Bids sought as Orkney LAG work continues

Are you a local community group with a desire to secure funding to improve a community facility, or to help address pandemic, child, food and fuel poverty challenges within your area?

Bids are being sought from community groups within Orkney who want to make a difference through the Scottish Government funded Community Led Local Development (CLLD) grant scheme – the successor to the previous LEADER Programme which saw a wealth of small-scale community-led projects benefit between 2014-2020.

The Orkney Local Action Group (Orkney LAG) delivered the LEADER Programme in the county and will also oversee the CLLD funding allocation for Orkney of £188,330 in 2022/23.

Orkney LAG will accept applications from community groups between 5-28 September through the Council website here: www.orkney.gov.uk/CLLD

The CLLD Programme can support revenue and capital project costs based on the following criteria:

• Community Project Feasibility Grant up to £7,000 – this will enable community groups to commission a feasibility study where there is potential to secure future capital funding which will improve the sustainability of a community building, enable resilience, energy efficiency, reductions in carbon emissions and address challenges within communities recovering from the impacts of the COVID pandemic.
• Community Child, Food and Fuel Poverty Alleviation Grant up to £10,000 – funding to enable community groups to help alleviate child, food and fuel poverty in the community with projects such as: food growing, food larders, community fridges, minimizing food waste, recycling, upcycling, reuse.

Chair of Orkney LAG, Chessa Couperwhite, said: “We are delighted that the Scottish Government has made this funding available to enable the work of the LAG to continue.  The Scottish Government is keen to continue the elements of the LEADER programme that worked well but is also encouraging LAGs to test change.  In addition to these two funds, we will also be reviewing the makeup of LAG to ensure that it is representative of our community and establishing a Youth LAG.

“Projects must be delivered in the current financial year and, although the fund will only be open for applications for a two-week period, we are confident that we will be able to support some really impactful projects.”

The Council’s Economic Development Manager, Stuart Allison, said: “Following on from the successes of the LEADER programme this funding is a hugely important way of continuing to support the development across Orkney of community-led projects that otherwise might not be able to happen, and so confirmation of this new CLLD funding and the scheme’s launch is great news. We would encourage potential applicants to contact Council officers to discuss proposals at an early stage.”

For further information contact Economic Development Officer, Alister Brown Alister.Brown@orkney.gov.uk or LEADER Development Officer, Alison Barclay, Alison.Barclay@orkney.gov.uk

Background:

The CLLD funding is an annual grant allocation to Orkney from the Scottish Government.  It has been provided as a replacement to the previous LEADER funding Orkney received.  Due to the limited size of the funding allocation, it will only be Orkney based, constituted community/voluntary not for profit organisations with a registered bank account that will be eligible to apply.  Applications will not be considered from individuals, sole traders, organisations outwith Orkney, religious or political organisations, or private business.

Orkney LEADER Programme

LEADER (Liaison Entre Actions pour le Developement de L'Economie Rurale - links between actions for the development of the rural economy) was part of the Scotland Rural Development Programme, which funded economic, environmental and social measures for the benefit of rural Scotland.

LEADER was a bottom-up method of delivering support for rural development, aimed at increasing the capacity of the local rural community and business networks by building knowledge and skills, encouraging innovation and co-operation, and attempting to tackle local development objectives.

Funded by the European Union and Scottish Government, the 2014-2020 LEADER Programme was delivered in Orkney by the Local Action Group (LAG).