January 2009 Newsletter
In this issue...
Communities on the Edge Conference
Making more of Walking Festivals
Nature based tourism in Dumfries & Galloway
Eco Office – good news!
Gregor Stewart, arrives at Lindean
Seeking Master Composters
Red Squirrel website relaunched
Challenge the CCF to fund your project!
The Future Farmer Award 2009 opens for
entries
Development Opportunities
in the Galloway Forest Park
Rural Enterprise in a Recession
- Call for Papers
Borders Events to promote?
Edinburgh Office Space?
Interesting Reading - Plunkett
Franchise Models
Climate Change Bill and Forestry
lease proposal
Destination
Management Organisation for D&G?
Communities
on the Edge Conference
The new year seems well underway, and with it we have
said goodbye to the excellent team of animators who delivered
the Communities on the Edge (COTE) projects in Langholm,
Douglas and Yetholm. COTE worked with Douglas & Angus,
Roxburgh and Buccleuch estate managers and people from
the communities nearby to audit local resources and to
facilitate the development of new ideas, activities and
enterprises. This has been one of the Partnerships longest
running and most acclaimed projects, having gained recognition
for best practice from Leader, the Carnegie UK Trust
and The Royal Society of Edinburgh. As well as delivering
results in the communities where animators were based
the project delivered a very successful conference for
land owners at Floors Castle in November 2008 and an
Animators handbook which draws together the teams experience
in a readable format so that others can gain from lessons
learnt.
Both the conference report and the handbook will be added to the publications section of the website by the end of February.
While we are sorry to loose John, Roger, Sarah, Ian and Annette from COTE we will be adding to our ranks in the near future as new projects come on stream. In spite of the difficult financial times having a knock on effect on funding we have several exciting projects in development and funding applications pending.
Making
more of Walking Festivals
The SUP is leading a 2 year project that will develop the well established
annual Borders Festival of Walking into a larger and more self-sustaining
event. Using the National Homecoming celebrations as a spring-board,
the Walking Festival in 2009 will be more widely marketed using the
theme “in the Footsteps of the Reivers”. The Festival
will run from Sept 5th to the 13th and will offer both walks and
evening events in and around Hawick and Jedburgh. The aim is to actively
involve local businesses (accommodation providers, restaurants, pubs,
galleries, shops etc) in the festival and to attract significantly
higher numbers of participants. In 2010, the festival will focus
on a different part of the Borders and on a different theme and links
will be made to other walking festivals across the Southern Uplands
such as the Langholm and Newton Stewart events. Funding has been
secured from the Scottish Borders Leader programme, the Council,
SNH, the national Homecoming project and Awards for All. Vantage
Events have been contracted to deliver the project and a dedicated
website is being developed. More news soon.
Nature
Based tourism in Dumfries & Galloway
With funding from SNH SUP has recently commissioned rural consultant
Vyv Wood Gee (pictured right) to undertake a study of successful
nature based tourism clusters in the UK and Europe. The aim of the
study is to identify the criteria for a successful cluster, devise
a scoring scheme and to develop a development plan that can be picked
up and used by groups of businesses and communities. The aim – subject
to funding - is to pilot the development plan in the region in 2009-2011.
The clustering study will run through until April of this year, so
a report will be included in the next issue of the newsletter.
Eco
Office - good news!
Our application to the Scottish Rural Development Programme (SRDP)
for feasibility funding for the proposed Canonbie Eco Office has
been approved! In spite of great (and necessary) support from our
SNH case officer, the SRDP helpline staff in Dumfries and Ian Mathieson
at SCVO the application process was challenging to say the least.
It is a great relief that the time was well spent! We have been awarded
50% of the cost of community consultation, a business feasibility
study and outline design work. We now need to get the remaining funding
in place before work can start.
On this point we would like to deliver other groups a warning note: if you are looking at the SRDP site and see that up to 100% funding is available for feasibility work please consult an SRDP case officer before you start working up an application. (The text on the site is shown below). At present the maximum funding that will be available to you is in fact up to 50%. This can be a nasty surprise, especially if you have chosen to apply to SRDP to avoid the problems of finding match funding. With this news you might want to reconsider applying to this fund. We will continue to lobby for the SRDP to make funding of up to 100% available, or to change the information on the website.
| Community Services and
Facilities
What costs could be supported
To ensure value for money we require you to provide 2 competitive quotes for any capital items applied for which are based on actual cost. If, however, you are seeking grant support towards something so specialised it is only available through 1 source then we would accept 1 quote. Please see the guidance on quotes and estimates for more information. Rate of support
|
Gregor
Stewart arrives at Lindean
We are pleased to welcome Gregor Stewart to the Lindean Mill office.
Gregor is spending a few weeks with us as a work placement student.
While we have lots of nice admin jobs lined up, Gregor will also be
spending time outdoors with Richard Wales learning about Red Squirrel
conservation.
Seeking
Master Composters
Local volunteers for the Scottish Borders Master Composter Programme
aim to give home composting a boost by encouraging people in their
local communities to compost at home. Volunteers are being recruited
to join the programme aimed at encouraging people to take responsibility
for the waste they produce, and to give them the support that they
need in order to compost their food and garden waste at home. Click
here for more …
Red
Squirrel website relaunched
The Red Squirrels in South Scotland has been upgraded and is now live.
