Applying for our funding and running projects may present specific challenges in rural communities. While this may apply throughout the UK, rural Scotland includes some of the most isolated communities.
To explore some of these issues, the then New Opportunities Fund’s Scotland office worked jointly with us to commission a research project that aimed to:
- identify what factors, if any, affect the capacity of rural communities to successfully apply for and make the most effective use of our funding;
- examine the effectiveness of different delivery mechanisms to distribute funding and in making a positive difference to rural communities; and
- identify how we could most effectively address the needs of rural communities in the future.
We let the contract to the University of Strathclyde in March 2004 and received the final report in May 2005.
Overall, while there were some variations in levels of funding between different types of rural and urban areas, the distribution between rural and urban areas was reasonably equitable.
One interesting finding is that funding will always tend to be concentrated in centres of settlement because that is where other services are located.
The researchers made a series of recommendations, notably that the Fund should consider introducing a system of rural-proofing that would allow us to take account of various factors relevant to applying for funding and running projects in rural areas.
- Our summary of the full report
- The full report
- Main appendices to the full report
- Education maps
- Environment maps
- Health maps
Please contact us for further information.