Seven community projects to share £250k

SEVEN communities are celebrating the awarding of £250,000, provided from a ‘Sustainable Communities Fund‘.

Since the fund’s launch, three years ago by the Scottish Crown Estate, it has distributed a total of £970,000 to a wide range of “innovative projects” across the country.

Among the projects to receive funding from the latest announcement is a solar energy project in the East Lothian town of Dunbar.

Crown Estate Scotland (as noted, here) owns virtually all seabed out to 12 nautical miles, just under half the foreshore, four rural estates comprising 37,000 hectares of rural land, rights to fish wild salmon and sea trout in river and coastal areas, rights to naturally-occurring gold and silver across most of Scotland, a commercial retail and office property in central Edinburgh, and the Zero-Four innovation park near Montrose in the Scottish Borders.

It belongs to the monarch but its net profits go to the Scottish Government.

The seven ‘projects’ are as follows (as described by Crown Estate Scotland, here):

Arran Development Trust (North Ayrshire) – £48k. Blackwaterfoot Emergency Accommodation project aims to provide 15 prefabricated, energy-efficient rental units for workers in health & social care, education, and hospitality;
Assynt Development Trust (Highland) – £50k. Development of proposals for 40 affordable housing units;
Isle of Canna Development Trust (Highland) – £30k. Redevelopment of the Coroghan Barn, a listed building, into a multi-use space for events, visitor accommodation, and business use;
Sustaining Dunbar (East Lothian) – £12k. A 20MW community solar farm will help provide renewable, low-carbon energy for local people;
Tayvallich Community Hall (Argyll & Bute) – £24k. The grant will pay for a Project Manager to support plans for affordable housing aimed specifically at young families and local people;
The Ridge SCIO (East Lothian) – £50k. The Empire Close Skills Training Centre will help tackle unemployment by providing construction training courses; and
Leanchoil Development Trust (Moray) – £35k. This project will provide a range of support services for veterans by developing the historic Leanchoil Hospital in Forres. This will include a new activity centre, including a therapeutic garden, and a long-term initiative to address local health service inequalities.

Pictured: Dunbar High Street, Picture credit: Place Design Scotland

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