Crown Estate Scotland’s Sustainable Communities Fund, set up in 2020, has already delivered more than £1.4 million in valuable support to people across the country, including 12 affordable housing projects which have shared in more than £400,000.

The Fund consists of two grant programmes:

• Community Capacity Grants - open to all communities within five miles of Scotland’s coastline, or one of Crown Estate Scotland’s four rural estates. Early-stage financial support is available for community projects that will contribute to local regeneration and sustainable development. Grants will range between £20,000 and £50,000, with a total of £300,000 being made available in this year of the programme.
• Environment Grants - available to Crown Estate Scotland tenants, providing grants of between £5,000 and £20,000 for projects which can deliver demonstrable environmental benefits within 18 months of an award being made. A total of £125,000 is available this year.

The success of the Fund in bringing about major improvements to communities across the country has led Crown Estate Scotland to increase the level of funding, with an extra £100,000 being made available in recent years.

A wide range of projects and initiatives have benefitted from the Sustainable Communities Fund in recent years. These include:

• Uig Development Trust, Highland - Development of modern, affordable, energy efficient workspaces for local businesses via seven steel-fabricated business units.
• Love Oor Lang Toun, Fife – A community initiative to regenerate Kirkcaldy town centre by repurposing and filling vacant shops.
• Iona Energy, Argyll & Bute – A community-owned energy company which is planning to install a ground source heat network to provide islanders with clean, green, sustainable energy.
• Hope Cohousing Community Interest Company, Orkney - Support for a long-term plan to provide accessible and affordable rented housing for older people in St. Margaret’s Hope.
• The Three Hares Community Woodland, Midlothian – Establishment of a community orchard to provide more biodiversity and educational opportunities around tree growing and importance of fruit trees in nature.
• Ullapool Harbour Trust – Installation of a 32,56kW solar photovoltaic (PV) array, incorporating a 33kWh battery storage unit, with estimated annual CO2 savings of almost 12,000KG.
• Craignish Mooring Association, Argyll - Community-led seagrass planting across 1,000sqm is helping ‘seawilding’ efforts to encourage a wide range of organisms.

One area to have benefited from the Sustainable Communities Fund is Edinbane in Skye, where local people received £25,000 to support their plans to reopen a derelict shop as a new community centre, offering services for residents and visitors alike.

Alistair Danter from the Edinbane Community Company said: “The money is invaluable because doing a community shop - when all eyes are on you - is even more difficult than trying to set one up as an individual. Applying to the Sustainable Communities Fund was straightforward and I would encourage anyone to apply.”

Penny Coles, head of partnerships for Crown Estate Scotland, said: “Over the past four years the Sustainable Communities Fund has provided an incredible £1.4m in the form of practical support to a diverse array of projects across Scotland, helping people and their communities to achieve the priorities most important to them locally.

“We’re now looking for new applications so that even more people can get the support to turn their aspirations and ideas into reality.”

Full details on the application process and how grants will be allocated can be found here.

The deadline is Monday 23 October.