Cour Community Benefit Fund strengthens support in Kintyre
Communities in Kintyre will benefit from a new administration arrangement of the Cour Wind Farm Community Benefit Fund.
Previously, Tarbert & Skipness Community Trust, West Kintyre Community Fund and the East Kintyre Community Fund collectively decided how a single pot of Cour funds would be spent across the three areas.
Under the new arrangement, each will receive an equal third of over £33,000 per annum to distribute as part of their individual existing grant making activity, which is sourced mainly by income from other community benefit funds received from windfarms.
While the previous arrangement brought representatives of the three Trusts together to make decisions on awards, it also created duplication of effort for community groups applying for funds and the local volunteer decision makers.
Foundation Scotland was appointed as the new administrator of the fund, and by refreshing the structure, aimed to ensure that arrangements were streamlined with established community structures. They were also keen that any new arrangement supported and strengthened community wealth building ambitions for Kintyre communities and maximise the impact of the funding.
The owner of the project, Octopus Investments, was supportive of the revised arrangement under Foundation Scotland’s supervision. Arrangements will be trialled in 2025.
Margaret Pratt, Convener/Director, West Kintyre Community Fund said:
The Directors of the WKCF SCIO are grateful to Foundation Scotland for negotiating with Octopus Investments for the West Kintyre share of the Cour Community Benefit Fund to be paid into the West Kintyre Community Fund. The growth of windfarm developments within Kintyre has led to an increase in funding groups within the area which can lead to confusion for those seeking funding assistance. The transfer of the Cour funds will help to make such applications by project groups easier by only needing to apply to one fund. It will also help enable larger long term legacy projects and the growth and prosperity of the area to be achieved.
Alasdair Bennett, Joint Chair of East Kintyre Community Fund said:
The growth of funding groups in Kintyre, mostly sponsored by windfarm companies, can be confusing for community groups and project leaders, and the decision to transfer Cour Funds on an equal basis to the 3 existing community funds is a very welcome move. With several more windfarms proposed for Kintyre, and most promising to pay community benefits, it has to be hoped that agreement can be reached with developers to channel their benefits directly to local community funds. The long-term aim has to be a single funding body for each community area, which makes sense and would greatly simplify the process for securing funding for larger community projects.
Sheila Campbell, Chairperson, Tarbert & Skipness Community Trust said:
Tarbert & Skipness Community Trust is delighted to be working with Foundation Scotland to disperse community benefit from Cour Community Fund. The Trust is currently reworking their community benefit funding strategy, into small, medium and larger grants and this new approach fits in perfectly.
Rachel Searle, Head of Communities, Foundation Scotland said:
It’s great to see this new arrangement in place. Foundation Scotland works in many different ways with communities and the renewables energy businesses to design and implement community benefit arrangements. Communities vary so much in terms of what they want to do for themselves and what they can do for themselves. And different renewable energy businesses providing these funds will also have different policies, approaches and accountabilities around the community benefit funding they provide. It needs to work for everyone. With its expertise in community benefit and track record of work across Scotland, Foundation Scotland was well placed to negotiate an arrangement for the Kintyre communities that better reflected their own distinct infrastructure around community benefit administration. We look forward to remaining connected with the three Trust’s going forward, providing them with any support they may need going forward and reporting back to Octopus Investments about how the funding is making a difference.
For more information about the work of each Trust and their next funding rounds, please visit their respective websites:
West Kintyre Community Fund
East Kintrye Community Fund
Tarbert & Skipness Community Trust