Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) is re-opening its Community Engagement Fund to new applicants at the start of 2018, a fund aimed at transforming some of Scotland’s most deprived urban areas by developing and improving their green spaces, with a deadline for applications of 3 April.
SNH writes:
We’re looking for community projects which help people make better use of their local green spaces and play a more active role in how they are managed. We want people to value, use and enjoy their green spaces, and through this to feel happier, healthier and better connected with other people. We expect this to lead to inequalities in health and opportunity being reduced, and an increase in how people value and understand what nature does for them. Green infrastructure can also help people develop skills, have the confidence to seek and sustain jobs and feel more empowered to influence changes affecting their community. We will support projects which can achieve one or more of these objectives.
SNH was awarded £500k to spend on the Fund as part of the Scottish Government’s current European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) programme. £190k of this was allocated to six projects in a first funding round held earlier in 2017. Three of these projects are underway, with the other three set to start in early 2018. The projects will benefit communities including Pollokshields, Southside and Yoker in Glasgow; Clydebank; Greenock; Cumbernauld; and the communities along Edinburgh’s Firth of Forth shoreline.
We expect to allocate the remainder of the money (£310k) in the 2018 round. To be eligible for funding, projects must:
- be located in a town or city with a population of more than 10,000. Projects which benefit one of the 15% most deprived areas in Scotland will be given priority.
- have a total value of between £50k and £120k. SNH’s funding covers up to 40% of this, with applicants having to find the remaining 60% from match funding or their own resources.
- Have a finish date no later than 30 September 2019.
The deadline for applications is Tuesday 3 April with funding decisions to be announced in May.
Further detail on the eligibility criteria and guidance on how to apply will be available on the Green Infrastructure website.
For further reading see the Green Infrastructure website at https://www.greeninfrastructurescotland.org.uk.
