Ballater Community Action Plan 2018

Bal­later & Crath­ie Com­munity Action Plan 2018

Intro­duc­tion Com­munity Action Plan

This is the Com­munity Action Plan for the Upper Deeside area of Bal­later and Crath­ie. It has been developed under the lead of the Bal­later and Crath­ie Com­munity Coun­cil work­ing with Marr Area Part­ner­ship and Aber­deen­shire Coun­cil. A Steer­ing Com­mit­tee rep­res­ent­ing vari­ous com­munity groups was estab­lished in June 2017 and this group has under­taken the task of enga­ging extens­ively with the com­munity and stake­hold­ers to pro­duce this Action Plan.

Loch Builg

Cul­ar­doch 803

Brown Cow

1. Hill Cam Leac Scigadeir

River Gairn Gairn­shiel Lodge

A939

B976

Mobe Cow­an 749 Des Coyn­ach Croma Logie Cold­stone Tarla

872 Bridge­foot Glen­davan House Peter’s Hill Cul­blean Hill Leys

B9119

Ordie Loch Lary 568

604 Dávan Loch

B9119 Glen Fen­zie Glen Gairn 743 Geal­laig Hill Bridge Culshof Gairn

BAL­LATER

Lit­tle­mill B976 Bridge of Muick Milton of Tul­lich River Dee Glascor­rie Pan­nanich Coilac­riech Bal­mor­al Castle Abergel­die Castle Crath­ie Mains of Abergel­die Invergeld­er East­er Bal­mor­al Bal­later & Crath­ie Gimock 3.Burn Meall • 618 Gorm Bal­naut Feardar Burn Inver Ballachlaggan

Inver­cauld- House A93 Cre­ag nan Gall ‑600 Glen Geld­er bar Bal­loch­buie Forest Falls of Garbh/​Allt Bal­mor­al Forest 619 later Birkhall Hill House of Glen­muick The Coyles Cairn of Muick 596 Aucholzie 699 Leuchan Muick Glen Muick 698 Polagach Burn Kinord Muir of Din­net Grey­stone Black 531 Craig Water of Tanar Din­net Glen Tanar4 House Glen Tanar Forest of Glen Ta 6:27 Clachan Yell • 634 Cock Cairn 728 Meall Coire na Saobhaid­hé 97.3 Meickle 862 River Cam 1155 Pap979 Con­achcraig Loch a Choire LOCH­NAGAR Bhoid­heach llater Cal­later 1113 1068. *1083 Spit­tal of Glen­muick 72 Fasheilach 939 MOUNT KEEN Cam an 1045 White Mounth t‑Sagairt Cairn Loch Muick Dubh Mor Bas­noch Loch 1010 1000 Glas-allt-Shiel 991 Broad 996 Cal Cam an Allt Dar­rar­ie 927 Tuirc Tol­mount Black Hill of Mark Cairn of Claise 958 Loch 1062 Esk 957 MOUNTH 831 Unich Water Con­tains OS data East­er Bal­loch 832 Water of Mark Glen Lee 694 Lad­der Burn Mon­awee Glen­lee 659 653 Hill of Saughs Burn of Branny Glen MarkAu­chronie Inver­mark Lodge Loch Lee Inch­grundle Crown copy­right and data­base rights 2018

Intro­duc­tion Com­munity Action Plan

Over a thou­sand sur­veys were delivered by hand in addi­tion to online access com­mu­nic­ated at loc­al events and in social media. Over 600 sur­veys were com­pleted, and this rep­res­en­ted feed­back from over 40% of the com­munity, with over 50% in the 16 – 25, 26 – 40 & 41 – 60 age categories.

The inform­a­tion gathered and con­tained with­in this book­let can now be used to guide the com­munity and the Com­munity Plan­ning Part­ners in com­pil­ing fur­ther detailed actions to take for­ward the top pri­or­it­ies. All the ideas have come from the com­munity. The table at the back shows a list of the pri­or­it­ies and the rel­ev­ant lead group along with the vari­ous stakeholders.

For the Action Plan to be delivered suc­cess­fully the com­munity will need to engage in the set­ting up of vari­ous work­groups to lead the issues. A ​‘Com­munity Action Team’ will be estab­lished as the primary work group to carry out an audit of com­munity assets and mon­it­or the deliv­ery of these actions to improve our com­munity. A num­ber of oth­er groups are also envis­aged, and all mem­bers of the com­munity are encour­aged to get involved.

It is recom­men­ded that this Action Plan has a max­im­um life span of 5 years.

His­tory, Ori­gins & Devel­op­ment Com­munity Action Plan

Archi­tect draw­ing of station

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The Bal­later and Crath­ie Com­munity Coun­cil catch­ment includes the town of Bal­later and the sur­round­ing rur­al area includ­ing the set­tle­ment of Crath­ie. The main route through the town is the A93 from Aber­deen to Perth through the Cairngorms Nation­al Park along the newly named tour­ist ​‘Snow Road’. The route to the north is the infam­ous B939 Cor­gaff to Tomin­toul road which is often the first road to be blocked by snow each year. The River Dee which runs along­side the town is the main reas­on for the settlement’s existence.

