Friday, 17 May 2024

Lots of news stories on the website at the moment – read them here

COMMUNITY COUNCIL / COMMUNITY TRUST MEETING

It was a lovely sunny evening, far too nice to be in a meeting, but I was pleased to see a reasonable turn out for the Trust, Community Council and members of the community meeting on Wednesday night. 

It was a very tight agenda as we gave updates of the Community Action Plan and Place Plan and also areas of planning and licensing in each area. 

I explained the overarching external challenges we all face that can impact on what we are trying to do – five in fact. 

1) Coming out of Covid (impact on volunteering),

2) Cost of Living (impact on volunteering, household costs and costs of building),

3) Impact of Brexit (impact on employment of staff, particulalry in the care and tourism sectors),

4) Cuts in funding at Local Government level  (expectation to bridge a gap of non statutory facilities and impact on future health and well being) and

5) Competition of external funding to meet the needs of the community (some of whom are breaking into their own resources).  On example given was £6,000,000 of applications for £1,000,000 of funding.

Despite these challenges I think people in the room came away with a positive outlook about the work we are all doing, albeit some aspects of that work unfortunately will and do take their toll on volunteers (and staff) who try and make a positive difference to our community.  Generally, however, a very positive hour and a half and hopefully people went away better informed and can share that with you.

I was particularly pleased that the Community Council and the people in the room unanimously agreed to the drawdown of funds to make the affordable housing (with car charging points) in Inverfarigaig a reality.  The Trust took an opportunity to build two new homes for afforable rent. We received a grant from Scottish Government for two homes of £227,535. We have requested drawdown totalling £286,101.25 from SSE Glendoe with the remainder being covered by the Trust.  This will meet a key objective in the Community Action Plan.  By the end of the year the community will own two new assets worth in the region of £520,000 and the rents after costs will provide an annual surplus of over £5000.  This will mean we will have four homes for affordable housing (two owned by us, two by Communities Housing Trust) but all will be allocated and managed by CHT to a criteria which benefits local people.  Our homes will overlook the loch.  They will be advertised soon and all being well should be completed by Christmas 2024.  

At the meeting I also let people know what the role of the Community Council is, the Trust and the local authority.  The definition I gave is below. You may be surprised I did this but you will be amazed how many times the question comes up!

Next week I am off for a wee trip down to London, visiting the Houses of Parliament for Prime Ministers Question Time.  It’s purely a holiday but maybe I will have some stories to share next Friday!

What is a Community Council?

A Community Council is a voluntary organisation set up by statute by the Local Authority and run by local residents to act on behalf of its area. They represent and are accountable to you, the community.  Community Councils are the most local tier of statutory representation in Scotland, and there are around 1,200 active Community Councils in Scotland. They act as a voice for their local area and help to make public bodies aware of the opinions and needs of the communities they represent. Community Councils represent a full cross-section of the community and encourage the involvement of people regardless of gender, race, age, disability, nationality or sexual orientation.  The local authority would run an election if this is required. 

Local authorities have a statutory oversight of Community Councils and are required by statute to cosult Community Councils about planning applications and licencing matters. The Place Plan, for example, was facilitated by the Trust but submitted to the local authority on behalf of the community.  

Community Councils can run galas, Christmas Light switch ons or health and well being programmes is some areas where other organisations do not deliver that service.  The redevelopment of the toilets at the Falls of Foyers was done in partnership but largely by the Community Council over several years but the asset is owned by the Trust. 

Each elected officer here has a duty to establish and reflect, through the Community Council, the views of the community as a whole, on any issue, irrespective of personal opinion.

What is a Development or Community Trust.

A development or a community trust is a community-owned and led organisation, working to combine community-led action with an enterprising approach to address and tackle local needs and issues. There are about 400 such Trusts in Scotland.  The aim of a development trust is to create social, economic and environmental renewal in a defined geographical area, creating wealth within that area and keeping it there.  Across the country, in city, town, rural and island locations, development trusts are enabling communities to make their own plans and aspirations a reality.  As many of these projects can take several years to develop the Board have to take a consistent approach to projects.

Our articles suggest we are here to prevent or relieve poverty, advancement of education, training or retraining, advance heritage, to advance environmental and local improvements, to advance citizenship and community development and to provide or assist the provision of recreational facilities.  We can do this as a Board or devolve the work to sub committees (or steering groups / Action Groups).

Again, the Board has a duty to meet the needs of the community as a whole, on any issue, irrespective of personal opinion.   They do, at times, have to come to a consensus.  Therefore the current Board and the Boards previous to this one are tasked with delivering on projects identified by the community, usually via a Community Action Plan or Place Plan.

What is a Local Authority?

Scotland's 32 local authorities are responsible for providing a range of public services. This includes education, social care, roads and transport, economic development, housing and planning, environmental protection, waste management, cultural and leisure services. Each local authority is governed by a council.

The Community Council and the Community Trust are two independent bodies of each other.  The Community Council are accountable to the community as a whole at their AGM.  The Trust are accountable to their membership at their own Annual General Meetings.  One area where the Community Council can help the Trust is by submitting planning applications on our behalf, supported by the community, to the local authority.  In this case our planning application can be half price. 

Helen Keller said “Alone we can do so little, together we can do so much” and that is why the Council and Trust have taken a pro active approach in working together over the years.

Tony Foster, Trust Manager

2026

February (2 stories)

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January (12 stories)

28 January Six Nations: Scotland 🆚 England LIVE at The Wildside

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27 January 🌳 Development of Inverfarigaig Forest School 🌳

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26 January 📚 Mobile Library Visiting Tomorrow! 🚐✨

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22 January 🔥 Free Firewood Available – Whitebridge Area 🔥

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21 January Large grant application from BCC for Foyers Stores Acquisition - Update

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20 January Thank you!

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19 January Agenda for Public Meeting - Regarding the Foyers Stores Acquisition

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14 January Apply for our Project Coordinator role

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8 January Notice to the Community: Change of Date for Public Meeting on Foyers Stores

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7 January 🌟 New Year, New Opportunities! 🌟

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6 January 🎉 Calling all community organisers! 🎉

Do you run a class, group or one-off activity in one of the local buildings? We’d love to help spread the word! 💛 Our SFCT Community Calendar is looking a ...

6 January Mobile Library Visit Cancelled – Wednesday 7th January 2026

👋 Hello and welcome to 2026 from SFCT! 🎉 We bring news from the Mobile Library as our first update of the year. 📚 Mobile Library Visit Cancelled – Wednesday ...