Two local councillors have raised concerns following significant missed opportunities for Moray Council to attract external grant support. This follows previous debates where councillors highlighted that Moray Council is not readying itself for the many significant grants available. The latest query put to officers was in regards the Better Places Green Recovery Fund 2 where officers were initially unwilling to apply. It follows a missed opportunity both in Harbours and the Rural Tourism Infrastructure Fund.
Commenting is Cllr Tim Eagle (Buckie Ward);
“There have been several external funds such as The Rural Tourism Infrastructure Fund, Better Places Green Recovery Fund and the Harbours Fund where the Council has decided not to apply, missing out on potentially huge grant payments to deliver vital projects to communities across Moray.
We all want our communities to do well, we want to bring investment into our towns and villages. The latest funding opportunity could give us funding for rangers to keep an eye on high traffic areas, it could have provided toilets or essential infrastructure. Whilst it was good to hear at a recent meeting an application will now be made that was not originally the case."
In fairness staff are amazing and do as much as they can, but capacity is an issue. No surprise given Moray receives less than the average Scottish payment per head for Councils, but put simply senior management must ensure these funding opportunities are not missed.
It’s a pretty difficult ask for councillors to be told to make the Moray public aware about the financial problems the council faces, only to then miss out on opportunities to increase that.
The council simply must find a way to ensure we don’t keep missing these opportunities"
Further commenting is Cllr Derek Ross (Speyside)
“I raised my serious concerns about the lack of application for the Rural Tourism Infrastructure Fund not that long ago. At a time when neighbouring authorities were receiving hundreds of thousands for tourism infrastructure Moray had not even submitted an application.
Officers blame capacity and I understand that but if that is the case councillors really should be presented with options on how to fix that for the future.
I can think of a huge range of projects, which would have fitted under the recent grants which would have been brilliant for my ward in Speyside. The Green Recovery Fund could give us rangers who could help support tourism over the summer or reopen some of the closed public toilets. It is good to hear we will now apply, but there were questions over that when I flagged this to officers last week.
Missing external funding opportunities is not acceptable and I will continue to raise this as a serious concern.”
