The Scottish Allotment Diary

On 17 May Environment Minister Stewart Stevenson announced a package of £600,000 to encourage the development of community growing and to support ‘grow your own’ projects. About £177,000 is to be shared between FCFG, Trellis and Greenspace Scotland for specific support projects.

The remaining money has been allocated to the Central Scotland Green Network Development Fund.  This is to be distributed to community growing projects over the next three years.  If you want to know whether your project could benefit from this money start by looking at the CSGNDF web site at http://www.centralscotlandgreennetwork.org/Funding/funding.html.  Scroll down the page.  Do not be put off by the statement at the top which claims that applications closed at the start of March.  In fact lower down you will find that there is a new round of applications currently in progress.

The People’s Postcode Trust has re-opened for applications. Set up in April 2009 by the People’s Postcode Lottery, the Trust offers grants of between £500 and £10,000 to small organisations and community groups for projects lasting up to 3 months in the areas of:

• poverty prevention
• advancement of health
• community development
• public sports
• human rights
• environmental protection

All community groups, sports clubs and registered charities are invited to apply for funding from £500 up to £2,000.  Registered charities can apply for up to £10,000. Projects must last for no longer than 3 months and must be completed within 6 months of receiving the grant payment.  More information at http://www.postcodetrust.org.uk/

The deadline for all applications is 5pm on Friday, 25^th May.

Allotment associations may well be able to obtain funding for projects using the ‘health’ ‘environment’ or ‘community’ categories.

Scottish National Heritage Community Action Grants can be used by allotment groups because they are specifically focused on getting more people and communities involved in:
– outdoor recreation, volunteering and outdoor learning
– action to improve, protect and manage habitats, species and landscapes
– citizen science and biological recording

The application forms for these grants are now available and applications will be considered from May 8th.  You have to access these forms through the SNH Online Grants Service (see web address below).

There is no set deadline for applications which can be submitted at any time.  Decisions will be confirmed within 20 days of the submission of the application (or 20 days of May 8th if the application is submitted before this date).  These grants are expected to be very popular so you will have to ensure that your application is worded so that it aligns closely with the criteria above.

Information on how to apply, and more details on the grants available and the criteria can be found on the SNH web site at http://www.snh.gov.uk/funding/our-grants/how-apply/