29-05-2025
Worries over pause on applications to South Ayrshire Coastal Communities Fund
South Ayrshire Council has agreed to pause applications to the £140k fund, instead directly supporting projects that have already been deemed suitable
A councillor has expressed his concerns that coastal community grants will be paused in favour of direct funding for a year.
Officials presented proposals to South Ayrshire Council's Cabinet on Wednesday, outlining a change to how it distributes Coastal Communities Funding in the coming year.
This year it will get more than £140,000 from the Scottish Crown Estate's marine asset revenues that forms part of the national Coastal Communities Fund.
Local authorities are expected to use this funding to support areas with strong links to the coastal economy, including seaside towns and ports.
In previous years, the council has opened the fund up to applications.
However, the report asked for approval to forego the usual application process, instead directly investing the money in projects that had already been identified as priorities.
This would include support for the Community Empowerment Fund and initiatives under the Destination South Ayrshire tourism programme.
It would still set aside £20,000 for a reduced grant process for projects up to the value of £1,000.
The report stated that the move would streamline funding and focus on delivering benefits such as boosting coastal business productivity, tackling seasonal tourism patterns, improving public spaces, and supporting regeneration efforts that respond to challenges like erosion or flooding.
Prestwick Councillor Hugh Hunter agreed to back the report, but had significant reservations about the situation.
He said: 'I'd be happy to second it, but, eh, I have a number of reservations.
'I believe the compromise with the £20,000 is acceptable, but frankly I'm really concerned at the fact that this money, which in the past would have gone out for applications to the community, is now being used to meet shortfalls elsewhere.
'And it does beg the question, what are these projects that require this extra funding and does that mean that they're running over budget or does it mean that the funding that was granted or applied for initially was insufficient?
'I just think there's a great big hole here in the information we have.
'I'm concerned why are we in this position where we need to come and take money from coastal communities to meet shortfalls elsewhere.'
Assistant Director of Communities, George Hunter, replied: 'I'm not sure that the way I'd describe it is that it's meeting shortfalls elsewhere.
'We have prescribed budgets that we put out over the web and, through our social media channels, to attract applications for things like the Community Empowerment Fund and Destination South Ayrshire Tourism Grants.
'The demand for Destination South Ayrshire Tourism Grants, for example, significantly outstrips available resource, so the general intention behind the Coastal Communities Fund and those wider grants that we support a whole range of events and community initiatives.
'It just makes sense to me, in terms of managing expectation, that those applications which have been considered and which meet the core objectives are the ones that we then take forward into funding and delivery.'
He insisted that the projects that would receive support would meet the same criteria that community applications would require.
Cllr Hunter then suggested that it appeared that this move was putting funding from various pots into 'a great big fund'.
He said: 'I'm not sure that that's what the individual grant funding bodies would approve of.'
Cllr Hunter did acknowledge that the direct funding would only be for one year.
He added: 'I'll go along with it. But I don't like it. '
The Assistant Director responded: 'It's about managing expectation and funding those projects that we've already reviewed through our panel process and and have a good fit with coastal communities.
Depute Leader, Cllr Alec Clark, told the meeting that he shared some of the concerns raised and asked whether there was any monitoring of results from previous applications and the benefits they brought.
He said: 'I'll support the paper, but I do realise that within communities there are some concerns.'
The report was approved by the Cabinet.
