Nineteen projects designed to create jobs and training will share £4 million from a fund set up to regenerate coastal areas.
The charities, small businesses and apprenticeship schemes are the first in Scotland selected to receive the grants from the UK Coastal Communities Fund, ranging from £50,000 to £375,000.
They were picked on the basis that they would promote economic growth, jobs, training and business opportunities in their areas.
Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander, who is announcing the move today, said a further £4m will be available to projects in Scotland when applications for the next round of funding open in the new year.The grants include £369,199 for water sports facilities and apprenticeship schemes in Argyll and Bute, and £358,708 to renovate Skye Sailing Club's boathouse in Portree.
A sum of £90,000 was awarded for the regeneration of Irvine Bay in Ayrshire, and £60,000 was awarded to develop Eyemouth Museum in the Borders.
The fund is financed from the coffers of the Crown Estate representing half its marine revenues, which means £4m for Scotland with £1.85m ring-fenced for the Highlands and Islands.
Last year, in a move widely seen as an attempt to undermine the SNP's demands that 100% of our Crown Estate revenues should remain in Scotland, a £23.7m fund was established by the Treasury for the whole of the UK to support the economic development of coastal areas.
The Herald revealed earlier this year the fund had received 174 applications from community bodies in the Highlands and Islands.
Mr Alexander will say: "From Skye to Cumbrae, communities across Scotland are going to benefit from this £4m investment. Growing up on Colonsay, I know both the opportunities and the challenges coastal communities face."
Rural Affairs Secretary Richard Lochhead welcomed the new job opportunities and tourism boost from the projects, but added that the Crown Estate should be fully devolved to Scotland, pointing out it generated £12.3m last year north of the Border.
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