A range of community groups from the Renfrewshire villages are set to receive funding following the latest round of successful applications from Renfrewshire Council’s Village Investment Fund.
Villages set for investment include Lochwinnoch, Elderslie, Howwood, Kilbarchan and Bridge of Weir with the funding due to be secured at Renfrewshire Council’s upcoming Housing and Communities Board. The investment is for a variety of projects and events such as Christmas light switch-ons and gardening projects and is sure to have a positive impact on the villages involved.
Over £50000 was already distributed amongst the West Renfrewshire villages back in May via the Villages Local Partnership funding however as this was heavily oversubscribed, the partnership decided that some applications were applicable to be funded through the Village Investment Fund.
The news has been welcomed by councillor Robert Innes who is both the Convener of the Villages Local Partnership and the Deputy Convenor of the Communities and Housing board.
Cllr Innes told Renfrewshire News he is pleased to see these applications are now underway with groups set to receive their funding, dependent on councillors approval, at next week’s Communities and Housing Policy Board meeting.
He said: “We have a vast amount of wonderful community groups in our villages from Houston all the way to Lochwinnoch. Both the Villages Local Partnership funding and the Village Investment Fund empowers those community groups to make real positive contributions and improvements in our villages.”
“The Villages Local Partnership always has more applications than the funding allows and we don’t like to see community groups who only want to improve their local areas missing out on funding. I feel that the SNP’s Village Investment Fund has been a real lifeline in that sense. People take pride in keeping our villages looking superb with environmental improvements and projects such as community gardens. We also have community groups putting on gala days, Christmas light switch ons and putting on other events all year round.
“I am really pleased to see that our recommendations from the Villages Local Partnership are now set to receive Village Investment Funding at the Housing and Communities board. I am excited to see the improvements that come from this funding and I am looking forward to seeing what our village community groups’ next projects will be.”