As you all know the Trust has been looking at the possibility of a Community Asset Transfer (CAT) of the Forestry and Land Scotland (FLS) buildings adjacent to Lock 8. The Trust has only been in existence for less than a year and therefore very young in its journey when this opportunity arose. Although we are an inexperienced Trust we wanted to explore the opportunity for community ownership to see what benefits there could be for those who live and work in Cairnbaan.
The Trust has received the Draft Feasibility Report from Community Enterprise (CE) on the Community Asset Transfer of the FLS buildings. We have responded to the report with some comments and revisions.
There were 2 options in the report:
- Do Nothing:
| Pros | Cons |
| No responsibility for managing the asset | Lack of community control as to what happens at the site |
| No need to generate funding and investment and enter into a potentially stressful period of development | Does not meet the need for a community hub and associated facilities |
| The Trust is free to pursue other local initiatives |
- Progress with an Asset Transfer of the site to develop a community hub
| Pros | Cons |
| Secures site for the long term | Significant project to be undertaken by a voluntary board |
| Enhances community empowerment and local control | Capital funding is very challenging in the current environment, with no guarantee that investment can be secured |
| Offers space to community groups | Potential for revenue cost increases with less ability to generate income |
| Creates opportunities for a heritage / tourism offering | |
| Supported by the local community and stakeholders |
The recommendation contained within the report is to press ahead with Stage 2 and CAT applications to try and secure ownership of the buildings. The Trust has reservations on 2 fronts about the information on which this recommendation is made. Firstly, a relatively small number of residents completed the survey. CE is comfortable with this, though the Trust is less so. Secondly, apart from our initial meeting over a year ago, there has been a low turnout at meetings and public events. We cannot gauge if this is through lack of interest or other factors such as timing or location of meetings.
To proceed with the CAT and Stage 2 applications is a sizeable task with very few volunteers (6 Trustees) at the moment. The funding to buy the buildings is through an application to the Scottish Land Fund. This is a complex process of paperwork which includes financial estimates to demonstrate that the project will be sustainable. The buildings and land also have to be valued and a separate application made to FLS for ownership to be transferred to the Trust. The survey of the buildings has indicated there is around £140k of work to make the buildings habitable but this could be done in stages. Funding for this is more challenging but not impossible and there may be some skills within the community that could reduce these costs. However our main concern is does the community really want to take ownership of these buildings? The Trust has done an enormous amount of work so far. It can only be fully committed to the CAT if the community shows that it wants this and is committed to making it work.
We have been working to deadlines for funding which can be revised if needed. It is vital, however, that we demonstrate that we have a solid foundation of support. If we do not have this then the project will not succeed.
To this end there is a link on the Cairnbaan Community Trust website where you can say Yes / No to the acquisition of the buildings. We need as many people as possible to answer this simple question, which will be completely anonymous. Please ask neighbours and friends to go to the website and participate. It will be open from 01/07/24 to 12/07/24.
We are also asking if anyone would be willing to volunteer to help and to only give us your name if you are in this category. CE indicated that 11 residents said they would be happy to help the Trust but as the survey is anonymous we do not know who you are.
The link can be found here – https://cairnbaancommunitytrust.org/feedback
Once the Feasibility Report is finalised we will place it on the website should you wish to read it.
