Winners and losers as only half of community projects to receive OLI cash

Twenty community projects in Oban, Lorn and the Isles applied for cash from an Argyll and Bute Council fund – but almost half ended up empty-handed, writes Sandy Neil.

A total of 11 projects were recommended to share a £24,000 pot from the authority’s Supporting Communities Fund, with eight of them receiving £2,500 or less. But another nine initiatives who applied missed out altogether.

The 20 groups that applied asked for more than £44,000 between them.

Councillors approved the grants at the Oban, Lorn and the Isles Area Committee on Wednesday March 9, but asked that the scoring mechanism be reviewed so more, smaller awards are successful in future.

Grants of £2,500 are going to Aros Park Historic Walled Garden, Down’s Syndrome Scotland, Argyll Wellbeing Hub, Oban Youth Café, with the Mull and Iona Community Trust also set to receive £2,500 with conditions attached.

Receiving slightly more than

£2,500 are the Ardchattan Centre, the Rockfield Centre’s Lego Club and Dye Garden.

Argyll and Bute Befrienders was the only group to receive all the money they asked for – £604 – while Oban Mod Academy and Oban FM Community Radio will receive partial grants of £1,764.

Among those not to receive any cash at all are Hebridean Pursuits Outdoor Learning, Lorn Agricultural Society and Mull Museum.

A member of the scoring team Ailie Law, community development officer for Bute and Cowal, said the fund this year had been ‘highly competitive’ and ‘over-subscribed’.

When a project is unsuccessful, the council offers support to help the organisation find other funding, such as alerts and bespoke searches, she explained.

Councillor Roddy McCuish said: ‘It is through no fault of the council’s, but we see some very familiar faces, and I would like to see us put some resources in to try to publicise this fund a little bit more.’

Councillor Julie McKenzie added: ‘A lot of these organisations getting no awards are in our more island and rural communities. With not so many people living there, these kinds of awards make such a difference.

‘We are not talking about a lot of money.

‘They have not been requesting massive amounts. I would like to see greater parity and us trying to make awards to everybody who’s asking for it.’

Councillor Elaine Robertson agreed: ‘We should be helping as many as possible, rather than giving big grants and not having any money to give to the others.’