2014-20 Projects
The Moray LEADER programme
The Moray LEADER Programme was part financed by the Scottish Government and the European Community LEADER 2014-2020 Programme.
Overseen by the Moray Local Action Group and tsiMORAY, Moray LEADER delivered funding and support for community organisations, businesses and individuals towards projects furthering the aims of the Moray Local Development Strategy.
The Moray LEADER programme supported projects with the following aims:
To increase participation in local labour markets through social enterprises, social entrepreneurship and third sector development.
To build stronger local supply chains for Moray food, including fish, farm and game products.
To enhance the quality of the Moray tourism product and stimulate local involvement in tourism networks to enhance product quality through collaborative action.
To develop collaborative projects which explicitly target the needs of vulnerable and disadvantaged households in rural communities, particularly to enhance mobility and access to affordable services.
To help Moray move towards a low carbon economy through increased energy efficiency and renewable energy production by means of domestic, business, community and collaborative action.
To support small business formation and business sustainability and survival (including market development) relating to the indigenous base where those businesses either export goods and services outwith the region or substitute for imports into the region.
Through the Moray LEADER programme, over £2.5m in grants was invested in around 30 projects across the region.
Find out more about the projects supported and the impact of Moray LEADER below.
Supported Projects
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Action for Children were awarded funding for their AB56 Futures project to create a new support service and family learning centre for communities in the Buckie area.
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This event was a celebration of crofting diversification and growth. The programme comprised a mix of presentations, workshops, networking opportunities and an awards ceremony and dinner celebrating the contribution of young people in crofting.
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Going Nova were awarded a grant to support their project designed to give a long lasting boost to upcycling of waste plastic and discarded fabric in Moray.
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Moray Council, on behalf of the Moray Economic Partnership and its theme group Tourism & Culture, were awarded funding for a project exploring how Moray’s rich cultural, built and natural heritage could be further enhanced to maximise community engagement, attract new audiences, participants and visitors through working closely with Moray’s Creative Scotland Place partnership.
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The Moray Society were awarded funding to help ensure that Elgin Museum continued to be available to the community and tourists for generations to come.
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Elgin's Orchard Ltd were awarded funding to process apples, other fruit and vegetables grown in the north east of Scotland to produce bottled juice.
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Ekopia Resource Exchange Ltd were awarded funding to build and establish a Social Enterprise Hub, the aim of which was to provide a collaborative, supportive and affordable working space for innovative social enterprises in the Moray area.
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Foraging Fortnight was a cooperation project involving five Local Action Group (LAG) areas, supported by Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) and Scotland Food and Drink as national delivery partners.
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Windswept Brewing Company received a grant award for their project to explore the feasibility of creating new short supply chain for Moray based microbreweries and local grain farmers.
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Grigor Butler & Son were awarded funding for the development of a new luxury glamping and camping site for The Loft at East Grange Farm near Kinloss.
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Global Ecovillage Network were awarded funding for a Preparatory Project intended to promote a larger transnational cooperation project between EU-based LEADER partners, including Global Ecovillage Network (GEN) and tsiMORAY, to support cross-collaboration that leads to ecovillage development in Moray communities.
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tsiMORAY were awarded funding to employ a Project Development Officer to assist the Grant Lodge Trust to complete the Community Asset Transfer business case for the transfer of the lodge from Moray Council.
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Green Bridge Organics (GBO) were awarded funding to upgrade their production and sales capacity. GBO is a local, Findhorn-based business, which aims to provide high quality, organic products for affordable prices, in order to encourage healthy, environmentally-friendly consumption and to support the local economy.
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The Scottish Goat Meat Company received funding for their project, to offer a hands-on farm experience with the opportunity to stay in a luxury glamping pod at Hillhead Farm, Glen of Newmill, Keith.
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Moray Sports Centre received a LEADER award to create an innovative and fully inclusive play park - the first of its kind in the North of Scotland and only the second fully inclusive facility in the entire country.
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KeRBS were awarded LEADER funding for the redevelopment of a skate park in Keith.
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This project enabled the business to purchase three items of modern milling equipment that will expand the production capacity for converting softwood and hardwood logs into high quality furniture grade wood and other new products.
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The owners of Macbeth's Hillock were awarded funding to improve a currently undervalued tourist destination to a focal point in the promotion of Moray as the home of Macbeth.
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Findhorn Bay Arts were awarded funding for activities under the banner Making More of Moray, which took place at the same time as the Findhorn Bay Festival on 26 Sept - 1 October 2018.
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Marcassie Farm Partnership were awarded funding for farm diversification to construct and erect guest accommodation with ancillary facilities.
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Action Marine Park received a funding award to reinstate a modern, fit for purpose Pavilion building in Marine Park, Lossiemouth.
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Moray Carshare were awarded funding to expand their operations in order to bring the benefits of car and bike sharing to more parts of Moray.
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Global Ecovillage Network (GEN) were awarded funding for a transnational cooperation project that aims to promote ecovillage development in Moray communities.
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tsiMORAY received funding towards the cost of delivering their Moray Enterprising Third Sector Collaborative project. The funding enabled tsiMORAY to embed a new geographically dispersed team of Community Development Officers in communities throughout Moray, to further develop links between tsiMORAY and local anchor organisations.
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Moray Foodbank were awarded funding to run the Moray Poverty Conference. A free event with a wide range of speakers, the conference also featured workshops, market stalls and networking opportunities.
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Moray Reach Out (MRO) were awarded funding to work in collaboration with fellow social enterprise ReBOOT to share information, expertise and knowledge to develop their recycling and training enterprises.
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Lower Mill of Tynet Farm were awarded a LEADER grant to develop an on-farm milk vending facility, to sell organic whole milk directly to the public.
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Moray Wellbeing Hub were awarded funding to deliver their Wellbeing Connected Moray project. The funding allowed Moray Wellbeing Hub to develop a new locality model designed to improve the lives of people experiencing vulnerability and disadvantage in the region.
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Windswept Brewing Company received a grant award for their project to explore the feasibility of creating new short supply chain for Moray based microbreweries and local grain farmers.