Month: July 2021

MOY MATTERS (15)

Another fairly short summary this month……

1. Wild flowers: some wild flowers have been planted around Moy. Let’s hope they get a chance to flower…..and survive. Thanks to BR for your help in planting.
2. Benches: The chainsaw carved benches for Lynebeg and Ruthven are almost ready and we are hoping to get them in place soon. If residents of Ruthven and Lynebeg have ideas of where they would like them to be placed (or not) please get in touch with us and let us know.
3. Parking: Moy has had a few more visitors this year and parking has been causing some issues. The MSC are looking into this and will keep you up to date with any progress.
As always we would love you to keep your ideas coming to us so please get in touch with any of the MSC members to share your ideas or give any feedback.
Remember…..The MSC has been established by Strathdearn Community Development (SCD) “to identify projects for funding through the Strathdearn share of the Moy Windfarm Communuty Benefit Fund”
The members are Marian Hendry (Chair, marian.hendry@talk21.com), Alastair Fraser (vice chair), Davie Cameron, John Clarke and Linda Armit.

Over recent months there has been a significant amount of littering within the covered Multi Use Games Area (MUGA) at the Strathdearn. In addition a number of complaints have been received regarding late night noise coming from the facility with people playing football, etc.

We would like to remind everyone that, when the facility was first opened, a late night curfew of 9pm for the MUGA was agreed after consultation with the community; after which the facility was not to be used. This was agreed in order that local residents would not be disturbed. This agreement has worked well for many years without the need to police and lock the facility. However it now appears that the 9pm watershed is being regularly disregarded, as is the need to respect the area and dispose of litter in a thoughtful manner in the bins provided. It has therefore been decided that the only way to ensure that the rules are adhered to is to lock the MUGA between the hours of 9pm and 9am. We all regret that this action has to be taken to protect against the actions of a few individuals who do not consider that the rules apply to them.

In 2021 Ardachy Estate plans to restock around 1 ha of Scots Pine woodland which was harvested a few years ago with Scots Pine and Native Broadleaves in accordance to the felling license conditions. In addition, we plan to plant establish around a further 16ha of diverse Conifer which will mainly consist of Scots Pine (12ha) on the more heathery ground, Norwegian Spruce (2.2ha) on some of the grassier patches, and native broadleaves (1.3ha) adjacent to the forestry track headed up onto Kyllachy Estate hill. Over the course of 95 years this will equate to around 2,134 Carbon Units (one unit is 1 tonne of carbon dioxide equivalent removed from the atmosphere). Central location for new woodland scheme can be found on https://goo.gl/maps/3Y8wgSmXfUzgNpcEA

The new forestry track (entrance approximately 2 miles up glen road sign posted Coignafearn/ Garbole) is quite a good walking spot and my belief is that this new woodland will help further enhance wildlife and biodiversity of the land which is currently comprises of heather, bracken and some very rough pastureland. We already have quite a healthy red squirrel population in the area and a nesting red kite family in the vicinity; so this plantation will further enhance habitat for these species. There is a high concentration of deer in the area so the plantation will need to be robustly deer fenced and rabbit netted  stop the deer and rabbits from browsing damage; but we do hope to install some pedestrian access points into the plantation to allow those accessing the ground to continue to do so.  Care will be taken planting around sensitive sites such as any historic areas of interest, junipers and some open ground will be left unstocked deliberately to allow some of the existing mature Scots Pine to hopefully naturally regenerate.

If you have any comments or suggestions please send to Ardachy Estate, FAO James Macpherson, thelordmacpherson@googlemail.com ideally to be received before the end of July 2021.

Click for larger version

We have recently had a change of faces at Strathdearn Community Developments Ltd, and we would like to welcome Isobel (surname required) as our new Facilities Co-Ordinator at The Strathdearn. Isobel will bring much additional assistance to The Strathdearn team as we start to open up for events.