There are traces of man liv­ing along the River Dee for over eight thou­sand years with numer­ous Meso­lith­ic and Neo­lith­ic finds in the area. There are early set­tle­ments at Tul­lich and Crath­ie with rem­nants of Picts and early Chris­ti­ans. The town of Bal­later itself was foun­ded in the 19^th Cen­tury, one of the new planned towns built in the Vic­tori­an era. The nearby Pan­nanich Well had been attract­ing vis­it­ors for many years for its heal­ing prop­er­ties there­fore the loc­al landown­er took advant­age of the rising Scot­tish tour­ism industry and developed the vil­lage. Today, tour­ism remains the main eco­nomy of the area.

The rail­way first came to Bal­later in 1866. Wheth­er this fed the tour­ist boom, or simply took advant­age of the draw cre­ated by Queen Vic­tor­ia when she pur­chased Bal­mor­al in 1852, is debat­able. What is cer­tain is the reg­u­lar use made of the new rail­way by the area’s occa­sion­al roy­al res­id­ents and their guests and vis­it­ors. Much of the roy­alty of nine­teenth cen­tury Europe passed through Bal­later rail­way sta­tion at one time or anoth­er, includ­ing the Czar of Rus­sia in 1896. This ever more pres­ti­gi­ous traffic doubt­less led to the rebuild­ing of the sta­tion to a rather grander scale in 1886.

The rail­way ser­vice to Bal­later was sadly among many that were cut in 1966 but has remained in use as a vis­it­or centre with an exhib­i­tion record­ing the village’s roy­al con­nec­tion until 2015 when unfor­tu­nately, it was sig­ni­fic­antly dam­aged by a fire. Recon­struc­tion is ongo­ing, and the sta­tion returned to its former glory, is due to reopen in sum­mer 2018.

Many build­ings date from the Vic­tori­an era and the centre of the vil­lage is a con­ser­va­tion area. The main pub­lic facil­ity is the Vic­tor­ia and Albert Hall com­plex which

was con­struc­ted at the end of the 19^th cen­tury. The build­ing has four halls for pub­lic use and provides space for the pub­lic lib­rary and an office for the Cairngorms Nation­al Park Author­ity. Giv­en the age and gran­ite con­struc­tion of the build­ing a major refur­bish­ment is under­way how­ever sub­stan­tial invest­ment is required to com­plete this programme.

Since the demise of the rail­way the town has con­tin­ued to find its niche as a tour­ist des­tin­a­tion. How­ever, the con­sequence is that the main employ­ment in the area are lower income indus­tries of retail, hos­pit­al­ity, agri­cul­ture and pub­lic sector.

The onward trail through Roy­al Deeside extends west from Bal­later along both north and south sides of the River Dee. The older and nar­row­er road sticks to the south bank before passing the Roy­al Loch­nagar Dis­til­lery as it approaches Bal­mor­al. The main road runs along the north bank of the river. The two meet at the large car park that serves Bal­mor­al Castle and Crath­ie Church.

The pop­u­la­tion of the par­ish is approx­im­ately 2000 with 1200 houses, 10% of which are second homes. 30% of the pop­u­la­tion are over 65 years old and in rel­at­ively good health. Volun­teer­ing is com­mon with over 40 recre­ation clubs. Loc­al char­it­able trusts man­age facil­it­ies includ­ing the halls, Cara­van Park and the com­munity bus service.

Dur­ing Decem­ber 2015 the area was severely affected by Storm Frank. The heavy rain­fall caused flood­ing which affected most of the town and access routes. Hun­dreds of homes were evac­u­ated. The effects have been long last­ing, some homes and busi­nesses remain closed.

Both the fire and the flood set back the eco­nomy of the vil­lage with the loss of the cara­van park, the tour­ist centre and numer­ous busi­nesses. A pos­it­ive effect has been the real­isa­tion that the whole com­munity which worked well togeth­er under stress, could har­ness that energy and human assets to devel­op the com­munity. The first stage of that devel­op­ment is engage­ment with the com­munity and vis­it­ors to cre­ate this action plan.

Themes & Issues Com­munity Action Plan

Theme 1: Our Assets Bal­later and Crath­ie are for­tu­nate to have many assets that are treas­ured by the com­munity. Response to the Com­munity Action Plan con­sulta­tion high­lighted the need to pro­tect and expand on the assets and facil­it­ies already available.

The Vic­tor­ia and Albert Halls are a very import­ant cent­ral fea­ture to the com­munity. Par­tic­u­lar con­cern was the con­di­tion of the build­ings and the need to con­tin­ue to refur­bish, mod­ern­ise and improve the facil­it­ies. The trust­ees of the Halls have already applied for fund­ing for improve­ments and with the cre­ation of a part­ner­ship with oth­er key stake­hold­ers in the com­munity this can be developed. Wider uses of the halls facil­it­ies have been sug­ges­ted includ­ing sports facil­it­ies and envir­on­ment­ally sus­tain­able pro­jects. The part­ner­ship could explore the feas­ib­il­ity of fur­ther improve­ments, to devel­op a mar­ket­ing strategy and look if hire costs could be made more afford­able. It has also been sug­ges­ted that the halls could be used as a cent­ral com­munity hub.

