HELMSDALE & DISTRICT DEVELOPMENT TRUST

COMMUNITY NEWSLETTER JULY 2012

Lots have changed over the past six months.

The Development

Group has ceased to exist, as it was not a legal entity, and the new Development Trust was formed to become that legal organisation. The Development Trust a Company limited by guarantee, has achieved Charitable Status and is also registered with the Scottish Government under Section 34 of the Land Reform Act (Scotland) 2003 - Community Right To Buy. This paves the way for the Development Trust to move forward with several projects outlined on the following pages. Most notably the housing project, the filling station, renewable energy schemes and potential business units. The Trust is gradually building its membership and to date we have approx. 64 members. If you have not completed your membership form or have mislaid it, not to worry there is a blank copy in the middle of this newsletter and there are plenty more available from the LDO in the Community Centre. If you are interested in any of these or other projects or have an idea please contact me, either by calling in to the Community Centre, Dunrobin Street or by telephoning me on 01431 821141

Many Thanks Paul Harrington Local Development Ocer

Housing
Well, where are we you may ask? When are the houses getting built ? What will they look like, how many bedrooms will they have?

It is planned to have a stall at the Highland Games where all this information, which is too much to fit in the newsletter, will be on display and available for all to look at and ask those questions. Briefly, we still intend to build 4 homes. We have already raised approx. 65% of the total funds needed and we have applications pending for the remainder. We have received planning for the houses, with a few hiccups along the way, and we hope to start before the end of this year, by which time we hope the remainder of the funds will be in place. The housing project will NOT start until all the funds are in place. We are very conscious not to incur any Community liability should the project start without the necessary finances in place.

Allotment Site
Need some growing space? Want to grow your own vegetables and plants? Well, we may just have the answer for you. We are currently negotiating a piece of land, that will more than suffice for the Communitys need. We are still planning to have raised beds, paved areas around the beds, poly tunnels, compost pits, sheds for tool storage, separate hard standing parking area. To complement this there is the opportunity to source some funding for a trailer so that we can go around the Community and collect garden waste for the composting pits. It is also hoped to have a couple of raised beds for the Primary School Children, so that they can grow their own. If things pan out, there may also be the opportunity to create employment to run and manage the allotment site! A questionnaire will be sent out shortly asking your views about the Allotments. Please return the form back to the LDO or drop off in the Post Office.

Helmsdale Sta on
In the last newsletter we reported that all the funding was in place. However, there has been an inflationary uplift in material and labour costs, caused by conditions imposed by Historic Scotland on this listed building and the negotiations with the Highland Council TECS Department to navigate around a condition of the planning consent, has proved difficult. This will be resolved, hopefully before this newsletter goes to print. The ScotRail and Network Rail tripartite 50-year lease agreement has moved on somewhat and they have slightly reduced their legal costs, which we are obliged to pay for. Mike Willmot and the Directors of the Helmsdale Station Community Interest Company (CIC), are working tirelessly to ensure the project is started before the winter arrives. Hopefully this will be around September 2012. Note: The Helmsdale Station CIC is set up as a non-profit making organisation to ensure all proceeds from the building are used for Community benefit, such as combined bus & train timetable display, floral/plant tubs. The project will increase tourism through offering a discount to those who arrive by public transport, and hopefully will encourage visitors who use the facilities and amenities to stay in Helmsdale.

Community Energy
As I am sure you are aware, the Gordonbush Wind Farm Fund is up and running and has made several allocations of funds in the past year. During the first year, Helmsdale benefited to the sum of approximately 36,000 from the Fund, which was used for a variety of projects for the good and benefit of all. By the time this goes to print, the first round will have closed. However, there is a further application period opening from 1st November 2012 to 31st January 2013. So if your Community project is in need of some funds, then please make sure you apply in plenty of time. If you need help in completing the application, then please contact me and I will be more than happy to help. As we mentioned in the previous newsletter, there is no direct Community Benefit from the offshore developments. However, there are knock on effects to this development, such as the potential for the Harbour to be used for some small scale service work. Coupled with this there may be the opportunity for employment prospects or apprenticeships - but only if the Harbour can be developed to support this. With developers, comes the possibilities of supply chain organisations and again potential employment opportunities. Rest assured we are working in partnership with several organisations, such as HIE and the Highland Council to ensure that we are in a position to maximize this opportunity for the good and benefit of the Community.

PETROL STATION
The petrol station project has achieved several milestones recently.

We have been negotiating with the Highland Council Trading Standards Department and the Petroleum Officer to ensure that the business plan has addressed all their concerns, following on from the report they produced. We have now received the final costs of the project and hopefully over the next several weeks we will be submitting applications for funding. Where are we going to get the money from to pay for all this work you may ask. Well, we have on several occasions over the past 4 months met with the Development Officers of the Big Lottery Fund, upon request, we submitted a brief on the project and we have recently been invited to submit an application under invitation to the Big Lottery Fund. We are very keen to introduce a Community Fuel Card. This will be specific to Helmsdale and can only be used at YOUR petrol station. How does this work? Well you apply for a fuel card, on a simple form you can then top this up with any amount from 10 to 500. You can then obtain fuel from the pumps using the chip n pin machine. We will be holding an open day in the Community Centre, with the proposed plans and the outline of the project on display, where you will able to get answers to most of your questions.

The recent Summer Holiday Activities for children/youth activities in Helmsdale have generated more interest from young people aged 5 to 16 years old. We are therefore appealing to ALL Community members, young and old to help in making sure that we are providing a good level of youth activity within Helmsdale. We are looking to YOU to help us, we are looking for several people to help the Youth Club get back on track and running again. It is unfair to expect the existing people involved to carry on as they have been doing for some years now. What does the Youth Club do?, it provides a place for children/young people between the ages of 5 to 11 and 11 to 25 year olds to mix with their own age groups & friends in a safe environment. They treat the youth club room as their own, looking after it is a bonus!! It is hoped, that with support from community members, that we are able to put together a programme of various activities over the year. So what do you think, are you going to help us, do you want to get involved, if so, please contact Barbara Jappy in the Library/Service Point - 821690

Some of these projects are being referred to as Community Projects but it is only with involvement from members of the Community that any of these can be really developed. All members of the Community are urged to support and become involved in some of the projects in the newsletter. If there are any ideas out there please dont keep them to yourself. Come and share them and lets see if we can make them a reality.

No idea is a bad one!!

Paul Harrington
Local Development Ocer Helmsdale & District Development Trust Community Centre Dunrobin Street Helmsdale KW8 6JA 01431 821141 phdevo@btconnect.com