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Rural Direct to help communities access funding
If your community wants to refurbish your village hall, develop new local services or come up with a long-term plan for community development, then a new service run by the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations and the Crofters Commission can help you make the most of the funding programmes that are out there.The Rural Direct service will offer advice, support and technical expertise to help rural community access funding including the new Rural Priorities scheme. Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and the Environment Richard Lochhead formally launched the service today, 9th June 2008, by taking the first call to Rural Direct’s helpline from Judith Johnson of the Langholm Initiative in Dumfries and Galloway.
Speaking at the SCVO’s Inverness office Mr Lochhead said, "This Government wants to see communities able to make the most of the grant funding available to them.
“I want community groups to be fully equipped to maximise the opportunities available to them in the sustainable economic development of rural Scotland.
“Rural Priorities in particular will deliver real benefits for the people of Scotland and is a one-stop shop for farmers, crofters and others living and working in rural Scotland.
“In the past year Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO) and Crofters Commission have been awarded a total of £295,000 for 2008/09 by the Scottish Government to help rural Scotland make the most of its potential.
“I want to see rural Scotland maximise the investment this Government has made available and look forward to seeing the results in coming years.”
Comment from first caller
Commenting on the launch, Judith Johnson of the Langholm Initiative and Rural Direct’s first caller said, "The Langholm Initiative has been supporting local organisations and businesses in Langholm and the surrounding areas since 1994 and has a lot of experience of raising funds to improve business, social and physical environment of the community.
"The issue of sourcing funding and meeting the ever-increasing demands of funders is a real challenge. It is vital that the policy makers and funding bodies keep in touch with what is happening on the ground as community groups and voluntary organisations are the life-blood of rural Scotland.
"Potentially there are great benefits to be had from Rural Priorities funding, but at the outset the process seems daunting and very different from our previous experience of project funding. We anticipate that the Rural Direct service will assist our organisations and many others like us to help our communities to thrive."
SCVO and Crofters Commission comment on launch
Also commenting on the launch Norman MacAskill, Head of Rural Policy at SCVO said, "New funding opportunities are opening up for Scotland's rural communities, and we are pleased to have the opportunity to help community groups to access those funds. Working in partnership with the Crofters Commission, we aim to complement and add value to existing sources of information and support such as the CVS network. Already, we have helped dozens of groups with the early stages of SRDP funding applications, and we look forward to seeing the benefits they bring to their communities in the months and years to come."
Nick Reiter, Chief Executive of the Crofters Commission said, "The Crofters Commission welcomes the launch of the Rural Direct service which provides advice and practical assistance to help groups in rural communities access a range of funding opportunities to develop their communities. The service builds upon the success of the Crofting Community Development Scheme which ran from 2001 to 2006 and which was recognised as a successful model of how capacity can be built in rural communities, helping over 250 groups undertake over 800 projects and access over £30 million investment from both public and private sources. While the Crofters Commission will be focusing on groups in the Highlands and Islands we look forward to working in partnership with our SCVO colleagues in order to maximize the effectiveness of Rural Direct across the whole of rural Scotland."
Want to know more about Rural Direct?
Rural Direct is a free service available to constituted community groups in rural areas throughout Scotland. The Crofters Commission are delivering the scheme in the Crofting Counties and the SCVO are delivering the service in the rest of Scotland. You can contact the service by calling 0845 838 8598. Calls will be charged at local rate. You can also email your query to ruraldirect@crofterscommission.org.uk or ruraldirect@scvo.org.uk.
Rural Direct won’t write applications for you, but they will help your community group with the applications process to programmes such as Rural Priorities, Big Lottery Fund, Climate Challenge Fund and more.
If you’re applying for Scotland Rural Development Funding, Rural Direct can help you in a range of ways including deciding whether to opt for LEADER or Rural Priorities, helping you get a Business Reference Number for Rural Priorities, helping you submit your online Rural Priorities application even if you don’t have a computer or a broadband connection.
They will also help you understand the range of other funding opportunities available and to write the best possible funding applications.
You can read more about Rural Direct and how it could help your rural community by downloading the Rural Direct leaflet from our documents library.
- Source
- SCVO
- Date
- 9-Jun-2008
- Categories
- FUNDING, News - General, News - Top Story
No Access
10-Jun-2008 @ 16:14PM
Michael Johnston
I am pleased rural groups can now access funding.I wonder when the same privilege will be extended to those of us who actually live in the rural areas. Rural priorities SOIs are unusable with our internet connection. If by some miracle you do manage to submit one you then find that 90% of all applications are red lighted because the rules have changed since you put one in. Not that it matters much now as any fresh SOI is unlikely to make the RPAC meeting and will therefore be too late for 2009, this means people like me might just see some benefit from SRDP in 2011 after a successful SAP in May 2010.