Home
Communities
Sustainable development fund

Sustainable development fund

The Sustainable Development Fund is in addition to our local community funds and supports strategic projects in the regions where SSE is operating. It allows the benefits of our renewable energy developments to be accessible to a wider area and is directed to projects that can achieve significant impact in local communities. We expect the fund could be worth over £57 million over the next 25 years.

Project eligibility

The community fund can support projects which:

Creating opportunities – increase opportunities for education and employment
Empowering communities – build resilience and protect vulnerable residents
Building sustainable places – stimulate meaningful community regeneration

Projects in the following areas can apply:

Dumfries and Galloway
Highlands
North Lincolnshire
Perth and Kinross
Scottish Borders
South Lanarkshire

You can find out who is eligible to apply here.

Fund timetable

Area	Status	Who to contact for more information
Dumfries and Galloway	Closed - due to open in Spring 2025	Craig Mullen (contact details below)
Highlands	Closed – due to open in Autumn 2023	Tom Black (contact details below)
North Lincolnshire	Open	This is managed in partnership with North Lincolnshire Council: E: [email protected] T: 01724 296926
Perth and Kinross	Open	Tom Black (contact details below) Guidance and Application Form
Scottish Borders	Open	Craig Mullen (contact details below) Guidance and Application Form
South Lanarkshire	Closed - due to open in Autumn 2024	Craig Mullen (contact details below)

More information

Following consultation with regional stakeholders in 2015, the following themes have been established and any successful application must fit in to at least one of these areas:

Creating opportunities – Create or enhance opportunities for education and employment through activities that develop skills and improve an individual’s chance of entering the workplace.
Empowering communities – Empower communities to become more resilient and protect vulnerable residents through measures which demonstrate long-term social, environmental or economic improvements.
Sustainable places – Stimulate meaningful regeneration to improve or enhance local infrastructure, landscape, biodiversity or heritage and make a lasting difference to the places we live, work and visit.

Additional consideration will be given to projects that demonstrate:

Value for money – evidence that the project has a high local impact for the amount invested.
Community involvement – evidence that the community has been engaged in developing the project. This may be in the form of surveys, community consultations, open days or letters of support.
Financial Sustainability – evidence that the project will be maintained beyond the period of grant funding.
Contribution to local economy – evidence that the project will have a positive impact on the local economy in the long term.

Please note: The fund cannot support individuals, or groups without a constitution.

An external panel has been set up to review applications and determine which projects should receive funding. Chaired by Lord Jack McConnell, the five-strong panel has expertise in each of the three priority areas of the fund.

Rt. Hon. Lord Jack McConnell, Chairperson
Jack McConnell served as First Minister from 2001 to 2007 during which time he refreshed and launched Scotland’s international image. He established Scotland’s International Development policy; introduced the Fresh Talent initiative to encourage in-migration and a national youth volunteering programme, Project Scotland. He was appointed to the House of Lords in June 2010 and has continued his work in Africa tackling poverty, including building on the relationship between Scotland and Malawi.

Professor Jan Bebbington
Jan Bebbington is an academic specialising in sustainability. She is currently Director of Pentland Centre at the University of Lancaster. Her research interests focus around the themes of organisational responses to the global climate change agenda as well as how governance regimes for sustainable development might be developed at organisational, regional and country level.

Damien Yeates
Damien Yeates was appointed Chief Executive of Skills Development Scotland in June 2008. During the past decade he has initiated a number of highly innovative and successful programmes to promote skills and lifelong learning, including the establishment of the Digital Media Academy, the Community Technology Academy Network and the Blended Learning of Construction Skills (BLOCS) programme.

Professor James Hunter
Jim Hunter is Emeritus Professor of History at the University of the Highlands and Islands. Between 1998 and 2004 he was chairman of Highlands and Islands Enterprise and is the author of eleven books about the region. He is also an award-winning journalist and broadcaster. Professor Hunter was made a CBE in 2001. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 2007.

Claire McKeown
Claire McKeown has worked for SSE Renewables since 2008, starting her career in the Wind Resource Assessment team and building SSE’s in-house wind farm noise modelling capabilities. Claire enjoyed engaging with local communities as part of that role, and a position on the Sustainable Development Fund Panel has provided a unique opportunity for Claire to get more involved with SSE Renewables’ community funding. Claire is currently a Bid Manager for SSE Renewables..

Communities