Moray heritage groups alerted to £10m historic project funding

MORAY COMMUNITIES ARE being urged to note a new £10million funding boost available from Historic Environment Scotland (HES) for places of historic interest.

HES is the lead heritage body being announced today that sets out to care for, protect and promote Scotland’s historic environment.

Funding will be distributed through HES’s Conservation Area Regeneration Scheme (CARS) and will see communities throughout Scotland benefit from £10million that will encourage local authorities to invest in their historic environment through repairing and restoring the built environment – while helping to stimulate economic regeneration.

This is the seventh round of funding bringing the overall contribution to £45 million invested by Historic Environment Scotland since 2007 to the benefit of more than 56 projects across the country.
Dr David Mitchell, Acting Chief Executive for Historic Environment Scotland, said: “Our investments the length and breadth of Scotland both support and inspire people and communities to utilise their heritage for the future.

“What we aim to do is to facilitate decision making at a local level with funding allocated to priority projects which have a key focus on the wider contribution that the historic environment brings to communities– with benefits ranging from helping to breathe life back into high streets, providing employment opportunities or acting as a tourism driver.

“Since we launched CARS, many towns and villages across Scotland have benefited from this funding, from Stromness to Kelso. Releasing another round of £10 million funding will give more areas than ever before the opportunity to benefit from this investment.”

The deadline for CARS applications is Wednesday, August 31 2016. For more information and to apply visit www.historicenvironment.scot.

Each round of CARS funding is open to local and national park authorities, community groups and other third sector organisations. Delivering multi-funded projects, it can be utilised for a number of purposes from priority repairs and small grants for homeowners, developers and retailers, to providing traditional craft training opportunities.