Community Led Local Development (CLLD) Grant

The Community Led Local Development (CLLD) fund is an annual grant allocation to Orkney from the Scottish Government. It replaces the previous LEADER funding that Orkney received and continues to support locally driven community projects that deliver lasting benefits across the islands.

Due to the limited size of the funding allocation, applications are restricted to Orkney-based, constituted community or voluntary not-for-profit organisations with a registered bank account. Applications cannot be accepted from individuals, sole traders, organisations outwith Orkney, religious or political organisations, or private businesses.

The Orkney Local Action Group (LAG), which successfully delivered the LEADER Programme between 2014–2020, continues to oversee the CLLD funding allocation for Orkney.

For the 2026/27 financial year, Orkney received a final award of £305,595.93 from the Scottish Government - comprising £50,070.33 capital and £255,525.60 revenue.

• The full capital allocation was made available for community projects.
• The revenue funding was distributed between revenue projects, Place Plans and administration/staffing costs.

These films, produced through the Our Islands project, highlight community life and development across Orkney's islands.

Funding Priorities

Capital projects supported through CLLD are expected to align with one or more of the Scottish Government's four priority areas, demonstrate clear community support, and contribute to Community Wealth Building. Potential areas for support include:

• Providing essential capital to support community groups that have acquired, or are in the process of acquiring, land and buildings to fund early-stage upgrades to enable them to start "open for business" and to start to generate revenue to meet their operating costs.
• Supporting elements of the community led projects identified in local place/development/action plans.
• Supporting community groups to deliver community wellbeing and recreational projects.
• Providing essential capital to support sectoral based community groups to become more resilient.

Revenue projects have included:

• The development of Place Plans, where the community has indicated a desire for such a plan to ensure that their wishes influence future planning decisions. Place Plans also identify the priority projects that the community wish to see progressed and lend weight to funding applications.
• To support community led projects emerging from local place plans or similar documents which have undergone extensive community consultation.
• The engagement of resource/expertise to move a project forward where it can be shown that support of this nature will progress a project to the point of delivery.
• The building of capacity within applicant groups by supporting them to review their governance and financial management and ensure that their operating policies are fit for purpose.
• Support for community led growing projects to become more sustainable/resilient to help ensure food resilience.
• Support community led tourism/heritage/creative/festival groups with new offers and to become more sustainable/resilient.
• The encouragement and support of networking and knowledge exchange between community groups, and with public sector and agencies, in order to strengthen the confidence and capacity.
• Providing revenue funding to support primary sectors and rural development to transition with new Scottish Government and UK requirements.

Looking Ahead

The 2026/27 CLLD funding round is now closed, but the next round is expected to open in spring 2027, pending confirmation of allocation from the Scottish Government.

It is anticipated that the LAG will accept expressions of interest from community groups between late March and early April 2027. Eligible applicants will then be invited to submit a full application by the end of April, with the first assessment meeting likely to take place in May 2027.

If your community has a project idea you'd like to develop, we encourage you to get in touch with the CLLD team to discuss it.

In addition, the OIC Crown Estate Community Led Development Fund (OIC CECLDF) will open for expressions of interest later in 2026 – please see the OIC CECLDF web page for further details.

For further information or to discuss a potential project, please contact the CLLD team at CLLD@orkney.gov.uk.