£90k Worth Of Community Regeneration Funding Awarded By Caithness Councillors to Wick Campsite Toilets
24th August 2023
Members of the Caithness Area Committee, who met on Monday, 21 August 2023, considered and agreed funding for an application submitted to the area's Community Regeneration Fund.
The Wick Development Trust successfully secured £90,000 towards Phase 2 of their overall development plan, with this phase focusing on the development of a Toilet Block & Facilities building at Wick River Campsite.
Community Regeneration Funding is an umbrella term for a number of funds that are available for communities and organisations to access in Highland. It comprises the Highland Coastal Communities Fund and the Place Based Investment Programme, both of which are Scottish Government Funding streams to support economic regeneration and sustainable development in Highland, and also the UK Government's UK Shared Prosperity Fund.
Councillor Ron Gunn, Chair of the Caithness Area Committee, congratulated the successful applicant and commented: "My Ward colleagues and I are delighted to be able support the work of the Wick Development Trust with this funding. In recent years, the Trust was successful in its bid to take over the running of the Wick River Campsite as a not-for-profit enterprise, with a three-phase plan to bring the site up to a modern and fit-for-purpose standard as a visitor facility.
Cllr Gunn continued: "With the funding agreed by Wards members, work on Phase 2 of the plan - which is for the development of a Toilet Block & Facilities building – will be due to start in November once other match funding is in place. The project will deliver a new toilet & facilities building which will include showers, accessible toilet/shower room, family shower room, laundry and wash-up area, all with energy efficiency and net zero ambitions at the forefront of design."
The Wick Development Trust (WDT) was set up in 2019 with the long-term goal to support and enable the regeneration of the Town of Wick. The Board of Trustees are a group of local people who volunteer their expertise to WDT to stimulate economic recovery and growth in the town.
This phase of the project is scheduled to take around seven months to complete, concluding in April 2024.
The total project cost is £450,837.64.
Other funds requested from -
HIE - Green Fund
Dounreay Socio-Economic Fund
Community & Renewable Energy Scheme
Highland Council Community Loan Fund
Plus own funds already held
For full details read the paper HERE
Other topics discussed at the meeting
5. Scottish Fire & Rescue Service - Area Performance Report Report,
6. Winter Service Plan 2023/24 Report,
7. Thurso Common Good Fund - Asset Register Report, 2
8. Wick Common Good Monitoring Report Report,
The full meeting can be viewed HERE
Note
The public toilets at Wick Riverside car park are a separate council project and are now at a very advanced stage having been completely renewed including a new roof.
Related Businesses
Related Articles
At the Highland Council Economy and Infrastructure Committee. (Thursday 2 May 2024) Members had the opportunity to review the work the Council is doing to progress active travel and improve road safety before approving the next steps.
At the meeting of the Economy and Infrastructure Committee members had the opportunity to review the last two years of the Community Regeneration Funding Programme before agreeing changes to how the 2024/25 programme will be delivered. Committee Chair, Cllr Ken Gowans said: "Following a successful two years, it is a good time to review what has gone well and what can be done better so we can continue to build on success, and seamlessly move the focus onto how best to support the delivery of projects." "With 279 live projects and over £6million of committed funds still to be claimed, there is no doubt as to the value and impact of the programme's potential.
The Highland Council's In-House bus service pilot project was launched in January 2023. The success of its first year of operation in delivering savings and creating a valued and reliable service was highlighted at today’s Economy and Infrastructure Committee.
Members of Highland Council's Economy and Infrastructure Committee today (2 May 2024) approved the local authority's draft Ecology Strategy and Action Plan which will now move forward to an 12-week public consultation. The Ecology Strategy sets out an ambitious set of actions to tackle biodiversity loss and address the ecological emergency.
Economy and Infrastructure Committee members today (2 May 2024) agreed to direct £100K from the Council's share of the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) to fund a new staff training programme at the Inverness Castle Experience. The funding will enable the project team to provide specialist visitor attraction training to young people identified through partners at Developing the Young Workforce (DYW) and the University of the Highlands and Islands (UHI).
The Housing and Property Committee met on Wednesday 1 May 2024 and noted the Housing Service performance report 2023/24 that met the agreed priorities and associated initiatives in the Local Housing Strategy 2023-2028. The report highlighted a number of achievements in 2023/24 in increasing housing supply.
Kate Lackie, Malcolm MacLeod and Allan Gunn have been appointed as Assistant Chief Executives with The Highland Council. Convener of the Council, Cllr Bill Lobban said: "I am delighted to say that Kate Lackie, Malcolm MacLeod and Allan Gunn have been appointed as Assistant Chief Executives with The Highland Council.
As intimated in Highland Council's budget plan, a new senior management structure is to be implemented following approval by Council 14th March. It reconfigures the senior management team into two layers, rather than three and brings Highland Council into line with other benchmarked authorities.
Today, Morrison Construction introduced some of their local apprentices who are working on the UK Governments' Levelling Up Funded refurbishment project at the Northern Meeting Park in Inverness. All these apprentices have been recruited from the Highland area.
The by-election to elect a councillor to represent Ward 19 - Inverness South on The Highland Council has been won by Duncan Cameron McDonald - Independent who was one of the eight candidates who contested the vacancy. Voters in the ward went to the poll yesterday (Thursday 11 April) and the by-election count was held this morning in The Highland Council Headquarters in Inverness.
