Author: Amalia

This survey is now closed. We have kept the post active for information purposes: “DCT is considering the purchase of two woodlands at Orbost: Cruachan Wood and Cnoc nan Craobh (also known locally as Bluebell Hill), which are both currently owned by Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE). If there is community support for the proposal, DCT would be pursuing an Asset Transfer, which enables eligible community organisations to acquire land from public bodies at a discount from market value. It’s our hope that this will be the small beginning of a locally driven effort to address depopulation and a lack of affordable land and homes.  ‘Cruachan Wood covers 8.7ha. It has been felled and restocked over the last 20 years and mostly comprises native broadleaves and naturally regenerating conifers, with significant areas affected by salmonberry and gorse. There is no active woodland management or provision for public access. DCT wishes to address the scarcity of affordable land and sees the wood as a potential site for the development of two woodland crofts with associated house plots, under a model of tenure that retains the houses in the affordable sector and prevents speculation. Cnoc nan Craobh (0.6ha) comprises open mature woodland on a small hill with a mix of mature and younger broadleaves. It is a beautiful spot of special significance to the community, and an established local destination for walks and outdoor recreation. DCT is keen to preserve the nature of the wood whilst enhancing its use by e.g. forest school.” Link to Feasibility Summary Link to Layout Options and Proposals Map Link to Full Feasibility Study      

We have been successful in our application to the Scottish Land Fund for the purchase of the Gaeltec Buildings! As part of the latest round of funding, DCT has been awarded £361,096 towards the purchase of the Gaeltec buildings and associated costs of conveyancing, insurance and project management. This is a key step towards community ownership and delivery of the project, though there is a long way to go! Keep your eyes peeled for more news, and email us if you would like to get involved to help deliver or inform specific aspects of the project, like the gym, repair shed/tool library, rental commercial space, or the biggest challenge- rural childcare facilities!  Link to the Scottish Land Fund Press release  This is a link to an overview of the preliminary plans. You can also view the original Community Consultation Report here  

  We’re in the final sprint of funding for the Community Park Project! We were successful in our application to the UK Shared Prosperity Community pot, and have been awarded a whopping £40,000. We’re only about £15,000 away from our target. The old equipment at the site has been removed, the legals are being thrashed out and we should be ready to purchase the equipment and book an installation date soon. Keep your eyes peeled for upcoming volunteer days – we will be doing a bit of tidying up and sowing grass seed in the next month or so, and hope to hold a fun event on site in the summer to make up to the kids for taking away what was left of the equipment! Don’t miss Duirinish Media and Culture Club’s screening of Disney’s ‘Wish’ at Dunvegan Community Hall, sponsored by Dunvegan Taxis, Isle Drive, Kenny’s Garage and The Old School Restaurant, to raise funds for the park. It’s on the 20th of April at 2:30pm, with hot dogs and ice cream on sale, and we’ll also be drawing a fabulous raffle there! Raffle Tickets will be on sale at Kenny’s Garage, Dunvegan, The Caledonian Cafè in Portree and more shops around the island. Top prizes are a Landmark Family ticket, 2 x Adult Belladrum weekend tickets, 2 x Sunday tickets to The Reeling, and an Inverness Caley Thistle Home Game family of 4 ticket, plus many more!     

17/2/24 Drop in at Dunvegan Hall 1pm-3pm to view the preliminary plans and discuss! We held our AGM in January, and said said we would share the preliminary design plans for the Gaeltec Buildings with everyone, so we can take feedback and suggestions to inform the final design (if the purchase is secured!) We’ll be in Dunvegan Hall on the 17th of February 1pm-3pm to share the preliminary designs and discuss the individual facilities in more depth.  We’ll have a stations dedicated to the following: the Community Gym- come along and make suggestions about equipment, the size/scale of the proposed space, the proposed membership set up, etc. the Childcare facility aspect- by far the most challenging to achieve, but we are committed to trying to find an imaginative model to try to overcome the barriers to setting up rural childcare facilities (of which there are many!) Please come along if you would use childcare if it was available and definitely if you are interested in helping set up such a facility. The Dunvegan Community Trust committee doesn’t have the capacity to run a childcare facility itself, but we are looking at other models in rural areas that work – and we can talk about these on the day.  Men’s Shed, repair shop, tools library and Arts and Craft Workshop space – We’ve had so many great suggestions for equipment and activities, please come along and talk about the plans in person and meet like-minded folk who are keen to see this happen. Commercial Space/Office Rental/Shared Workspace – If you would like to rent office space, or if you are keen to get out of the home office cupboard/kitchen/bedroom please come along and feedback, express a formal interest and look at the plans. A general overview of the physical plans, layout and renovations  This is a link to an overview of the preliminary plans. Please note these are just preliminary plans, which were produced for the purpose of getting an idea of what could be housed in the buildings, to inform the Scottish Land fund that it would be an impactful project. We’re getting advice from Sports Scotland on the Gym Facilities and from other small community Gyms to get a good idea of the size and scale of the facilities we need. Similarly, we’re getting advice from the Care Inspectorate and the ELC Commissioner at Highland Council regarding childcare facilities, the physical requirements of the space and the barriers that would need to be overcome to deliver childcare in this sort of setting, as well as meeting up with other childcare providers in the area. There’s a way to go before the plans are finalised, and we do want to make sure they deliver as much as possible in the way of value to the community.  You can also view the original Community Consultation Report here  