The sur­vey showed con­cern across all age groups for the con­di­tion of Bal­later Vil­lage Green. Fol­low­ing cre­ation of a ​“Com­munity Action Team” the first action will be to carry out a town audit and work­ing with the exist­ing enhance­ment group pro­duce a feas­ib­il­ity study of all poten­tial areas of enhance­ment. Fol­low­ing the flood and recent eco­nom­ic down­turn there are sev­er­al prop­er­ties that remain empty and reduce the attract­ive­ness of the village.

Fur­ther con­sulta­tion with prop­erty own­ers has been sug­ges­ted to look at short term or altern­at­ive uses of these prop­er­ties as well as lower­ing rents to encour­age investment.

Devel­op­ment of the old school site was seen as a high pri­or­ity and cur­rent plans are being considered.

Paths, parks, sig­nage and gen­er­al infra­struc­ture improve­ments have been high­lighted and fol­low­ing the town audit, the Com­munity Action Team and rel­ev­ant key part­ners will identi­fy pri­or­it­ies for the short, medi­um and long term. The sur­vey high­lighted the repair of both foot­bridges at Poll­hol­lick and Cam­bus O’May as a pri­or­ity. An exist­ing group of key part­ners includ­ing Aber­deen­shire Coun­cil, CNPA, B & C Com­munity Coun­cil, BBA and BRD are cur­rently pro­gress­ing this.

The con­sulta­tion responses indic­ated that our biggest asset was the com­munity itself and the people with­in it. There was a sub­stan­tial response to the sur­vey and now it is hoped that suf­fi­cient par­ti­cip­a­tion from all sec­tors of the com­munity will get involved to take the actions forward.

WEL­COME

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Themes & Issues Com­munity Action Plan

Theme 2: The Vis­it­or Experience

Bal­later has become one of the most pop­u­lar tour­ist des­tin­a­tions on Roy­al Deeside, and in an eco­nom­ic con­text it is the spend­ing by tour­ists that has become a large factor in sup­port­ing the eco­nomy of the area, our key loc­al ser­vices and social facilities.

Tra­di­tion­ally, the vil­lage has always had a diverse range of shops, cafes, bike hire, res­taur­ants and hotels to cater for the needs of vis­it­ors and tour­ists, as well as hav­ing the lar­ger scale attrac­tions such as The Old Roy­al Sta­tion, Bal­mor­al Castle, Roy­al Loch­nagar Dis­til­lery and the annu­al High­land Games to name but a few. The sur­vey high­lighted that there is still a require­ment to main­tain these attrac­tions and to improve the vis­it­or exper­i­ence and ensure that the Bal­later and Crath­ie area is viewed as a place that can rep­res­ents the very best of Roy­al Deeside.

One area of improve­ment could be the sig­nage and means of com­mu­nic­a­tion with­in the vil­lage, and it is import­ant that vis­it­ors are able to find out about loc­al attrac­tions, events and loc­al ser­vices in an easy and clear manner.

The sur­vey sug­ges­ted improve­ments in pro­mot­ing exist­ing events and attrac­tions and expand­ing what is cur­rently avail­able. In par­tic­u­lar, it is thought that addi­tion­al enter­tain­ment events and cul­tur­al attrac­tions would be a way of improv­ing the vis­it­or exper­i­ence, as well as that of the loc­al people. It was thought that the pro­vi­sion of a cul­tur­al museum/​her­it­age centre would be pop­u­lar in the vil­lage, and this could be coupled with the already well sup­por­ted Bal­later Loc­al His­tory Group so that the loc­als can play an act­ive role in cre­at­ing and main­tain­ing a facil­ity that illus­trates Ballater’s rich heritage.

Lastly, there was a keen interest to explore the beau­ti­ful scenery and out­door activ­it­ies in the area, to increase guided tours and walks.

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Themes & Issues Com­munity Action Plan

Theme 3: Recre­ation & Social Life

There were 78 dif­fer­ent types of recre­ation­al and social facil­it­ies high­lighted in the sur­vey ran­ging across most ages and types of events. The greatest par­ti­cip­a­tion was in vil­lage groups, fol­lowed by sports groups and then less organ­ised social­ising in res­taur­ants and pubs. There was a recog­ni­tion that events and/​or facil­it­ies are lim­ited for older chil­dren and young adults, with sug­ges­tions of more music events rel­ev­ant to that age group. With­in oth­er age groups in gen­er­al it appears that there are suf­fi­cient social events but more should be done to com­mu­nic­ate and coordin­ate the events to ensure attend­ance is max­im­ised and events con­tin­ue. Sug­ges­tions of a new theatre/​cinema facil­ity were raised, along with the require­ment for a com­munity hub/​day centre.

Sports facil­it­ies are lim­ited in the area with the main indoor pub­lic loc­a­tion the V&A Halls with a recog­ni­tion that its multi-pur­pose usage pre­vents it from being a top- qual­ity sports facil­ity. There were numer­ous ideas on what facil­it­ies might bene­fit the com­munity from sports centre, swim­ming pool, soft play area, Astro­turf, skate/​bike park, bike/​motocross tracks, arti­fi­cial curl­ing rink, climb­ing wall, water sports centre.

