Growing alongside a community in the Scottish Borders

The Langhope Rig Wind Farm Community Benefit Fund marked a major milestone in its support for communities across the Scottish Borders earlier this year, having distributed more than £500,000 through its open grantmaking and education and training programmes since it opened in 2017.

The Langhope Rig Fund is a significant example of what community benefit funding can achieve when it is designed to grow and adapt alongside the community it supports. Over time, the Fund has evolved into a responsive, multi-tiered model that reaches across five community council areas in the Scottish Borders, reflecting changing community needs while remaining embedded in local ownership and decision-making.

Funding decisions are made by a local panel of community members, whose knowledge and experience of the area ensure the Fund remains firmly community-focused.

The Fund operates across three tiers. An open grantmaking fund serves the community council areas of Lilliesleaf, Ashkirk & Midlem, Ettrick & Yarrow, and Upper Teviotdale & Borthwick Water. An Education and Training Fund supports the same communities, creating pathways for individuals to develop skills and access new opportunities. And a devolved sub-fund arrangement extends the Fund's reach further, encompassing those same areas as well as Hawick, and Denholm and District, ensuring that more people, across a wider geography, can benefit directly.

Together, these three structures have allowed the Fund to maximise its reach, respond to local priorities, and support communities to undertaken localised projects, all of which help to strengthen these communities.

To document this journey, we have undertaken a detailed case study exploring how the Fund came to be, the challenges it has navigated, and the successes it has achieved. The full case study can be found here. 

Read more about the Langhope Rig Wind Farm Community Benefit Fund.