Maureen McDonald-Cooke our Project Manager (Fixed Term Contract) for the Affordable Housing and Paths has decided to seek a new challenge and leaves us to take up a permanent post, handing over these projects in excellent order for the next phase. Whilst she takes up her new position in the coming few weeks, she has agreed to help by working for a day a week on these projects until such a time that we have a new Project Officer in position. This will ensure that the projects progress smoothly in the interim.

In that time, she has achieved some milestone events, such as legal ownership of the land, appointed a contractor in place for the development, and secured a significant grant funding package.

The paths project has also gathered momentum, along with the proposed traffic calming and speed reduction measures we hope to introduce to Tomatin. We look forward to providing a safer route, especially for the children accessing the facilities in the centre of the village, and of course to and from the school. We are delighted to announce Maureen has also negotiated funding from Safer Routes to School to assist with this other big community project. More details will follow in the coming weeks.

Mhairi McSween has been with SCD for over 4 years as our Executive Assistant and has contributed an enormous amount of hard work and support to the Board, as well as significantly assisted on some excellent projects throughout that time. For those of you who know Mhairi, she also contributed greatly to the Children’s Committee, Community Events and kept the community up to date via our social media. Mhairi and her family are moving out of the area, and also has an exciting new job opportunity to look forward to shortly.

We would like to thank Maureen and Mhairi for all of their hard work and send our best wishes for the future. We also extend a warm welcome to our newest member of staff Isobel.

Stan Falconer

Chair of SCD

SCD are delighted to announce that our new access map is now with the printer and free copies will be available soon in the shop. The leaflet was produced by SCD with the help of Duncan Bryden and designed by Helen Stirling.

We would like to thank our local camera enthusiasts for permission to use their photos and the Tomatin Distillery for sponsoring the leaflet. We hope that visitors and locals alike will enjoy exploring the walks and trails shown on the map!

We have recently had a change of faces at Strathdearn Community Developments

and would like to welcome Isobel Crosley as our new Facilities and Events Co-ordinator at The Strathdearn. This is a temporary 4 month post and will see Isobel working at the hub until November.

Maureen McDonald-Cooke, our Project Manager (Fixed Term Contract) for the Affordable Housing and Paths, has, since her appointment in November 2020, moved these projects forward at a great pace.

We now have legal ownership of the land, we have a contractor in place, we have a significant grant funding package, and are well on the way to securing planning for the housing project.

The paths, traffic calming and speed reduction measures have also gathered momentum and we look forward to having a safer route for all, especially for the children, accessing the facilities in the centre of the village and of course to and from the school. We are delighted to announce we have negotiated funding from Safer Routes to School to assist with this other big project.  More details to follow…..

Maureen has decided to seek a new challenge and leaves us on 15th July 2021 to take up a permanent post – handing over these projects in excellent order with a lot of the milestone events in place. We would like to thank Maureen for her work as a previous Board Member and latterly as an SCD employee for all her hard work and contribution.

Mhairi MacSween has been with SCD for nearly 4 years as our Executive Assistant and has contributed an enormous amount of hard work and support to the Board, as well as assisted on some excellent projects throughout that time. Mhairi and her family are moving out of the area, and she also has an exciting new job opportunity to look forward to shortly.

We would like to wish Maureen and Mhairi all the best for the future and give Isobel a warm welcome.

Stan Falconer

Chair of SCD

Community Council Meeting 13^th July 2021

At 7:30 PM Via Zoom Meeting

Meeting ID 82558560107

Pass Code 131810

Members of the public are welcome to attend all meetings of the Strathdearn Community Council

Agenda

1 Apologies

2 Declarations of interest

3 Minutes of last meeting held on June 8^th 2021(VIEW HERE)

4 Matters arising

5 Financial report

6 Law and order

7 Roads safety

8 Applications to the SCCT

9 Planning matters

10 Windfarms

11 Update from SCD

12Highland Councillors questions

13 Correspondence

14 AOCB

15 Date of next meeting September 14^th 2021, as we usually take a break in the summer time.