Revamp­ing of the play park facil­it­ies was seen as high pri­or­ity with ques­tions raised on provid­ing play park facil­it­ies more cent­rally in Bal­later vil­lage e.g. on the Church Green. Any revamp of play park facil­it­ies should also con­sider an older age range than cur­rently provided for. A group is being formed to take this forward.

A num­ber of activ­ity & exer­cise classes were sug­ges­ted, some of those are already in exist­ence indic­at­ing the poten­tial bene­fit of a cent­ral­ised calendar/​events log for increased com­mu­nic­a­tion. The chal­lenge of sus­tain­ing exer­cise classes was also raised. A detailed audit of facil­it­ies & events/​classes is sug­ges­ted along with a fur­ther review of likely demand as an ini­tial step.

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Themes & Issues Com­munity Action Plan

Image Attrib­uted to i.telegraph.co.uk

Theme 4: Environment

Being situ­ated in a rur­al set­ting, it is unsur­pris­ing that the nat­ur­al envir­on­ment is greatly val­ued by the com­munity. By far the major­ity of respond­ents thought that it would be hard to improve our nat­ur­al sur­round­ings and that our build­ings and spaces were gen­er­ally well cared for, the con­sensus was that we should endeav­our to enhance what we have. A view expressed was that any flood defence meas­ures pro­posed should be designed to be sym­path­et­ic to the nat­ur­al landscape.

One area of con­cern was waste dis­pos­al in gen­er­al. Recyc­ling should be bet­ter encour­aged, and the com­munity bet­ter edu­cated to act respons­ibly regard­ing lit­ter and dog waste dis­pos­al. Anoth­er area high­lighted was the use of altern­at­ive energy sources and energy conservation.

Interest was expressed in a com­munity garden, orch­ard or allot­ments. Options for a poten­tial loc­a­tion and the form­a­tion of a group to take this for­ward is in an ini­tial stage.

Crath­ie com­munity expressed a feel­ing of isol­a­tion with the lack of a focal point in the area. It is hoped that a loc­al group can be encour­aged to take this up and bring for­ward ideas to address that feel­ing for fur­ther dis­cus­sion with­in the community.

Theme 5: Care Provision

With a great­er num­ber of res­id­ents over the age of 60, (39% in 2011, com­pared to the Scot­tish fig­ure of 23%), there was an expect­a­tion that this theme would have more issues. How­ever, it appears that the older people of the area are rel­at­ively healthy and do not require a high level of care. The main issues that were raised by the con­sulta­tion are the need for improved access and trans­port; sup­port for carers and require­ment for addi­tion­al day­time activities.

Dis­abled access was an issue around the town centre par­tic­u­larly for wheel­chairs along nar­row pave­ments and enter­ing build­ings. The lack of trans­port was also raised as the buses are not dis­abled friendly and the A2B ser­vice was lim­ited. There is a desire for more sup­port and res­pite for kin­ship carers. Although there appears to be a wide choice of activ­it­ies for older people, those who have a caring respons­ib­il­ity are restric­ted by their role. There were sug­ges­tions for a befriend­ing scheme or day care for people who are more depend­ent or vulnerable.

There were sug­ges­tions to devel­op a sim­il­ar ini­ti­at­ive to be formed in Brae­mar where the com­munity provide low level per­son­al care and handy­man ser­vice. There does not appear to be an exist­ing vol­un­tary group in Bal­later which co-ordin­ates activ­it­ies or ser­vices for the eld­erly who may look at provid­ing care. Giv­en the lim­ited response, fur­ther research may be required to identi­fy any unmet needs.

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Themes & Issues Com­munity Action Plan

Theme 6: Housing

There is unan­im­ity that the greatest issue is the per­ceived lack of ​‘afford­able’ hous­ing for rent or own­er­ship. This was more of a prob­lem for young people and retired older people who are look­ing to ​‘right size’, either look­ing for a first home or move from a large home to some­thing suit­able for a single person.

In a recent report by Aber­deen­shire Coun­cil there are 61 people on the social hous­ing wait­ing list for Bal­later. The sur­vey responses high­lighted that most employ­ment with­in Bal­later is lower income with­in hos­pit­al­ity, retail and agri­cul­ture, and that loc­al people are unable to afford to live in the town.

The issue is long stand­ing and is noted by both Aber­deen­shire Coun­cil and the CNPA. There is a pro­pos­al by Grampi­an Hous­ing to con­struct homes for rent in the plan­ning pro­cess. There is also a sug­ges­tion that a loc­al hous­ing trust could be formed to build homes for loc­al people. For the long term eco­nom­ic devel­op­ment of the com­munity this issue is a main pri­or­ity which will be hard for the com­munity to tackle alone.

