Moray groups celebrate £333k of Just Transition cash
A dozen community groups from Moray are to share £333,000 – a fact marked by a celebration at Elgin Town Hall on Saturday.
The cash is from the Just Transition Fund, set up by the Scottish Government to encourage local organisations to switch from fossil fuels.
Bids for various amounts were made by 31 different Moray groups.
The chosen 12 were picked using a system called 'participatory budgeting', with folk voting for who should get the cash.
Alastair Kennedy, chairman of Elgin Community Council, helped organise the town hall event and is a big believer in the merits of participatory budgeting.
"He said: "I think it works really well because it's democratic.
"We had nearly 3500 people voting, and with everyone having to pick their favourite 10 bids it means smaller groups can be successful."
The Forres Area Community Trust received the biggest cash boost of £50,000 to make improvements to Forres Town Hall including better insulation.
Elgin Street Pastors were awarded £45,986 to help provide a 'safezone' vehicle to support their town centre services.
The Moray School Bank and Moray Waste Busters received £42,000 and £41,040 respectively for electric vehicles.
Lossiemouth-based Outfit Moray was awarded £37,800 to bolster their Bike Revolution scheme.
The refurbishment charity ReBOOT received £30,000 to renew its company vehicle.
Wild Things, an outdoor education charity based near Forres, got £30,000 for a new minibus
Richard Lochhead at the town hall.
Speaking after the event, the MSP said: "The Scottish Government has committed a £500million Just Transition Fund for Moray and the North East.
"In this, the first year of the fund, £1million was split between the three local authority areas for grassroots organisation and it was up the local community how that money would be spent.
"As the local MSP and Minister for Just Transition, I was delighted to meet and congratulate the groups and organisations that secured funding.
"Delivering a just transition to net zero isn’t just about big industries and businesses – it’s about every part of our community and society playing a role.
"It was helpful to get feedback from those organisations that applied. The fact it was oversubscribed this year shows there’s a real appetite from local groups to find ways to reduce their carbon footprint.
"I look forward to seeing each of the local projects delivered and hope many more organisations in Moray will benefit over the next few years."
