Outer Hebrides Community Led Local Development

The Outer Hebrides Community Led Local Development (OH CLLD) programme follows on from the LEADER programme and the Scottish Rural Network’s Rural Communities Testing Change initiative, with funding awarded by the Scottish Government (SG) and administered locally by a Local Action Group (LAG).

For the financial year 2022/23 the SG has set aside £11.6m to support Community Led Local Development of which £255,806 has been allocated to the Outer Hebrides.

For 2022/23 the Outer Hebrides CLLD LAG has identified five distinct project strands as part of its Community Led Vision programme:

1. A Community and Key Project Support programme;
2. A Rural Community Transport scoping study;
3. Development of a Youth LAG including a co-operation project with other LAGs;
4. A Reducing Emission Energy trial; and
5. LAG capacity building.

Further details about these can be found in the Outer Hebrides Community Led Vision (398.1kB) (Opens in a new window or downloads a file) and priorities are based on findings from the 2020-21 Identifying Funding Gaps in the Outer Hebrides (3.1MB) study.

The OH CLLD programme administers a small grant scheme aimed at energising communities in the Outer Hebrides and for 2022/23 funding will be available from two grant schemes, the

1. Design Grant (as part of objective 1); and
2. Reducing Energy and Emission Grant for installing Catalytic Hydrogen Fuel and Emission Reduction Systems (as part of objective 4).

Further details about these grants can be found below.

For further information about the Outer Hebrides Community Led Local Development programme and the available grants, please email ohclld@cne-siar.gov.uk. 

We also recommend you email us, providing the below information if possible, if you would like to enquire about the available grants and prior to submitting an application.

• Your group/business name;
• Your project name;
• A brief description of what the grant would be used for;
• The total project cost;
• The amount of CLLD grant sought; and
• Confirmation that the project will be completed by mid-March 2023

Available Grants

Grant Claim and Final Report

To submit a final report about your project and claim your Grant, please fill in the Grant and Final Report Form. If you require any assistance with completing the form, please email ohclld@cne-siar.gov.uk

Design Grant

This fund has closed

This fund is for capital projects currently at the preparation and project design stage. It aims to progress these to a stage where they are ready to attract capital funding by providing the necessary revenue required to cover professional fees incurred in formalising project design. It can also support qualifying organisations in building capacity through mentoring, improved networking and collaboration.

Reducing Energy and Emissions Grant

This fund has closed

Successful applicants will receive a 75% grant towards the installation of a Catalytic Hydrogen Fuel and Emission Reduction System (Opens in a new window or downloads a file). It aims to support businesses and organisations in the Western Isles in reducing their carbon footprint at source while also lowering fuel costs.