OIC Receives £774k Funding from first Crown Estate Distribution

Orkney Islands Council has today (30 September) welcomed the news that they are to receive £774k from Crown Estate funds to spend on local projects.

The money, which is being distributed to all coastal local authorities comes from the net revenue generated from marine assets out to twelve nautical miles during 2017/2018 and honours a commitment secured by the Our Islands Our Future campaign made in the Scottish Government’s prospectus Empowering Scotland’s Island Communities.

This is the first year of new arrangements that will ensure that coastal communities benefit following the recent devolution of the management of assets to the Scottish Government - with the allocations based on a formula agreed with local government umbrella body COSLA.

Now that the funding allocation has been confirmed, the Council intends to focus the spend on activities which will have the maximum benefit for the whole of the community.

Councillor James Stockan, Leader of Orkney Islands Council, said; "This funding is a direct result of the hard work of the three islands councils’ campaign Our Islands Our Future and the work of the Smith Commission.”

"For the first year the funding is entirely based on geographic location, but this will be reviewed in future years. We'll therefore be working hard to commit these funds to projects in order to demonstrate to the Scottish Government just how vital this funding is to Orkney's coastal communities."

More information on the funding is available on the Scottish Government website news page.