Directors:               Dinah McDonald               Chair

 

Advisor:                 John Forth                       LLTNPA

 

Guest:                    Felix Wight                       Community Energy Scotland

 

Apologies:              Cllr Bruce Marshall

 

 

 

 

The minutes of the last Trust meeting held on 14 December 2009 were proposed by Ron Cruickshank, seconded by Jeanette Sloss and adopted.

 

 

None

 

 

Secretary’s Report

 

Ø     Nothing to report

 

Update on membership

 

Ø     David has still not yet initiated a review of Trust membership – Dinah requested that the current lists be brought to the next meeting and each Director will update a sub-set.

 

Ø     Ron requested that David provide some text on membership updates for the next edition of the Loch’n’Glen newsletter.

 

 

Treasurer’s Report

 

Ø     Pearl advised that the balances on hand were:

 

o       Account 1     -        £1559.76

o       Account 2     -        £3550.22

 

Ø     The sum of £7705 had passed through the Trust accounts. It had been received from Community Energy Scotland as a first payment for consultancy on the Anaerobic Digestion project and had been paid to AECOM Consultants.

 

Ø     It was agreed that David McKenzie would be added as a signatory on the Bank accounts in addition to Dinah and Pearl and that 2 out of 3 signatures would be required for all transactions.

 

 

Dinah McDonald reported on the status of applications to the National Park for two possible grants:

 

1.     A grant to cover admin costs. An application for £1450 for this year had been submitted. £800 had been approved. The Trust was free to choose on which admin tasks it would spend these funds.

 

2.     Project grant. An application for £2400 had been submitted but had not been approved.

 

 

Forestry

 

Ø     There was discussion about the planned Midge Lane access road to Kilmun Hill. John Forth agreed to check with the planning department at the National Park on status.

 

Villages in Bloom

 

Ø     Jeanette Sloss reported that the new flower tub for Clachaig bus stop has not yet been installed as the bus stop had been vandalised. It was agreed that the local community councillor be requested to chase the Council to have this repaired.

 

Ø     It is understood that new provision will have to be made for maintenance of planters in Kilmun. This is to be discussed at a future meeting.

 

Graham’s Point

 

Ø     Pearl now had photos of the damaged wall. After discussion, it was agreed that Pearl could use Trust funds to acquire cement, etc and would find volunteers to make the repair.

 

 

 

Paths and Access

 

Ø     The delayed planning application for the upgrade to the Blairmore / Gairletter path is now expected to be approved by 8 March. Both SNH and LEADER had agreed that their offer of funds was not affected by the delay; however, the National Park had still not decided if their offer of funds was still available. A decision was awaited.  

 

Ø     Jeanette advised that fly tipping was occurring on paths near Clachaig / Glen Linn. It was agreed that this should be brought to the attention of the Sandbank Community Council.

 

Ø     Dinah asked for any instances of illegal signage (e.g. ‘access only’) on paths to be brought to her attention.

 

Mausoleum

 

A Board meeting of Argyll Mausoleum Limited (AML) had been held on 12 February 2010. David McKenzie reported on each of five work streams:

 

1.     Legal Documents:

 

a.      The Minute of Agreement has now been signed by all parties and was now in the custody of the AML solicitors. 

b.     After a lengthy delay, the text of the Mausoleum Lease is now close to agreement; once agreed, copies will be required by Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), Historic Scotland (HS) and OSCR. The lease will not be signed until offers of sufficient funds for restoration are received.

 

2.     Artefacts:

 

a.      Artefacts will be moved to temporary storage if and when the HLF development funds are received.

 

b.     David reported that the 15^th century effigies were now showing some signs of water damage, probably caused by the exceptionally low temperatures in the last few weeks. Dinah suggested that the specialist stone conservator be contacted to see if the damage could be minimised by wrapping in bubble wrap. David will pursue.

 

3.     Fund raising / financials:

 

a.      Applications for grants had been submitted both to HLF and HS. HLF case officers had visited the site and had requested further information. A first review by the HLF committee was expected in the week beginning 22 February. HS had acknowledged receipt of the application in time for their 31 January cut-off date.

