Muir of Ord shout out to have your say on how SSE Fairburn Wind Farm Community Fund cash is divvied up

MEMBERS of a Ross-shire community are this weekend being asked how best to divvy up cash generated by a local wind farm benefit fund.

Community consultation for the SSE Fairburn Wind Farm Community Fund is taking place on Saturday, February 4 at the Muir of Ord Village Hall from 10am to 2pm.

Locals are invited to drop in to join members of the community council and the Muir of Ord Development Trust and share their ideas, find out more about these organisations and meet with some of the groups from Muir of Ord that have benefited from the fund to date.

The community council asks anyone who can't make it along to either fill in the paper copy that may have been posted through your door and drop off in the Muir Hub or fill in the questionnaire electronically with this link: https://forms.gle/UuR8WyVP2ThA6nMn8

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What is the SSE Fairburn Wind Farm Fund?

SSE is one of the largest energy companies in the UK with a substantial portfolio of renewable energy projects. SSE contributes large sums of money to local communities particularly in the areas of onshore wind farms.

SSE provides "community benefit funds" from new wind farms to local communities for the lifetime of the wind farm, the ambition being to ensure community funds are spent wisely, make a difference, and reflect the priorities of the local people. SSE thinks the best way to achieve this is for grant decisions to be made by local people.

The Fairburn Community Fund is expected to invest around £2.7m in local projects over its lifetime and benefits a population of more than 4300 over the three community council areas Contin; Marybank, Scatwell and Strathconon and Muir of Ord.

A total of around £110,000 per year is available for community and charitable projects – with approximately £20,000 per year available to Muir of Ord.

What sort of projects can the fund support?

The community fund can support projects which@

• Encourage community activity and promoting community spirit

• Provide adequate access to services for all community members

• Improve the local transport infrastructure

• Optimize oppertunities to grow local economy

• Build community capacity and cohesion between established community groups

• Develop or maintain community assests

In 2012, 2017 and 2019 the community council consulted the village on its views on the best way to use income from the Fairburn Wind Farm Fund locally. The community has previously decided that the fund should support ongoing development activity within the community council area in areas such as the Muir Hub, supporting the village hall refurbishment and in making contributions towards funding the community development manager role and making small grants of £250 and larger grants of £1000 available for local groups to apply for.

With the Hub completed and the village hall refurbished, it is time to consult the community again on their thinking of how the funds available to the community should be used going forward.

The Muir Hub, a community owned venue, posted: "We now need to decide what we as a community what to do with our allocation of funds over the next 3 to 5 years. Should we continue to focus on the support of the major village facilities or develop new facilities or do we use the money for larger grants to organisations operating to make the village more resilient and to support our community - or perhaps a bit of both?

"Please have your say and join us on Saturday...or fill in the questionnaire. All ideas and suggestions are very welcome."

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