September 2006
The Scottish
Community Land Network (SCLN) aims to encourage and support community land sector
throughout
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News - Woodland & Forestry - Renewable Energy – Funding & Support – Events – Jobs - Training - Bits & Pieces – A View from the Hills – Featured CLI – Links - etc.
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Hi all,
As the community land sector matures it is now it is naturally looking for representation. The Knoydart Foundation is organising an event to look at the possibilities of organising a collective voice (see A View from the Hills). The excellent Community Land Unit Training Programme is coming to an end with the last 2 events scheduled. Neil is looking for feedback; please assist in filling out the brief online questionnaire (see Training).
Cheers,
Steve
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Urras Oighreachd Ghabhsainn (Galson Trust) has now completed its fundraising for the purchase of the estate. The community has successfully raised £600,000 price. The last pieces were a successful auction raising £8,000 from the local community and a £25,000 interest free loan from CNES. They hope to have the deal concluded by October. At the Trust’s first AGM, 3 directors were to resign in accordance to the constitution, but a resolution from the floor won overwhelming support to retain the existing trustees.
The Gigha Heritage Trust’s ability to undertake an extensive housing renovation programme totalling £4M is all down to Faith Hope and Charity! Faith, Hope and Charity are the Trust’s windmills supplying the community an annual income of £100,000.
The Wildcat Centre in Newtonmore is to be closed. An important local resource for the Newtonmore community it provided visitors with information about the highly popular Wildcat trail and outdoor pursuits in general. Setup and run by the Newtonmore Community Woodland and Development Trust in 2000 it ran for the first 4 years from a group of 30 volunteers. As volunteer support dried up a funding programme was supported by HIE and SNH for the last 2 years. Unwilling to support the centre for a third year and despite unsuccessful attempts at funding from other sources no assistance could be found. I can’t help feeling that this situation will be repeated many times as government and development agency continues to put unreasonable expectations on the volunteer sector to provide so many outcomes. See the full story in the Strathspey and Badenoch Herald
Biggar and District Community Heritage (BDCH) recently opened the Little Mitchellwood, a beautiful woodland on the edge of Biggar, conserved by BDCH volunteers and now available to the public for leisure, recreation and education. This is the first of many natural, historical and social heritage projects they hope to undertake for public benefit. Download a brief summary of BDCH and an interesting story of how Little Mitchellwood came to be.
The problems of affordable housing throughout Scotland is encapsulated by the continuing policy debate over how best to deliver affordable housing in the Cairngorms National Park area. Read the Rural Gateway article, The Cairngorms: delivering affordable housing in a pressurised area
Scottish
Enterprise’s
Rural Group outlined a number of Network wide initiatives for helping to grow
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Woodlands & Forestry
The Borders Community Woodland Forum (BCWF) has just launched its brilliant website. A year in its compilation it draws on information provided by the community woodlands within the Borders. The website is primarily designed as an aid to Forum members and to provide information to visitors, putting them in touch with their local community woodland. It is an excellent resource for all community woodlands.
The Scottish Forestry Grant Scheme (SFGS) was finally closed from 31st August; earlier for some areas. A very generous forestry scheme, it was severely oversubscribed the last year hence the early closures of some areas. All the projects that went through under SFGS can be viewed on the FCS website.
The Scottish Forestry Grant Scheme (SFGS) Consultation which sought views on proposed changes to the scheme has now been completed. The SFGS Consultation ran in parallel to the Scottish Rural Development Programme (SRDP) consultation which looked at the integration of forestry and other support measures into the Land Management Contract (LMC) system with the intention that the final agreed scheme be introduced in 2007. Approximately a hundred sector respondents completed the questionnaire. However, the Project Steering Group is without any Community Woodland representation but does have private landowner representation (SRPBA)! Equally the FCS Customer Representative Group has no community representation, an oversight that needs to be corrected.
If indeed the new SFGS is to run under the LMC approval process then all eligible land will need to be registered under the Integrated Administration and Control System (IACS). All landowners that receive support under the Common Agricultural Policy need to be IACS registered. FCS has provided Guidance notes
Incidentally some provisional guidelines as to possible levels of payments for woodland creation are;
Productive broadleaves - 85% productive broadleaves e.g. Oak, Beech, Sycamore, Ash etc, 5% amenity broadleaves, 10% open ground - Minimum area 2ha - payment: 1575/ha +4 payments of 201/ha/yr. Native and Riparian Planting - Contributing to native woodland strategies and/or woodland habitat networks - 75% native species, 25% open ground - Minimum area 0.25ha - Payment: 875/ha + 4 payments of 193/ha/yr
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Renewable Energy
Due to an
incorrect hyperlink I will repeat this story. An interesting case study for
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Funding & Finance
Rural Development Small Award Fund is an easy to access grant scheme awarding £500 - £5000 for rural communities of fewer than 3000 population. The programme includes: Funding to assess feasibility of new ideas, 100% funding, capacity building, supporting group activities, small capital items, assisting with community needs. there is a quick turnaround with processing to approval stage within 2 months of receipt. All the necessary details are at the Scottish Executive website.
