From today, June 26, 2012, more people and communities across Scotland can apply for funding from the Big Lottery Fund’s Community Spaces Scotland scheme – BIG’s funding programme aimed at supporting communities to become more involved in and to take responsibility for local communal spaces and places.

After a successful first year, which saw 24 groups share in £2.8M in grants to improve the appearance, accessibility and sustainability of local spaces, places and buildings, BIG Scotland has now reopened Community Spaces Scotland to applications. This time around Community Spaces Scotland has changed doubling the reach of the funding. This means that 3,254 datazones across Scotland (the geographical areas set out in the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation) will be eligible to apply for funding from round two of Community Spaces Scotland. This compares to 1,832 datazones that were eligible for round one. To find out if your project is in an eligible datazone please go to our eligibility checker here.

Of course, there are other requirements applicants need to consider before applying, and these are set out in our programme guidance notes for Community Spaces Scotland and you can download our guidance notes here. Voluntary and community organisations, schools, community councils, social enterprises and private companies (provided our grants do not contribute to the profits they distribute) can all apply and while we encourage the involvement and support of statutory bodies in your application, local authorities are unable to apply. We cannot fund individuals or sole traders. For more information go to http://www.biglotteryfund.org.uk/scotland