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Colintraive News Opportunities Press & Publicity Working Groups

CGDT Stall at the Colintraive Village Fete a Great Success!

If you were down at the Colintraive village fete on Saturday, and if you had a chance between the duck racing, wellie wanging, rat splatting, cake buying, ice cream licking and Scottish dancing, you might have seen Sandra and Russell cajoling people into the CDGT tent.  We were asking for people’s ideas, thoughts, comments and opinions on the various on-going projects on that the Trust is overseeing.  Represented were; the plan to revive the old post-office, the planned circular walk in Colintraive, the Ship-to-Shore project and the Stronafian Forest Project.

We hope that everyone who came and saw us left a little more enlightened as to what the Trust is up to on their behalf and a little more involved having left an idea or comment for us to consider.

Regarding the forest people were generally interested to see exactly where the forest boundaries were and to hear how the nitty-gritty of the acquisition and purchase process are progressing.  Several people commented about the great views over Loch Riddon that you can get from the top of the forest road that goes from the telephone exchange on the Dunoon road.  There was some interest in the possibility of the creation of forest small holdings and also in establishing a commercial wood-fuel operation as they have done at Kilfinan.  By far the most common topic of conversation about the forest was the possibility of developing mountain biking trails.  Suggestions ranged from simple way-marked trails to the development of a full blown centre complete with graded trails, bike hire, guiding, bike repair shop and cafes. See these links to see what has been developed in other forests along these lines http://www.7stanesmountainbiking.com/Home and http://www.forestry.gov.uk/forestry/INFD-79YFHN.  Other ideas included creating nature trails, a sculpture trail, tree-top assault course a shooting ground and a concrete bobsleigh run through the forest!

The possibility of reviving the village shop was met with universal enthusiasm!  Some people didn’t care what happened to it as long as it was given a lick of paint.  A frequent comment was that a shop or café of some sort would do a roaring trade off people waiting for the ferry with one person even suggesting going onto coaches with a tray of snacks and drinks like they used to do at the cinema!  Those who came straight from the home baking stand were naturally in favour of having somewhere to get cakes of such high quality all year round and wanted to see a tea room or coffee shop (with home baking).  Younger folk thought an internet café would be great idea, anything to make contact with the outside world given how bad mobile reception is.  The shop has a flat on the first floor and some people suggested converting this into ‘bunk house’ style accommodation for cyclists and people doing the Cowal Way looking to over-night somewhere cheap and cheerful.  Rhona is busy as we speak trying to secure funding so that the building can be surveyed before any decision is made on whether to buy.

The ship-to-shore project displayed various options discussed at a meeting earlier in the week including the controversial pontoon proposal, reviving the concrete jetty and using the slipway on the CalMac road as a launch for dinghies and kayaks.  This is going to be a difficult one to negotiate as many people thought that yachties would only come ashore if there was the option of coming alongside in their yachts whilst the topography of the bay makes this difficult without building a quite intrusive structure.

We encourage to leave your comments and ideas on the projects discussed above – this is an on-going process and your opinion counts at every stage!

Categories
AGM Colintraive News Press & Publicity

CGDT Newsletter Published this Weekend

Improved communication has been a recurrent theme in feedback from the community so this weekend, to coincide with the Colintraive Fete the Development Trust is publishing its first quarterly newsletter. Have a read, let us know what you think.

Categories
Forestry News Press & Publicity Stronafian

We Can See The Wood For the Trees!

The Community of Colintraive and Glendaruel wins the right to buy Stronafian Forest in south-west Cowal.

Community ownership of one of the most ambitious community buy-outs came a step further this week when the Forestry Commission granted the right to buy 600ha of Stronafian Forest in south west Cowal through the National Forestry Land Scheme.

The £1.55m price tag is a tall order for the small community of Colintraive and Glendaruel but ownership of the land is seen as the catalyst in reversing the area’s economic and social decline.   Plans for developing the forest include leasing small parcels of land at sustainable rents to allow small, low-impact silviculture operations to be encouraged, alongside other entrepreneurial pursuits suited to a woodland situation and developing community.

Proximity to the school offers opportunities to develop an outdoor classroom or forest school, a development of the existing curriculum which is proving increasingly popular elsewhere as an educational  resource.  Indeed areas of the forest, particularly those close to the Clachan of Glendaruel, are rich in archaeological remains, natural history and landscape heritage which will add to the significant amenity resource that the woodland represents.

Charles Dixon-Spain, Chair of the Development Trust said “The scope of the Forest is enormous and our ambitious plans include investigation of wind and hydro sites, the most promising involving creation of a community owned 30 MW/h extension to the Cruach Mhor windfarm.   With national renewable targets to reach and our commitment to help achieve these, there is much to accomplish in the 18 months in which we have to raise the finance”.

“The price tag may appear daunting,” Charles continues, “but we are confident development of our plans alongside our forestry consultant and potential funding agencies will secure this tremendous asset for the long term benefit of not only Colintraive and Glendaruel but for our neighbouring communities.”

