£300,000 Localities Bid vote is scrapped due to lack of entries

Around £300,000 was up for grabs in the second round of the region-wide scheme.

The local authority launched its Localities Bid Fund last year.

A total of 62 submitted projects - across the region's five locality areas, Tweeddale, Eildon, Cheviot, Teviot & Liddesdale, and Berwickshire - went forward for a public vote during round one.

And a successful 18 successful schemes shared more than £200,000 after 16,000 votes were cast.

Scottish Borders Council tweaked the criteria for entries as well as the voting process ahead of launching the second round due to complaints and criticism.

Almost £300,000 was available for groups and organisations to bid for ahead of this week's deadline.

But when the organising assessment panel met on Thursday it was discovered that there wasn't enough entries to launch the new vote.

Councillor Sandy Aitchison from the panel said: “The Borders Assessment Panel was convened to consider the applications but on this occasion there weren’t enough sustainable bids to enable us to go forward with a public vote across the five local areas within the Scottish Borders.

“We are going to relaunch the scheme and widen the application criteria.

"We believe this will broaden the potential breadth of applications and ensure members of the public ultimately have the opportunity to vote for a wide range of strong community-focussed projects right across the Borders."

Among the groups and organisations who were successful during round one were Borders Search and Rescue who scooped £35,000, Stow Community Learning Hub netted £15,000, Clovenfords Digital Ninja Project gained £25,000, and Earlston High School Parent Council collected £24,000.

Many smaller amounts, such as £650 to Duns Swimming Club, £3,500 to Artbeat Studios and £400 to Tweed Valley Mountain Rescue, were also awarded.

Voting on the second round of funding was due to take place throughout November.

Despite calls for the projects which have been submitted to be awarded the cash, the organising panel have decided to relaunch the second round again in an effort to attract further entries.

Councillor Aitchison added: "We were unable to simply give money to those who submitted bids as there is a firm process in place, agreed by the council, which agrees that Localities Bid Fund money has to be allocated through a community vote.

"However contact has been made with all the applicants to inform them of the decision and other funding options are being explored with them.

"We will hold current applications for further consideration and, where appropriate, they will be given the opportunity to revise their bids and re-submit."