Na h-Eileanan Siar receives more than anywhere else
Months before news of a possible vaccine, these places were administering a vitalising shot in the arm for millions, and providing a rare chance to safely socialise, exercise and unwind.
Yet squeezed council budgets have left many communities more reliant on other ways of raising cash to care for these refuges. A significant source is lottery funding.
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Hide AdParks and similar green spaces in Na h-Eileanan Siar – or projects directly linked to them – received £4.2 million from the National Lottery Heritage Fund in the decade to 2019-20, according to figures obtained under the Freedom of Information Act.
The NLHF is a major distributor of lottery money – Na h-Eileanan Siar’s share was part of £406 million handed out for parks and similar green spaces across the UK over the period.
Na h-Eileanan Siar’s lottery cash for parks was equivalent to £156.41 per person in the area, based on Office for National Statistics population estimates – more than anywhere else in the UK.
The data includes funding for public parks and squares, cemeteries and pay-to-enter gardens.
While Na h-Eileanan Siar received the most per head in the country, Inverclyde got funding worth just 10p per person.