Just a reminder that we will be holding our first AGM as a SCIO tonight Thursday 18th January in Dunvegan Hall from 6pm, for anyone who can make it. There will be a pot of soup and baking so no-one gets peckish and the chance to look at the preliminary plans for Gaeltec and feedback about them, as well as look at the Community Park Plans, and a map of Cruachan Woodland and the updated project plans there. There will be further opportunities to see these plans. This Annual meeting is open to all members. Gillian Alston and Anne MacAskill will be standing down from the committee on Thursday, and we’re really grateful for their contributions over the last several years, which was quite a transformational time for DCT. We have received nominations for the following committee members to stay on for another year:  Jason Bold Jason has been on Isle of Skye full time since 2014 and lives with his family in Harlosh, Dunvegan. He joined DCT in 2016 and has been Chair since 2019 and is passionate about the trust being integral to the onwards development of Dunvegan. Alongside partner, Jason has established a holiday rental business on Skye, offering architectural, design led holiday accommodation, which has helped them diversify their croft, upon which they run livestock. He is also a qualified football coach with North West Skye Youth FC. After running a design consultancy prior to moving to Skye, Jason has been a business consultant in the creative industry, offering strategic support to talented creative businesses. Paul MacAskill Paul MacAskill grew up in the south of the island in the village of Kyleakin. He has lived in Skye his whole life with a few gaps of living in places such as Glasgow, Norway and Australia. He moved to Dunvegan about 12 years ago when he met his now wife Sarah. He has worked in the aquaculture industry for the past 14 years in Scotland and Norway, including working in Loch Dunvegan as assistant manager for 8 years. He currently works for Mowi down in the factory in Kyleakin. His hobbies include running, hillwalking, foraging, paddle boarding, and sea swimming. His skills include local knowledge, and a love of working outdoors. We have also received nominations for the following new committee members:  Liza Cleland Liza Cleland was born and raised in NW Skye and returned to live full time in 2009. Her personal experience includes being founder director of Glendale Community Trust, a volunteer manager for Glendale Estate, member of Community Land Scotland, and an attendee of the inaugural Scottish Rural Parliament. She also has professional experience, including auditing UHI’s Sustainable Rural Development degree, involvement in researching community attitudes to the original Orbost purchase, and surveying general volunteering in the Highlands. She is personally familiar with the many challenges facing our communities and community organisations, and also with best practice in meeting them.  Emma-Jane Morrison Emma Jane was born and bred in Struan, and now married and raising a family in Feorlig. She spent a few years in the tourism industry before taking a job in Gaelic Education. Working with children and being able to share her native language is very important to her. She enjoy the outdoors and helping on the family croft, and has been a driving force of the Dunvegan Community Park project since its inception. Katy Lawrence Ready for a change from life in Edinburgh, Katy and her partner moved to the island last spring. In Edinburgh she studied environmental sustainability, and after graduation began working in energy and fuel poverty, a role she has continued in following her move. In her free time I like to bake, explore the island, and play board games. You might have seen that she recently started a local board game club! Katy wants to join the DCT committee because she wants to be involved with and give back to the community. As a teen she was part of the village council where she grew up in Staffordshire, and she is excited to get stuck in on projects involving things such as community spaces and sustainability.     

Bliadhna mhath ùr! We will be holding our first AGM as a SCIO on Thursday 18th of January in Dunvegan Community Hall. It’s always tricky to get a time to suit everyone, so we have opted for 6pm with soup and ea and coffee, and a bit of homebaking! This Annual meeting is open to all members, and we would love to see you there. We will have draft plans for the Gaeltec Building available to look at and comment on, as well as visuals of some of our other ongoing projects.  We’ll be kicking off the official proceedings at around 6:30pm, with the election of new committee members, a report the last year’s activities, and we will also be voting on an amendment to our constitution to bring us into compliance with the Community Empowerment Act, which enables us to use Community Asset Transfer legislation. The change we are voting on will be to increase the minimum ordinary membership from 10 to 20, stipulated in the following clauses of our constitution:  8.1. The Organisation shall have not fewer than 10 Members at any time.  8.3. In the event that the number of Members falls below 10 or that at least three quarters of the Members of the Organisation do not consist of members of the Community, the Board may not conduct any business other than to ensure the admission of sufficient Ordinary Members to achieve the minimum number and/or maintain the majority.  (Ordinary Membership refers to members will full voting rights, ie, over 16 and on the electoral roll within the defined geographical community of the Dunvegan Community Council Area) Full details on the AGM procedure are available to view on our website within the constitution here:  https://e7rbbd.p3cdn1.secureserver.net/wp-content/uploads/Dunvegan-Community-Trust-SCIO-Constitution-1.pdf We hope you can make it along, please let us know if you intend to so we can plan our soup and baking!