Theme 7: Loc­al Communication

The Com­munity Action Plan Sur­vey has giv­en us a lot of inter­est­ing inform­a­tion about how Bal­later com­mu­nic­ates. Amaz­ingly 115 dif­fer­ent ways were lis­ted as means of com­mu­nic­a­tion. With ​“word of mouth” as most com­mon, with The Eagle, Face­book and noticeboards/​posters com­ing slightly behind whilst Alistair Cas­sie beat Twit­ter in the num­ber of mentions.

Bal­later has a vast range of Groups, Soci­et­ies, Busi­nesses, Sports Groups, Events, at the last count there were over 40 com­mit­tees of one shape or anoth­er and they have been all formed to ful­fil a need in the com­munity. Most of them express a bit of frus­tra­tion about how to pro­mote events, get new mem­bers, get any­one to help and find out what the oth­er 39 com­mit­tees are up to, etc.

To that end, we need to work out how best to com­mu­nic­ate with those who want to hear what is going on and to find the best meth­ods to do so. An audit of cur­rent user group’s com­mu­nic­a­tion meth­ods has been pro­posed which will hope­fully estab­lish a way for­ward. Once this has been done suit­able plat­forms and infra­struc­ture to be developed.

View from Crai­gendaroch Image attrib­uted to CNPA

Artists impres­sion of old school Image attrib­uted to RIAS​.org​.uk

eagle

A Bal­later & Crath­ie Com­munity Magazine no. 88 winter 2017 £1 where sold Mr Cas­sie, we salute you

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Themes & Issues Com­munity Action Plan

< BAL­LATER Q Bal­later Busi­ness Asso­ci­ation Bal­later Busi­ness Asso­ci­ation @BallaterBusinessAssociation Image attrib­uted to Pitch​up​.com

Theme 8: Busi­ness & Employment

Bal­later has a pre­dom­in­antly tour­ism focussed eco­nomy which dates back to the mid 1800’s and the Pan­nanich Wells Spa. The devel­op­ment of the Crai­gendar­roch Time­share Resort in 1985 provided the vil­lage with a sol­id source of tour­ism on which many busi­nesses have and con­tin­ue to prosper, how­ever the growth of the inter­net and chan­ging travel pat­terns of the tour­ism sec­tor has high­lighted a need for the busi­nesses to evolve and embrace changes.

The devel­op­ment of a sus­tain­able busi­ness plan which embraces the oppor­tun­it­ies that arise from new tech­no­lo­gies, changes in the vis­it­ors needs and is inclus­ive of those busi­nesses that are not dir­ectly involved in the tour­ism mar­ket, but without whom the loc­al eco­nomy can­not func­tion, needs to be developed.

Loc­al and Cent­ral Gov­ern­ment policy should include a focus on the rur­al eco­nomy and those agen­cies which have own­er­ship for these areas need to be engaged in any com­munity action plan, togeth­er with the private sec­tor, to ensure the deliv­ery of a sus­tain­able economy.

The redevel­op­ment of the Sta­tion Square is the cata­lyst for fur­ther devel­op­ment that requires a vil­lage wide focus to com­bine the her­it­age and cul­ture of a Vic­tori­an Vil­lage with 21^st Cen­tury, envir­on­ment­ally and socially respons­ible community.

Theme 9: Trans­port & Infrastructure

The Com­munity Action Plan sur­vey high­lighted sev­er­al mat­ters in rela­tion to trans­port, road and path net­works in the com­munity that require action. The main issues stressed were in con­nec­tion to bus-stops, park­ing, path and bridge repair as well as pub­lic trans­port routes.

In par­tic­u­lar, the bus stop situ­ated out­side the Co-op in the centre of Bal­later was a large area of con­cern. With the most pre­val­ent view it should be relo­cated. Dis­cus­sions have already star­ted with Aber­deen­shire Coun­cil on this matter.

Res­id­ents and vis­it­ors alike men­tioned that there was a lack of park­ing and elec­tric car char­ging facil­it­ies. Numer­ous responses indic­ated that a car park on the out­skirts of Bal­later would improve things or a traffic warden/​management sys­tem to improve park­ing prob­lems in the centre of Bal­later village.

Feed­back also sug­ges­ted that major path and bridge repairs are required to sev­er­al trails, espe­cially those dam­aged by the flood­ing. Sev­er­al responses thought that there was a lack of sig­nage on walk­ing routes. There is an exist­ing CNPA led ​‘Paths & Bridges’ group that is cur­rently tak­ing repairs and sig­nage forward.

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Themes & Issues Com­munity Action Plan

Theme 9: Trans­port & Infra­struc­ture cont.

Pub­lic trans­port was anoth­er area that the sur­vey high­lighted, responses implied that a more dir­ect route to Aber­deen from Crath­ie and Bal­later is sought and also indic­ated that res­id­ents found pub­lic trans­port costly and unreliable.

Lastly, con­cerns were raised regard­ing Wi-Fi cov­er­age and wheth­er the pro­vi­sion of Wi-Fi hot spots was feasible.

Fur­ther to the sur­vey and fol­low­ing the announce­ment of the ​“The Snow Road”, con­sid­er­a­tion should be giv­en to the safe access to the route dur­ing winter.

