The Community Ownership Fund, which is injecting nearly £1 million  into four projects in Scotland, has allocated £300,000 to the Burgh of Kinross to establish a new aerospace discovery centre. 

The centre aims to be a hub for interactive learning and exhibitions, looking to help inspire young individuals about aerospace related careers in STEM. 

According to Space Skills Alliance the UK’s space sector has set the goal of achieving a 10% market share of the global space sector by 2030, and to do this, it would need to attract and retain more than 30,000 new workers. 

On the heels of this is 58% of space sector organisations expecting to increase their growth over the next three years, but 46% saying recruitment is a major barrier to growth. 

This trend reinforces the need to inspire the younger generation of the opportunities available in the UK’s space sector, which is worth over £17.5 billion in income to the UK economy, according to the government. 

Other Scottish projects that will benefit from the Community Ownership Fund is: 

• Glasgow, which is receiving £256,793 to build a community Net-Zero Hub, focused on promoting low-carbon learning and training. 
• Stirling, which will benefit from £253,032 to bring a shop building in Stirling into community ownership, which will create a commercially sustainable village shop to cater to the local needs. 
• Aberdeenshire, which is landing £183,000 to redevelop the Laurencekirk Community Centre into a larger, revitalised community hub capable of hosting local events. 

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“Our priority is to support communities and deliver opportunities right across the country,” said Jacob Young, UK Government minister for Levelling Up. He continued by saying these projects “are the golden thread which run through our social fabric, and keeping them going is vital for supporting communities.”

“It’s great news that a further four Scottish projects are sharing almost £1 million (£992,825) from the UK Government Community Ownership Fund,” said Malcolm Offord, UK Government Minister for Scotland.

“Through the fund we are now supporting 28 community groups across Scotland to breathe new life into the places where they live, work and play to the tune of almost £6.2 million.”