Grantown-on-Spey Community Action Plan 2025

Cairngorms Nation­al Park Pàirc Nàiseanta a’ Mhon­aidh Ruaidh

Grant­own-on-Spey Com­munity Action Plan: Look­ing to 2030

Com­piled spring 2025

Sup­por­ted by Grant­own & Vicin­ity Com­munity Council

Grant­own YM Com­munity Centre Grant­own Ini­ti­at­ive The Grant­own Soci­ety Grant­own Museum and Her­it­age Trust Grant­own Busi­ness Asso­ci­ation Anagach Woods Trust

Grant­own-on-Spey and Dul­nain Bridge Church Sus­tain­able Strathspey

Facil­it­ated by Vol­un­tary Action in Badenoch and Strath­spey VABS Grant­own-on-Spey Com­munity Action Plan: Look­ing to 2030 Page 1 of 33

Con­tents

1. Sum­mary 3
2. The Com­munity 4
3. The Pro­cess 8
4. Com­munity Engage­ment 11
5. Sur­vey Responses 11
6. Action Plan – what the com­munity wants 12
7. Spa­tial Pri­or­it­ies 20
8. Next Steps 25
9. Thanks & Acknow­ledge­ments 27
10. Appen­dices 28 i. What do you like about liv­ing in Grant­own? ii. What changes would you like to see for Grant­own by 2030? iii. What new/​existing pro­jects would you like to see hap­pen­ing in the community?

Grant­own-on-Spey Com­munity Action Plan: Look­ing to 2030 Page 2 of 33

1. Sum­mary In spring 2025, many of the key Grant­own com­munity organ­isa­tions (Grant­own & Vicin­ity Com­munity Coun­cil, Grant­own YM Com­munity Centre, Grant­own Ini­ti­at­ive, Grant­own Soci­ety, Grant­own Museum, Grant­own Busi­ness Asso­ci­ation, Anagach Woods Trust Grant­own-on-Spey and Dul­nain Bridge Church, Sus­tain­able Strath­spey) decided that they wished to carry out a review of the com­munity action plan for the town, which had been pre­vi­ously under­taken in 2014. The pur­pose of revis­it­ing and updat­ing the plan was primar­ily aimed at giv­ing these Grant­own organ­isa­tions, along with a range of oth­er groups in the com­munity, plus pub­lic and private sec­tor stake­hold­ers, a strong man­date to move for­ward with tack­ling cur­rent and emer­ging issues, as well as lead­ing on new com­munity pro­jects, iden­ti­fied as sug­ges­tions by the res­id­ents of Grant­own dur­ing the pro­cess in early 2025.

With sup­port from Vol­un­tary Action in Badenoch & Strath­spey, the com­munity-led steer­ing group, com­pris­ing rep­res­ent­a­tion from the organ­isa­tions lis­ted above, agreed that they would seek the views of loc­al res­id­ents on a num­ber of key ques­tions. This was achieved via a sur­vey which was per­son­ally delivered to every house­hold by volun­teers — as a paper copy, which was also access­ible online. In addi­tion, the ques­tions con­tained in the sur­vey were also raised with some tar­geted groups that were iden­ti­fied as being harder to get accurate/​quality inform­a­tion from. This was under­taken by mem­bers of the steer­ing group going out with the sur­vey ques­tions to places and events where it was con­sidered that indi­vidu­als or groups fall­ing into this cat­egory might be approached.

The pro­cess was entitled Grant­own-on-Spey Com­munity Action Plan: Look­ing to 2030. In pre­vi­ous action plan­ning car­ried out by the com­munity, the focus was on activ­ity mostly with a 2 – 3 year timespan. Giv­en the increased need now to also focus on longer-term goals, par­tic­u­larly in rela­tion to the envir­on­ment and the eco­nomy, res­id­ents and busi­nesses were asked to con­sider where they and the com­munity wanted to be by 2030, so gen­er­at­ing a more exten­ded set of plans and aspirations.

Examples of recent suc­cesses in Grant­own with com­munity pro­jects and action plan­ning include: • YM Com­munity Centre cinema • Town sig­nage & inform­a­tion posts • Estab­lish­ing the Grant­own Hub • Anagach Woods volun­teer pro­gramme & bike skills area • Square improve­ments: new trees & benches • Sol­ar pan­els for Inver­al­lan • Reopen­ing Burn­field Toi­lets • Fest­ive lights dis­play • Dulaig play park • Com­munity stor­age unit • Events: Greentown Show, Hog­manay, Strath­fest, Truck­fest etc Grant­own-on-Spey Com­munity Action Plan: Look­ing to 2030 Page 3 of 33

• Museum exhib­i­tions To help add to these achieve­ments, res­id­ents were encour­aged to take part in the com­munity action plan review in 2025. How­ever, this time round people were invited to think not only about what might be achieved togeth­er, but that the pro­jects the town was being asked to con­sider, would be ones that would help Grant­own devel­op a more sus­tain­able future. This is set against a back­drop of life post-lock­downs, the chal­lenge of find­ing new volun­teers, plus the chan­ging eco­nom­ic and cli­mate situ­ation we find ourselves in.

