Map of our forest!
Here is the map of the part of the forest that we now own!
Forest Buyout Success!
Great News!
Today, 23rd July 2010, the people of Bute have bought a section of Rhubodach Forest at the north end of the island from the director and actor Lord Attenborough. It was just in September 2009, that the Bute Community Land Company was formed to apply for permission under the Land Reform Act of Scotland to buy Rhubodach Forest. The support and enthusiasm for the buyout on Bute has been unbelievable with over 1,700 signatures gathered in just one week in Sept 2009 to present to the Scottish government with the application. Following this registration a community ballot had to be held within 3 months and over 50% of the registered electoral on Bute had to vote under the rules of the legislation. The ballot held in February was the biggest community ballot ever held in Scotland. The people of Bute rose to the challenge with 52% of the electoral voting and of those an amazing 93 per cent of voters in favour of the buyout. A let down by a funding agency at a very late stage left things in doubt, yet the buyout was able to go ahead. There was a further delay regarding the subsale of the commercial forestry, as quite understandably, Lord and Lady Attenborough requested that the commercial forestry remain in local ownership. Fortunately, Mount Stuart Estate made a reasonable offer for the commercial forest allowing forestry jobs to remain on the island. As a result of these complex negotiations we have a acquired 161 hectares, including ancient oak woodlands with negotiated rights for use of lands sold on for walks and cycle paths, plus a hydro scheme.
Our forest!
What an exciting time with the purchase finally being sealed today! Our achievement is even more amazing given the tight time lines imposed by the right to buy legislation and the constraints of the wider UK economy at this time. At the BCLC Extraordinary General Meeting on May 3rd members were made aware about the difficult funding climate that BCLC faced and how this made compromises inevitable. Those present supported the proposal to own less of the forest without any debts to pay back. We are delighted that this has been successfully achieved today and look to developing the community proposals for walking and mountain bike trails, woodland play areas, hydro power, eco lodges and a unique forest hub with the view of attracting the green tourist market to Bute in the forest at Rhubodach.
Douglas Cowan, HIE’s Area Manager for Argyll and the Islands, said: “HIE has been a strong supporter of this project, with both our Community Land Unit and the Argyll Area Office at HIE providing advice and funding towards the land purchase, legal staff and office costs, alongside ongoing advice and support. The value in terms of community confidence which this project has achieved should not be underestimated. The buyout of Rhubodach Forest has the potential to bring significant and long-term benefits to the residents of Bute through strengthening the economy, increasing visitor numbers and creating business, training and employment opportunities for the whole community.”
John McGhee, Chair of BCLC commented: “The purchase of the Forest has been a huge challenge for us, particularly given the lack of public funds, but what is fantastic is the way the community has pulled together and demonstrated its ingenuity and determination to have a say in the future prosperity of the Island”.
Commenting on the successful buyout Jim Mather, local MSP, Enterprise Minister said: “I am so proud of the Bute Community Land Project and the local people who have made this all happen. They have shown enormous perseverance, imagination, energy and resilience to get this result and they will not stop now. They have started a process and unleashed new levels of confidence that are now unstoppable and will deliver real benefits for Bute and its people”.
Roseanna Cunningham
For her part, Roseanna Cunningham agreed that: “This has been an extraordinary achievement and I congratulate all those involved for their creativity in reaching a solution to the funding issue despite the current challenging financial circumstances. With that level of commitment by the local community I am certain that the venture will be a huge success for the people of the island and look forward to future developments with great interest”.
As those of you at the EGM are aware we have not been solely restricting our efforts to the forest. BCLC are opening a shop, Brandish Bute, to showcase local Bute produce and arts and crafts. In this we hope to replicate the success of our close neighbour Arran, in branding and marketing our Bute products. Our new shop manager, Claire Murray is keen to take this forward.
We do remember that we are on a steep learning curve and things can take a wee while to get going – so if you have suggestions and questions about the work and projects in the forest please liaise with Claire at the Brandish Bute shop which is acting as an info hub for forest projects and she will assist in taking forward all suggestions and ideas to the BCLC board. We would encourage everyone to come in to Brandish Bute to browse or buy some local produce in celebration of our historic achievement and to support the shop and Bute producers!
The Scottish Government Backs the Buyout
The Scottish Government has given its approval the our plans to buy the forest.
This press release from the Environment Minister Roseanna Cunninghams office says it all.