Action Plan

Stake­hold­ers and part­ners abbreviations

BCCC — Bal­later & Crath­ie Com­munity Coun­cil; BBA — Bal­later Busi­ness Asso­ci­ation; BRD — Bal­later (RD); AC — Aber­deen­shire Coun­cil; CNPA – Cairngorms Nation­al Park Author­ity; EG — Enhance­ment Group; V&A Trust — Vic­tor­ia & Albert Hall Trust; AVA — Aber­deen­shire Vol­un­tary Action; OAT — Out­door Access Trust; BVW — Bal­later Vic­tor­ia Week; HG — His­tory Group; WF — Winter Fest­iv­al; BHG — Bal­later High­land Games; WW — Walk­ing Week; HortSoc — Hor­ti­cul­tur­al Soci­ety; CHiP – Com­munity Health in Part­ner­ship; SDS — Skills Devel­op­ment Scot­land; CBP — Cairngorm Busi­ness Partnership

10525 Stage­coach SNIG OMO Wifi HOTSPOT

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Action Plan Com­munity Action Plan

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Issues Short-term actions Medi­um-Term actions Long-term actions Lead Key Partners

Theme 1: Our Assets

Vic­tor­ia & Albert Halls Could be util­ised more, com­plete refur­bish­ments to make more attract­ive, can be too expensive

Share CAP feed­back with Halls Trust Cre­ate a part­ner­ship to explore daily open­ing and util­isa­tion of halls as a com­munity hub

V&A Trust BCCC AC CNPA BBA BRD

Vil­lage Centre Poor con­di­tion of Bal­later Vil­lage Green and oth­er areas require improve­ment to the vil­lage centres

Cre­ate an Action Team to co-ordin­ate actions Share CAP feed­back with required Enhance­ment Group and dis­cuss wheth­er addi­tion­al sup­port is Carry out Town Audit and work to pro­duce a feas­ib­il­ity study of all poten­tial areas of enhance­ment to the vil­lage with exist­ing Enhance­ment Group Enhance empty prop­er­ties in short term pri­or to redevelopment

Pro­duce recom­mend­a­tions for vil­lage improve­ments Invest­ig­ate the fund­ing options for each enhance­ment pack­age and liaise with loc­al groups and with Aber­deen­shire Coun­cil to for­mu­late a plan for deliv­er­ing each of these enhance­ment pro­jects as fund­ing becomes avail­able Lower rents and rates to encour­age invest­ment Devel­op old school site Improve church green

For­mu­late a long-term plan for a rolling pro­gramme of enhance­ments to the vil­lage centre, and sur­round­ing area

BCCC BCCC/ Action Team

BBA BRD BCCC AC CNPA BCCC AC CNPA EG BBA BRD

Bet­ter care of Build­ing and Spaces Empty build­ings reduce attract­ive­ness of vil­lage environment

Volun­teers Great­er diversity of volun­teers required

Devel­op ways to increase num­ber and diversity of volunteers

BCCC/ Action Team

Com­munity Groups AVA AC

Action Plan Com­munity Action Plan

Theme 2: Vis­it­or Experience

Sig­nage Improve­ments to inform­a­tion points with­in village

Identi­fy­ing exist­ing com­mu­nic­a­tion meth­ods and for­mu­late improve­ments to sig­nage and com­mu­nic­a­tion with­in the vil­lage & area Tour­ist Inform­a­tion Centre to continue

Action Team

BCCC AC CNPA BBA BRD OAT

Enter­tain­ment & Activ­it­ies Pro­vi­sion of more enter­tain­ment events activities

Form a group that can identi­fy new events and activ­it­ies Form a group to liaise with the bod­ies in the area, to identi­fy pos­sible require­ments for events and estab­lish the poten­tial of related exist­ing cal­en­dar of entertainment

Cre­ate some new events or the enhance­ment of exist­ing events, and explore meth­ods of fund­ing to make these events viable Cre­ate some long term cul­tur­al & enter­tain­ment events through­out the year to com­pli­ment some of the suc­cess­ful exist­ing annu­al events

Pos­sible cre­ation of her­it­age museum facilities

Events Team BVW HG BBA VA WF BHG

Cre­ation of a cul­tur­al & museum/​her­it­age Centre

Instig­ate a feas­ib­il­ity study for the cre­ation and devel­op­ment of a cul­tur­al and her­it­age centre, or the enhance­ment of exist­ing facil­it­ies at the Station

Loin­muie Group Forest Pro­ject His­tory Group

Guided Tours of the Loc­al Areas

Form a group tasked with identi­fy­ing any exist­ing loc­al tour facil­it­ies and guided trips, and identi­fy new poten­tial tours of the area

Liaise with loc­al tour­ist groups and bod­ies and for­mu­late poten­tial new guided tour routes, as well as access­ing poten­tial tour com­pan­ies / guides who may be inter­ested to oper­ate these Pro­mote all exist­ing and new tours and guides to a wider audi­ence, thus encour­aging more vis­it­ors to the area

BBA

Forest Group His­tory Group Loin­muie Group

13

Action Plan Com­munity Action Plan

14

Issues Short-term actions Medi­um-Term actions Long-term actions Lead Key Partners

