Month: September 2022 (Page 1 of 2)

Vivian Roden, SCD Director, will be attending this month’s Director Drop in Session in the Clune Room at The Strathdearn on Wednesday 28^th September 2022 between 5pm and 7pm.  Please come along if you have any questions you wish to ask or any ideas to put forward.

It was intimated at last night’s SCD Board Meeting that the following SCD directors will be standing down at the next AGM and will not be restanding: 

George Macleod
Vivian Roden
James Beatty
Libby-Jo Dempster

With the wishes of the SCC, Carol James, is willing to continue on the SCD board​ as their representative director.  In addition to the SCC representative, the SCD board requires a minimum of 3 directors to sit on the board, all of whom will need to be appointed at the next SCD AGM.

Any SCD members that are interested in joining the board at the AGM should contact me in the first instance ​and I will be happy to talk you through the process, answer any queries or address any reservations you may have. To be taken forward, a nomination form and brief personal statement will need to be completed.  The current board would encourage any interested SCD members to attend the next SCD Board Meeting on 20^th October to get a feel of how things operate. 

This year’s AGM is intended to be held on Monday 7^th November 2022.  All nominations to join the board should be received 7 days prior to the AGM at the latest and should be emailed to myself.

As always, please contact me if you have any questions.  I will be in touch over the next few weeks to keep you up to date with the recruitment process.

Many thanks,

Elaine.

Work to upgrade the Balvraid Road (U2829) will be carried out during the summer of 2022. This is to aid timber extraction from Glenkirk Forest and is funded by the Scottish government’s Strategic Timber Transport Scheme (STTS).  Weekly schedules will be published here.

CLICK HERE to download map

Information supplied by:

Stuart Bell BSc CEng MICE
Senior Engineer
Arvikaconsult Ltd
stuart@arvikaconsult.co

Strathdearn Community Council Meeting

13^th of September 2022 At 7:30 PM @The Strathdearn

The meeting will also be available via ZOOM.

Meeting ID: 829 6019 7698

Passcode: 798293

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 (View them HERE)

4. Matters arising

5. Financial report

6. Law and order

7. Road safety

• Parking at the Strathdearn

8. Applications to the SCCT

9. Planning matters

• Application for an extension at The Strathdearn

10. Windfarms

11. Update from SCD

12. Highland Councillors’ questions

13. Correspondence

14. AOCB

• Initial plans for consultative meeting on kerbstones and lighting for the new path
• Meeting times for October and December
• Plans for a joint meeting for Community Action Plan (SCC, SCD, WRT, SCCT)
• Garden waste disposal

Date of next meeting: TBC

 SCD Update 16th September 2022 

 Affordable Housing Project: 

• We are progressing with the housing project where we can, and since it has been some time since we started it, we are taking the opportunity to review all of the elements to ensure they still can be delivered in the current climate.  Following this, we will report back to the community to make sure we are still on course to deliver what we were asked to do by the community.  

 The field north side of the viaduct has had culvert and drainage clearance completed to facilitate an accurate flood risk assessment for the housing project, with full permission of the landowner. The cost of the works was donated by Wills Bros from their community benefit scheme and required no planning consent as it is deemed permissible routine maintenance works. 

  Paths Project: 

• The defects are being worked through with the contractor and The Highland Council. At the time of writing this update, SCD has had no formal response from THC on the review. 

  Community Resilience Plan: 

• We are delighted that the community has been awarded £17k from SSE from our Grant Funding application for a generator. The competition was stiff as there were applications totalling £1.5 million for a £1million pot of money. We will look to buy a generator as part of the resilience plan for the community.  The Generator will be a silent run unit in its own acoustic canopy and this will replace the current hired in unit. 

  Community Benches: 

• 6 of the 8 benches are now in situ, and they look great.  See the photo below of Liz and Doug Campbell and their two grandchildren Coby and Noah. There are 6 benches in total for Tomatin plus 1 in Lynebeg & 1 in Ruthven. We have received permission from the landowners to place these.  Once the works are completed on the upgrade of the Balvraid Road the other 2 will be fitted.  
  

