Plans for major revamp of Glenurquhart Public Hall dealt funding blow by Scottish Government
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Ambitious plans by a Highland community to transform its village hall have been left in limbo after it was told vital Scottish Government funding is not available.
Glen Urquhart Rural Community Association (GURCA) is planning a £1.36 million revamp of Glenurquhart Public Hall in Drumnadrochit.
It had applied for a £600,000 grant from the Scottish Government’s Regeneration Capital Grant Fund and was one of two Highland projects to reach round two.
But the community has been left devastated and is now seeking answers from the government. after the funding became unavailable.
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Susan Griffin, chairperson of GURCA, explained the hall - which is more than 100 years old - badly needs an upgrade while one section needs demolishing as it is unsafe.
“It basically involves remodelling the internal layout to make it much more flexible,” she said.
“At the moment, if you are in the meeting rooms, you have to go through the main hall to get to the toilets. If there is a group in the hall, you are having to interrupt them.
“It has a small kitchen. We also want to create a new foyer.”
An air source heat pump is also planned.
Mrs Griffin said a redesign of the hall would enable different groups to use it at the same time and had the potential to generate more revenue for the community.
She said the association had made nine other applications for match funding and had £190,000 committed to the project. It was awaiting the outcome of other applications.
The regeneration capital grant fund supports locally-developed, projects, helping to tackle inequalities and deliver inclusive growth in deprived, disadvantaged and fragile remote communities across Scotland.
GURCA had expected news of its application in January but in March heard that because of budget cuts announced in December the overall fund had been cut by 27 per cent, from £62.5 million to £45.8 million.
“A couple of weeks of later we were told the Scottish Government had made the decision not to award any funding to projects which had got to round two in this round of funding.,” Ms Griffin said.
“It is devastating for a community group which has put in all this voluntary effort.
“Because that funding is not in place, it leaves us with a £600,000 funding gap and we are not able to proceed with the project this summer.”
Mrs Griffin was uncertain of the next steps.
“We have written to the Scottish Government but not got any answers as to where the money has gone,” she said.
“Will they re-run this funding? Will we automatically go through next year?
“We have been left in limbo.”
She said communities put in a huge amount of work voluntarily on such projects to make them a better place to live and work and given Glen Urquhart’s rural location, facilities such as the hall were important.
“We are all being encouraged to improve our health and wellbeing,” she said.
“The community is trying to do that by refurbishing our hall and providing a facility - but we have had the rug pulled from under us.”
Aird and Loch Ness Independent councillor David Fraser is writing to the Scottish Government seeking reassurance that the GURCA will not have to resubmit another application and will be top of the queue in the next round..
“The hall committee and GURCA have put in a huge amount of work on the funding application.,” he said.
“It is the third year they have put in an application and this year we were very confident the funding would be forthcoming.
“It is incredibly disappointing.”
A Scottish Government spokesperson said its capital funding position was “extremely challenging” with a UK Government cut of 10 per cent to the capital budget over the next five years.
“That has made it extremely difficult to maintain funding at its previous levels,” the spokesperson said.
“As a result, Scottish Ministers have had to make difficult decisions.”
While no new project funding for the Regeneration Capital Grant Fund would be allocated for 2024-25 unless the UK Government revisited its capital allocations, the Scottish Government would continue to support community-led regeneration in the most disadvantaged communities with £45.8 million of capital investment in 2024/25, and a focus on continued support for existing capital projects in 2024/25.
“Scottish Ministers recognise the valuable work from communities to bring forward project proposals and will work to mitigate as far as possible the impact of budget reductions,” the spokesperson added.
“The regeneration capital budget has been allocated to achieve the best results for people and communities in Scotland.”
