Scottish Rural Communities Policy Review: East Borders case study

What is working well?

Locally-led, locally-relevant

Overall, participants were largely positive about the Community Led Local Development programme operating in the Borders. They particularly valued the localised nature of decision-making and said this resulted in more targeted, relevant and impactful projects:

“I would say where CLLD works really well is because the panel is made up of quite of a variety of people, and part of the reason it works is because we’ve collectively we’ve got quite a lot of knowledge about what goes on in the borders.

Which I think helps us, it kind of means that we can make quite informed decisions on organisations that are applying for funding.”

As well as this targeted approach, participants were positive about the relatively straightforward application process and high likelihood of acceptance. Participants said Community Led Local Development filled a gap in the needs of Borders residents, and especially for community organisations.

Harnessing collaboration and networks

Participants emphasised the role of Scottish Borders Council as reliable and supportive. They also welcomed networking across the region, highlighting collaborations between the Third Sector Interface (Borders Community Action), South of Scotland Enterprise, and smaller community organisations. Harnessing the strengths of each of these was considered important to delivering successful, impactful projects:

“I think the TSI, they sometimes get a bit left out of the out of the picture, out of the landscape for community development. But they’re actually quite often the best connected with local community groups, so I think really working through the TSI network for any rural development programme is a pretty important piece of the puzzle really.”

Participants were less familiar with Scottish Rural Action and the Scottish Rural Network, although they stressed the importance of having such programmes to ensure advocacy and networking for rural communities:

“Scottish Rural Network I see as- there are some amazing ideas and activities going across Scotland to build ways that the different communities and different people can connect and speak to each other. So we’re not always trying to reinvent the wheel or failing on this or trying making the same mistakes as others when we can all hopefully work together. It also serves to highlight what the government is supporting.”

There was positive feedback for Scottish Rural Action with regard to its support for the Youth Local Action Group, which was heavily praised for its work. Positive impacts of the Youth Local Action Group were considered both in terms of the recipients of the funding and the experiences of those involved in the process, with members developing local and national networks and their understanding of rural issues:

“The Youth LAG I think has been really, really successful. It seems to be really, really well thought of. And I would say that’s one thing that gives you a lot of hope in that the quality of applications that comes in for that is almost higher than the regular CLLD!”

“I would say the young people are definitely benefiting from the YLAG first of all, and the SRA, because I think even over the summer where we’ve like not had as much on, they’ve been like messaging in the group chat and things like that… And I think through the SRA, they’ve got gained quite a lot of connections and stuff like that. So it’s quite nice to see that. Like, they realise there’s a place bigger than the Borders, even though it’s rural. They can connect on that level of, like, we all have the same difficulties, and stuff like that.”

Streamlining applications

In common with some other areas, Scottish Borders Council has adopted an approach to funding whereby, instead of applying to a range of different funding streams, applicants submit an ‘Expression of Interest’ which is then assessed to see which funding source may be most appropriate. This approach aims to cut down on administration for both applicant and assessor while directing groups to the most relevant funding, with an indication of their chances of being accepted:

“We have quite an integrated system. There is one expression of interest that you put in that covers 20 funds, so applicants don't have to read every single fund document. They tell us what they want to fund. We work out which fund is most appropriate and direct them down that route, where they'll get individual support from those funds… We frequently pass projects between the different funds. If it seems more appropriate where a project hasn't been funded, it will be potentially directed to others.”