Potential Hub Extension to House Standby Generator: 

• This planning application submission includes the installation of the standby generator and fuel storage which is essential for the long-term resilience of the facility for the community.  This will also allow for much needed extra storage space.  There is no further update at this point regarding the planning application. 

  Volunteer Programme: 

• The “Tidy up Tomatin” volunteers have been very busy, working with SCD sponsorship in planting beautiful barrels of flowers which have been placed throughout the village. The next phase is in discussion with the group.   

 Thanks to the volunteers (you know who you are!) Also, to Tomatin Distillery for donating the barrels, and the 2 employees from the Distillery who greatly assisted.  Finally, thanks to a member of the community who organised a donation of plants from the Botanical Gardens as part of their community donations. 

Youth Development Programme: 

• Following the very successful pilot scheme of the Youth Development programme under the Health & Wellbeing for All fund. The variety of activities were welcomed and the trial cost of £1 per child provided us with an idea of the demand. We are really excited it was a success and are working our way to expand on that.  See some photos below. 

   The next step will be to assess the staffing requirements needed to support children of all ages with a varied range of activities, as well as to provide pre-school and after-school care to support families. 

• The cost of the pilot was approximate £3k  

Skate Park: 

• Contact has been made with 2 members of the community who are keen skate boarders and have knowledge/contacts which we can access to get ideas on how we could complete the skate park. Due consideration will be given to the close proximity of the resident’s homes prior to any final decision being made. 

Community Right to Buy Project:  

• There is no further update on this project at present.  

Gym Project: 

 This proposal is still under discussion and we are encouraging members of the community to come forward to become involved in the discussions and planning for this potential facility and how it can be run and utilised. The project will only proceed if there is sufficient support and that the costs can be justified. 

Contact Us: 

• As always we welcome your communications, the best way to contact us is through info@strathdearn.org 

Since publicising our response to the Petition, we have learnt that the information about the Traffic Calming measures mentioned in one set of minutes, was received from The Highland Council but the source was not recorded at the time. This means that the statement in the Response to the Petition “There was no mention of any information being received from The Highland Council,” was wrong. We apologise to The Highland Council for this error.
Strathdearn Community Council

Due to the national period of mourning following the demise of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, SCD has postponed the Director Drop in Session on Wednesday 14th September. A new Drop in Session date will be announced soon.

Work to upgrade the Balvraid Road (U2829) will be carried out during the summer of 2022. This is to aid timber extraction from Glenkirk Forest and is funded by the Scottish government’s Strategic Timber Transport Scheme (STTS).  Weekly schedules will be published here.

CLICK HERE to download map

Stuart Bell BSc CEng MICE
Senior Engineer
Arvikaconsult Ltd
stuart@arvikaconsult.co

Potential Gym at the Strathdearn 

As readers may be aware, a comprehensive survey was held some time ago regarding the potential of setting up a Community Gym at the Strathdearn Hub. Gym equipment that was donated to the community is currently in storage. 

The process of progressing the gym was put on hold until the outcome of the Community Action Plan was known. The gym topic has been discussed at SCD Board meetings and plans are under consideration to run this for a pilot period of 12 months after evaluating what support is in the Strathdearn Community. 

As there is currently no appropriate space inside the Strathdearn Hub we have looked at running the pilot scheme using a temporary modular building at the rear of the Hub which will house the donated equipment. This would be supported using the existing toilet and shower facilities in the Hub. The initial indications are that this will cost approximately £20,000 for a 12-month pilot period. Progressing with the pilot is dependent on commitment from the interested members of the community to use the facility. 

As part of this evaluation process, we would like to invite interested members of the community to come forward to set up a small community gym group to progress this pilot forward and work with SCD to consider all the options and how this will be funded in terms of membership fees. All previous parties showing an interest should have received an email from info@strathdearn.org on the 24th of August 2022, many thanks to the 7 people who have already contacted us to show an interest in volunteering their time. If you did not receive the email on the 24th of August 2022 then we have not noted your interest in the gym. Please email us your name, email and telephone number to info@strathdearn.org by the 15th of September 2022 so we can add you to our gym database. Please also state whether you would be able to volunteer any of your time. 

We will be back in touch to arrange a meeting shortly to gather the interested community gym group together with a view to moving this forward and making a decision at the following SCD Board meeting.