A cut above the rest!

Glengarry Community Woodlands received £36,290 from the Scottish Government’s Rural and Island Communities Ideas into Action Fund to set up a community sawmill as part of the Scottish Government’s Community Led Local Development commitment (CLLD). 

The funding forms part of the Scottish Rural Delivery Programme (SRDP) and was delivered through Inspiring Scotland.

Glengarry Community Woodlands was formed in 2016 to purchase what is today the community woodlands. Since then, the organisation has acquired additional land and is now involved in numerous community development projects, including affordable housing, woodland crofts and the sustainable management of our woodland resources.

Initially they took on 31 hectares of woodland on the edge of the village of Invergarry, which was bought through the National Forest Land Scheme, which is a community asset transfer from the Forestry Commission.

In this video Tom Cooper, Development Officer and Vince Mackintosh, Sawmill Operator with Glengarry Community Woodlands talk about how the community set about establishing there own sawmill and the benefits it will bring the community including housing and community wealth building opportunities.

The CLLD funding is part of the Scottish Rural Delivery Programme (SRDP) and builds on the positive legacy of the EU 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.

See the full case study below.