Caithness projects to benefit from Coastal Communities Fund

9th February 2022

At today's meeting of the Caithness Committee (Wednesday 9 February) members agreed on two projects to receive support from their area allocation of the Highland Coastal Communities Fund.

The Highland Coastal Communities Fund is a new fund designed to support economic regeneration and sustainable development around coastal areas in Highland. The fund is derived from revenue generated by Scottish Government Crown Estate marine assets. Each year, local authorities are allocated a proportion of the profits.

Within an overall allocation to Highland of £3,034,703, the Caithness Area Committee has been awarded £409,652.26 of Crown Estates revenues for distribution within the Caithness Area.

To be successful projects are expected to be able to meet at least one of the following priorities:-

Economic recovery
Community resilience
Mitigating the impact of the climate/ecological emergency
Addressing the challenges of rural
Projects should also be able to demonstrate that they are sustainable, provide value for money, have local support and benefits and will have a positive impact for coastal communities and/or the coastal economy.

Following the discussions, the Committee agreed that £49,882.85 be allocated to High Life Highland for a project led by their Youth Work to provide a programme of supported wellbeing focussed activities across the Thurso and North Caithness Ward area.

This project will see the HLH team work with local partners including 3rd sector organisations and schools to target young people and families to take part in a range of high-quality leisure and learning opportunities that they would otherwise face significant barriers to accessing and having the benefits of.

Participants on the programme will be given the opportunity to co-create the range of activities with project staff. These will include:

• 12 weeks family outdoor learning activities led by HLH Ranger Services

• Summer Outdoor Activity Programme for young people led by HLH Outdoor Activities Team

• 2 Youth Residential Weekends

• 10 family memberships for Thurso Leisure Centre with full access to all leisure activities, including Teen Gym sessions and Teen Spin classes

• 2 week programme of Seasonal Family Activities

• 12-week programme of Music Tuition for young people

The project will run from April 2022 to March 2023.

Funding support of £50,000 has also been provided to The Highland Council to go towards the £254,000 of refurbishment works to Wick Whitechapel Public Conveniences.

The works will provide much needed enhanced facilities including lockers and showers to encourage more visitors to Wick town centre and complements the many other projects which have been implemented to improve the Town, such as redevelopment of the riverside car parking area, upgrading the CCTV and demolition of dilapidated buildings.

Chair of the Committee, Cllr Raymond Bremner said: "Both of these successful projects will bring very positive results to our communities and are exactly the sort of projects I think the Coastal Communities Fund should be supporting. We are also aware of further funding from the Coastal Communities Fund of over £400k in the new financial year for Caithness . We look forward to discussing the distribution of those funds with officers in the next couple of months."