Nairn projects awarded Highland Coastal Communities Fund

Two successful Nairn projects have been awarded funding from the Highland Coastal Communities Fund (HCCF) by The Highland Council’s Nairnshire Committee this week.

The Nairnshire Committee received a total of £12,090 from the HCCF out of a total £3,034,703 awarded to The Highland Council.

Chair of the Nairnshire Committee, Councillor Tom Heggie said: “It’s good that we get these funds in and that we can enable these two projects in the town and we look forward to this money being invested in the town’s infrastructure making it look better for visitors and locals. Also, St Ninian’s Football Club do a tremendous amount of work when they are functioning properly without lockdown, so again it’s good that we are able to encourage and support them and enable their work with young people.”

The following project applications were awarded:

• ‘Nairn Goals’ (£3,500) for St Ninian’s JFC to buy new equipment and safety storage which will enable the group to continue to promote participation in football activities.
• ‘Making Nairn more welcoming for the community and visitors’ (£8,590) to Nairn BID. This project includes replacing or maintaining some of the town's tourism and visitor infrastructure including replacing and upgrading wayfarer town direction signage and replacing 8 picnic tables units to ensure their longevity with low maintenance and improving their accessibility. Including the NairnScotland branding, pointing visitors to digital resources such as a website and online maps. Painting the town’s public infrastructure (lampposts, railings, bollards, and benches) from the Railway Station to the foot of the Brae/A96 junction.

The Highland Coastal Communities Fund is designed to support economic regeneration and sustainable development around coastal areas in Highland. The fund is derived from revenue generated by Crown Estate marine assets.

Projects are expected to prioritise economic recovery, community resilience, mitigate the impact of climate change or address the challenges of rural depopulation. The successful projects will also demonstrate sustainability or viability, value for money, additionality, local support/benefit to their community and evidence the positive impacts for their coastal community/economy.