A RAFT of community projects are to benefit from a development fund linked to onshore windfarms.
A new visitor centre in the Great Glen and an essential upgrade to an off-grid community hydro electric scheme in Knoydart are among ventures that will share £1 million from SSE's new Highland Sustainable Development Fund.
Funded by SSE's onshore wind farms, the fund is open to all non-profit-making organisations, community groups and charities working in the Highland Council region.
Over 100 applications were submitted during the first funding round.
An independent panel led by former first minister Lord Jack McConnell awarded 29 projects a total of £1,045,000.
Initiatives that demonstrated transformational impact, innovation and sustainability were given priority for funding..
Panel chairman Lord McConnell said: "The breadth of applications made for tough decisions but I'm delighted at the reach and potential impact of the initiatives we have chosen to support.
"From the tip of Caithness to the sound of Mull, the successful awards will create jobs, revitalise open spaces and strengthen communities.
"I look forward to seeing the benefit this round of funding will bring to the Highlands and to reviewing an equally high standard of applications when the fund reopens in late 2015."
Alan Young, SSE's Managing Director, Corporate Affairs said: "The projects we have funded today, from the support given to remote rural communities to the creation of new career opportunities for young people, will have a significant impact on the people of the Highlands."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article