Author: CGDT

The Trust have been awarded development funding for the project in the Clachan to allow us to carry out a full feasibility and visioning process. Designers and a business planning team have been appointed and they will, through consultation with the community produce a full design schedule following an options appraisal. Their first job will be to start the consultation process about the options open to the community, such as: Purchase and renovation of the existing Hotel building, Purchase and demolition of the Hotel then a new build on the site OR A new build on another site in the village.

This project will play a major part in achieving the community’s vision ” By the year 2021 ColGlen will be a vibrant community with a growing economy and with the ability to attract young economically active families whilst sustaining a high quality of life and safeguarding our natural and cultural resources”

Sara Maclean will be the Project Manager to take the project to a Stage 2 BIG lottery application to fund the agreed development and it is planned that this will be submitted for approval in April 2016 with on the ground works starting by the Autumn.

We have produced our first newsletter for Cowal Way, to keep our partners and customers up to date about our continual improvements programme. We plan to produce 4 per year, and going forward there will be articles on path infrastructure improvements, marketing, customer experiences, local business features, and much, much more. We hope you enjoy the read!  CW Newsletter1

We are finally beginning to see some progress with our Broadband project.

We are still waiting to hear from BT about how many properties will benefit from their New Generation Broadband installation which we are told will bring super fast speeds to Colintraive, although we believe only those within one to two km from the existing box will get an improved signal and there  are no plans to extend the service further up the glen.

We have though now received approval from Community Broadband Scotland for our application which will allow us to prepare tender documents, work up an affordable wireless project and formally set up the Kyles Community Broadband Group. We will be moving this forward as quickly as possible and will give further updates as they become available.

Myself, the project manager (Stewart) and path ranger (Charlie), have now been in our positions for a few months now, and we are making good progress. The improvements to the physical path infrastructure have started. There is a local contractor currently upgrading the challenging section at Ormidale Lodge. Also, excavation work will soon commence from Portavadie through to Strachur, along with timber construction work at Asgog Castle, Millhouse & Lochgoilhead, with works all carried out by local contractors. Footfall counters will be installed at 9 locations on the Cowal Way next month, to give us access to regular and important numerical data. We have an agreed marketing plan in place for the Cowal Way, which will incorporate for example, new branding, social media, and a redesigned website. (Local service companies in Portavadie, Tighnabruaich, Glendaruel, Strachur, Lochgoilhead, Arrochar & Inveruglas will have recently received a mailing about website advertising opportunities). We are visiting all the communities on the Cowal Way to introduce ourselves and to provide regular updates, primarily by attending community council and other local group meetings. We look forward to meeting many of the local residents and businesses at these meetings. If you would like a Cowal Way update at one of your group meetings, please get in touch with me by email at stewart@cgdt.org or call me on 07774 926245.

The last few months have been very frustrating as we have tried to forward our project plans. We formally set up a group with North and West Bute and Tighnabruaich in September last year with CGDT as the parent body. This was done in order to work with Community Broadband Scotland to find a cost effective solution to improve our local broadband provision. We have waited for months for a promised technical report via CBS and for more information from BT regarding their roll out programme. The technical report has now been received but it still leaves a lot of questions to be answered and the BT optimisation report is still awaited. We decided that we must make progress and so have now applied for a grant from CBS to carry out a tender process to find an appropriate supplier. We await the outcome of our application and believe that this will be soon. We will keep the community informed as soon as we have something new to report.

Margaret

Executive Summary

Greener ColGlen has met most of its objectives and has engaged more people than ever before in Glendaruel and Colintraive. 2 community growing sites have been delivered, complete with composting facilities, outdoor growing areas, tools and storage and these have provided vital new focus for community activity.

We have started to increase road safety by clearing Rhododendron from sight lines, improved community spaces by landscaping and drainage, and improved bio-diversity by removing invasive species.

6 people have been directly employed by the project, 18 people have received training, qualifications or learned one or more new skills, enabling some to benefit from paid employment in a new area. 40 people have formed and joined a new community group – The Colglen Growers. Over 30 people have given voluntary time to the project, and we have re-used and recycled local materials and employed local contractors whose knowledge, experience and flexibility greatly benefitted the project. We have created new social networks, made friends and links with other community groups, and formed partnerships with other organisations.

Over 200 people have attended our informative and educational events or taken part in the project in some way.

We have grown over 189Kg of vegetables, composted over 100 Kg of food waste, dealt with over 1.2 tonnes of garden waste, and through the production of 25 tonnes of wood fuel, we have eradicated over 1 hectare of Rhododendron ponticum using low carbon methods, whilst also investigating biomass district heating and the Green Deal.

Over the course of the project we have saved 161 tonnes CO₂e, and over the lifetimes of the different elements we could save a further 181 tonnes CO₂e.

Project Development Officer “We’ve definitely had a lot of fun over the last 17 months, and this has been mostly due to the amazing community spirit and the cooperation and support of the ColGlen Community; the farms, friends, neighbours, contractors, suppliers, land owners, village halls, ColGlen Shinty Club, Community Council, Argyll and Bute Council, volunteers, ColGlen Growers and Project Staff. Thank you All”

Local Councillor Bruce Marshall stated, “Colintraive and Glendaruel Development Trust are leading the way in Cowal in setting an example of what can be done in a comparatively small rural community.”     

From a Volunteer – “I believe the community is better prepared for the future in that we have received high quality training in relevant areas, job opportunities have been created and that you have opened people’s eyes to new possibilities. Oh yes, and I’ve developed a passion I didn’t even know I had – it’s just great eating what you’ve grown!”

Read the full report here CCF2765FinalReportGreenerColGlen

For the sciency bit CCF2765 Appendix A CO2 calcs

Photos CCF2765 Appendix B Photographs

And to all involved a very big thank you!