This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007
Listen
Funding for sustainable development projects
18/05/2004
Over £750,000 is to be provided to 12 environmental
projects over the next three years.
Environment Minister Ross Finnie today announced that
projects ranging from recycling bicycles and mattresses to
making public transport in rural areas more efficient are
to receive funding from the Executive's Sustainable Action
Grants scheme.
The scheme supports projects which promote sustainable
development and environmental justice. The projects to be
supported were selected from seventy nine applications
which were received in March.
Mr Finnie said:
"The Scottish Executive is committed to delivering
sustainable development with economic growth and an
improved environment for all. These national and regional
projects are playing their part in helping us achieve that
aim.
"The successful projects address our sustainable
development priorities of energy, resource use and travel
and our commitment to environmental justice for all our
neighbourhoods.
"People must be given the support and confidence to make
sustainable choices. That is why we will be funding a range
of initiatives that build on the existing expertise of
organisations such as the British Trust for Conservation
Volunteers (BTCV) Scotland in placing communities
themselves at the heart of local environmental
regeneration.
"These innovative projects that we are supporting will
help us to embed sustainable development across Scottish
life, in business, public authorities and peoples'
lives."
Details of the successful projects and funding:
Beautiful Scotland in Bloom - a
contribution of £7,500 per year for three years to the
project to give greater prominence to sustainable
development and focus more on matters of sustainability and
biodiversity, aiming to encourage 200 communities across
Scotland to embrace sustainable development principles over
three years - including waste awareness, recycling, green
transport and wildlife habitats. They also propose a New
Neighbourhood Award for socially disadvantaged communities.
Centre for Human Ecology in Edinburgh- a
contribution of £5,000 per year for three years for
Ecoprojects - matching students needing research projects
with suitable projects. This will provide a web-based
service and aims to increase industrial and academic
involvement in sustainability and environmental justice
issues in Scotland.
Community Service Volunteers Scotland -
£29,000 per year for three years. Action for Sustainability
project to provide all Highland schools with one source of
information, resources and advice to assist their work in
all subjects relating to education for sustainable
development.
BTCV Scotland, based in Stirling - £45,000
in 2004-05, £47,500 in 2005-06 and £50,000 in 2006-07 for a
continuation and expansion of BTCV Scotland's "Community
Learning and Action Network" (CLAN) - undertaking projects
and initiatives across Scotland to help people deliver
sustainable environmental changes - including habitat
management, waste minimisation and recycling, composting,
fencing, dyking and footpath construction.
Sustainable Development Research Centre -
£5,000 for one year for a Highlands and Islands
International Sustainable Development Conference and
Exhibition, "Creating a Culture of Sustainability," in
Inverness in November 2004. The intention is to explore the
policy, infrastructure and stakeholders required to create
a culture of sustainability, with an international
audience, and highlighting the Highlands and Islands in the
sustainable development field.
National Playbus Association - £1,000 for
one year for the production of a Green Guide for mobile
community projects. This will cover environmentally
friendly fuels, environmentally friendly vehicle
construction and how to minimise the environmental damage
caused by vehicles through good maintenance and
environmentally aware driving.
Recycle to Cycle, based at Waverley
Station, Edinburgh - £12,227 in 2004-05, £11,789 in 2005-06
and £11,959 in 2006-07 to extend existing Bike Station work
throughout the Lothians. The work of the Bike Station
diverts bikes from landfill, provides volunteering
opportunities and delivers health, transport and social
inclusion benefits.
Business Environment Partnership - £49,000
in 2004-05, £48,750 in 2005-06 and £48,750 in 2006-07 for
an expansion of the Success and Sustainability initiative
aimed at small and medium enterprises, building on this and
mainstreaming sustainability advice into the business
support network, including Scottish Enterprise. This work
demonstrates to business that sustainable development goes
beyond waste minimisation and complying with environmental
legislation - to travel, procurement, community engagement,
new product development and biodiversity. The aim is to
have one project in every local enterprise area in
Scotland.
Argyll and Bute Council - £29,532 in
2004-05, £27,948 in 2005-06 and £28,777 in 2006-07 for work
towards a sustainable transport solution in Argyll and
Bute, maximising use of existing vehicles already in use by
public agencies, in partnership with NHS Argyll and Clyde,
the Scottish Ambulance Service and the Association of
Scottish Community Councils. This follows Napier University
research funded by the Executive's Rural Challenge Fund,
and aims to provide increased public transport
opportunities in a sustainable way appropriate to the needs
of rural communities.
FEAT (formerly the Fife Employment Access
Trust)
Enterprises - £50,000 in 2004-05, £44,000
in 2005-06 and £40,000 in 2006-07 for a mattress recycling
project based in Falkland Fife - covering Fife, Clackmannan
and Falkirk.
Although the mattresses will initially at least come
from Civic Amenities sites and the recycling will be of
mattress parts, this is the first such project in Scotland.
This social enterprise project aims to recycle 6,900 beds
in the first year and will provide employment to five
disabled or disadvantaged people.
Scottish Ecological Design Association -
£23,250 per year for three years for the publication of
three "Green Detailing Guides" for building designers on
the subject areas of designing for deconstruction;
designing for airtightness and designing for minimising
organic chemical content in the fabric of buildings. The
guides would provide technical information which would
encourage the design of buildings making better use of
physical resources and help reduce energy consumption in
use.
YMCA Scotland - £6,555 in 2004-05, £5,689
in 2005-06 and £5,777 in 2006-07 for the incorporation into
residential courses for socially excluded young people of
content for understanding of and activity on sustainable
development and environmental issues. YMCA run residential
courses at Wiston Lodge south of Biggar, in grounds which
lend themselves to environmental work.
Examples of programme elements are drink can recycling
(making cameras), earth walks (for a sensory encounter with
the natural world), food and diet (examining the potato
from the ground to the plate, learning about conservation
and land management, transfer of learning to local action
and local community follow-up visits. YMCA aims to have a
programme relevant in effecting change in young people's
personal environments.
Further projects will be considered for funding in
2005-06 and 2006-07.
It was announced in January that £300,000 a year would
be made available to extend the sustainable action grant
scheme, under which these projects are being supported,
until 2007. The scheme is funded from the Environment and
Rural Affairs Department's Sustainable Action Fund budget.
The Sustainable Action Fund was set up in 1996 to
fund sustainable development projects throughout Scotland.
Projects which have already benefited range from
Scotland-wide youth programmes to community level recycling
initiatives.