Scotland: National Rural Network
This is the second part of the event report from the Scottish National Rural Network regional event in West Lothian. In this part you can find out about the project presentations. In Part One, you can read about information updates on the Rural Network, LEADER and Rural Priorities.
The Scottish National Rural Network (SNRN) regional event in West Lothian took place at a snowy Howden Park Centre in Livingston on 24th February 2010.
Rachel Sedman is the Development Officer with the Fauldhouse Development Community Trust in West Lothian. Fauldhouse has a population of around 5,000, with slightly more older people than West Lothian on average. It is less than five minutes from the borders with North and South Lanarkshire. The village has a mining and industrial heritage.
Ms Sedman said there are a high level of benefit claimants, and low aspirations among young people. However, there is very good community spirit and strong local voluntary groups.
The Fauldhouse Community Development Trust was formed as a charity in 2007, following a meeting with representatives from 25 Fauldhouse community groups in 2006. It came out of a Voluntary Action West Lothian project.
In the first two years they produced five newsletters which were hand delivered to all the houses by the youth football team. They also organised an annual Fair Day.
Ms Sedman said one of the key early actions was a community consultation to find out from local people what they liked and disliked about the village and what things they thought could be easily changed in the community.
At this stage the organisation was just a voluntary board of directors and they wanted to start small. They decided to start with small areas of the village that needed regeneration, and which had been highlighted in the community consultation. They repaired and renewed the War Memorial, and although it was a relatively small project it had a big impact as everyone noticed it. On the back of this, they rejuvenated their Remembrance Day service. There used to be just a handful of people and now there are about 200 people who attend each year.
More recently, the organisation got funding to employ a Development Officer. Ms Sedman recommended the Big Lottery's Investing in Communities funding scheme. She also said the community consultation was an excellent way of showing bigger funders that you haven't just pulled ideas from the air.
In 2009, the Development Trust continued sending newsletters, helped other organisations with funding, publicity and so on and organised community events including a music festival, community clean up and woodland volunteer days. The major project for 2009 was submitting funding applications for £650,000 to buy a building to be used as a community hub. The hub will be used as a space for providing services to local residents, supporting community organisations and as Fauldhouse Community Development Trust offices.
In 2010, work will begin on the Community Hub. They've also been funded by the Climate Challenge Fund to do a Home Energy Efficiency project and work with community groups. They're also undertaking a partnership project with West Lothian Council to offer paid employment training placements in Fauldhouse through the Future Jobs Fund. West Lothian LEADER is providing funding for a supervisor to oversee these Woodland Assistants.
Another partnership project is with Falla Hill Primary School and will be the building of a multi-use games area for school and community groups. Fauldhouse Community Development Trust will also be undertaking a feasability study for wood working workshop and allotments.
Ms Sedman ended with a summary of points on how the Fauldhouse Community Development Trust got to where they are today:
You can find out more by downloading Rachel Sedman's Fauldhouse Development Trust presentation from our documents library and by visiting the Fauldhouse Development Trust website.
Clare Summers, Community Regneration Officer with West Lothian Council gave a presentation on their work with Fauldhouse Community Development Trust.
Ms Summers explained that a member of staff was employed at Voluntary Action West Lothian to work on a project that aimed to set up four Community Development Trusts in West Lothian, including Fauldhouse.
Ms Summers gave an overview of how the Council has supported the Fauldhouse Community Development Trust. She said there were good relationships between the two organisations. She explained that she is a Gateway to the Council, and goes along to meetings and so on. She said it was good to have one point of contact rather than lots of council officers involved.
The Council can't give groups a lot of money, however Ms Summers said they can give support, time, knowledge and expertise.
Ms Summer said the Council want communities to play an active role in regeneration and want to encourage civic participation. She said the Fauldhouse model can be replicated in other areas.
You can find out more by downloading Clare Summers' presentation from the documents library.
Douglas Currie, Chairman of Strachur and District Community Development Company, began his presentation by saying he could have written Ms Sedman and Ms Summer's presentations. Despite differences in geography and the make up of their respective communities there were a great many similarities between the stories.
Mr Currie began with an introduction to Strachur and the surrounding area. As this was his first time in Livingston, he said there might be a number of people who had never been to his area! Strachur is on the east side of Loch Fyne. It has a population of under 700, with many living in outlying areas.
He said they were advised to start a Community Development Company instead of a trust when they formed in 2001 as this would enable them to purchase land from the Community Land Fund.
As with the Fauldhouse Development Trust, the Strachur and District Community Development Company had grown from one thing to something else. In September 2000 they opened a new hall in Strachur, which replaced the Memorial Hall that was built in 1951. Mr Currie took delegates through pictures of the old hall, the new hall being constructed and the finished product.
Mr Currie praised the Lottery funding system and said it had helped a lot of people to get on with projects. The new hall received funding from the Millenium Commission, Argyll and Bute Council, Argyll and Islands Enterprise, Scottish Enterprise and other community and charitable funds.
Maintenance and revenue can be an issue for village halls, but the new Strachur Hall is well used by lots of people. They take in about £11,500 a year in rentals, but try to keep prices down as much as possible.
The organisation also produce a monthly newsletter, which is financed by advertisement.
One of the first things they decided to do after the hall was to improve a bit of land in the area and make it into a picnic area. Mr Currie said the project had featured on Alan Titchmarsh's television programme and was now a red squirrel sanctuary. He said Scottish Natural Heritage were very available, gave tremendous support and funded just under 50 percent of the project.
The development company has been working on a sports field project since 2001. They bought the land through the Scottish Land Fund in 2004. A feasability study report was carried out - Mr Currie stressed the importance of a feasability study for any development. The sports field project received funding from SportsScotland, Argyll and Bute Council, the Robertson Trust and others.
Mr Currie said the contractor they worked with on the sports field project was excellent, as were his staff. They gave the community development company their every support. The whole area was treated and rotivated and again Mr Currie took delegates through photos of the project in progress.
The local shinty club, which has been in existence for 140 years, will play on the field. It's well drained and doesn't flood. A pavilion will also be opening on the sports field, with two changing rooms, showers, a kitchen and a room for the referee. The building will be of Douglas Fir construction. They have been awarded around £153,000 from Rural Priorities for the pavilion. Funding also came from SportsScotland and the community raised £17,000.
Mr Currie said they had hoped to have a wind turbine installed but this wasn't suitable, so they have gone for an air source heat pump and solar panels.
Mr Currie thanked Alan Tufts from the Small Towns and Rural Development Group, who was in the audience, for coming over to Argyll to do their Community Futures project. He said they had had a great deal of help from Mr Tufts.
You can find out more by downloading Douglas Currie's Strachur and District Community Development Company presentation from our documents library.
In Part One, you can find out about information updates on the Scottish National Rural Network, LEADER and Rural Priorities.
The West Lothian regional event is one of a series of 20 taking place across the country. You can read reports, watch video, download presentations and see photos from all the events that have taken place so far in our Rural Network Regional Events archive. You can get a list of events still to take place in our Regional Events section.
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