Christmas is coming early for young people across Scotland after a £1.43m boost from the Scottish Government’s Cashback for Communities to build new, full-sized 3G pitches.
Malleny Park, home of Currie Rugby Club, near Edinburgh, is one of the venues receiving the money and Kenny MacAskill, Justice Minister, MSP, will visit the club today (Monday 16 December) to announce which other pitches will receive money.
This is the first wave of funding allocations from a pot of £3.15 million; the next wave will be announced in the new year. The cash comprises £2 million from the Scottish Government’s CashBack for Communities programme, coupled with £1 million from Sport Scotland and £150,000 from WREN.
The CashBack funding has come from a £5.6 million payment from Aberdeen-based oil and gas company Abbot Group after the firm used the Crown Office’s self-reporting initiative to admit benefitting from corrupt payments made in an overseas deal.