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.
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.
Dragons Den Prize Celebration Day
Back in October, Peter McDonald of BCLC attended an event in Oban organised by the Argyll & Bute Social Enterprise Network ( ABSEN). The event has as its’ hub a “Dragons Den” style competition whose winner would be awarded £5000 towards the costs of their project. Peter entered and explained our plans for Rhubodach Forest. He was very convincing and the panel of eminent judges awarded him the first prize.
On Tuesday 2nd Feb, Peter and I (Andy Walters) attended a celebration event at the Dynamic Earth centre in Edinburgh. This was a chance to meet other award winners from all over Scotland and compare notes and gain inspiration. We met many interesting and dynamic individuals, all of whom could be described as “social entrepreneurs”. Social enterprises are businesses, however the key difference over private enterprise is that profits are ploughed back into the business. Like us, many of the attendees were holding down full time jobs or running their own businesses.
This was all about individuals who want to help their communities and the people within them. It was also about celebrating the 2 scottish organisations which have been formed to make the process of starting a social enterprise and applying for advice and funding much ,much easier. They are Firstport and Scotland Unltd. They are young, dynamic and doing a great job.
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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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