Scottish Rural Communities Policy Review: East Moray case study

Community Led Local Development in Moray

Moray’s Community Led Local Development programme is one of only two administered by the local Third Sector Interface (tsiMORAY). Within Moray, east Moray was selected due to it being more rural than the rest of Moray, as well as having relatively fewer community development projects funded by Community Led Local Development compared to the surrounding area.

East Moray is a mix of coastal and inland areas, including fishing, farming and distilling communities. Economic changes have impacted differently on different parts of the area, with coastal fishing communities having seen economic decline, whilst distilling has seen a period of growth. Some of the inland communities are very remote, with limited transport links.

Focusing on East Moray offered an opportunity to explore the community development needs of potentially under-resourced communities and understand the dynamics of community development where infrastructure and funding are less prevalent, and there are higher levels of social deprivation. East Moray’s proximity to Aberdeenshire was also highlighted as an important context where there may be shared challenges which could be missed because of the Local Action Group/council definitions and boundaries.