Bothwell Futures earns double funding boost
A busy Lanarkshire community organisation has received a double funding boost to support its work in the year ahead.
Bothwell Futures is receiving more than £43,000 from the Scottish Goverment's Strengthening Communities programme, as well as benefiting from £25,000 from South Lanarkshire Council's Local Action Fund.
The group runs the community hub in the town's former library on Main Street, and is currently working towards an asset transfer to take over the running of the community hall on Fallside Road.
It was one of 77 organisations across Scotland to be included in this year's £2.5 million funding round from the strengthening communities scheme – along with neighbouring South Lanarkshire group Grow 73, based in Rutherglen.
Bothwell Futures will receive £43,472 from the fund, which supports 'organisations delivering regeneration projects, to realise the economic potential of Scotland's communities' and helps fund initiatives ranging from employability and heritage initiatives to food hubs and renovating vacant buildings to provide cultural and community centres.
Their funding allocation was announced by Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes, who said: 'Local communities are best placed to address their own needs, identify improvements in their areas, and realise their own economic potential. Community-led regeneration is a key priority for the Scottish Government.
'From arts and culture projects, training and employment schemes, to bringing new life to disused buildings, hundreds of places across the country are already seeing positive change."
Bothwell Futures was also selected to benefit from half of the local funding available under South Lanarkshire's new £1m local action fund, which allocates £50,000 to each of the authority's 20 wards.
Local councillors Maureen Devlin, Cal Johnston-Dempsey and Kenny McCreary agreed a proposal to give half the funding to Bothwell Futures to allow the group to employ a general manager for a year – while the other half of the ward 16 funds will be spent in neighbouring Uddingston, with plans still to be decided.
The proposal was unanimously agreed by councillors on South Lanarkshire's executive committee, along with recommendations including restoring the historic bandstand at Bothwell Road Park in the Hamilton North & East area.
Council leader Joe Fagan said: 'Bothwell Futures has made a major beneficial impact on the village and the employment of a general manager will enable them to not only continue this work, but also to build upon it.'
He added: 'The Local Action Fund was agreed as part of our building back budget and is designed to help each community with projects that can have a lasting and worthwhile impact for everyone who lives there.
'Local councillors were able to gauge from their constituents where the money could be best used, and I am delighted that we already have agreement for how the money should be spent in 13 of the 20 council wards, with the others to follow in due course.'
Bothwell Futures is also currently working with the council on plans for a longer-term community asset transfer of the Fallside Road hall, after taking on its management last year to keep the 'valuable asset' available to the village for clubs, meetings and events throughout a typical week.
They are currently running a consultation on proposals for future of the hall, which is described as 'in a poor state of repair and in desperate need of modernisation' – with the charity having 'commissioned an architect-led design team to review how the hall could be upgraded to provide improved facilities for the community' and running recent drop-in sessions to showcase the proposals.
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