The Fallago Environment Fund shares the benefits of the Fallago Rig Windfarm on the Roxburghe Estates with projects across the Scottish Borders. In early 2021, the Fund trustees were alerted to a gap in the local funding landscape for communities seeking to repair and maintain pathways that had been degraded following significant use during the pandemic. The Fund therefore developed a special £30,000 Covid-19 Community Paths Repair Fund which has now provided grants to 14 community organisations to ensure continued safe access to the local paths for outdoor exercise, bringing significant physical, mental and social benefits for local communities.
The Fallago Environment Fund had already provided a significant Covid-19 funding package for Borders communities but they realised that there was an additional urgent issue with degraded paths that needed to be addressed. They acted quickly, consulting a local community development organisation – The Bridge - who confirmed that support was required and that no path-specific funding sources were available elsewhere.
The Bridge was appointed to urgently administer a special new £30,000 grants programme with money paid up-front so that communities could benefit as quickly as possible. These grants have since paid for work including; repairs to Williestruther Loch perimeter footpath near Hawick and to the Eckford Community walk; improvements to the Earlston Circular Path including step repairs and the installation of new handrails; the purchase of pedestrian access gates on four new routes in Tweedsmuir; the restoration of Riverside Woodland Walks at Reston and improvements to Ancrum’s Witchburn Path, including building a bridge over the unsafe burn crossing. All of this work will enable safe access for 14 Borders communities to local paths for many years to come.
Environmental benefits include reduced riverbank erosion due to the creation of a bridge over Ancrum’s Witch Burn and the repair of drainage ditches at Bowden.