THE Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park Authority is calling for applications to its 2019 National Park Grant Scheme, with more than £80,000 of funding available for projects that help make the National Park a great place to live, work and visit.

The scheme is open to a range of organisations – including voluntary or community groups, schools and public funded bodies – as well as local businesses and individuals to help support projects that deliver against the 13 outcomes identified in the National Park Partnership Plan and is a fantastic way to provide additional benefits for communities, businesses and residents across the whole Park.

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The partnership plan’s outcomes include enhancing and harnessing the area’s natural resources and restoring important habitats for future generations, conserving and enhancing the National Park’s special landscape qualities, mitigating the impacts of climate change, and providing more outdoor recreation opportunities for a range of abilities and backgrounds.

Stuart Mearns, director of planning and rural development at Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park, said: “The grant scheme allows us to provide funding to a wide range of projects and initiatives across the Park.

“We are looking forward to supporting a diverse range of ambitious project ideas that will help deliver the outcomes set out in our National Park Partnership Plan.”

Just some of the projects which received funding from the grant scheme last year include the creation of a floating pontoon and two visitor moorings on Loch Long for leisure use and to increase water access to Arrochar; native hedge and tree planting initiatives; renovation of traditional barns to help diversify a farming business and projects tackling invasive non-native species.

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Other key outcomes in the park’s partnership plan include more opportunities for water recreation, managing visitor pressures on the most popular areas of the park, and getting more people to benefit from the health and wellbeing advantages provided by nature and the outdoors.

Interested applicants are asked to submit an expression of interest by midnight on Friday, May 31 before eligible applicants are invited to submit a detailed application.

To find out more and submit an expression of interest, visit lochlomond-trossachs.org/grantscheme.