The Grant­own-on-Spey com­munity action plan­ning pro­cess adhered to the Nation­al Stand­ards for Com­munity Engage­ment to ensure all of the fol­low­ing ele­ments were fully taken into account dur­ing the com­munity-led ini­ti­at­ive: Impact, Com­mu­nic­a­tion, Meth­ods, Work­ing togeth­er, Plan­ning, Sup­port and Inclusion.

See Sec­tion 4. Com­munity Engage­ment for fur­ther details on the 7 Standards.

1. The Com­munity Grant­own-on-Spey is a charm­ing and tra­di­tion­al town, nestled in the Scot­tish High­lands in the his­tor­ic county of Moray, although now part of the High­land Coun­cil loc­al author­ity area. It is loc­ated on a low plat­eau close to the river Spey at the north­ern edge of the Cairngorm moun­tains and sits with­in the north-west­ern part of the Cairngorms Nation­al Park, sur­roun­ded by forests, rivers and moun­tains. The Grant­own-on-Spey and Vicin­ity Com­munity Coun­cil area extends bey­ond the town of Grant­own to include Glen­beg, Dreg­gie, Castle Grant and Dava.

Grant­own-on-Spey and Vicin­ity Com­munity Coun­cil Area T North ロシ B9007 Dava ler­beg Castle Grant B9102 Grant­own-on-Spey pey­bridge Crag­gan 938 Dul­nain B Grant­own-on-Spey Com­munity Action Plan: Look­ing to 2030 95 Crom­dale Kilo­metres 5 Page 4 of 33

Grant­own-on-Spey (Scot­tish Gael­ic: Baile nan Granndach, mean­ing Town of the Grants) was foun­ded in 1765 as a planned set­tle­ment dur­ing the Scot­tish Enlight­en­ment and was ori­gin­ally called simply Grant­own after Sir James Grant. The addi­tion ​‘on Spey’ was added by the burgh coun­cil in 1898. It is char­ac­ter­ised by its Geor­gi­an and Vic­tori­an her­it­age and town lay­out with wide tree-lined streets, tra­di­tion­al stone build­ings and a cent­ral square.

Grant­own still retains a strong Vic­tori­an char­ac­ter and has a peace­ful, wel­com­ing atmo­sphere. It has sev­er­al lis­ted 18^th and 19^th cen­tury build­ings, which sit with­in its recog­nised Con­ser­va­tion Area with an up-to-date Con­ser­va­tion Area Man­age­ment Plan.

The town serves as a region­al centre for tour­ism and ser­vices in the Strath­spey region. His­tor­ic churches and bridges reflect the archi­tec­tur­al charm of the area and it has been twinned for many years with Notre-Dame-de-Monts in the Vendée, France. Grant­own is a great place to work, live in and vis­it with plenty of out­door space, an attract­ive Square, a High Street full of inde­pend­ent shops, loc­al super­mar­kets, health centre, swim­ming pool and leis­ure centre, museum, hotels, guest houses, B&Bs, self-cater­ing prop­er­ties, and a cara­van park, many of which are award-winning!

The town lies close to the River Spey, one of Scotland’s most fam­ous rivers, espe­cially known for sal­mon fish­ing and Spey­side whisky. The Spey is a hub for out­door activ­it­ies like fly fish­ing, kayak­ing and river­side walks. Grant­own is a gate­way to the Cairngorms, mak­ing it a great base for hik­ing, cyc­ling, bird­watch­ing and wild­life spot­ting — red squir­rels, ospreys and caper­cail­lies inhab­it the area. Grant­own is a haven for nature lov­ers and the com­munity-owned Anagach Woods right next to the town, offer miles of scen­ic trails ideal for walk­ing, bik­ing and exploring.

The cap­it­al of Strath­spey, the town is near sev­er­al world-renowned whisky dis­til­ler­ies and is a gate­way to the Spey­side Malt Whisky Trail. Its own loc­al dis­til­lery — the Cairn dis­til­lery of Gor­don and MacPhail — opened in 2022 right on the edge of the town. Loc­al shops and cafés reflect High­land hos­pit­al­ity and there are numer­ous fest­ivals and events through­out the year, includ­ing Hog­manay in the Square, Thun­der in the Glens (Grant­own), Strath­fest, and Fid­dler of Strath­spey music fest­ivals, Greentown Show and the Christ­mas Torch­light pro­ces­sion with Santa and his real-life reindeer. Grant­own also boasts a fant­ast­ic dis­play of Christ­mas lights, to many, the best in the area.

