Next week, the new Windfarm Dumfries and Galloway Wide Community Fund will take a step closer to being up and running. Members of the Communities committee will be asked to give the thumbs up to the remit and to the Chair and Vice Chair of the new Fund.
Windfarm Community Benefit monies now form an important aspect of community resilience and empowerment as they provide monies which are determined and allocated by the communities themselves. As such, Chair of Communities committee, Andy Ferguson will be appointed as the Chair of the Region Wide Community Fund and as Dumfries and Galloway Council representative. Vice Chair of Communities committee, John Martin, will be appointed as substitute.
The Management Committee for the Windfarm Voluntary Region Wide Community Fund is currently being recruited to. It will be made up of 9 members – four public sector members from the Council, NHS Dumfries and Galloway and Dumfries and Galloway College. Five independent members have been recruited through Third Sector Dumfries and Galloway as it has a lead role in volunteering. It is anticipated that the new Management Committee will be in place by the end of September with the first meeting taking place in November 2018.
Chair of the Communities committee, Andy Ferguson, said “Building the local economy is a priority for our Council. The Region Wide Community Fund will be a source of funding to local communities to support applications aimed at improving local business and skills, affordable housing, culture and tourism, community transport and their communities and environment. The potential impact that this funding will deliver in our communities could deliver long-term benefits”.
Vice Chair of Communities committee, John Martin, said “Getting the Management Committee set up will take us one step closer to having the new Windfarm Region Wide Community Fund up and running. Soon, we will be able to receive applications from groups and communities and award monies to enable them to deliver in towns and villages across our region.”
