Independent review shows strong levels of positivity surrounding programme as directors announce new small grants scheme to support string of local communities.
Work has started to enhance the lasting legacy of the Kilgallioch Windfarm
Community Benefit Fund – boosted by strong endorsement from a new report.
An independent review has shown that local awareness of the fund is high – with the
right funding priorities in place – while making recommendations on how to build on
its firm foundations to further support future generations in the 27 communities it
serves.
Commissioned by volunteer directors of the Kilgallioch Community Benefit Company
(KCBC) – and carried out by the Rural Policy Centre at SRUC, Scotland’s Rural
College – the review was in keeping with the Scottish Government’s Good Practice
Principles for Community Benefits from Onshore Renewable Energy Developments.
The fund, launched in 2018, makes around £1.2m a year available to voluntary
groups and charities across Wigtownshire in Dumfries and Galloway and South
Carrick in South Ayrshire.
The Kilgallioch Windfarm Community Benefit Fund, provided by ScottishPower
Renewables’ Kilgallioch Windfarm, is distributed by Kilgallioch Community Benefit
Company (KCBC) supported by grant-making charity Foundation Scotland.
Details of the review have been released as KCBC announces its intention to set up
a small grants scheme to reach each of its 23 non-primary communities to provide
extra support in recognition of the need to ensure that the positive impact of the fund
is felt right across its area of operation. Further news on those plans is expected
before Christmas.
KCBC Chair Nick Walker said: “We want to ensure that the positive impact of the
fund reaches all communities in the fund area. Following the report
recommendations, one of our aims is to be more responsive to emerging needs in
our communities and this is one way in which we can increase access to the fund.”
A total of 255 people responded to the survey, which found that:
● 90 per cent of people had heard of the Fund before completing the survey
● Just over 8 in 10 (81 per cent) of funded organisations surveyed said the
Fund’s direct support ensured their project was sustained.
Respondents also highlighted their expectation that the fund’s long-term legacy will
strengthen community-led projects and local facilities, while also supporting
economic and social regeneration, increasing skills in communities and reducing
unemployment and poverty.
The report’s authors made a number of recommendations for further enhancing the
fund’s impact. They included:
● Placing a particular focus on projects involving young people and ensuring
that people know which funding they can apply for.
● To consider increasing the number of funding application windows and
whether a “rapid response fund” would complement the current funding
structures.
● If a point is reached when the four primary communities receiving a ringfenced
allocation of the fund have addressed their community’s priorities,
consideration could be given to altering funding distribution to enhance the
fund’s wider benefits.
● Consideration of a more ambitious and creative funding strategy, including
other mechanisms of supporting communities.
Work on addressing many of the recommendations is underway, with Directors
focusing on communications and promotion, refining fund distribution, and fund
governance.
Responding to the report, Nick Walker said: “We are really encouraged by the
positive findings of the Report which shows that communities already see significant
impact and developing legacy delivered by the fund.”“The recommendations are incredibly important in helping us build on our firm
foundations and will influence how we shape our work in the years ahead to ensure
that as many people as possible can benefit. They chime with much of the work we
have underway to ensure we maximise the impact of the fund.”“Delivering funding across 27 communities, we are proud of the part that the fund
plays in unlocking work that’s critical to making them better and stronger.”
The full Kilgallioch Windfarm Community Development Benefit Fund review report
can be read here.
