CGDT
CGDT will be holding a virtual AGM at 2pm on 13th December via zoom. Members can attend via any connected device or by dialling using a landline. The session will be in the form of a webinar.
Please note only members can attend – if you would like to join or renew, please visit our membership page here.
Please find all the pertinent documents below for download (they will also be available during the meeting):
CGDT Working Group are planning to carry out work over 2 or 3 weekends, starting on Saturday 28 & 29th November, the 5th & 6th December & 12th & 13th December.
Dates and times will be confirmed once interest is known. Work includes:
All the work will be getting carried out in the Stronafian area and you can do as much or as little as you are able, so if you fancy a bit of varnishing, Strimming, or walking the Route to check the Signage etc, that would be helpful
If you would like to get involved, and are available for any of the 3 weekends that have been highlighted, please call Charlie 07821914021 or email charlie@cgdt.org.
Community Council Chair, Cathleen Russell reflects on the community response to COVID-19, how we have been helped by businesses and individuals alike, and what the next months hold for our community as we move into the colder months.
In this Issue:
Update from the Resilience Group Contact list • Prescription Deliveries Food Deliveries • Other help on offer
After the very well-attended meeting on the 3rd October (Minutes available in Minutes & Other Essentials) the community decided in a vote on the evening to not proceed with the sale of the Solum.
Outcomes from and feedback on the meeting were:
The Development Trust will hold its Annual General Meeting on the 3rd of October, at 7.30pm. The venue will be the Glendaruel Village Hall, and all are welcome. Membership of the trust will be taken on the night, and all residents of the community can join. Those who holiday or own second homes in the ColGlen can become associate, non-voting members.
As part of the evening, and after the business of the AGM has been concluded, the Trust will be leading a discussion of the offer of purchase the community forest tenants have made for the solum of the leased commercial timber.
More details are available here:
With 500 copies distributed to the community and local businesses, we’ve now generated a downloadable version.
Included in this issue is news from the community council, the development trust, the church, our wildswimmers and the ColGlen chorus, to name but a few.
We are looking to update the map for the Summer issue, including more businesses and useful information, as well as adverts. We have 5 takers for the ad spaces so far and only another 4 are available – get yours by contacting the newsletter group through cgdt@cgdt.org
With regard to the offer made to the community council by the CGDT chair to hold a public meeting to discuss the community project to build two wind turbines in Stronafian Forest, the determination of the Development Trust board on the matter is as follows.
After much discussion the board have decided not to go ahead with a public meeting. There are several reasons for this:
1. The planning application is being processed and further discussion will not add materially to the outcome of the council’s deliberations.
2. We have invested over £120,000 in this project as part of a CARES loan. We have match-funded this investment at a rate of 5% of Forest Development Funds. This is a significant commitment for the trust, with these funds being applied for and granted in the full light of community scrutiny through AGMs, published minutes and community plans. We are bound by that commitment to follow the process through and we believe that while it is everyone’s right to have a view on a planning application, we are disappointed that the community members who are now so strenuously objecting didn’t make their views known at an earlier juncture and in a spirit of consensual community planning.
3. We are further disappointed that these concerns were not raised when the initial planning decision to allow a met mast to be constructed was made.
4. Furthermore, and in the light of 2 & 3 above we are more than content that there were sufficient public consultation meetings over the last 2 years for the community to be fully appraised of the project. The Community Council is well aware that owning and running our own renewables project has been a primary objective for the Trust since 2009.
5. We are not convinced that a further meeting will provide any level of resolution for either those who support the trust’s application or those who do not. We are concerned that if we provided a community forum in this format there is likely to be a deepening of the adversarial climate which has emerged over the issue.
6. The Development Trust has maintained a transparent stance with regard to the project, and have always encouraged members of the community to come to the board, individual directors or our staff to express concerns.
7. As we have said repeatedly at AGMs and other meetings, the Development Trust would rather those whose are dissatisfied with our progress, step up, become directors or members of working groups and help direct the trust’s agenda.
