Funding

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:

Angus delegates, interested in driving forward rural skills in Angus, participated in a learning visit to Fife Rural Skills partnership recently.

It was really useful to hear how the work of the partnership has developed over the last few years and a number of new connections were made.  

One Angus delegate said:

"I was inspired by today's visit and see many opportunities for work to be developed in Angus."

In this article, Shetland LEADER tell us about a couple of their recent activities - an event to promote and discuss walking in Shetland, and taking part in the popular Shetland Food Fair.

Walking event

The Shetland LEADER Local Action Group hosted an event on 19 October to promote and discuss walks and walking in Shetland. The event brought together representatives from community groups and agencies from across Shetland, providing an opportunity to discuss walking as a development activity.  

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.

Two projects have been awarded funding by the Orkney Fisheries Local Action Group.

A total of just over £179,000 has been awarded to the projects by the FLAG, which is responsible for administering the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund and the Scottish Government.

The Orkney Shellfish Research Project, being run by Orkney Sustainable Fisheries, will see the continued development of locally led fishery research work through the employment of full-time marine scientists with fishermen at the centre of the process.