Groups can sign up for cash through new National Park Grant Scheme

Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park Authority is calling for applications to its new National Park Grant Scheme – with £80,000 of funding available for projects that help enhance the National Park as a place to live, work and visit.

The new grant scheme is a way to provide additional benefits for communities, businesses and residents across the National Park, whilst also seeking to improve the area’s natural, cultural and built heritage.

The scheme supports projects that deliver against the 13 outcomes in the National Park Partnership Plan and local Community Action Plans.

As 2018 is Scotland’s Year of Young People, £10,000 of the fund has been ring-fenced for projects that deliver a range of benefits for or work in partnership with young people aged between 8 to 26 years old.

The grant scheme will give organisations the chance to support young people in the National Park, showcasing their talents and providing a platform for their ideas.

Stuart Mearns, Director of Planning and Rural Development at the Park, said:“The grant scheme allows us to provide vital funding to help make a wide range of projects and initiatives across the Park happen or take a step towards delivering a larger project ambition.

“To celebrate The Year of Young People we are especially keen to hear about projects which create new opportunities for young people and provide opportunities for them to express themselves and to experience the National Park. We are looking forward to helping a diverse range of ambitious project ideas that will make the National Park an even better place to live, work and visit.”

The grant scheme is open to a range of organisations including voluntary or community groups, schools and public funded bodies.

Interested applicants are asked to submit an expression of interest by midnight on Sunday, June 3 before selected applicants are invited to submit a more detailed application.

Projects which received funding last year included the planting of riparian trees along the River Balvaig near Balquhidder.

To find out more and submit an Expression of Interest, visit http:// lochlomond-trossachs.org/ grantscheme.