Liv­ing in Grant­own-on-Spey offers a peace­ful, nature-con­nec­ted life­style in one of the most scen­ic parts of the Scot­tish High­lands. It is ideal for those who appre­ci­ate small-town life, out­door adven­tures and a strong sense of loc­al community.

Grant­own Com­munity Organ­isa­tions There are a sig­ni­fic­ant num­ber of com­munity organisations/​groups which work for the bene­fit of the com­munity and are almost entirely run by volun­teers. These include: Grant­own & Vicin­ity Com­munity Coun­cil, Grant­own YM Com­munity Centre, Grant­own Ini­ti­at­ive, The Grant­own Soci­ety, The Grant­own Museum and Her­it­age Trust, Grant­own Grant­own-on-Spey Com­munity Action Plan: Look­ing to 2030 Page 5 of 33

Busi­ness Asso­ci­ation, Anagach Woods Trust, Sus­tain­able Strath­spey, Grant­own-on-Spey and Dul­nain Bridge Church, and oth­er churches in the town.

Grant­own Com­munity-Owned/Leased Assets Grant­own-on-Spey YM Com­munity Centre Burn­field Toi­lets Anagach Woods Com­munity stor­age facil­ity Grant­own Museum Town flower dis­plays Grant­own Hub Town entrance signs Strath­spey Thistle FC Flag­pole in the Square Grant­own Bowl­ing Club High St/​Square fin­ger­posts and notice­boards Grant­own Ten­nis Club Her­it­age plaque Grant­own Golf Club Strath­spey Curl­ing Club

Com­mon Good Com­mon good refers to his­tor­ic assets, includ­ing land and build­ings, that once belonged to the former Burgh of Grantown-on-Spey.

The Com­mon Good Act of 1491 estab­lished a strong leg­al status for these lands and required their man­age­ment for the bene­fit of the com­munity, a law that still stands today. In 1694 Grant­own was made into a Burgh of Regal­ity for Ludovick Grant by King Wil­li­am and Queen Mary. It then became a Police Burgh in 1898. After the dis­sol­u­tion of the Burgh, the assets held by the former Burgh coun­cil are held as Com­mon Good by the loc­al author­ity, The High­land Coun­cil, who holds these assets on behalf of the com­munity to provide pub­lic benefit.

• The Square (includ­ing area of orna­ment­al garden oppos­ite the Court House and adja­cent to the Garth Hotel) • High Street toi­lets and car park (also includes an area of amen­ity land between the car park bound­ary and the bound­ary of the prop­erty known as The Sheil­ing) • Mossie Road play park • Grant­own War Memori­al • Regal­ity Cross • Grant­own Clock & Bell • Desk Stand • Prov­ost Chair

Loc­al Busi­nesses A sig­ni­fic­ant num­ber of loc­al busi­nesses oper­ate across many dif­fer­ent sec­tors in the town includ­ing retail, food and drink sup­pli­ers, arts & crafts, accom­mod­a­tion and ser­vices. There are also out­door activ­it­ies on offer like golf and canoe­ing. Grant­own is pop­u­lar with tour­ists seek­ing a tran­quil High­land exper­i­ence with a good mix of gues­t­houses, hotels and self- Grant­own-on-Spey Com­munity Action Plan: Look­ing to 2030 Page 6 of 33

cater­ing cot­tages, many with tra­di­tion­al High­land char­ac­ter. The Indus­tri­al Estate at the south of the town is also home to vari­ous, diverse businesses.

Pre­vi­ous Com­munity Plans There have been sev­er­al pre­vi­ous plans and strategies developed by the com­munity of Grant­own. These include, but are not lim­ited to, the fol­low­ing plans which can be found online: • Our Com­munity — A Way For­ward Action Plan (2008) • Grant­own on Spey Action Plan (2016) • The Grant­own Com­pass (2018) Grant­own-on-Spey Com­munity Action Plan: Look­ing to 2030 Page 7 of 33

1. The Pro­cess The Grant­own com­munity con­sulta­tion peri­od ran from Feb­ru­ary to April 2025 and dur­ing this time, the way in which the com­munity action plan­ning pro­cess was car­ried out, broadly fell into four stages. These were: 1) Gath­er­ing Inform­a­tion 2) Data Sort­ing and Col­la­tion 3) Involving People & Refin­ing Ideas 4) Com­munity Action Plan (CAP) doc­u­ment production

With­in the four stages of the pro­cess, the steer­ing group asked the fol­low­ing ques­tions: Gath­er­ing Information

• What do we want to know?
• What ques­tions will we ask?
• What meth­ods will we use?
• How will we do it?

Data Sort­ing

• What does it involve?
• How will we do it?
• Who will do / assist with this?
• In what form will we present it back to the community?

Involving People & Refin­ing Ideas

• What stake­hold­er groups do we need to involve?
• How (& where) will we present the inform­a­tion gathered so far?
• How will people in the com­munity help refine the information?
• Who will assist with this?

