The Galloway Glens Scheme is undertaking 5 years of activity up and down the Ken/Dee valley in the Stewartry, using National Lottery Heritage Funding to ‘connect people to their heritage’, while boosting the local economy and supporting sustainable communities. The Scheme is supporting more than 35 projects from Carsphairn to Kirkcudbright, varying from visitor facilities and infrastructure, to education and training programmes.
The Scheme has six main programmes of activity:
- Education and skills training to support local businesses and encourage young people to see their future in Dumfries & Galloway
- Making better used of currently unused community buildings
- Encouraging people to visit the region, supporting the hospitality and tourist sector
- Improving access opportunities, allowing more people to enjoy the great Galloway outdoors
- Increasing understanding of our amazing cultural heritage
- Supporting habitats and species in the Ken/Dee valley, mitigating any negative impacts
The scheme runs from April 2018 to March 2023, with this March therefore marking 2 years, or 40% of the delivery phase complete. This milestone will be marked by a number of publications and activities.
Speaking ahead of the end of March milestone, McNabb Laurie, Galloway Glens Team Leader, said:
“After much talk and development work stretching back to 2015, the benefits of the Galloway Glens Scheme are starting to be delivered. Supported projects vary from real bricks and mortar improvements, including the Otter Pool refurbishment, the Kirkcudbright Dark Skies Visitor Centre and GCAT’s Balmaclellan Smiddy, through to education projects such as the Biosphere Explorers, teaching our young folk about what South West Scotland had to offer and our outdoor education ‘Go Wild’ programme that allows our young people to get out into the great Galloway outdoors.
By the end of March, the scheme will have spent more than £1.7million pounds of the projected £5.1m total, with more than 75% of this being spent with local Dumfries & Galloway companies and people. The primary benefit of a scheme such as this is obviously what the projects can achieve but the sheer delivery of a scheme like this is benefitting the local economy also. We are delighted that money raised across the UK is being drawn into and spent in our region, and we will continue to use local suppliers wherever possible.
Our expenditure has been rapidly increasing over recent months as we look to draw down all of the award from the National Lottery Heritage fund and match funding. We are still not at ‘peak Galloway Glens’, with some of the larger projects still to get underway – and some of the work still to come is truly exciting. It’s not really fair to pick out any of our projects for mention but over the next year do keep a particular eye out for the work with the Loch Ken Trust as we look to showcase the amazing qualities of Loch Ken, the largest body of freshwater in Southern Scotland, with the boost this will bring for a whole range of businesses. Also, the Threave Nature Reserve project in partnership with National Trust for Scotland and the work with Crichton Carbon Centre to raise the profile of Galloway Peatlands will both be of significance on the national stage.
As we approach the end of your second year of delivery, I want to say thanks to everyone involved to date, including our Partnership Board, all project delivery partners and not least our funders. The support from the National Lottery Heritage Fund and lottery players across the country has been so gratefully received and made this all possible. A special mention also to Dumfries & Galloway Council’s Environment Team and the UNESCO Biosphere for all their support and for seeing the opportunity for the scheme in the first place.
If you’d like to keep in touch with progress or to her more about projects we are supporting, please do visit our website, sign up for our newsletter, or follow us on social media.”
Galloway Glens Scheme Chairman, Ted Leeming, added:
“With two years done and three years still to go, the majority of the Galloway Glens Scheme is still ahead of us. The Partnership Board and I look forward, with the support of the National Lottery Heritage Fund, to making the most of this opportunity for the Ken/Dee valley.”
