Sutherland councillors set to meet to decide how to spend town centre funding worth more than £84,000 with Brora, Dornoch and Golspie all in the running for a windfall

A special meeting of the Sutherland County Committee on Monday will decide how to spend its share of an additional £1.066 million in from the Scottish Government’s Town Centre Fund.

Sutherland was allocated £84,156 for the three towns – Brora, Dornoch and Golspie – that qualified for the cash investment.

But so far 11 projects have been applied for by various local groups and businesses with requests totalling £295,669.

The latest tranche of cash has been issued to stimulate local construction activity and support employment across the Highlands during the Covid economic crisis.

The 11 projects are:

• Golspie Larder – a private business seeking £13,899 to assist with the change of use of a property from a hairdresser to a retail unit.
• Highland Wildcat Mountain Bike Skills Area – the Sutherland Outdoor Activity Project are seeking the sum of £19,500 to provide a skills area at the Highland Wildcat MTB Trails.
• Boundary Improvements – Golspie Bowling Club have asked for £4,495 to replace the gates to the bowling club and change the perimeter boundary from hedging to timber.
• Refurbish Playpark – Brora Primary Parent Council want £10,000 towards a £50,000 project to refurbish the playpark at Johnstone Crescent.
• Car, Coach & Motorhome Park – Dornoch Area Community Interest Company want £57,937 towards the first phase of Project Curlew which seeks to create 38 car spaces, four dedicated motorhome spaces, flexible five coach or eight motorhome spaces, eight motorcycle spaces and 10 bicycle stances on part of the former Abattoir site. There will also be 3 disabled spaces, three parent and child parking slots and charging points for four vehicles and a charging point for e-bikes.
• Golspie – Restoration of two buildings to accommodate a bike workshop and office, the installation of a campervan waste disposal unit. The project lead is a private business and is seeking the sum of £72,500.
• Renovation of Public Toilets – Brora Community Council have asked for £21,750 to replace existing cisterns and wash hand basins, walls to be wet walled and install a solar panel water heating system.
• Renovation of YMCA Building – Go Golspie are seeking the sum of £29,500 towards a £49,500 phase 2 package of works to bring the former YMCA building back into use.
• Provision of dedicated motorhome parking, chemical waste facility and replacement signage – Brora and District Action Group (BaDAG) have applied for £18,000 to provide dedicated motorhome parking spaces within the existing lorry park, including electric hook ups. This work will complement the chemical waste facility project already underway. A further £10,000 is also being sought for the provision of new or replacement town centre gateway signage highlighting updated local facilities.
• Town Signage – Go Golspie are seeking the sum of £28,000 for the erection of several tourism signs on the A9 throughout Golspie to identify or highlight attractions for tourists including scenic walks, historic buildings, and the like.
• Provision of power and water to beach car park area, Dornoch – East Sutherland Rescue Association (ESRA) are seeking £10,098 towards a £20,098 project to install an electricity supply and mains water supply from the town centre of Dornoch to the Beach Carpark. First and foremost this proposal is to provide utilities connection to the new lifeboat building.

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