CAP doc­u­ment production

• What will it include?
• Who will put it together?
• How will it be presen­ted to the community?
• What hap­pens to it next?

In addi­tion, the steer­ing group also con­sidered what times­cales and key dates they wanted to aim for and how they would deal with com­mu­nic­a­tions & pub­li­city — ensur­ing that these ele­ments were robust, so the pro­cess was as inclus­ive as it could be.

The fifth and most cru­cial stage of the whole action plan­ning ini­ti­at­ive, involves deliv­ery of the plan by the Grant­own com­munity and oth­er stake­hold­ers. Essen­tially this deals with ques­tions such as:

• Who will take respons­ib­il­ity for the CAP?
• How will it be driv­en forward?
• How will it be mon­itored and eval­u­ated? Grant­own-on-Spey Com­munity Action Plan: Look­ing to 2030 Page 8 of 33

There is more detail on how this can be achieved in Sec­tion 8. Next Steps.

Gath­er­ing Inform­a­tion There was dis­cus­sion about the nature and pre­cise word­ing of ques­tions in the sur­vey, as the steer­ing group wanted to revis­it ques­tions asked in pre­vi­ous com­munity-led action plan­ning, to re-estab­lish what spe­cif­ic things people liked about Grant­own-on-Spey and wanted to keep in the com­munity. They also wished to encour­age the com­munity to look to a 5 to 10- year hori­zon, and con­sider how it might tackle some of the trick­i­er issues such as care for the envir­on­ment, sup­port­ing young­er and older res­id­ents, employ­ab­il­ity and trans­port. So ques­tions were employed which were broadly framed, to allow respon­ders to bring up a wide range of issues and ideas without being led.

The paper ver­sion covered just two sides of A4 and the sur­vey asked 3 questions:

1) What do you like about liv­ing in Grantown?

2) What changes would you like to see for Grant­own by 2030? (Per­haps con­sider how as indi­vidu­als, or as a com­munity, we can improve the envir­on­ment, address the cli­mate emer­gency, devel­op our loc­al eco­nomy, increase social and leis­ure oppor­tun­it­ies and widen loc­al cul­tur­al exper­i­ences) If you could improve just ONE of these things, what would it be?

3) Are there any new pro­jects (large or small) that you would like to see hap­pen­ing in the com­munity? Plus any pro­jects, clubs or organ­isa­tions that you wouldn’t want to lose?

The sur­vey also asked: Would you be will­ing to get involved in any pro­jects you are inter­ested in? YES / NO If Yes, please provide con­tact details.

This last addi­tion­al ques­tion was included to try to encour­age more people to come for­ward to help with pro­jects that were of par­tic­u­lar interest to them, in order to coun­ter­act the reduc­tion in volun­teer num­bers, that had come about in recent years and espe­cially fol­low­ing the ²⁰²⁰⁄₂₁ pan­dem­ic lockdowns.

It was decided that all 1450 house­holds would receive a paper copy of the sur­vey through their let­ter­box and this was car­ried out by a team of com­munity volun­teers, who over a peri­od of a few days, delivered cop­ies out into all areas of the com­munity. This meth­od helped to deliv­er an inclus­ive pro­cess of com­munity engage­ment, where every­one had the oppor­tun­ity to respond to the sur­vey if they wished and they were able to do this via hard copy, which could be depos­ited back into one of the cent­rally loc­ated sur­vey boxes, or online via QR code which enabled the com­munity to access the sur­vey on a range of devices. Grant­own-on-Spey Com­munity Action Plan: Look­ing to 2030 Page 9 of 33

Data Sort­ing All of the responses came in either online via Sur­vey Mon­key, by hard copy into CAP-branded boxes left at vari­ous loc­a­tions in the town, or from inform­a­tion col­lated at events put on for spe­cif­ic groups in the com­munity. Sur­veys were returned from the community’s school pupils and these responses high­lighted the ideas and opin­ions of young people liv­ing in the area.

Every com­ment was recor­ded and cat­egor­ised, so that every­one would be able to ​‘see’ their voice in the dis­played res­ults. The inform­a­tion was sor­ted into 5 main themes: Social, Envir­on­ment­al, Eco­nom­ic, Young People and Cul­tur­al and the num­ber of times a par­tic­u­lar issue or idea was men­tioned was noted, so sug­ges­tions could rise to the top of the lists in each themed category.

These lists were then pre­pared for dis­play (see Sec­tion 6. Action Plan – what the com­munity wants and Sec­tion 10. Appen­dices), so every mem­ber of the com­munity could see what had been said and get involved in the next stage, when ideas were refined and solu­tions to issues sought.

