Over £110,00 has been awarded through our Smarter Choices, Smarter Places (SCSP) COP26 Legacy Fund, a one-off fund set up during November's climate summit in Glasgow.
Among the grant recipients are the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO) which will help Scotland’s 40,000 voluntary organisations take basic steps to tackle climate change, and Getting Better Together in Lanarkshire who will work with high school pupils to boost bike maintenance skills and encourage active travel.
Also receiving grants are projects in Kirriemuir, the Forth Valley, North Ayrshire, and Glasgow and surrounding areas who are each encouraging their communities to swap short car journeys for walking, cycling, wheeling or public transport.
Graham McQueen, our SCSP Manager said
We are delighted to have awarded just over £110,000 to six projects that have a focus on both sustainable transport behaviour change and wider environmental issues.
The climate crisis we all face is one that cannot be overcome by working alone and only focusing on our own areas of expertise. To deliver a just transition to a carbon-neutral society we need to take a holistic approach and try to deliver positive behaviour change in all aspects of our lives.
I hope the learning from the six projects we will support through this fund can be used to influence and improve practice throughout the wider Smarter Choices, Smarter Places network and beyond.
Supported by Transport Scotland, SCSP is our behaviour change programme encouraging people to travel actively and sustainably by walking, wheeling, cycling and using public transport.
In response to the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow (31 October – 12 November 2021), SCSP made £110,000 of funding available to form our COP26 Legacy Fund. The fund was open to projects that would specifically link transport with the wider environmental agenda.
Scotland has an ambitious target to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2045. We work to support this target through encouraging greater use of sustainable travel to help reduce congestion and carbon emissions.
Our SCSP COP26 Legacy Fund grant recipients are:
Radio City Association (£28,356)
This project in North Ayrshire runs an active travel hub but are moving towards a mobility hub concept and developing a 20-minute neighbourhood. It will recruit a new staff member to work with disadvantaged groups to promote sustainable travel, develop a MaaS app and hire out ebikes, an electric van and electric cars.
Getting Better Together (£24,165)
The Future Friday’s cycle project is a wider partnership with Calderhead High School, North Lanarkshire Council and GBT. The school curriculum has changed to introduce a voluntary afternoon every Friday to encourage pupils to devote time to extra-curricular opportunities in sport, creative channels and skills development. GBT will support this initiative by providing a number of pupils with the opportunity to gain skills and training in bike maintenance which they will put to use in the recycling of old bikes brought in from the local recycle centre. Bikes will be either stripped for parts to be reused on others, or refurbished to be loaned, sold or donated with the hope of increasing active travel locally and having a positive impact on waste reduction.
Sustainable Kirriemuir (£5,000)
The aim of this project will be to encourage members of the community to switch short car journeys for active travel. The project will promote cycling and walking by reimagining outdoor space as places for living and playing which nurture health, wellbeing, inclusivity, and community cohesion. This will be achieved through a series of events which aim to increase confidence in cycling, demonstrate the enjoyment of active travel and using streets other than for travelling by car through car free days/play streets, and active travel challenges.
Forth Valley Art Beat (£10,000)
This project aims to draw attention to the climate emergency and active travel, focussed around participation and young families. A series of cycling events across Central to East Scotland (Stirling to North Berwick) will be organised with a climate focus; a participatory craftivism project working with local communities in Falkirk will be developed; and a mural will be created for the underpasses at Customs Roundabout, Stirling (cycle route). All of these aspects will have led cycling events embedded into them that engage with users, raise awareness about the climate emergency, as well as increase active travel use. They will be organised working closely with Stirling Active Travel Hub.
Community Asset Project (£9,750)
This project will target members of the PALOPs, the Paises Africanos de Lingua Oficial Portuguesa (or African Countries with Portuguese as Official Language) of the Cape Verdean, Angolan and Mozambican people resident in Glasgow, Renfrewshire, and South Lanarkshire. The project has identified three activities that help to build social and cultural capital, provide a sustained level of support, enhance the skills, attitude, and experiences of our service users and to raise aspirations and attainment, but also help people on a pathway to achieving their net-zero carbon emissions goals.
Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (£33,164)
This project will target Scotland’s 40,000 voluntary organisations, including 25,397 registered charities. SCVO carried out research in 2021 that showed non-environmental voluntary organisations would like to take action on climate change but didn’t know where to start. Information gathered at SCVO COP26 events suggest time and understanding are key barriers. This project will help Scotland’s voluntary sector take basic steps to address the climate crisis through a programme of free education and an awareness-raising campaign.