£1M of UKSPF awarded to empower communities across Highland

The Community Regeneration Fund Strategic Group met recently and awarded £1,033,354 from the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) to support 21 community led projects across Highland. This funding is made up from the 2024/25 capital and revenue allocations contained with the UKSPF three year Investment Plan. All funding must be spent by the end of March 2025.

Total available Funding 2024/25 - £1,033,384

• Place based investments, regeneration and town centre improvements –
• £576,000 (£432,000 capital/ £144,000 revenue)
• Community assets and infrastructure improvements - £342,154 (capital)
• Volunteering and/or social projects - £24,000 (revenue)
• Capacity Building & resilience – £19,200 (revenue)
• Community measures linked to energy efficiency/fuel poverty - £24,000 (revenue)
• Digital infrastructure for local community facilities - £48,000 (capital)

Economy and Infrastructure Committee Chair, Cllr Ken Gowans said: “The UK Shared Prosperity Fund is a three year fund available to local authorities, with an allocation of over £9M for Highland. This is a considerable investment for our communities, and a chance to build a fairer and more resilient Highland region.

“21 of 23 applicants for the 20024/25 round were successfully awarded UKSPF as they all identified robust, design ready match funded projects that aligned with the UKSPF criteria and the strict spend deadline by end of March 2025.

“The organisations and people behind these community led projects should be commended for their commitment to improving and enhancing their communities. The breadth of projects across Highland that will benefit from over £1M in funding support is vital to ensure that projects at grass roots are able to develop and prosper.”

Administered under the Community Regeneration Funding umbrella, the areas of intervention under the ‘Communities and Place’ strand of the UKSPF we are currently inviting applications to come forward for are,

The 21 projects awarded UKSPF: £1,033,354

• National Trust Scotland – Glenfinnan out of hours visitor toilets - £36,000
• Staffin Community Trust - Staffin Harbour Water Supply & Safety Equipment - £27,294.22
• Eden Court Highlands -Improving Energy Efficiency at the Cultural Centre - £58,500
• Broadford and Strath Community Company - Places and People - £42,370
• Kyle & Lochalsh Community Trust - Delivering priorities in the LCAP - £24,961
• RSPB Scotland - Community and Conservation at Corrimony Nature Reserve - £57,938.70
• Nairn Community Transport - Purchase of New Minibus - £44,500
• Kyle of Sutherland Development Trust – Support for community planning - £40,088
• Culbokie Community Trust - Village Hub – Toilets and Potting Shed - £100,000
• Aviemore Community Ent Company Ltd - Burnside Park Refurbishment Project - £80,823.02
• Go Golspie Development Trust - Continuing and developing GGCT - £58,783
• Syke and Lochalsh Community Care Forum - Young Carers Build Project - £37,548
• Glenurquhart Care Project - Glenurquhart Centre Facility Upgrade - £30,202
• Nairn Improvement Community Enterprise (NICE) -Local place plan phase 2 - £35,000.00
• The Highland Council - EV Charging in Poolewe - £70,827.15
• North Highland Initiative - Community assets and infrastructure improvements - £50,000
• Nairn Bowling Club - Creating support mechanisms within the community - £25,965
• Inverness Sea Cadets – Feasibility study on the Sea Cadets buildings - £5,268
• Knocknagael Green Hub – Community assets and infrastructure improvements - £68,791.91
• Dunvegan Community Trust - Dunvegan Community Park - £40,000.00
• Garve & District Development Company - Connecting Communities - £98,494

The early consideration of applications and awarding of grant ahead of the 2024/25 financial year, seeks to ensure grant recipients have as much time as possible to complete their projects and claim grant.

All applicants had to demonstrate they had secured match funding of at least 25% of the project costs.

Information on the UKSPF can be found here.