SCD Update July 2022

Informal Drop in Sessions at the Strathdearn Hub:

SCD are planning “Drop in Sessions” every month at the Strathdearn Hub to improve communication with the community. The times of these informal gatherings will vary depending on any requests from the community but to kick things off the first one will be held on Wednesday 10th August between 10am and 12noon – feel free to pop along during that time to speak to someone from SCD with any ideas or queries. Alternatively, you can contact us on elainemacleod@strathdearn.org

Youth Development:

In response to the recent community action plan, we have set up some pilot activity sessions for some of the younger children that will run at the start of August, details of these activities and how to book will be sent separately.
Following these pilots we will be arranging meetings for any interested parties at the end of August to help us assess what the community wants and needs in the months and years ahead and how best we can make these happen. Please do contact us if you are keen to be involved.

Paths:

A small section has been delayed due to a Robin’s nest being found therefore we will have to wait until it is safe for the birds prior to completion on some of section 8.

Following an assessment by a tree surgeon, some trees on section 8 have been found to have problems with their roots therefore are a possibly safety issue and may have to be removed. This is a Highland Council decision and Highland Council have to assess the risks before deciding further action. We will let you know when we have heard any news.
We are planning a community consultation on street lighting in the backend of the Autumn to address safety aspects of section 8 path. This path currently has no concrete kerbing apart from around the gullies to protect them. This may be something that is reviewed in the future to improve the safety feature of the paths and will also be picked up in the consultation. We have requested that the Highland Council considers some other method of safety feature to further protect pedestrians.
As stated at the last Community Council meeting, a safety audit and review has already been organised with The Highland Council, primarily to review where the give way lines have been positioned at the narrowing traffic calming points, as these appear to be causing issues for larger vehicles passing one another. This will be redone, and the give way lines placed further away to relieve this issue.

Benches:

We acknowledge this project has been ongoing for a considerable time, and we apologise for the delay, but we are nearly there!

The location sites have been identified, four of these locations are on the Soilsean circular walking route. Given the most recent information that this road will be upgraded which includes passing places constructed, it would be prudent to wait until this work is completed first.
In the meantime we can go ahead and site the other benches once it has been agreed by the landowners (if required). The end is nigh!!

Community Housing:

We continue to work our way through the significant challenges of Flood Risk Management requirements for Planning Consent
We will start ditch clearing works North of the Viaduct in the next couple of weeks

‘Tidy Up Tomatin Campaign:

One of the actions from the Community Action Plan is to address some of the areas around the village that have become untidy, as well as try to brighten up other areas.
We are very grateful a small group of volunteers have come forward, but many hands make light work! If you could provide some short-term help specifically for this, please do get in touch for further details
Tomatin Distillery has kindly donated some barrels, the plan is to fill these with flowers/plants and locate them throughout the village, we are hoping if there is a planter located near you that those residents could water and weed, this would alleviate some of the burden and means we can all play a part as a community in “Tidy Up Tomatin”
Seasonal litter picks will be organised so watch out for future info

If you have any ideas on this subject that you want to bring forward just let us know!

Community Events:

Another item from the Community Plan which we have started looking to refresh are community entertainment events, as you know a lot of work goes into these
If you would like to get involved to plan some festivities for Christmas & New Year, please come forward.

Community Transport:

Transport in semi-rural areas with insufficient public services is always a challenge, therefore, it is no surprise this was also on the Community Action Plan
We have a small volunteer group investigating this and will report back in due course