Ms Cunningham said:
“This is an exciting opportunity for the Island of Bute and a huge success story for the community land company which has managed the biggest ballot held under the Land Reform (Scotland) Act so far. The plans in place should act as a catalyst for economic and community regeneration on the island, enhance the visitor attraction, create a significant number of new jobs and generate opportunities for future generations to live and work there.
Peter McDonald, a Director of BCLC, said,
“This buy out is an important opportunity for the community of Bute and in times of financial downturn it represents a real chance to transform the economic prospects of the island. We appreciate the support of the Scottish Government in this process and we are working extremely hard with various funding agencies to secure the necessary acquisition price by the due date. We are confident that we will succeed.”
Other developments to be encouraged include education and outreach projects, health improvement programmes, outdoor activities – such as bike hire, a horse riding centre, artist workshops, provisions for youth groups and shuttle transport to Rothesay.
The Next Steps Event
Over 90 members of the community turned out to the Next Steps event at Rothesay Joint Campus on Sunday. The event was organised by BCLC to keep the community informed as we journey towards the purchase of the forest and beyond. With 2 guest speakers, various display boards with information about the forest and representatives from Towards Zero Carbon Bute , we hope that we were able to provide enough information to satisfy the curiosity of the attendees.
Paul Cookson from the Community Woodlands Association was very excited about the possibilities that Rhubodach Forest provides for Bute. The CWA exists to assist the owners of community woodlands who wish to create sustainable projects, educational activities and employment opportunities through modern, active forest management. Needless to say BCLC have already become members of the CWA and we’ll be calling on them throughout the process.
Our second speaker Suzann Barr introduced us to Abriachan Forest Trust and the journey they have undertaken since purchasing it in 1998. Abriachan have achieved an immense amount with their forest – we can too. Visit their website to see more of Abriachan
The final 2 speakers were BCLC Director Andy Walters who explained about the importance of the feedback from the Community Consultation day in January and how it was fed back into the feasibility study, and BCLC chairman John McGhee, who outlined the brief history of BCLC and it’s legal framework. He went on to explain how BCLC will take this project forward, including the announcement that we are opening a shop in Rothesay to use as our point of contact with the community.
The Electric Van
One of our ideas for the forest project is that we keep the car parking space at the visitor centre/forest hub to a minimum to encourage visitors to leave their cars at home or at their B & B. This will reduce the developmental impact on the woodland as well. Our solution to reduced car parking is to introduce an Eco Bus link between Rothesay and the forest, so we invited a transport consultant, Richard Armitage (http://www.ratransport.co.uk/) to our event and he brought along an amazingly quiet ‘Ford Transit’ sized Peugeot fully electic van.
An interview with John McGhee – Chairman of BCLC
In the aftermath of the stunning landslide YES vote from the community of Bute, there is an interview with John McGhee in this weeks Buteman newspaper. There is a more in depth version of the interview available to read on line at the Buteman website. Follow this link http://www.buteman.co.uk/news/Forest-39not-the-end-of.6081680.jp
The Result of the Community Ballot
After almost 3 weeks of tension as the community of Bute voted in what has been the biggest community ballot of it’s kind in Scotland the votes have been counted and the result is in.
VOTES CAST - 2739
That’s a 52.5% turnout
YES votes - 2557
NO votes - 177
Spoiled Paper - 5
That’s an overwhelming YES from the people of Bute.
Thank you and now let’s get on and get this project off the ground for real.
PRIZE DRAW
Congratulations to the winner of the ballot prize draw.
Hester Edgar of Bishop St, Rothesay
STV covers our project with a very positive piece
A very positive STV broadcast can be seen again on the STV website at http://news.stv.tv/video/glasgow-west/stv-news-local-west-20100208/
Forest Buyout Features Prominently on the BBC
We have had great coverage this morning on the BBC. Interviews and pieces on both BBC Scotland TV and BBC Radio Scotland plus top billing on the Scotland page of the BBC website. CLICK HERE TO VISIT THE WEBSITE
Out & About with Sammy the Squirrel
We had a great weekend with our tame forest friend Sammy. It’s always good to get out into the constituency and do a bit of meet and greet – and some of the kids were greeting. There’s a positive buzz around the town – nothing like a bright orange 6ft squirrel to brighten up a cold February day.
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- The people of Bute have bought a section of Rhubodach Forest at the north end of the island from the director and actor Lord Attenborough
- Now the hard work begins. We have to get a firm YES from the community. Ballot voting cards will appear on your doorsteps next week.
- Our Consultation Day on Sunday was fantastic. We had a great response from the community - a huge buzz of positive feedback!
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