Author: Amalia

The Dunvegan Playpark sub-committee received fantastic news last Friday, that Skye councillors have decided to allocate £30,983 amenities funding to the Dunvegan Community Playpark Project. In the current climate of budget squeezes, this comes as very welcome news to what is a very ambitious project for the area. The news came on the same day that we submitted our application to the Community Regeneration Fund for the project, so here’s hoping to even more good news soon. We will also be launching a crowdfunding page this week, so here’s hoping we can continue this positive momentum! 

Gaeltec Building: Community Survey and Scottish Land Fund Dunvegan Community Trust would like to thank everyone who contributed to our community survey for the Gaeltec Building. We are very happy to report that the survey was overwhelmingly successful and that we received lots of important feedback for this project.  We would also like to thank Impact Hub Inverness for performing the survey on our behalf and for compiling a report for us, which we would like to share here. Please do contact us if you have any comments or additional contributions which were not shared during the survey period. View the Community Consultation Report here The purpose of the survey was both to identify the most desirable community facilities for the building if it was community-owned, and also to demonstrate support to the Scottish Land Fund as part of our ongoing application process. We are therefore delighted to report that our Stage 1 application for development costs has now been approved and we can implement the survey results into our plans moving forward. We shall now be working towards submitting a Stage 2 application for the building purchase, which includes a business plan and concept designs of how the building will be utilised by the community. This process is ongoing, and we shall require as much community support as possible to give us the best chance of being approved for funding. By ensuring everyone in your household is signed up as a member of Dunvegan Community Trust, you will be helping our community with projects like this. We need as large a membership as possible to demonstrate support to funders and to improve our likelihood of success. Our membership reset in 2022 after we incorporated as a SCIO, please do register as a member on our website if you have not already done so. We are also seeking groups and individuals who may have an interest in the building if it was community-owned and we would like to talk to you! Please get in touch if you : may be interested in renting office/work space would like to see part of the building developed and designated as a childcare facility would like to run a childcare facility have ideas to contribute about the layout/set up of a community Gym would be interested in helping to set the Gym up or help run it have interest in or experience with arts/craft spaces, or would just like to get involved have interest or experience in Men’s Sheds or repair workshops, or would just like to get involved or if you have any other experience which may be of use to DCT and would like to get involved! Thank you again for your continued support!  

Sharing on behalf of Dunvegan Community Council Notice of Community Council Elections  

While we all feared this was coming, given the financial backdrop, we cannot stress enough the severity of the situation in NW Skye resulting from the lack of long term rental and affordable housing, our substandard school buildings and complete lack of recreational facilities. This is a result of years of non-investment, and it has really reached a crunch point. As I know Skye councillors are acutely aware, we have virtually no long term private rental market in NW Skye (like everywhere in Skye). As has been the case for many years, we have local people homeless, sitting on the housing list, waiting to be housed in Dunvegan, while we also have staff shortages in every sector. The Dunvegan Primary School building is literally falling apart, and now serving such a large catchment area for sgoil-airich and Primary age that the carpark alone is a tragedy waiting to happen. These dilapidated, neglected, damp and mouldy buildings do not reflect the tenacity of the school community and staff, nor do they reflect the investment we want to make in our children’s future, in the most meaningful way we can which is through education. If the NW Skye doesn’t have some serious investment soon there will barely be a population to make use of any community sports facilities! To think a couple months ago Highland councillors voted against keeping any enhanced benefits from wind developments in Skye in a local Skye & Raasay fund, in favour of a Highland Council wide pot- that suddenly seems even more relevant when schools close to Inverness are prioritised for capital funding. To run down an area through lack of investment, centralisation and lack of attention, and then fail to provide the absolute basics for the people still here – a school which is safe for our children to learn in and their teachers to teach in – should be a source of great shame to Highland Council and the Scottish Government.

Dunvegan Community Council approached DCT a few months ago to propose a project installing 4 defibrillators around the area. DCC have identified 4 locations : The tablet shed in Harlosh Replacement of the AED at The Atholl Filling Station  Outside of the Dunvegan Community Cafe Roag- location TBC DCC are liasing with Lucky2bhere and are looking to get them installed as soon as possible. They will be added to a national map of defibrillators so residents and visitors alike can access their locations if necessary.  TO their purchase and installation, DCC is contributing £2000 and DCT £8000.  There is also a British Heart Foundation fund opening up in October for a funded defibrillator so DCT will be looking at potentially getting a 5th installed in another location.