Involving People & Refin­ing Ideas The pro­cess cul­min­ated in the Grant­own-on-Spey Big Con­ver­sa­tion, which took place on a Fri­day and Sat­urday in April 2025 at the Grant­own YM Com­munity Centre. At this drop in event, the res­ults were offered back to the com­munity and time giv­en for reflec­tion and dis­cus­sion around the top­ics. Dur­ing the event, all of the res­id­ents who atten­ded were asked to con­sider the top sug­ges­tions that had been iden­ti­fied from the pro­cess under the head­ings of:

• A Socially Con­nec­ted Community
• A Cli­mate Con­scious Community
• An Eco­nom­ic­ally Thriv­ing Community
• Sup­port­ing Our Young People
• A Cul­tur­ally Vibrant Community

They were asked to look at those areas of par­tic­u­lar interest to them and write on action plan tem­plates aimed at refin­ing ideas by look­ing at ques­tions such as: What spe­cif­ic action needs to be taken to achieve this pri­or­ity and Who needs to be involved?

CAP doc­u­ment pro­duc­tion All of the com­ments and pieces of inform­a­tion giv­en by the pub­lic dur­ing the Grant­own-on- Spey Big Con­ver­sa­tion event were col­lec­ted and incor­por­ated into this report, which now belongs to the Grant­own com­munity and will be used as the basis for ongo­ing com­munity devel­op­ment over the next 5 – 8 years, with sup­port from the community’s organ­isa­tions and all oth­er rel­ev­ant stake­hold­ers from the pub­lic, private and vol­un­tary sector.

Also a list of all those who came for­ward offer­ing to volun­teer their help with cer­tain pro­jects was com­piled and will be held by the team tak­ing the action plan for­ward (referred to as Grant­own For­um for the pur­poses of this report). Grant­own-on-Spey Com­munity Action Plan: Look­ing to 2030 Page 10 of 33

1. Com­munity Engagement

The Nation­al Stand­ards for Com­munity Engage­ment are good-prac­tice prin­ciples designed to improve and guide the pro­cess of com­munity engagement.

They are clear prin­ciples that describe the main ele­ments of effect­ive com­munity engage­ment. They provide detailed per­form­ance state­ments that every­one involved can use to achieve the highest qual­ity res­ults and the greatest impact.

The stand­ards are par­tic­u­larly help­ful for com­munit­ies — their organisations

Inclu­sion We will identi­fy and involve the people and organ­isa­tions that are affected by the focus of the engage­ment. Com­mu­nic­a­tion We will com­mu­nic­ate clearly and reg­u­larly with the people, organ­isa­tions and com­munit­ies affected by the engage­ment. Sup­port We will identi­fy and over­come any bar­ri­ers to par­ti­cip­a­tion. Impact We will assess the impact of the engage­ment and use what has been learned to improve our future com­munity engage­ment. Plan­ning There is a clear pur­pose for the engage­ment, which is based on a shared under­stand­ing of com­munity needs and ambi­tions. Meth­ods We will use meth­ods of engage­ment that are fit for purpose.

Work­ing Togeth­er We will work effect­ively togeth­er to achieve the aims of the engagement.

and groups — to help them involve their mem­bers or the wider com­munity in shap­ing the ser­vices and changes they need, and to make sure they accur­ately rep­res­ent mem­bers’ or the community’s views in the decision-mak­ing processes.

1. Sur­vey Responses Thanks go to the res­id­ents and busi­nesses in Grant­own-on-Spey who con­trib­uted so mean­ing­fully and thought­fully to the com­munity sur­vey. 387 responses were received, rep­res­ent­ing 26% of the house­holds in the com­munity and includes responses from school age res­id­ents. Also, thanks go to the people who atten­ded the Big Con­ver­sa­tion drop-in event at the YM Com­munity Centre over the two days.

For a full list of what came out of the sur­vey responses, see Sec­tion 10. Appen­dices (list of appen­dices below). These show all com­ments made by the com­munity in answer to the sur­vey ques­tions, pri­or­it­ised in order of the num­ber of people who men­tioned them.

Appendix I What do you like about liv­ing in Grant­own? Appendix ii What changes would you like to see for Grant­own by 2030? Appendix iii What new/​existing pro­jects would you like to see hap­pen­ing in the com­munity? Grant­own-on-Spey Com­munity Action Plan: Look­ing to 2030 Page 11 of 33

1. Action Plan – what the com­munity wants Pro­ject Themes and Sug­ges­tions The CAP sets out the community’s vis­ion for the longer term (up to 10 years) with detailed sug­ges­tions and pos­sible actions shown in the rel­ev­ant tables and text below. These have been cat­egor­ised across 5 spe­cified themes:
   • A Socially Con­nec­ted Community
   • A Cli­mate Con­scious Community
   • An Eco­nom­ic­ally Thriv­ing Community
   • Sup­port­ing Our Young People
   • A Cul­tur­ally Vibrant Community

These themes, adap­ted from Place Plan­ning guidelines, have been used in this Com­munity Action Plan to cat­egor­ise the community’s sug­ges­tions. These themes demon­strate the breadth and strength of com­munity ambi­tion, and provide a tool to struc­ture the community’s vis­ion, group­ing related pro­jects togeth­er across key aren­as of com­munity life: the social, envir­on­ment­al, eco­nom­ic, young people and cultural.

