Lothian projects receive Scottish Land Fund cash
A group in Dunbar that plans to purchase a successful greengrocer’s and a former sports pavilion in Edinburgh, which is set to provide a meeting place for the local community, are two of the eight projects that have been successful in the recent round of awards given out by the Scottish Land Fund.
Community Carrot Dunbar has been given £119,200 to take over the Crunchy Carrot, a popular shop in the town, with a view to strengthening its connections with local producers and increasing its involvement with community groups including food banks and schools.
Meanwhile Blackhall Community Trust Steering Group has been given £33,750 to purchase the former sports pavilion as a way of providing new facilities for the community within Blackhall and Ravelston, including changing rooms for the local girls’ football team and a place where older people can get together in order to reduce social isolation and promote health and wellbeing. The pavilion will continue to house the existing nursery.
Isobel Knox, Chair, Community Carrot, said: “The Board of Community Carrot are delighted to have been awarded this grant from the Scottish Land Fund: it will be crucial in enabling us to fund our community buy-out of the Crunchy Carrot for Dunbar. It is difficult to adequately sum up the importance of this shop in our town; it's a social hub as well as an irreplaceable outlet for locally sourced, ethically-minded food and other products. We are committed to keeping it open and will work to ensure it remains the much-loved community asset that it has been for the last 20 years. This grant enables us to buy the shop premises as well as funding a range of other essential costs, such as hiring a development worker to establish even more Community Carrot services for Dunbar. We hope there will be a Carrot on our High Street for many years to come.”
Tina Woolnough, Chair of Blackhall Community Trust, said: “We are truly delighted to have been awarded this Scottish Land Fund grant which will enable us to do so much more for our community. We are very grateful for the grant and once we take Ravelston Park Pavilion into community ownership, we look forward to improving the building for community-run Blackhall Nursery and to create a much-needed community space.”
The grants are part of a total of £1,628, 610 that has been awarded to eight groups across Scotland during the latest round of grants from the Scottish Land Fund.
Minister, Cabinet Secretary for Land Reform Roseanna Cunningham said of today’s grants: “This substantial set of Scottish Land Fund grants will enable eight diverse projects across the country to buy up key assets for the benefit of local people and put the ownership and responsibility of key services and facilities right at the heart of the community.
“The Scottish Land Fund supports a wide range of community ownership projects. Behind each one lies a story, as well as a great deal of hard work and commitment from local residents to unlock the opportunity that this funding brings. I congratulate each of the successful applicants and wish them good luck on the next chapter of their journey.”
John Watt, Scottish Land Fund Committee Chair, said: “The variety of projects, from shops and pubs, to rural woodland and open space within industrial communities, show how wide-ranging the benefits of the Scottish Land Fund can be. Groups across the country are using the money to make a long-lasting impact on their local areas.”
Sandra Holmes, Head of Community Assets at HIE, said: “The Scottish Land Fund is designed to support a diverse range of community and land initiatives reflecting the real issues at the heart of local communities. Today’s successful projects are all great examples of people taking control of local resources for the long-term benefit of their communities. We wish them all the very best in their new ventures.”
Other projects receiving Scottish Land Fund cash today are:
Viewpark Conservation Group
Award - £435,800
This group will purchase the historic Douglas Support Estate at Viewpark in North Lanarkshire in order to secure its future as a green space for the local community.
Applecross Community Company
Award - £11,900
This group will purchase part of the garden of Applecross Surgery from NHS Highland and develop three two-bedroom properties for affordable housing aimed to support older people in the community.
Tobermory Harbour Association
Award- £22,040
Tobermory Harbour Association will purchase the the Solum of Ledaig Carpark and Boatpark within Tobermory as part of long tern environmental and economic plans for the community.
Mull and Iona Community Trust - Ardura
Award - £518,420
Mull and Iona Community Trust (MICT) will purchase the 200ha Ardura Forest site, selling off mature conifer timber and replanting with broadleaf trees both for commercial timber and as an amenity woodland with car parking, paths, woodland trails and a forest school.
Deveron Projects
Award - £270,000
Deveron Projects Ltd (DP) will purchase an empty retail building in the main square of Huntly, Aberdeenshire in order to provide more space for its community activities.
The Black Bull at Gartmore
Award - £217,500
Black Bull Gartmore Hub and Pub Ltd will acquire the Black Bull Hotel premises and run it as a community owned and managed hub, café, pub, restaurant and accommodation facility, protecting this last remaining informal social space in the village from closure.
