South Skye Community Campus SCIO are delighted to share the news that £200,000 of Community Regeneration funding has been approved for our phase one development of an all-weather pitch in Broadford. This award is subject to approval of our funding application submitted for consideration as part of the Scottish Government’s Islands Programme 25/26 which we hope to get a positive decision on in the coming months.
The South Skye Community Campus (SSCC) is a volunteer-led community group that was formed to create, improve and maintain sporting and leisure facilities in the South Skye area. Phase one includes development of an all-weather pitch to replace the current grass pitch which is not fit for purpose due to our increasingly wet climate. It is hoped that the development of the all-weather pitch will coincide with the development of the new Broadford Primary School. This will provide cost efficiencies for the community with Highland Council proving to be a supportive partner.
South Skye sporting groups and individuals are often forced to travel over 100 miles from their community to access suitable sporting facilities with the closest all-weather pitches in Plockton and Portree. A long way off the Scottish Government 20-minute neighbourhood target that is promoted to help people “live well locally”. This investment into the South Skye Community Campus project really will have transformational health and wellbeing benefits for our South Skye communities and for those from further afield.
To date the volunteer managed SSCC have raised over £316,000 towards phase one of the SSCC project. This has been generated by local fundraising, developer’s contribution from Lochalsh and Skye Housing Association and more recently a successful funding award from Sports Scotland. More importantly it has been the result of effective partnership working between the community, community partners and local and national government. When SSCC first started out our local MSP Kate Forbes said we would need to look at a jigsaw funding package and now we just need that final piece from the Scottish Government Islands Programme to complete our jigsaw.
Sarah Yoxon, Trustee of South Skye Community Campus, said:
‘We hope that the all-weather astro facility will be constructed alongside the new primary school in Broadford later this year. It will be able to accommodate a wide variety of sports including football, shinty, rugby, and hockey for all ages and we can’t wait to see this in the south of Skye. We appreciate the support we have had from Broadford and Strath Community Company and Highland Councillor John Finlayson, towards the project.’
John Finlayson, Elected Member, Eilean a Cheo:
Myself and my councillor colleagues were delighted to approve funding to support this important project which will also hopefully promote a positive response from the Scottish Government’s Islands Programme. As The Skye & Raasay Area Chair and a long time South Skye resident, I recognise the value of this project to people of all ages across South Skye and Lochalsh and I congratulate The South Skye Community Campus Group on the tremendous work they have done to date and I look forward to seeing the project finally receive full funding in the near future.
Kate Forbes, MSP, Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch:
“I’m absolutely delighted to see another piece of the jigsaw in place to fund the south Skye community campus. The opportunities that this will create for young people are enormous. We have come so far from the early days when there was very little prospect of being able to pull off one of the most ambitious projects on the west coast. This progress is testament to the brilliance of volunteers who haven’t given up!”