Communities Fund panel meets for the first time

The 18-person group – selected anonymously by independent charity Involve to reflect a range of communities across the National Park and beyond – will spend the next few months designing a new £1 million fund from the ground up. 

The fund is part of Cairngorms 2030, a five-year programme – supported by The National Lottery Heritage Fund – which will see the Cairngorms become the UK’s first net zero national park, boosting people’s health and wellbeing, improving our local area and helping nature.

The panel will make a number of important choices, including what types of project will be eligible for the fund, maximum award amounts and how the money is distributed. 

We haven't done anything like this before, so it was brilliant to see such a range of people expressing an interest in getting involved. Applicants ranged from 16 to 85 years old and included school pupils, farmers, business owners, community group members and a range of groups often under-represented in decision-making, such as ethnic minorities, LGBTQ+ and disabled people. We were also really chuffed that just under half of applicants reported having had ‘minimal’ or ‘no previous contact’ with the Park Authority before.

We’ll be sharing more from our panellists – and from the decision-making process – over the coming weeks, but in the meantime here’s a list of our final 18, selected anonymously by Involve to reflect a diverse range of different backgrounds, locations and ages. We've given an indication of participants' community council areas based on postal sector; however, where this covers multiple council areas, we've listed listed all that apply: 

• Anne, from the Aviemore and Vicinity Community Council area
• Emma, from Mid Deeside Community Council area
• Fergus, from Aviemore and Vicinity Community Council area
• Fin, from Donside Community Council area
• Hannah, from Laggan / Newtonmore Community Council areas
• Ian, from Kirriemuir Landward East Community Council area
• Jackson, from Mid Deeside / Torphins Community Council areas
• Kenneth, from Greater Glasgow
• Lorna, from Grantown and Vicinity / Dulnain / Cromdale and Advie Community Council areas
• Lucile, from Ballater, Crathie and Braemar Community Council area
• Maisie, from Glenlivet and Inveravon Community Council area
• Malcolm, from Nethy Bridge Community Council area
• Mhairi, from Boat of Garten Community Council area
• Mya, from the Inverness area
• Niall, from Killiecrankie and Fincastle Community Council area
• Sandy, from Kincraig / Kingussie Community Council areas
• Shauney, from Blair Atholl and Struan Community Council area
• Peter, from Cromar Community Council area

• Communities Fund panellists in discussion at Boat Hall Olly Davies

  

  
• Group discussion at Boat Hall Olly Davies

  

  
• Detailed deliberations for the Communities Fund panel Olly Davies

  

  

The final panel is drawn from a broad range of backgrounds to ensure that the fund represents as many communities – both inside and outside the National Park – as possible. By way of illustration:

• Geography: all five local authority areas are represented, plus a small number of individuals from outside the National Park who have a strong connection to (and / or personal interest in) the area.
• Age: three panellists are aged 16-24, two aged 25-34, five aged 35-44, two aged 45-54, three aged 55-64, two aged 65-74 and one aged 75+.
• Background: we selected three representatives for each of our Cairngorms 2030 target audiences, ie young people, community groups, farmers and land managers, interest groups, local businesses and under-represented groups.
• Previous involvement: 12 of our panellists have ‘never’ or ‘almost never’ had contact with the Park Authority before; one has had ‘lots’ and five have had ‘some’. 12 of our panellists have never been involved in community funding before, whereas five have been involved outside the National Park, and one has been inside the National Park.

The plan is to launch the £1 million Cairngorms 2030 Communities Fund this summer, so stay tuned for updates from the panel as the project develops. For more info, contact [email protected]