 

b.     Application for charitable status had been submitted to OSCR. OSCR had requested some changes to the Memorandum & Articles of Association and these had been implemented. The decision on charitable status was being held pending OSCR review of the text of the Lease.

 

c.      Application for small amounts of funds to carry out some initial archaeological investigation had been made to Old Possums Practical Trust and to the Archaeological Challenge Fund. The Old Possums request had been turned down; the Challenge Fund decision was awaited.

 

d.     At the recent Board meeting, the Council had confirmed their contribution of £50,000 to the restoration project; however, it will probably only be made available in the 2011 / 12 financial year.

 

4.     Marketing Plan / Visits:

 

a.      David advised that the Radio 4 PM broadcast took place on 6 January and was repeated the next day on Radio Scotland. E-mails from Campbells in New Zealand and Australia had resulted.

 

b.     At the AML Board meeting, it had been agreed that the plans for the visitor centre / booking system / visitor management would need to be revised as the expectation was that the current plan would be insufficient for the numbers that could be expected. New plans would be prepared. 

 

c.      A detailed marketing plan would be prepared in the next few weeks.

 

5.     Temporary repairs:

 

a.      These have now been carried out and polycarbonate sheets have been installed to cover leaking windows. The listed building consent forms advising that the work has been completed have been returned to the National Park planning department.

 

The next Board meeting of Argyll Mausoleum Ltd will be in Kilmun Church on Friday 23 April at 11:00. Dinah recommended that the topic of additional directors for the AML Board be on the agenda.

 

Marine Environment

 

Ø     David McKenzie reported that the feasibility study with AECOM was almost complete. A date now needs to be set for a presentation to the Trust and to the community. David will fix a date, probably in early April, with Jim Hart from AECOM and advise the Board. It will also be necessary to advertise the community meeting in the local press. Felix Wight from CES confirmed that they would also want to be involved in this meeting.

 

Ø     David had had a further meeting with Scottish Water and with AECOM on 2 February; it is anticipated that the AECOM report will conclude that there is insufficient feedstock to drive an anaerobic digestion scheme for the shore communities. It still might be possible with the addition of food waste and garden refuse; however, this would need the involvement of the Council, Shanks and others and was beyond the scope of the current feasibility study. It had also been suggested that the costs of installing a sewage main could be offset if shared with other services. One idea was a district heating system, powered by local biomass / wood chips. This would need a further feasibility study, building on the work done by AECOM. Felix advised that CES would be open to an application for a second grant if the community wanted to pursue.

 

Post Office / Shop

 

Ø     Ron Cruickshank and John Forth reported on further fact finding regarding the location and financial viability of a community post office / shop.

 

Ø     The Board were advised that a lot of local interest in the project had recently been expressed. A letter had been received from Blairmore Village Trust asking for information on the status of the project and the topic had been on the agenda of the last meeting of the Kilmun Community Council, which had resulted in some press coverage. David was asked to prepare a response to the Blairmore letter.

 

Ø     Dinah re-stated the Trust position. These are the only activities approved by the Trust Board so far:

 

o       A sub-committee is being set up to investigate the possibility of the Trust managing a community shop / post office. This sub-committee needs a chair and membership from across the community. A meeting to set up such a sub-committee on 7 December had not progressed far; a further meeting was needed.

 

o       A feasibility study is to be carried out to determine the viability of a community shop / post office. This feasibility study will also examine options for the location of a shop in Strone or Blairmore. An application for funds for this study needs to be submitted to Investing in Ideas.

 

Ø     After discussion, it was agreed that the meeting to constitute the sub-committee and set terms of reference would be held on 16 March 2010. Dinah would invite the necessary community representatives, including from Kilmun Community Council, Blairmore Village Trust and the current postmaster.

 

Ø     John Forth had distributed copies of the funding application to the Board members. Directors were asked to review the application and get back to John with comments by 22 February, so that the application could be submitted in good time.

 

 

Network meetings are scheduled for 17 March and 11 April. 

 

 

The date of the next Trust Board meeting will be on Monday 12 April 2010 at 19:30 in Highgate Hall.