It is import­ant to note that some of the pro­ject out­comes will be a ​“quick win” where­as oth­ers will some­times take sig­ni­fic­antly more time to plan and execute. To achieve res­ults and out­comes in the short, medium/​longer term each high pri­or­ity project/​outcome will have its own activ­ity plan which will be Spe­cif­ic, Meas­ur­able, Achiev­able, Real­ist­ic and Timely (SMART) and determ­ined and agreed in the first part of the CAP implementation.

The 5 themes were taken and put into sep­ar­ate group­ings, show­ing what the sug­ges­tions are for each theme. With­in each sug­ges­tion, pro­jects have been lis­ted that have been drawn from the high pri­or­it­ies that came out of the sur­vey data. Fur­ther views and inform­a­tion for each sug­ges­tion were sought from those who atten­ded the drop-in events and sug­ges­ted actions, togeth­er with any addi­tion­al inform­a­tion are out­lined below each sec­tion. Grant­own-on-Spey Com­munity Action Plan: Look­ing to 2030 Page 12 of 33

GRANT­OWN ON SPEY: A SOCIALLY CON­NEC­TED COM­MUNITY Top Sug­ges­tions: More afford­able (rent­al) hous­ing for loc­al people and busi­nesses Invest­ig­ate options for mak­ing more hous­ing avail­able Road and pave­ment repairs • More access­ible pave­ments through­out Grant­own for people with reduced mobil­ity, push­chairs, kids bikes etc • Road and pave­ment repairs, espe­cially Grant Road, Seafield Aven­ue, pave­ments on approach roads from the south Traffic issues • Traffic calm­ing solu­tions on High St/​Square • Improve park­ing options in Square and on High St • Move 30mph signs fur­ther out on approach roads Sports Hub Explore options for place that lots of dif­fer­ent teams and clubs can use

SUG­GES­TION: More afford­able (rent­al) hous­ing for loc­al people and busi­nesses Invest­ig­ate options for mak­ing more hous­ing avail­able • When H2 (the land des­ig­nated for hous­ing devel­op­ment behind the Grant­own Med­ic­al Centre site) the comes online, this will provide more afford­able hous­ing for the town. Also need to look at abandoned/​empty/​unused hous­ing and see if incent­ives can be used to bring them back into use. • Call for a Cairngorms Nation­al Park-wide plan to reflect massive neg­at­ive impact of 2^nd homes that aren’t ren­ted out and explore options to sup­port exist­ing prop­er­ties to favour those liv­ing and work­ing in the area. • Sup­port the excel­lent lan Charles Hos­pit­al redevel­op­ment for key work­er hous­ing – will need care­ful man­age­ment. • Increase pro­por­tion of afford­able hous­ing in line with Loc­al Devel­op­ment Plan 2021 aim to reach 75%. Should be mix of social, mid-mar­ket rent & shared equity.

SUG­GES­TION: Road and pave­ment repairs • More access­ible pave­ments through­out Grant­own for people with reduced mobil­ity, push­chairs, kids bikes etc • Road and pave­ment repairs, espe­cially Grant Road, Seafield Aven­ue, and pave­ments on approach roads from the south and north. Grant­own-on-Spey Com­munity Action Plan: Look­ing to 2030 Page 13 of 33

SUG­GES­TION: Traffic issues • Zebra cross­ing in Square (near­er to Garth Hotel) • Traffic calm­ing solu­tions on High St/​Square to reduce speed­ing • Great­er sup­port needed from police to stop car racers at night in and around the town. • Improve park­ing options in Square and on High St and increase park­ing enforce­ment espe­cially at Coop and by Macleans • Move 30mph signs fur­ther out on approach roads • Renew box junc­tion paint by phar­macy • Rein­state school drop off at Burn­field car park to reduce con­ges­tion at school and vis­ib­il­ity issues

SUG­GES­TION: Sports Hub • Sup­port the ini­ti­at­ive being developed cur­rently at Seafield Park/​Scout Hut, for dif­fer­ent sports and oth­er activ­it­ies. Ref Seafield Park Com­munity Trust • Work with YM Com­munity Centre to devel­op sports facil­it­ies on pitch at rear and chan­ging rooms. • Could Craig Maclean or oth­er ven­ues also be used for tour­ing bands for gigs and con­certs etc as at Badenoch Centre Grant­own-on-Spey Com­munity Action Plan: Look­ing to 2030 Page 14 of 33

