CGDTNew local news website Cowal Courier has a report on the presentation CGDT’s chair Charles Dixon-Spain recently made to the Local Area Community Planning Group regarding our plans for Stronafian Forest and a medium scale community Windfarm.
The presentation, which seemed to be well-received by the committee of over 20 people and audience, is reported on the pay-for-news website here.
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!
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.
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.”
The Development Trust have just sent our letter in support of the campaign to keep Kilmodan Primary School open to Cleland Sneddon, the head of Education for Argyll and Bute Council. The letter provides a detailed critique of the proposals as they relate to Kilmodan Primary School (and Strachur and Tighnabruaich) as well as looking at the process in its entirety.
This letter has been cc’d to our local councillors Alex MacNaughton, Ron Simon and Bruce Marshall, as well as MSP Jim Mather and MP Alan Reid.
Here is an excerpt of the more general points:
The Colintraive and Glendaruel Development Trust wishes to register its opposition to Argyll and Bute Council’s proposals to close Kilmodan School in the Clachan of Glendaruel for the following reasons:
- The proposals do not improve the educational standards for the pupils of the school in any way.
- The proposals commit the children to a school journey of over 45 minutes: which by the council’s own standards is unacceptable.
- The proposals critically undermine the economic, social and cultural viability of the Clachan of Glendaruel and therefore the community.
- The proposals create a division in our community, and do so without regard for the electoral and physical boundaries between Colintraive and Glendaruel.
- The proposals have not been made in consultation with the statutory community bodies.The proposals were not preceded with any attempt to engage with the community on alternative arrangements to closure as the act and guidance indicate.
- The proposals, which have been put forward for discussion on 2nd November by the council, state in point 8.1 the note that the council decided to go ahead with the consultation process on the 2nd November. This contradicts statements made in letters to parents to all three schools. In our view this undermines the credibility of the whole consultation process.
If you require a different format of this document, please don’t hesitate to contact us.
We’ll be publishing our letter to the council here shortly, but in the meantime there is a report on this at the community site: ColGlen.org
We’re delighted the vote has been covered here.
SNP Parliamentary Candidate for Argyll & Bute, Michael Russell MSP – who lives in Glendaruel – has given a warm welcome to the vote by local residents which will start the process of community purchase for the Stronafian Forest by the Colintraive and Glendaruel Community Trust.
Mr Russell said:
“As a former Environment Minister as well as a Member of the Trust I am a strong supporter of community land purchase and particularly the purchase of forests and woodlands by communities. The ambitious plan by Colintraive and Glendaruel Community Trust to seek to acquire Stronafian Forest and use it as a community resource shows a positive belief by that community in a better and more secure and sustainable future for the community. I am therefore delighted that the local ballot of residents has resulted in two thirds backing the plan.
“The community now have 18 months to raise the necessary finance and put in place a sustainable business plan for the forest. There are a lot of good ideas around and some very positive models elsewhere in Argyll to look at, including the North Mull Forest and the newly purchased woodlands at Kilfinan and on Bute.
“There will be much hard work ahead, but this vote is a vital and very commendable next step in the process. I am sure the community will get every help and encouragement from the Forestry Commission and from other public bodies as the plans develop as well as from local business and from local elected representatives.”
The story about the ballot on Stronafian Forest is in the Dunoon Observer today, page 4 lower right.
… reads as follows:
Small Community, Very Big Plans
The Community of Colintraive and Glendaruel is about to vote on the purchase of 600ha of Forest in one of the most ambitious community buy-outs Cowal has yet seen.On the afternoon of 8th October the count will start on one of the most keenly awaited results in the community woodlands sector this year. The Colintraive and Glendaruel Development Trust will find out whether the people it serves agree with it that Stronafian Forest represents a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the community.
With a valuation of £1.55M finding the funds to make the purchase might seem too big an ask for such a sparsely populated area, “Except,” says Charles Dixon-Spain, chair of the Development Trust, “we have some very ambitious plans for this forest which will secure this asset for the community within the 18 month time-limit Forestry Commission Scotland has set.” He adds, “Our vision is that this forest can be an asset not only for our community but for the rest of Cowal and Bute.”
The Development Trust has published an options appraisal on their website which recommends mixing commercial forest management with low-impact woodland management, offers forest crofts and affordable housing as answers to acute local economic and social needs, and shows that the forest will have manifold amenity uses, from Mountain-biking and archaeology, to a woodland school and astronomy.
Charles continues, “We’ve carried out community surveys, had consultation days and even organised a community visit to Mull, and what we have found is that a forest like this can be profitable, can invest into communities, and can create jobs. We hope the community votes for this opportunity because there is every possibility that greater and more significant projects will develop from the purchase.”