Councillors full of praise for Cowie’s regen funding efforts
Congratulations are continuing to pour in for villagers in Cowie following the news they will be receiving almost £1 million in Scottish Government regeneration funding. Long-serving Bannockburn councillors Alasdair MacPherson and Margaret Brisley praised locals for their efforts and pledged to continuing to work with them to make the most of the opportunities coming their way.
Councillor MacPherson said: “This is great news for Cowie. I’ve stayed in close contact with the local community throughout this application process and I’m delighted with the outcome. This funding will go a long way in making improvements in the village.”
Councillor Brisley added: “It will make a huge difference for the village, both in improving the look of Main Street and creating a great new community hub.”
A spokesman for Stirling Council added: “This exciting community hub project is a joint funded scheme between Stirling Council and the Scottish Government, working with the community, to deliver social, economic and physical regeneration to Cowie.
“Stirling Council will lead the project in terms of initial delivery and construction with works starting 2019/2020 and completed in 2020/2021.”
Cowie is one of 18 communities across Scotland to benefit from a share of £20.4million to support local regeneration as part of the Regeneration Capital Grant Fund (RCGF), a joint Scottish Government and COSLA investment.
The application for the funding, which had been many months in the making, was led by CRAG (Cowie Regeneration Action Group) alongside Cowie Community Council and Cowie Community Enterprise, with Stirling Council providing officer support in the final stages.
Thanks to the £983,000 of funding the project will see a derelict shop on the Main Street, Cowie, redeveloped to provide a community hub. The existing building will be demolished and a new two-storey building will be constructed on the site.
The building will provide flexible spaces which can be used for training and development and social and community activity, with its main focus being a digital learning space for people of all ages.