GRANT­OWN ON SPEY: A CLI­MATE CON­SCIOUS COM­MUNITY Top Sug­ges­tions: Act­ive Travel oppor­tun­it­ies • Cycle path built from Dul­nain to Grant­own • Increase access width to parts of Anagach Woods for adapt­ive bikes, bug­gies etc • More bike infra­struc­ture: bike hire facil­it­ies; bike repair café; bike racks on High St • Pro­ject to get more people cyc­ling around town, espe­cially safe routes to school • Main­tain paths in Beachan Woods Com­munity grow­ing spaces • More oppor­tun­it­ies and sup­port to grow own veget­ables and pro­duce • Com­munity Allot­ments • Com­munity gar­dens / Orch­ard Improve our town’s biod­iversity • Pol­lin­at­or plant­ing in pub­lic gar­dens / Wild­flower plant­ing in Square around trees • Start small by clean­ing up lit­ter and weeds in and around town • Plant more trees • Pro­mo­tion of recyc­ling and waste reduc­tion to encour­age a cir­cu­lar eco­nomy • Main­ten­ance of Kylin­tra Mead­ow • Make more of com­munity garden at Town­house • Improve look of park area / revive com­munity orch­ard oppos­ite Craiglynne Hotel — new seats, pic­nic tables & tidy up • Dredge the skat­ing pond Con­ser­va­tion Area Man­age­ment Plan • Plan needs to change to make it easi­er to install renew­able energy/​energy effi­ciency options with­in the CA. Cur­rently hav­ing the CA pen­al­ises this which is counter-pro­duct­ive as long-term effect will be to make build­ings unusable

SUG­GES­TION: Act­ive Travel oppor­tun­it­ies Improve cycle / foot path­ways and facil­it­ies In addi­tion to spe­cif­ic sug­ges­tions lis­ted above: • Sort gates on Spey­side Way to Nethy eg 5‑bar gate plus metre-wide cattle grid to allow easy pas­sage of bikes/​wheelchairs • Com­munity e‑bike bor­row­ing scheme • Sign­post low dis­turb­ance routes for caper­cail­lie in Anagach Woods • Some roads in town to include a bike lane eg Grant Rd, Wood­side Aven­ue • Clear­er timetables at bus stops show­ing all inter­me­di­ate stops as well as final destination

SUG­GES­TION: Com­munity grow­ing spaces • Cre­ate com­munity allot­ments – estab­lish a com­mit­tee to take for­ward. Maybe use an area of Grant Park as loc­a­tion? • Explore interest in a com­munity growing/​gardening group – for sup­port and also to help main­tain town grow­ing spaces • Green ​‘net­work’ of dif­fer­ent gar­dens in the town • Com­munity Garden sign at Burn­field + refit the setts sur­round­ing the mil­len­ni­um block • Improve and main­tain the cur­rent com­munity orchard

SUG­GES­TION: Improve our town’s biod­iversity In addi­tion to spe­cif­ic sug­ges­tions lis­ted above: Grant­own-on-Spey Com­munity Action Plan: Look­ing to 2030 Page 15 of 33

• Recog­nise Grant­own as a ​‘Swift-friendly’ town – pro­tect nest­ing sites and add new boxes in appro­pri­ate places • Man­age trees in Square and replace with nat­ive spe­cies if needed • Wild­flower mead­ow in Grant Park • Wild­flowers on round­abouts / also remove non- nat­ive trees here

SUG­GES­TION: Con­ser­va­tion Area Man­age­ment Plan • Remove bar­ri­ers for energy improve­ments eg sol­ar panels/​pvc win­dows keep­ing aes­thet­ics suit­able • Decide wheth­er to get rid of or replace the bol­lards and chains in Square and South Street. They are ugly at the moment and bar access for wheel­chairs and bug­gies, and also trip haz­ards. See Cul­tur­al sec­tion. • Release the 1960/​70s bun­ga­lows from the Plan restric­tions – they are unfair and unjustifiable

In addi­tion to the sug­ges­tions above: • Water foun­tain where people can refill drink­ing water bottles Grant­own-on-Spey Com­munity Action Plan: Look­ing to 2030 Page 16 of 33

GRANT­OWN ON SPEY: AN ECO­NOM­IC­ALLY THRIV­ING COM­MUNITY Top Sug­ges­tions: Key work­er accom­mod­a­tion for lan Charles Hos­pit­al site • Find a group to take this for­ward Improve child­care options for under 3s • Lobby for this to hap­pen Bet­ter provision/​management for camper­vans • Camper­van area for vis­it­ors with waste and water facil­it­ies — identi­fy best loc­a­tion for this pro­ject • Ban camper­van park­ing by the river Repur­pose Palace Hotel for hous­ing Broaden the eco­nom­ic focus of the town to cre­ate a more resi­li­ent eco­nomy More sup­port for the loc­al eco­nomy: • Shop loc­al • Cre­ate oppor­tun­it­ies for new enter­prises • More appren­tice­ships for young people