Theme 3: Recre­ation & Leisure

Sports & Leis­ure Facil­it­ies Insuf­fi­cient and out­dated poor-qual­ity sport­ing leis­ure facilities

Audit of exist­ing facil­it­ies and their usage & demand Identi­fy work group to improve exist­ing facil­it­ies Identi­fy work group to con­sider new facility

Devel­op feas­ib­il­ity & fund­ing pro­gramme for improve­ments to exist­ing facil­it­ies and pro­duce recom­mend­a­tion Identi­fy demand for new facil­ity and pro­duce recommendation

Action Team

AC CNPA BBA BRD V&A

Identi­fy work group to con­sider bike park or tracks

Devel­op feas­ib­il­ity & fund­ing pro­gramme for bike park or tracks and pro­duce recommendation

Action Team

AC CNPA BBA BRD V&A

Identi­fy work group to con­sider con­struc­tion of a skatepark

Devel­op feas­ib­il­ity & fund­ing pro­gramme for skate­park and pro­duce recommendation

Action Team

AC CNPA BBA BRD V&A

Identi­fy lead work­group to devel­op feas­ib­il­ity and fund­ing pro­gramme identi­fy demand/​need for improve­ments to play­park and

Pro­duce recom­mend­a­tion for play park and seek part­ners for funding

Play­park Group

AC CNPA BRD BCCC BHG

Events Insuf­fi­cient events going on. Events clash and poor attendance

Identi­fy lead work­group to identi­fy demand for events and research what oth­er areas do. Devel­op a com­mu­nic­a­tion plan and cent­ral calendar

Con­sider wheth­er a paid events coordin­at­or is bene­fi­cial and feasible.

Events Team

BVW BRD BHG BCCC V&A BBA Chiels WF WW &

Action Plan Com­munity Action Plan

Theme 4: Environment

Improv­ing Sus­tain­ab­il­ity Recyc­ling waste could be bet­ter encour­aged Lack of facil­it­ies where loc­al pro­duce could be grown and sold back to the com­munity. envir­on­ment free from unsightly rub­bish. with emphas­is on self- help to keep our

Form a group to estab­lish a com­munity garden Seek loc­al cham­pi­ons for com­munity clean up Recycle more, edu­cate pop­u­la­tion Altern­at­ive energy sources, edu­cate re energy savings

Com­munity garden, orch­ard, straw­berry beds, flower beds, micro farm Swap shop for excess garden pro­duce, out­let for loc­al artis­ans Encour­age cyc­ling, reduce car usage

Action Team

CNPA BBA BRD OAT BCCC AC

Improv­ing Nat­ur­al Sur­round­ings Improve our loc­al sur­round­ings and pre­serve what we have.

Under­take a Vil­lage Audit and devel­op actions for the future Request that flood defences blend with land­scape Improve hill top view­points Improve rela­tion­ships with Estates Reduce isol­a­tion for Crath­ie, focal point for area

Action Team

CNPA tates AC BCCC Loc­al Es-

Lack of bins for dog waste was high- lighted.

Install more dog bins

Con­sider Hut on Green con­ver­ted to café & pave­ment café’s

Action Team

Forest Pro­ject Loin­muie Group His­tory Group

Theme 5: Care

Care Pro­vi­sion Need for more carers or res­pite care for eld­erly and disabled

Feed­back the sur­vey responses to the Health and Social Care Part­ner­ship Sup­port the devel­op­ment of the Young at Heart Group High­light the issue to the Loc­al stake­hold­er groups such as K&D Learn­ing Part­ner­ship and oth­er Befrienders Identi­fy a loc­al group that could co-ordin­ate loc­al activ­it­ies and befriend­ing scheme if needed

Explore the devel­op­ment of a com­munity led care scheme sim­il­ar to Brae­mar Care Ini­ti­at­ive Devel­op a coordin­ated approach to exist­ing activ­it­ies and devel­ops new if required group co-ordin­ates and pro­motes Devel­op a ser­vice to provide meals or lunch clubs

artdeeside young@he Over 50’s Churches CHIP Evergreens

15

Action Plan Com­munity Action Plan

16

Issues Short-term actions Medi­um-Term actions Long-term actions Lead Key Partners

Theme 6: Housing

Hous­ing Insuf­fi­cient afford­able housing

Identi­fy lead on BCCC & estab­lish a sub-group Con­tin­ue to act­ively lobby CNPA. Feed into loc­al Dev Plan Estab­lish a pro­cess to mon­it­or a hous­ing demand and incor­por­ate into CC minutes

Invest­ig­ate and estab­lish loc­al hous­ing trust if feasible

BCCC

CNPA BRD BBA AC Loc­al Est

Care Hous­ing Need for suit­able hous­ing for eld­erly and people with dis­ab­il­it­ies Need for early inter­ven­tion responses to allow people to stay in their own homes

Ensure in future Loc­al Devel­op­ment Plan that the issue is included the CNPA Main Issues Report and Look to devel­op a group that can identi­fy issues that reduce people’s abil­ity to remain in their homes Devel­op a pro­ject group to provide simple repairs and house­hold chores

