding open to community groups delivered by Inspiring Scotland through the Rural and Island Communities Ideas into Action (RICIA) fund (please note the application window for RICIA closed on 10 October 2022).

LEADER Legacy

This funding builds on the positive legacy of the LEADER Programme funding and the learning of two test of change pilots which were delivered in 2021-22 – the 'Rural Communities Testing Change (RCTC)' and the 'Rural Communities Ideas into Action (RCIA)' funds.  These funds jointly made £3.3 million of funding available to test future approaches to CLLD in rural and island communities in Scotland.

Learning was drawn from the Scottish Rural Collage evaluation of the RCTC and additional recommendations by the James Hutton Institute. An end fund report for the RCIA fund was also published, which reviewed delivery by Inspiring Scotland and made a range of recommendations regarding future CLLD funding delivery (viewable here). 

The RCTC fund was made available to LAGs to enable them to build on the positive legacy of LEADER while using their experience to properly innovate and test change while the RCIA Fund was delivered in partnership with Inspiring Scotland and was open to all community groups as described on the Inspiring Scotland website.

CLLD across Scotland has been supported through the former LEADER programme for nearly 30 years. Funding was awarded by LAG to projects that supported delivery of a Local Development Strategy.

Other Funding Sources

However, many other funding sources can be utilised to support CLLD including crowdfunding initiatives, wind farm grants, community empowerment funds, participatory budgeting and some Scottish Rural Development Programme schemes, such as Improving Public Access.  You can also use our funding search tool to search for open funding opportunities using a range of search criteria. 

Community Led Local Development - Aims

CLLD aims to address social, environmental and economic issues and include actions affecting rural and island communities to:

  • drive community action on climate change
  • enhance rural services and facilities, including transport initiatives
  • enhance natural/cultural heritage, tourism and leisure
  • support food and drink initiatives (for example short supply chains, community food)
  • build co-operation with similar groups in Scotland, UK and Europe
  • empowering communities to exchange learning and knowledge with each other, realise their potential and build opportunities for all

For more information please get in touch with us at info@ruralnetwork.scot, and keep an eye on our social media channels and the news section of our website for further updates.