Trust aims to help Auchterarder reap windfall

Nov 14 2008 by Caroline Boxer, Strathearn Herald

THE community of Auchterarder and district is about to find itself over half a million pounds richer after civic stalwarts secured the cash as a goodwill gesture from local developers.

The money is coming from the body behind the Green Knowes Windfarm, ScottishPower Renewables, to the tune of £12,000 a year, linked to inflation, and the GWest “millionaires’ playground” project (Herald July 20, 2007), which is gifting the town £500,000.

And the Auchterarder and District Community Trust, a charity established by the Community Council, is ready to dish out the money. Trust Chairman Peter Everett explained: “The Trust will be managed by five trustees and administered by Perth and Kinross Quality of Life Trust, from which application forms for grants can be obtained.”

The Trustees have absolute discretion in the choice of recipient. “Initially, the Trustees plan to restrict the total given out each year to the amount received from ScottishPower Renewables and the income derived from the GWest lump sum,” said Peter.

Surely there are conditions? ScottishPower Renewables wants “special consideration” to be given to applications from Glendevon, where the wind farm has had the greatest impact. That one local stipulation aside, there is a host of standard requirements.

To qualify, applicants must be organisations or groups meeting Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator, OSCR, guidelines, with projects for the benefit of the local community. Information on OSCR can be found at: http://www.oscr.org.uk/.

In a nutshell, the Trust does not support individuals, organisations that are not of charitable purpose, general appeals and circulars including contributions to endowment funds, charities the main work of which takes place outwith the locality, political or religious projects, students or organisations for personal study, travel, or for expeditions whether in the United Kingdom or abroad, and organisations and projects specialising in providing a counselling, advocacy, advice and/or information service.

The Trust is also unlikely to support charities that collect funds for onward distribution to others, umbrella groups that do not provide a direct service to individuals, feasibility studies and other research, and charities already in receipt of a donation from the Trust.

The Trust plans to meet to consider grants three times a year, starting January 13, 2009. The aim is to disburse up to £25,000 per year, and there are no minimum or maximum donations.

Said Peter: “Allocations are intended to come from the interest but if someone comes with a red hot project, then we can think about the money. The money is not there to sit in the bank.”

The Trust will not be publishing deadlines for each meeting so interested bodies are advised to submit their applications as soon as they are ready.

The administrators will be trying to process applications as quickly as possible – in as little as four months – and, if at first you don’t succeed, your organisation can try again, but it’ll have to wait 12 months before submitting a further application.

Contact details: Auchterarder & District Community Trust, c/o Perth & Kinross Grants Direct, 2 High Street, Perth, PH1 5PH, Tel: 0845 605 2000. Email: enquiries@pkgrantsdirect.com. Website: www.pkgrantsdirect.com or www.auchterarderonline.co.uk.