Francesca Osowska (SNH CEO) opening Delivery of Public Good - Land use conference. ©SNH. For information on reproduction rights contact the Scottish Natural Heritage Image Library on Tel. 01738 444177 or www.nature.scot

Natural and Cultural Heritage Fund: Outcomes and eligibility

The Natural and Cultural Heritage Fund supports new opportunities to promote the outstanding scenery, wildlife and culture of the Highlands and Islands of Scotland in ways which support inclusive and sustainable economic growth. It will help to retain jobs and sustain populations and services in rural communities.

The NCHF map of the Highlands and Islands identifies the areas covered by the fund.

This Challenge Fund of £5million of ERDF money was available through a single competitive funding round which opened on 14 January and closed on 22 April 2019. This money supports 14 major projects to be delivered by 2022. Projects sought an ERDF grant of a minimum of £250k. The total eligible project costs had to be a minimum of £360k. Projects were only supported if they demonstrated sensitive management and safeguarding of those heritage assets for future generations.

This Fund supports:

Interpretive media to promote natural and cultural heritage assets consistent with sensitive management and sustainable use
Infrastructure investment to expand the provision of tourist facilities
Improved accessibility, interpretation and quality of visitor experiences
New products or services based on the region's natural and cultural resources, particularly for the tourism sector.

The Fund is one of the Strategic Interventions (SI) in the 2014–2020 European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) programme. The aim of the ERDF is to invest in communities to help them to grow economic activity and employment. The Fund contributes up to 70% of project costs and will deliver a total value of £22,686,314 of investment throughout the course of the programme, including the match funding which applicants are required to find.

For general background information on European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIF) in Scotland, visit the Scottish Government's ESIF website and Scot Gov ESIF Twitter page

Outcomes of the project

The successful projects primarily relate to the natural and cultural heritage assets of the Highlands and Islands and were assessed against how well they deliver against the following outcomes. Projects were not required to deliver on every outcome, but were more likely to be successful in funding if they demonstrated that they would deliver on two or more.

Outcome 1 - Heritage assets of the transition region are more accessible and better promoted
Outcome 2 - The quality of visitor experience to the heritage assets is enhanced
Outcome 3 - New products, services and jobs based on heritage assets are created
Outcome 4 - There is coordinated promotion and interpretation of heritage assets across the region.

Themes of the project

The ERDF 2014-2020 programme has Horizontal Themes which cut across all the activity it funds. Challenge Fund projects were assessed against the principles of the Horizontal Themes. These will be monitored during and after delivery, so projects must build these themes into their projects.