Community Interest Companies (CIC) have just had there 1st anniversary as a legal entity and already there are over 400 organisations using this legal model. Read an interview from Senscot with Stephen Lloyd, co-creator of CICs giving a brief on the origins and purpose of CICs or a full article from Social Enterprise magazine.
I must admit that I was quite hopeful when I read that The Big Lottery Fund’s Growing Community Assets (GCA) would support “communities of
interest”; something that was not available at all under the Scottish Land Fund.
GCA is intended to support geographical communities, and applicants will need
to show that initiatives are community-led and community-controlled. There is
some provision for “communities of interest” which are led and controlled by
members and are able to demonstrate wider community support. The proviso is
that they are located within one local-authority area. This emphasis is
intentional, designed to support
Voluntary Action Fund supports voluntary organisations and community groups that rely on volunteers through the GO4 Volunteering programme with grants of up to £2000.The closing date for applications is Saturday 30 September 2006. Apply to Patricia McKibben or telephone 01383 620780.
Following on from last month, the Limited Liability Partnerships (LLP) story has also been picked up by Rural Gateway featuring a large scale forestry proposal. See the story Large scale afforestation.
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Events
Sustainable
3rd & 4th October – Lerwick, Shetland. contact Carol-Anne
Low
Energy Living and Stewardship of Land - 15 years of Reforesting
6th
to 8th October -
Reforesting Scotland’s annual gathering. Contact Wendy
Developing a Sustainable Biomass Industry - Sharing Good Practice 2nd November - Scottish Natural Heritage & Forestry Commission Scotland For details see SNH
Growing Confidence - Building a Future - Community Woodlands Conference – Saturday 11th & 12th November Sunart Centre, Strontian, The theme is Working in Partnership which will demonstrate the value in developing networks and partnerships with agencies, community groups and local authorities and will feature affordable housing, building in timber and Forest Schools. Contact Micheala or tel 01700 811 030
THE
31st
Oct - 2nd November Crowne Plaza Hotel,
Free places. For more info
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The Training Programme 2005-2007, administered by the Community Land Unit of HIE is now coming to a close. This project has proved very successful with over three hundred people attended 25 courses and seminars covering a variety of subjects suited to community land initiatives. You may have attended more than one of these events but we would appreciate your feedback in general terms on the effectiveness of the overall programme. Please take the time to complete an anonymous online survey. There are only 10 questions and it will take about 5 minutes to complete. The deadline for replies is Friday 22nd September.
Gigha
Housing
The conference aims to give community land initiatives the opportunity to share experiences and information on challenges in the housing sector. The main question is: How can government and agencies better match the needs of community led housing projects? The conference is open to representatives of community land initiatives involved in housing development programmes. Please contact Lorna or tel 01583 505390
IGNITE – Course in Development of Wood Energy A modular course to deal with
the rapidly increasing demand for woodfuel in
Woodland Management - 19th Oct - Dornoch/Golspie
Woodfuel Technology - 26th Oct - Cairngorm Hotel Aviemore
Assessment - 26th Oct - Cairngorm Hotel Aviemore
Full details on see Rural Development Initiatives
Sustainability – Creating the Culture 15th – 16th November -
to share new ideas and debate current best practice in sustainable development (SD) environmental management (EM) and corporate social responsibility (CSR). This year a special theme is being introduced to debate the role of social enterprise and its contribution to create a culture of sustainability.
The CLU is running this series of training programs for community groups, by community groups. These are open to any community group in
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Bits and pieces – Ideas from all over
The Good Company intends to fill a gap in the literature in Scotland, where despite an impressive diversity of social enterprise, the sector attracts little media coverage. Good Company is an independent venture and aims to be a lively, challenging and inspiring magazine, which creates space for conversation. If the first issue, which tackles that many-headed monster, windpower, is anything to go by there will be plenty of conversation. Download a free first issue and let them know what you think.
Community ownership is often the only viable option for villages wishing to retain or introduce a local shop. ViRSA is a national charity dedicated to supporting villages wishing to provide this service. ViRSA supports rural communities wanting to set up and run a community owned shop. They provide practical assistance through this website, a network of community retail advisers, a national office and various publications. Sign-up for a free newsletter
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The
It some 20 years since the modern community land
movement arose in
Interested, contact to Cath from the Knoydart Foundation or phone 01687 462242; or Contact Neil from the CLU or phone 01520 722988.
Agree, disagree or have another opinion you like aired, contact steve@communityland.org.uk
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For relative links, resources or community groups see the respective links at SCLN Links, SCLN Resources or SCLN Community Groups
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Current membership - 1143
Thanks to contributions
from Rachel Hunter, Kirsteen Olsen, Gregor McNie, Angela Williams, Annemarie
McGeoch,
This newsletter has been generously funded by Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE), Lomond & Rural Stirling Leader+ and North Highland Leader+
For a monthly subscription to the newsletter: join@communityland.org.uk
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The views and opinions expressed in this newsletter are for general information and do not represent those of the Community Land Unit, Highlands and Islands Enterprise, Lomond & Rural Stirling Leader+ or North Highland Leader+
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