Scottish Land Fund is supporting local communities

The Scottish Land Fund (SLF) has awarded 10 grants across the country totalling nearly £2m this year to community groups.

The Fund supports rural and urban communities to become more resilient and sustainable through the ownership and management of land and land assets.

Funded by the Scottish Government and delivered in partnership by The National Lottery Community Fund and Highlands and Islands Enterprise, it offers grants of up to £1 million to help communities take ownership of the land and buildings that matter to them, as well as practical support to develop their aspirations into viable projects.

One of the successful groups is Broughtonknowe Community Woodland (BCW), a community group set up by dog walkers in the Borders, It has landed nearly £600,000 towards buying a 56-hectare (140 acre) forest.

BCW will buy the site - which sits in a valley between Peebles and Biggar - to continue to use it as a green space and increase biodiversity.

Ian Brooke, who chairs BCW, said

"We absolutely delighted" with such a "substantial grant" towards their £900,000 project.

"The woodland has been used by local people for many years for recreation and wellbeing, and is a haven for wildlife, having been sympathetically managed by the current owner," he added.

"The local community have come together to support a community buyout and this investment will mean we will have more than three quarters of the cost of the purchase price and we will continue to appeal for the remaining balance leading to a spring 2025 purchase.

"Thank you to the SLF for its confidence in our plans and for recognising that this is a well-used, special place and with a community purchase, it will be protected for ever more."

Rural affairs secretary Mairi Gougeon said each group receiving SLF funding was an "example of people coming together to take really positive, practical action to create a place for others to come together and benefit the community".

The SLF's Cara Gillespie said it aimed to provide funding "targeted directly at local needs".

"The groups involved have developed strategic goals and clear ambitions about how these assets will help their localities to thrive," she added.

Other groups to benefit are:

• Annexe Communities (£248,000) to buy the building in Partick in Glasgow which they have been tenants in for the last 37 years
• Balmacara Community Trust (£162,130) to acquire the former Balmacara Campsite in Lochalsh
• Aberfeldy Development Trust (£125,500) will buy two parcels of land on the site of an old slaughterhouse
• Lamlash Community Hub (£121,500) to acquire the local parish church and hall
• Stromness Community Development Trust (£138,054) to buy the community centre and play park
• Foggie Neuk (£59,017) will purchase the ground floor of the building it has occupied since 2020 in the main town square of Aberchirder, Aberdeenshire
• Morebattle Community Pub (£149,500) will buy the Templehall Inn in the Scottish Borders
• The Oakbank Community Inn Sandbank (£147,411) will reopen the local pub and restaurant in Sandbank, Dunoon
• Straiton Village Co-operative (£228,950) will purchase the Buck Café and House in the village of Straiton, South Ayrshire

Morebattle Community Pub, Oakbank Community Inn and Straiton Village Co-operative were all support by Plunkett UK's Scottish Rural Pubs Partnership programme, which is funded by Scottish Rural Network. The programme suppots the growing community pubs network in Scotland through a series of free training events, expert advice and networking activities (more details of the programme here). 

Find out more about the SLF including how to apply at Scottish Land Fund | The National Lottery Community Fund