Grassroots support from Glenkens and District Trust

The Glenkens & District Trust (GDT), a community-owned and led vehicle, took on the role of making decisions on how the community benefit monies from the Blackcraig wind farm should be used in 2019. They now also distribute funds provided by Greencoat from its Windy Rig wind farm, both in Dumfries & Galloway. Applications are made to the ‘Glenkens & District Community Fund’ with the Trustees then allocating awards from the individual windfarm funds.

The Blackcraig wind farm fund provided support to an array of projects across 2022 and 23, including The Loch Ken Trust.

Loch Ken Trust promotes the natural, cultural and recreational assets of the Loch Ken area. Historically, the area was supported by a dedicated Ranger Service provided by Dumfries and Galloway Council, but this service was cut in 2019. With the loss of this service Loch Ken Trust began to receive increasing complaints of noise, littering, fouling, and damage to the Loch’s environment, which only intensified during 2020.

In April 2021, using match funding from Blackcraig Wind Farm Community Fund, Loch Ken Trust was able to launch the Loch Ken Ranger Service, one of the very first community-led Ranger Services in Scotland.

In 2022 the service responded to more than 1,000 incidents including fly-tipping, wildlife crime and dirty camping, although the Ranger’s work goes beyond just mitigating short-term harms - they see their role as ‘Looking after today, for the sake of tomorrow.’

The Ranger has been working to repair and revive paths and walkways to improve access around the loch, and has been delivering a range of education sessions, both in partnership with schools and for the wider community. In recognition of the unique and vital service the Loch Ken Ranger is providing for the community, in 2023 Glenkens District Trust made its most significant award to date £60,000 over three years, to continue the post.

Early funding provided Loch Ken Trust the ability to demonstrate the impact of the Ranger’s role and this new period of funding will provide stability to the staff role going forward and potentially a base for work to grow even further.

In response to the award, Mungo Bryson, Chair of Loch Ken Trust, said: 

Loch Ken Trust is absolutely delighted to receive such a strong show of support from the Glenkens community and the Blackcraig Windfarm Community Fund…From this firm foundation, we will be looking to develop Loch Ken Ranger Service over the next three years into a service that we can all be proud of.

Another award made in this period was to Dumfries & Galloway Citizens Advice Service.

As the full impact of inflationary pressures became clearer in 2022, there were growing societal concerns around how those who may be at risk of falling into hardship might struggle to find support. At the local level, the GDT Trustees had been discussing an optimal approach for the Fund to respond to the cost of living crisis, balancing the relatively constrained funding pot with the need to meet ongoing community demand on the Fund and a concern that a hardship fund would only be a sticking plaster and not help to resolve financial hardship.

With that all in the mix, GDT agreed to provide targeted funding to a body who could provide specialist signposting, support and advice, to help maximise the value of any funded intervention. Foundation Scotland brokered a conversation with the local Citizens Advice Bureau about service provision in the area. Dumfries and Galloway Citizens’ Advice (D&GCAS) had recently undertaken demand analysis in the area that provided a strong evidence base for demonstrating local unmet need. This led to a targeted award.

The grant was awarded to enable D&GCAS to provide a face-to-face outreach clinic once a week for two years at community venues in the Glenkens, providing generalist welfare and debt advice and signposting to other sources of help and support and saving people the 30-50 mile round trip to the nearest advice clinic. 

In addition, D&GCAS will promote the outreach service through an active programme of community engagement that will ensure people know about the service and are able to use it.

On receiving this award Phil Stewart, CEO of D&GCAS, said: 

Our objective in growing our service reach into the Glenkens is to ensure that no-one is left behind when it comes to accessing the advice, support and assistance that they need during these very challenging times. This valuable piece of funding from Glenkens & District Trust will enable us to deliver a service where and when it is needed to the benefit of the community.

Galloway Community Transport also received an award.

Started in 2001 as the Glenkens Transport Initiative and re-named in 2019 as Galloway Community Transport, GCT is a subsidiary SCIO of Glenkens Community & Arts Trust, whose services include a community bus service, demand responsive transport, group transport hire (self-hire or driver provided), a patient transport service, school transport, weekly shopping services to Castle Douglas and Newton Stewart, and excursions to places of interest.

The group also manages an e-car and e-bike hire service. On average, between 500 and 600 people benefit from GCT’s transport services each month. GCT also provides volunteering opportunities and paid casual employment to between 20 and 30 people, as well as part-time employment for two local staff. 

The services GCT provide, in providing accessible alternatives to car journeys, are key to moving towards a more carbon neutral community, but following an Energy Savings Trust Fleet Review GCT started to go the extra mile to reduce its carbon footprint. They have expanded their fleet to include a wheelchair accessible electric car, e-bikes, and a new electric minibus. Through a two-year grant of £25,000 to contribute to staffing costs, GCT will be able to increase its work with local partnerships, increase knowledge and skills in carbon neutral transport solutions, secure funding for future projects, and transition towards a zero emissions fleet.

Talking about the impact of the grant, the GCT Manager said: 

Thanks to the funding from Blackcraig, we have been able to employ our Administrator, who deals with much of the day to day running of GCT’s operations. This includes handling all the patient transport requests and many of the membership bookings. These bookings have enabled children and adults in the Glenkens to get to various events and undertake lots of exciting activities! The administrator also helped produce a funding bid to help us secure a new low-emission diesel bus which we hope will further enable GCT to become carbon neutral in the very near future.