East Kintyre Windfarm News

East Kintyre Community Fund Application Process Opens (27/1/23)

The East Kintyre Community Fund Application Process is now open. Full details of the fund, the application process & criteria can be found on the East Kintyre Community Fund page. For further information please contact the secretary at info.ekcf@gmail.com. Closing Date: 10 March 2023.

East Kintyre Community Fund Application Process Opens (27/7/22)

East Kintyre Community Fund 2022 AGM Minutes, Annual Report and Accounts for 2020/2021 (13/6/22)

The East Kintyre Community Fund Trustees have released their "2022 AGM Minutes", "Annual Report 2021-2022" and "Accounts 2021-2022".

Kintyre Communities to receive Community Benefits from the new Beinn an Tuirc 3 Windfarm (7/4/22)

An annual Community Benefit Funding package of £225,000 has been secured for local communities from the recently commissioned Beinn an Tuirc 3 (BaT3) Windfarm. Following many months of negotiations by EKREG (a local volunteer group working on behalf of Kintyre Communities) an agreement has been reached with Scottish Power Renewables (SPR) that ensures the Community Benefit Funds will be paid for the lifetime of the windfarm, rather than the initial 10 years as originally tabled. As a consequence, local communities will receive around £3.4 million more than was originally proposed, the final total amounting to ~ £5.6 million over the coming 25 years. These funds will be equally distributed to the impacted communities of Campbeltown, East Kintyre and West Kintyre, to enable local communities to plan long-term and develop large scale projects that truly benefit the communities in our area.

A Community Benefit Society - Lussa Community Wind Limited (LCWL) - with representation from all 3 communities on its Board, will manage all funds flowing from BaT3 to the Anchor community charities: Campbeltown Community Windfarm Fund, East Kintyre Community Fund and West Kintyre Community Fund. The charities are all Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisations (SCIO) and will follow a strict set of guidelines when allocating funds for projects to further community development, education and regeneration.

The Community Councils associated with this development have all recently been developing their Community Action Plans to assist the Anchor Charities in delivering legacy projects and priorities identified by the local communities. The application processes for applying for these funds will soon be announced via the Campbeltown Courier and www.kintyrewind.com.

EKREG have been working for 2 years with Local Energy Scotland (LES) with support from professional financial and legal advisors provided for by a LES-CARES grant. Alasdair Bennett (Chair of EKREG) said “We are very grateful for the support from LES and pleased to have been able to help secure this important funding for our communities.”

Speaking on behalf of the communities, Valerie Nimmo, the Convenor of Campbeltown Community Council, said “We are very grateful to EKREG for all the work they have done in securing a lifetime community benefit agreement with SPR in relation to the Beinn an Tuirc 3 Windfarm. The funds are much appreciated and will greatly help us deliver many community projects over the next 25 years.”

Since its establishment in 2019, EKREG has been in contact with 10 companies regarding 18 windfarm developments in Kintyre and South Knapdale with a view to exploring opportunities for shared ownership. With the current energy crisis and tight net zero targets, the growth of windfarms in Kintyre is likely to accelerate in the coming years. While each new windfarm will create employment during the construction phase, there will also be an increased visual impact on our landscape. For every consented windfarm, EKREG will explore opportunities to maximise the financial benefits for impacted Kintyre communities via CSO and community benefit payments.

Further information about the activities of EKREG; Lussa Community Wind Limited; and the Anchor Charities (Campbeltown Community Windfarm Fund, East Kintyre Community Fund and West Kintyre Community Fund) can be found on the Kintyre Wind website www.kintyrewind.com . Kintyre Wind is a collaborative project between EKREG and the Kintyre Community Councils aimed at maximising the financial return to the Kintyre communities from consented local windfarm developments.

East Kintyre Community Fund – MOWI Scotland Ltd (7/11/21)

We are very pleased to report that the East Kintyre Community Fund has received a 2021 Community Benefit payment of £20k from MOWI Scotland Ltd. The funds will be held for distribution by EKCF, sitting along with a MOWI representative and details of how to access these funds for community projects will be announced by EKCF Trustees in due course. MOWI Scotland Ltd has operated a salmon farm at Carradale for over a decade and the East Kintyre community greatly appreciates MOWI’s support. The £20k MOWI Community Benefit payment in 2020, greatly helped towards the refurbishment and running of Carradale Community Shop.

The East Kintyre Community Fund (registered with OSCR) was set up to enable the distribution of Community funds from windfarms, other renewable developments and funds from other sources, to community groups or organisations within the area of East Kintyre to undertake projects.

EKCF AGM Minutes (19/08/21)

The East Kintyre Community Fund AGM Minutes for 19 August 2021 can now be viewed online.

EKCF Registered with OSCR (6/01/21)

The East Kintyre Community Fund has been set up (registered with OSCR ) to enable the distribution of Community funds from windfarms, and funds from other sources, to community groups or organisations within the area of East Kintyre to undertake projects that meet the public benefit criteria agreed by the SCIO and the donors and which fall within the purposes of:

the advancement of community development and sustainability (including rural regeneration)
the advancement of education
the advancement of arts, heritage, culture or science
the provision of recreational facilities or the organisation of recreational activities with the object of improving the conditions of life for the persons for whom the facilities or activities are primarily intended
the advancement of environmental protection or improvement
the relief of those in need by reason of age, ill-health, disability, financial hardship or other disadvantage

The SCIO shall promote (but not promote exclusively) its activities and operations to people within the area of East Kintyre. These people will be the SCIO’s beneficiaries.

It is intended that all future Community Benefits from windfarms and other sources will be channelled into this fund along with revenues generated by Community Shared Ownership in renewable developments that impact on East Kintyre. The fund is not to be confused with the East Kintyre Windfarm Trust, which sits under the auspices of the Argyll and Bute Windfarm & Renewable Trust and distributes funds from existing windfarms.

East Kintyre Community Fund News