Wick Paths Group one of 14 Caithness groups to receive ‘Your Police, You Decide’ funding

Fourteen groups in Caithness have been successful in receiving a share of a special funding initiative to help make a difference in the local area.

Wick Paths Group (WPG) was one of the lucky local groups that had an early Christmas present with £2000 from the "Your Police, You Decide" initiative launched by Police Scotland and Caithness Voluntary Group which allowed people living in the area have their say by voting on local projects and organisations that aim to improve safety and wellbeing.

The Scottish Government provided the funding as part of a pilot to "strengthen local democracy", ensuring that communities can participate in decisions affecting their local area. Voting, which took place online on Police Scotland’s Ideas platform and in person at locations in Wick, Thurso and Dunbeath, opened on November 25 and closed on Sunday, December 18.

Fourteen groups were successful and additional investment means that a total of £33,815 has been made available to support these initiatives that aim to improve health and wellbeing and tackle poverty.

The WPG's project was for assistance to maintain paths by purchasing materials, to help with weed killing and also to produce a leaflet detailing the walks around the town. Paths Group secretary, John Bogle, commented: "We are extremely grateful for the award of this funding to assist us in maintaining the paths around the town.

"Without regular maintenance the paths quickly become overgrown and waterlogged. Also, it has been a long-term objective for us to make a leaflet available for both locals and visitors to detail the walks around the town and maybe add some history as well.

"We would like to thank the Scottish Government for making the funding available, the police for organising the competition to allocate the funds and also to the many members of the public who cast their votes in our favour. There was the opportunity to leave comments when you cast your vote and we are humbled by the many positive and supportive comments that we received."

Divisional commander chief superintendent Conrad Trickett has welcomed the opportunity to collaborate with communities, strengthening the collective response "to some of our most pressing challenges" including poor mental health, poverty and drug and alcohol use.

He said: “Understanding the concerns of communities in Caithness is at the heart of community policing. This participatory budget goes the next step and asks communities to both identify problems and design and find solutions.

“The community has come forward to work with us and we are pleased to have had the opportunity to work together with residents to make this happen. The successful projects will make a real difference to people's lives.

“I very much celebrate this innovative approach to working with communities in Caithness.”

For more information on Your Police, You Decide, and to view the list of all successful projects, visit: consult.scotland.police.uk/strategy-insight-and-innovation/caithness/

For more information about volunteering with WPG please visit its Facebook page at: www.facebook.com/RoyalBurghofWick

WPG has currently been working on a project to create a path through the Grey Bools field that will connect the Trinkie road and the Castle of Old Wick.

Do you want to respond to this article? If so, click here to submit your thoughts and they may be published in print.