Categories
News Projects

CGDT AGM Sunday, 12th June

Our AGM begins at 2.30pm, with all the usual accoutrements to a development trust reporting back to its members. We’ll also be presenting our new local development plan and an extraordinary opportunity that we have been working on since August 2009. For more information on both, and to read the pertinent documents, please return to this site after the AGM.

For members who wish to attend, please contact us in the usual way for papers, documents and agendas etc.

Categories
Colintraive News

Of Pontoons, Property, Power and Paths … and also of Parking

On Wednesday night the Development Trust held an evening consultation to discuss the four ‘P’s mentioned in the title of this post.

Over thirty members of the community attended to discuss issues surrounding the idea of a Community Pontoon, ownership of the Colintraive Old Shop, Hydro Electric power in the Milton Burn and Environmental Improvements around Colintraive, including a circular path taking in the beach, Colintraive Heritage Centre, Garden and Hotel. An issue which was raised throughout the meeting was the parking and traffic problems which surround the CalMac ferry, and so this was added to the agenda on the night to allow us to explore every aspect of what has become a knotty problem.

If, having read these minutes, you have any comments, please use the comment form at the bottom of this page. Of course if we have missed a substantive point made on the night let us know, as the more info we have the better. These minutes will be posted on the noticeboards in Colintraive and Glendaruel.

The Board will discuss the comments and ideas put forward at this meeting and report back at the AGM in mid-June on how we have progressed each of these issues.

We’d like to thank everyone who attended on the night, the feedback you all gave was invaluable and will have a substantial influence on how we move forward.

Categories
Forestry Glendaruel News Stronafian

Progress on the Application to Acquire the Right to Buy Stronafian

At the last NFLS panel meeting in late January, at which the decision on our application was to be taken, important questions were raised regarding the timescales of the purchase and how that would affect our business plan for the forest, in particular our management of the forest itself. The panel therefore decided to defer their decision until 5th May to allow us to look at the implications of this.

The Development Trust has now fed back regarding the changes it has made to its business plan to effect purchase of the entire forest within 18 months of the approval of our application.

We will communicate the panel’s decision as soon as we have news but in the meantime will keep our fingers crossed.

Categories
CRtB Glendaruel Glendaruel Hotel News Opportunities

CGDT is Granted Community Right to Buy on Glendaruel Hotel

The Colintraive and Glendaruel Development Trust is delighted to announce it has been granted a community right to buy on the Glendaruel Hotel under the terms of the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003. The hotel which stands at the centre of the clachan of Glendaruel has been closed for 18 months depriving the community of an essential social hub and local accommodation providers of a venue for their guests to find food and drink locally.

In June 2009 when it first considered applying for the right to buy on the property the trust undertook to give the present owners of the hotel breathing space to get their business up and running. Twelve months later the Trust recognised that this was becoming more and more unlikely to happen, and that the community needed the opportunity to take charge of the building and provide for its own future. At a public meeting on 3rd August last year a working group was formed to look at the options for running the building as a social enterprise and to work toward the Community Right to Buy.

The right to buy, which gives the community first refusal when and if the hotel comes on to the market, also requires that a ballot be held to ascertain the community’s opinion of such a course of action. As Charles Dixon-Spain, chair of the Development Trust says, “With the help of the working group who have put substantial time into this project, and our HIE-funded consultant Tom Sillar, we have secured the community the opportunity to decide whether it wants the trust to run the building as a social enterprise.”

Full details of the application for the right to buy are available on the Register of Community Interests in Land.

Categories
Forestry Glendaruel News Projects Stronafian

Next Stage in the Acquisition of Stronafian

Today myself and John McEwan met with Penny Cousins, the panel member for the NFLS, Malcolm Wield and Gordon Donaldson, as part of the process towards a determination on whether the right to buy Stronafian Forest should be granted to the Development Trust.

After a talking through the business plan and the full development programme the Development Trust is putting together, we walked around parts of the forest before repairing to the Colintraive Hotel for a Seafood Chowder lunch (which was delicious!).

The NFLS panel will consider our application on the 20th January, and a decision will be made by Forestry Commission Scotland’s Director, Bob McIntosh shortly thereafter. Fingers crossed.

Categories
Clachan Glendaruel Kilmodan Primary School News

Happy New Year!

Wishing everyone a really great New Year, and here’s hoping that today’s news on the halting of the schools consultation means that Argyll and Bute Council drop all plans to close Kilmodan.

The Development Trust is convinced of the absolutely crucial importance the school plays in ensuring our community grows and thrives.

Well done to the Parent Council for all the effort they have put into the Save Kilmodan School campaign!

Categories
News Opportunities

Opportunity for small businesses

This summer Argyll and Bute Council launched its Competitive Business Growth Programme, providing

  • start-up grants of £500
  • growth grants of up to £3000 – for existing businesses that are trading over the VAT threshold, or new businesses who are planning to be within 18 months.

Eligible Argyll and Bute based businesses in postcodes PA20- PA78 or in Succoth can apply for Competitive Business Growth Programme funding up until the end of March 2011, via Business Gateway.