Theme 7: Loc­al Communication

Shar­ing inform­a­tion and work­ing togeth­er Improved shar­ing of loc­al inform­a­tion, for groups, activ­it­ies, busi­nesses and tour­ism; work­ing together

Audit Cur­rent com­mu­nic­a­tion meth­ods and identi­fy user groups Feed­back responses to the Hous­ing Action Stake­hold­ers Estab­lish Vil­lage AGM for reg­u­lar cross group com­mu­nic­a­tion Devel­op IT train­ing for the community

BBA BCCC BRD

All Bal­later Groups AC

Need for a cent­ral point for shar­ing information

Estab­lish work­ing group Find a suit­able digit­al plat­form which all user groups can use/​educate/​com­bine Com­munity Com­mu­nic­a­tions Person/​Office/​Equipment Funding/​support/​more contribution/​future for the Eagle Funding/​support/​more contribution/​future for the Eagle Find a way of using ​“word of mouth” bet­ter Online Calendar

BRD BBA BCCC CNPA V&A Halls All Bal­later Eagle Groups Vil­lage Digit­al Dis­play Board Churches

Action Plan Com­munity Action Plan

Theme 8: Busi­ness & Employment

Lower Busi­ness Rates A hurdle for new and exist­ing businesses.

The issue is a legis­lat­ive one that can only be addressed by nation­al policy. A united and struc­tured approach com­munit­ies is required which is aligned with oth­er Lobby loc­al and nation­al politicians

BBA

BCCC AC CNPA

Lower Busi­ness Prop­erty Rents- A hurdle to new and exist­ing busi­nesses. How­ever, the prop­erty own­ers in the vil­lage are busi­ness people in their own right are independent.

An open and col­lab­or­at­ive dia­logue is required to under­stand their needs and how these can be met sus­tain­ab­il­ity while assist­ing busi­nesses to achieve

BBA

BCCC

Mar­ket­ing of Vil­lage iden­tity of the vil­lage and pro­mote everything that can be experienced.

Identi­fy ways in which to pro­mote busi­nesses. Intro­duce ment­or­ing ser­vices for exist­ing and new busi­nesses Con­sider a quarterly busi­ness magazine like the Eagle Form a group with the neces­sary mar­ket­ing skills Under­take Vil­lage Audit and devel­op actions for the future

Ini­ti­ate and meas­ure mar­ket­ing plan

BBA

BBA

RRRRR AC CNPA BRD VA Busi­ness Eagle Team Gateway

Assist­ance for New Busi­nesses — New busi­ness start-ups need a lot of sup­port to get them­selves estab­lished in the early years.

Increase access to start-up funding

Access to afford­able housing.

BBA

Sup­port with Find­ing Employ­ment There are mem­bers of the com­munity who require some assist­ance find­ing employment.

Identi­fy train­ing needs and how these can be delivered. This also relates to estab­lished busi­nesses and sup­port in find­ing employ­ment Cre­ate an aven­ue to advert­ise jobs vacant and being sought, intro­duce careers ser­vices and skills refresh­er groups.

BBA

AHR CNPA SDS AC

17

Action Plan Com­munity Action Plan

18

Issues Short-term actions Medi­um-Term actions Long-term actions Lead Key Partners

Theme 9: Trans­port­a­tion & Infrastructure

Paths and Bridges — Paths and bridges in major need of repair. Lack of know­ledge as to who looks after what. Lack of sig­nage. Lack of Paths and Bridges group unknown to edu­ca­tion in using paths respons­ibly. Loc­al community.

Identi­fy or con­firm who is respons­ible for Paths and Bridges Once iden­ti­fied make known to the com­munity who is respons­ible for what areas and how to get in touch with them Identi­fy the fre­quent users of these paths and routes e.g. walk­ing groups / Dog walk­ers etc Audit of key path net­works and sig­nage that require bet­ter record inform­a­tion Identi­fy areas of Bal­later and Crath­ie Ensure that these issues are included in the Town Audit.

Feed­back the responses to the Path Work­ing Group Feed­back the responses to the Traffic Review Area Man­age­ment Team and Identi­fy vari­ous pack­ages of repair/​enhance­ment work to the exist­ing bridges & paths and invest­ig­ate fund­ing pos­sib­il­it­ies to carry these out Identi­fy fund­ing for new sig­nage in com­munity Identi­fy con­tacts and groups which can help towards bridge and foot path main­ten­ance Cre­ate and estab­lish fund­ing for Inform­a­tion leaf­lets Identi­fy loc­al people that may be will­ing to help with path repairs Path and Bridges group to provide rules and edu­ca­tion towards using routes safely towards walk­ers and cyclists

Ensure that all future path­ways and cycle paths are com­pli­ant Cre­ation of new paths in the area, in con­junc­tion with loc­al landown­ers and loc­al walking/​cycling groups etc

BCCC Paths & Bridges Group

BCCC CNPA BRD AC BBA Loc­al Estates Vis­it Scotland

Improve access and trans­port for eld­erly and people with disabilities.

Identi­fy paths that require to be upgraded to provide access for people with dis­ab­il­it­ies Pro­mote the use of exist­ing com­munity buses to access activ­it­ies and reduce the feel­ing of isolation

CNPA OAT