Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Exciting future ahead for Caithness community projects as cash pours in from coastal communities fund

Caithness committee chairwoman councillor Nicola Sinclair
Caithness committee chairwoman councillor Nicola Sinclair

A dozen community projects “incredibly exciting both in their ambition and in their contribution to community life” can move ahead as more than £300,000 is distributed around Caithness from the Highland coastal communities fund.

These include almost £50,000 for Caithness Voluntary Group to tackle mental health issues, more than £75,000 for outdoor spaces and trails in Dunnet, Keiss and John O Groats with a further £67,000 for the Thurso community development trust’s Thurso Grows project.

Brough Bay harbour project will receive £27,000 , while Scrabster harbour trust will see £18,700 for an upgrade of the cruise ship gangway.

Thurso youth club is to get more than £40,000 towards its refurbishment, while almost £10,000 will go towards a new post office for Wick, subject to a business plan being submitted.

Befrienders Highland will get more than £7,000 for their Caithness expansion, and St John’s episcopal church in Wick receives £15,000 for the provision of an accessible toilet and improved access to the church building.

Caithness was awarded £409,000 from Highland’s £3 million share of the new coastal communities fund, derived from revenue generated by the Crown Estate’s marine assets.

The fund is designed to support economic regeneration in coastal areas, with communities bidding into it for their projects.

Approvals are made at local level by Highland Council’s Caithness committee, chaired by councillor Nicola Sinclair.

She said: “Elected members have had access to funding with complete local control over how it is spent.

“The result is a suite of applications from the community that are incredibly exciting both in their ambition and in their contribution to community life and the expertise being brought to the table.

“From forest walks to coastal paths to mental health support services and harbour improvements, taken together these applications show the outstanding work of our local third sector.

“The remaining funds from this initial two-year allocation now give us the opportunity to secure match funding and accelerate the pace of some of the economic opportunities we see on the horizon.

“These will benefit the whole county in terms of employment, supply chain development, skills and training, and ultimately form part of our ambition to reverse population decline in Caithness.”

Two projects were declined by the committee on grounds that they did not sufficiently demonstrate value for money, but they can return to a later funding round with a new application if the issues are addressed.

The committee agreed to hold back almost £100,000 to be invested progressing a project to benefit the whole of Caithness economically, with a view to securing match funding for local partners. This be discussed publicly at the next Caithness area committee.

Meanwhile Nairn’s £12,000 share of the costal communities pot has been awarded to two projects.

A busy Nairn beach. Picture by Sandy McCook

St Ninian’s JFC will receive £3,500 to buy new equipment and safety storage which will enable the group to continue to promote participation in football activities.

NairnBID receives £8,590 to make Nairn more welcoming for community and visitors.

The project includes replacing or maintaining some of the town’s tourism and visitor infrastructure including replacing and upgrading wayfarer town direction signage and replacing eight picnic tables units to ensure their longevity with low maintenance and improving their accessibility.

Visitors will be pointed to digital digital resources such as a website and online maps under the NairnScotland branding.

The town’s public hardware such as lampposts, railings, bollards, and benches from the railway station to the foot of the Brae/A96 junction will all get a lick of paint.