8. We stand by our assertions of the benefit of this development to the whole community: in its ability to offset many of the cuts the council is having to apply; and in its support of the development plan (redrafted in 2013) which the Development Trust is following (and which is published through the CGDT website).
9. Lastly, planning consent if we receive it, is only one step along a much longer road which involves subsidy levels, funding rounds, finance and business planning – all of which will dictate whether or not this is a viable project. To go forward this project must earn the community at least £57,500 per annum on average in combined profit and community benefit.
We are presently awaiting determination over our planning application for the siting to two community wind turbines on Stronafian Forest. The decision should be imminent, but in the meantime we have recently been asked about the financial forecasts that we are working with.
Firstly we should say that we are legally bound by confidentiality agreements which protect the intellectual property rights of our wind turbine developer.
The legal conditions on our working financial forecasts begin with this statement:
By receiving this document, CGDT (“the recipient”) agrees to keep permanently confidential the information contained herein or made available in connection with any further enquiries (the “Information Provided”). The Information Provided may be made available only to a the recipient’s employees and professional advisors directly involved in the appraisal of such information. The Information Provided shall not, either in whole or in part, be copied, reproduced, distributed or otherwise made available to any other party in any circumstances … nor may it be used for any other purpose than that for which it is intended.
Unfortunately, this is not ideal, and it means we can only talk in very general terms about the figures we have been given. Firstly, there are two forms of income which will accrue to the community. There will be community benefit payments (which all windfarm developers pay) which will be at a rate of over £5000 per MW/h. This will be set aside in a trust for the community to use, rather as it has been for the Cruach Mhor Windfarm Trust. There will also be profits earned by the installation as profit by an armslength subsidiary of CGDT’s. These profits will be paid to the Development Trust tax free, given its charitable status, and will amount to at least £50,000 per annum on average over the lifetime of the installation, and probably much more. Of course our forecasts also include variables such as interest rates and the types of loans we will be able to obtain, but by using the arms’length company we limit the liability to CGDT and therefore the community as well. Indeed, the profits I mention take into account all the costs incurred in installation, operation and dismantlement.
Once we have returned the forest to its pristine prewind turbine state we anticipate the community will have had the opportunity to benefit from well over £2M. CGDT has obtained over £2.5M funding for projects thus far from an initial seed investment of c. £50K by the Cruach Mhor Windfarm Trust, the potential therefore for Colintraive and Glendaruel to draw down much greater funding becomes possible with the advent of these turbines and the income they will provide.
When and if we receive consent, we will then be in a position to finalise the figures further, and we hope to give a more detailed answer to everyone. Of course, the delays on the planning decision erode this, particularly after the recent changes made by the Westminster Government on renewables.
Indeed, it is the view of the Wind Turbine working group, that if the project wasn’t able to return an income of £50,000 per annum on average, then it would recommend to the board of the trust that the project shouldn’t go forward, even with consent given.
We thoroughly understand that some members of the community have objections to the appearance of the turbines themselves. However, we would argue, that (a) the benefit accruing to the community is worth it (b) the turbines will be there only for the lifetime of the project, and then taken down. The success on Gigha shows that turbines can work well for a community, providing a basis for real and lasting change.
To show the impact, from perhaps the most critical view, we have taken a screengrab of the wireframe and photomontage showing the visual impact of the turbines. The first image is a closeup, and the second gives the full panorama.
Please note the wireframes do not show the masking effect of vegetation, including the commercial forestry plantation, however the photomontage does. In this case, for this view, only the closest of the turbines is visible over the tops of the trees:
The full panorama is below:
The full set of montages are available at the Development Trust office.
All the documents pertaining to our recent application to Argyll and Bute Council for permission to erect two wind turbines in Stronafian Forest are available here.
This application represents one facet of CGDT’s integrated plan to ensure that our community is sustainable and successful in the long term.
More information will be available at our AGM on the 13th September at 2pm in Glendaruel Village Hall.