As well as all the latest news on the battle to conserve the red squirrel
there is the facility to add your squirrel sightings to the records
electronically. These records are a huge help when it comes to collecting
information on the distribution of red and grey squirrels in south
Scotland, allowing the conservation officers to identify areas of importance
where habitat management or grey squirrel control will benefit red
squirrel populations. www.redsquirrels.org.uk
Challenge
the CCF to fund your project!
Cabinet Secretary for the Environment Richard Lochhead announced
on January 15, 2009 the award of a total of £4,376,541 to 24
projects in the third round of grants from the Scottish Government's
Climate Challenge Fund, to help Scotland play a leading role in the
international fight against climate change. Many really exciting
projects are being funded – but only a small percentage of
the funds seem to be finding their way into the south of Scotland!
The Climate Challenge Fund was set up to help communities with projects
that can significantly reduce carbon emissions, the have a large
fund to distribute but projects need to be delivered before the end
of 2011. There is no set grant and no minimum level of award but
a £1,000,000 maximum has been set. If you would like to find
out more contact Keep Scotland Beautiful on 01786 471333. Alternatively
visit www.infoscotland.com/climatechallengefund for
an application form and guidance on the types of project eligible
to apply.
For information on successful projects click
here.
The
Future Farmer Award 2009 opens for entries
Are you a farmer trying to manage your land in ways which promote
environmental sustainability? Would you like to share your ideas
with others? If so, the Future Farmer Award could help you. Each
year a pioneering Scottish farmer is awarded £4,000 and a package
of practical support to help them communicate their ideas to other
land managers. The cash can be used either to fund a specific project
or simply to allow the winner take time away from their farm work
to speak at events or host farm walks. Click
here to find out more.
Development
Opportunities in the Galloway Forest Park
Forestry Commission Scotland (FCS) is offering four properties on
a long term lease to businesses, with a view to providing a novel
recreational service within the Galloway Forest Park. Applications
are invited from individuals or businesses to take on a 10-year lease
of any of the four properties within Galloway Forest Park by the
27th February. For more information visit http://www.forestry.gov.uk/gallowaydevelopment
Edinburgh
Office Space?
SUP members looking for a meeting space in Edinburgh during February
and March should consider The Melting Pot in Rose Street. SUP secured
a special rate for members and this has been extended until the end
of March. If you would like to find out more about The Melting Pot,
or to book space, contact them direct on 0131 243 2626 or visit www.themeltingpotedinburgh.org.uk
Interesting
Reading - Plunkett Franchise Models
The Plunkett Franchise Models Project has identified the agricultural
marketing co-operatives of the future and built replicable models
of them. By making these models available to everyone, we want the
farming community and everyone living in rural areas to identify
these new business opportunities quickly, and to know how to set
up marketing co-operatives to exploit these opportunities effectively.
The following Models are available: Charcoal Products, Farmers’ Markets
Operation, Local Food for Food Service, Fresh Fruit and Vegetables,
Wood for Heat and Power. To read more click
here.
Rural
Enterprise in a Recession - Call for Papers
The University of the West of Scotland, Dumfries Campus is pleased
to announce that the 7th Rural Entrepreneurship Conference will be
sponsored by The Commission for Rural Communities and will
be run in collaboration with the University of Cumbria and
the Cumbria Rural Enterprise Agency (CREA) on: Thursday
28 and Friday 29 May 2009 … click
here for more.
Borders
Events to promote?
The Scottish Borders has a new resource for Event Planners and Event
Visitors. www.ourscottishborders.com/events will
act as a portal to the various events lisitings in the Scottish Borders
and provide useful information and links for Event Planners.
For more information or if you have additions
that will encourage people to come to the region contact Stephen
McLean, Events Strategy Officer, Tel: 01835 825066
SAMcLean@scotborders.gov.uk at
Scottish Borders Council, Newtown St Boswells, Melrose TD6
0SA.
Climate
Change Bill and Forestry lease proposal
The SUP Board has been discussing the draft Climate Change Bill and
specifically the clause to allow Forestry Commission Scotland to
lease up to 25% of the national forest estate to the private sector. Click
here to read more.
Destination
Management Organisation for D&G?
In November 2008 the Area Tourism Partnership, together with ADGAP,
was successful in securing funding from the Dumfries and Galloway
Council towards a feasibility study into the formation of a Destination
Management Organisation (DMO) for the region. The project group appointed
Destination Development specialists, the Stevens View Partnership
to conduct the study.
A DMO is a commercially-driven private sector led, public sector supported, partnership set up to improve tourism in the area for the benefit of local businesses, the community and our visitors. It is a body which is commonly found in successful destinations in Europe and North America.
Workshops were held across the region in mid-January with over 100 participants representing tourism interests. If you were unable to attend the workshops but would to feed into the research, comment or find out more visit http://www.destinationdg.co.uk
Previous Newsletters:
Autumn 2008 Newsletter
Summer 2008 Newsletter
Spring 2008 Newsletter
December 2007 Newsletter
July 2007 Newsletter