Tay Landscape Partnership Scheme

The principal objectives were to:

• Conserve and restore built and natural features that make this landscape distinct;

• Reconnect residents and visitors with the natural, built and  cultural heritage of this landscape;

• Improve physical access to built and natural heritage features in the landscape;

• Provide opportunities for people to learn about the landscape and its heritage;

• Provide training opportunities for people in local heritage skills; and

• Link with broader public and private investment in Dundee, Perth and Fife, to support sustainable economic development.

Project Legacy:

TayLP was successful in delivering on its objectives and in addition to improving and enhancing both the historic environment of the area, and its biodiversity, there was notable social and economic benefits both in the short term and for the future. Feedback from young people not in employment, education or training, and from secondary school students was powerful, confirming the value of vocational training opportunities. The improved wellbeing of volunteer participants was noticeable with many enjoying being outdoors and taking part in meaningful projects.

All the work produced through TayLP is available on its legacy website at www.taylp.org and will remain as a resource for communities to take responsibility of their local heritage showing that the TayLP vision – to reconnect the wider public with this spectacular landscape – was achieved.

As part of the project bursaries were offered through Perth UHI for each of the following categories:

Geography/Sustainability Award

Awards of £500 to 3 students over 2 years to develop research projects which focused on the TayLP area. This award was inspired by Patrick Geddes, an influential thinker and polymath of the late 19th and early 20th centuries who worked in the worlds of geography, biology, planning, mineralogy, sociology, art, drama and even religion.

Interpretation Award

An annual award of £500 to one student per year to complete or participate in an oral history project within the TayLP area. This award was inspired by Sir Walter Scott.

You can find successful applicant Luke Cockayne’s recording of the poetry they produced on their SoundCloud.

Landscape Skills Award

An annual award of £500 to one student per year to support them in completing vocational and non-vocational qualifications in environmental, conservation and heritage skills courses. This award was inspired by Patrick Matthew, an entrepreneurial farmer and horticulturalist who in 1831 published an outline of the principle of natural selection, some 30 years before Darwin published On the Origin of the Species.