Funding

A €2 million European Union (EU) project to increase lamb survival rates, funded under Horizon 2020, has been announced.

Scottish farmers and researchers will work with people in Spain, Romania, Italy, France, Ireland  and Turkey to reduce lamb deaths.

Between 2 to 6 million lambs in the UK die every year before they are three days old.[1] 

Transport Scotland’s Low Carbon Travel and Transport Challenge Fund (LCTT Challenge Fund) is now open for applications.

The Energy Saving Trust has been appointed by Transport Scotland to administer the fund.

Public, community and third sector organisations can apply for funding under the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) 2014-2020 Programme to facilitate the delivery of active travel and low carbon transport hubs.

Tyne Esk LEADER approved six projects in their first round of funding.

A total of £267,000 was awarded to the six projects, which include community, farm diversification and enterprise projects. The Tyne Esk LEADER programme covers Mid- and East Lothian.

You can find information on the approved projects below.

And you can find out more about the Jerba Campervans' project in their Case Study.

You can now search over 1,000 funds that support projects in rural Scotland using the SRN Funding Search.

The Scottish Rural Network (SRN) has teamed up with the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisation's Funding Scotland to provide an advanced online funding search to help you find funding for your charity, community group or social enterprise.

The Scottish Government has published the country's first long-term Social Enterprise Strategy.

The ten-year strategy includes a number of steps aimed at growing the social enterprise sector and driving inclusive growth.

Social enterprises trade for the common good and work to strengthen communities, improve people’s life chances or protect the environment.

Sarah Hyslop, LEADER Manager for Ayrshire Local Action Group attended a European Network for Rural Development (ENRD) transnational Community-Led Local Development (CLLD) Seminar – Achieving results the CLLD way: Putting the method to work - in early December.

Participants included people from Managing Authorities, Local Action Groups (LAGs)/Fisheries Local Action Groups (FLAGs), Networks, European Commission and regional/national organisations from many member states including Sweden, Greece, Portugal, Slovenia, Cyprus, Italy and Hungary.

The first funding award from the Highland LEADER 2014-20 programme has been secured by Fyrish Gymnastics Club.

The award of £34,200 will allow the popular club to buy new equipment so that more people can get involved. They will also use the funding towards the cost of a competition standard sprung gymnastics floor.

Claire Bath, Chair of Fryish Gymnastics Club said:

"We’ve seen increased interest in gymnastics across Easter Ross since the club started in 2009. We currently have 250 members with over 150 on the waiting list.

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."