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NEWSFind the most recent developments in the project and an archive of our activities to date, below.
First though, here's the weather.....and now for the news:New Board - New Chair 18 November 2008 Tim Dearman was elected chairman at the public meeting last night. The board was further complemented by the election of Pete Carr, Morvern Dyson, and Howard Tolliday. Matt Stevenson graciously agreed to continue in his role as secretary. Sincere thanks go to Jeremy Spurway for the dedication and direction he provided during his tenure as Chairman. We are fortunate to be able to continue to rely on his energy and skills in his continuing role as a director of the company. The first meeting of the new board is scheduled for next week. Valuation gets go-ahead 13 October 2008 Today we met with Forestry Commission representatives Tim Cockerill (Dornoch district manager) and Malcolm Wield (NFLS programme manager) to discuss our plans to apply to buy Inchlumpie wood. First phase of Lottery application complete 01 September 2008 The Big Lottery Fund has agreed to consider our bid for funding - our 'Outline Planning Form' succeeded in convincing their evaluators that our project is worth further consideration. Funding bid started 30 July 2008 We have submitted the first stage of our bid to the Big Lottery Fund for support with buyng Inchmlumpie wood from the Forestry Commission. The 'Outline Planning Form' is used by BLF to screen applications for funding, by testing the worth of the project against their development priorities. The deadline for applications is the 1st of August, so we're in, by the skin of our teeth! We mean business 22 July 2008 The solicitor handling the formation of the Ardross Community Woodland Company has informed us that we're official - the company was registered on the 10th of July. We are now able to bid for funding and apply to buy FCS woods under the 'community right-to-buy' scheme. More information about our company is on the ACWC page. Ardross says: "we want woods" 29 March 2008 The ballot results have been totted up and the majority (64%) of the half of the community who returned their papers support us in setting up community woodland in Ardross. Inchlumpie is the favoured wood, and there is an overall preference for buying it. More detail of the results are on the ballot results page. Ballot Paper Mail-out 25 January 2008 On the 24th January, we sent out Ballot papers to all residents of the community aged 18 and over. The intention is to assess the support within the community for aquiring a community woodland. We are also asking that those who support the idea of creating a community woodland rank the four top woodland options in order of preference, and express any preference between either purchasing a woodland or entering into a management agreement. Anthony Chamier resigns as Vice-Chair 17 October 2007 Anthony Chamier has stood down as vice-chair of the committee. We are extremely grateful for all his efforts in progressing the project thus far and regret the loss of his energetic, measured and diplomatic contribution. Hopefully, the demonstrable progress and the engaging challenge of bringing the project to a successful conclusion will attract new members of the committee; meetings are held on the 1st and 3rd Mondays of the month, at 8pm in the hall. Public Meeting - Presentation of Report 17 October 2007 On Monday 15th October, the ACWSC held a public meeting at which Chair Jeremy Spurway presented a recap of the process to date, and then discussed in detail the outcome of the Options Appraisal report, explaining the methodology, results and reccomendations. He then outlined the groups reccommendation that we purchase Inchlumpie Wood. Various questions were raised by the audience, and discussion principally delt with the proposed format of a ballott to be conducted to assess support within the community for the next stage. The ACWSC had proposed that the ballott give two options: Vote No to community woodland Vote Yes for progressing with Inchlumpie Wood The feeling from the audience was that more options should be given, so that the community can feel that they are making their own choice. Although the group explaining the reasoning behind our simplifying the choices, the opinion from the floor was strong, and as such we accepted this message from the community, relieved to been able to gather and incorporate this valuable feedback. To view the presentation please click here (Please note that the final page of the presentation has been modified to present the change in ballott format as agreed at the meeting.) Public Meeting - 15th October 2007 31 August 2007 A public Meeting will be held at 8pm on Monday 15th October 2007 at Ardross Hall. This will allow the Ardross Community Woodland Sub-Committee the opportunity to present the Options Appraisal Report, its findings and recommendations to the community. It will also be a chance to recap on the process so far, and to give an outline of the future. A presentation will be given by the Chair of the group, Jeremy Spurway, following which, questions will be invited from the floor. We hope that you will be able to attend the meeting and have an imput in the process. Copy of the report to be mailed to community 31 August 2007 A package is currently being prepared to send out to every household in the community. This will contain a copy of the main report prepared by the consultants and a flyer summarising the process so far, where we go from here, and inviting the community to a public meeting on 15th October. The remainder of the report including the appendices and additional maps can be downloaded from the Options Appraisal page on this site, or by contacting the group (see the Contact Us page). If anyone has any suggestions/ comments arising from the report, or in general, please let us know. If these comments are passed on before the public meeting, we can try to integrate them in our recommendations ACWSC at the Ardross Gathering 21 July 2007 We attended the Ardross Gathering, where we had a display presenting the Options Appraisal Report, and took the opportunity to inform interested members of the community about what we've been up to, and to gather feedback on progress so far and on the findings of the report. We were encouraged by the response we gained, and were pleased to be part of a successfull gathering. The Final Report 11 July 2007 The final version of the report has now been received and is available via the website, click here for more info. We will be present at the Ardross Summer Gathering to chat to interested members of the community, and to make copies of the report available. We are aware that not everyone has acccess to the internet, and welcome requests for copies of the report to be mailed out. Please spead the message about this! Copies of the final report will also be available at the hall. |
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| The Ardross Community Woodland Company is limited by guarantee and registered in Scotland: SC 345543 | ||
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