SUG­GES­TION: Ian Charles and Grandview/​Palace Hotel • Redevel­op both sites for accom­mod­a­tion for sea­son­al and crit­ic­al work­force • Need to find a solu­tion to the park­ing issue for Palace Hotel/​Grandview site • Also look again into poten­tial for BT site • Com­plex to deliv­er: need a group com­pet­ent in a range of hous­ing pro­ject skills

SUG­GES­TION: Improve child­care options for under 3s • Requires lob­by­ing at a region­al and nation­al level. • Pro­vi­sion might need to be through a loc­al com­munity pro­ject or seek sup­port from Care and Learn­ing Alli­ance (CALA)

SUG­GES­TION: Bet­ter provision/​management for camper­vans • No camper­vans by river­side. Height restric­tions to ​‘Bathing Pool’ beach area and port­able loos to encour­age park­ing only in car park • ​‘No fires’ sig­nage • Elec­tric hook­ups in car park to encour­age camper­van park­ing there • Charge for car park?

SUG­GES­TION: Broaden loc­al eco­nomy to become more resi­li­ent • Rather than rely­ing on FB to pro­mote events, Grant­own Online should be more developed to be able to provide an ​‘online’ notice­board which ideally busi­nesses could update them­selves. Could be used by Grant­own Hub also to view through win­dow. • What’s On page for indi­vidu­als to input news/​events – admin checked. Also a list­ing of busi­nesses on same web­site. Grant­own-on-Spey Com­munity Action Plan: Look­ing to 2030 Page 17 of 33

• Sup­port great work done by GBA for great­er com­munity build­ing & engage­ment • More hous­ing for loc­als will ensure more money spent in loc­al eco­nomy GRANT­OWN ON SPEY: SUP­PORT­ING OUR YOUNG PEOPLE Top Sug­ges­tions: Improve / Redesign Mossie Park • With dif­fer­ent offer­ing from Dulaig play­park • Maybe ​‘themed’ and designed for more natural/​imaginative play Hobby classes for chil­dren / teen­agers Out­door group for kids to learn out­door skills Youth café Young children’s nature days

SUG­GES­TIONS: Mossie Park • A shel­ter for chil­dren and par­ents on cold, windy days + seat­ing • Apple trees and thorn­less brambles for ​‘help your­self’ fruit • Bal­ance trail – using wood from Anagach • Round­about • In-ground trampoline

Hobby classes for children/​teenagers • Out­door bas­ket­ball • Golf tour­na­ments for under 16s • Net­ball at Craig Maclean • LGB­TQ+ groups for young people through Cairngorms Pride

Out­door skills group & nature days • Get involved with a grow­ing spaces pro­ject • RSPB young ranger type activ­ity – work­ing with Grant­own Gram­mar • After school garden club Grant­own-on-Spey Com­munity Action Plan: Look­ing to 2030 Page 18 of 33

GRANT­OWN ON SPEY: A CUL­TUR­ALLY VIBRANT COM­MUNITY Top Sug­ges­tions: The Square • Replace bol­lards and chains — restore to how they were • Sort out park­ing issues, espe­cially by the Coop and at Maclean’s bakery • No charge for com­munity use of Square • Plant more trees to replace lost/​old/​dying trees • Wild­flower plant­ing areas around base of some trees • Don’t ped­es­tri­an­ise it please • More benches • Spey­side House clock to tell right time High Street look­ing more vibrant • All shop fronts in some sort of use • Improved main­ten­ance of some build­ings • Flags and flowers out­side shops • Ini­ti­at­ive (eco­nom­ic?) to try and encour­age all shop own­ers and land­lords to improve their premises (frontages/​woodwork/​gutters/​downpipes). Can a com­munity volun­teer work party help with this?

SUG­GES­TIONS: In addi­tion to spe­cif­ic sug­ges­tions lis­ted above: The Square • Remove (some) chains to give access to grass for wheel­chairs, bug­gies • Tree con­di­tion sur­vey & pro­gramme for phased replace­ment. Use nat­ive trees. Same for Church Aven­ue. • Ded­ic­ated paths across grass and down Church Aven­ue. • Improve poor aes­thet­ic of new bins chained to con­crete blocks – some kind of wooden bin surround

The High Street • Grants for refur­bish­ment of shop fronts • Use one empty premises for encour­aging pop-up shop run by loc­al char­it­ies – can the Hub do this? • Insist on a more uni­form qual­ity of shop sig­nage – no plastic • Tool lib­rary? • Pro­mote High Street shop­ping over online more – poster cam­paign • No wheel­ie bins on street • Museum & Hub to share vis­it­or inform­a­tion role through the year. Grant­own-on-Spey Com­munity Action Plan: Look­ing to 2030 Page 19 of 33

1. Spa­tial Pri­or­it­ies The maps below illus­trate the spa­tial pro­pos­als to help real­ise Grantown’s com­munity vis­ion and Com­munity Action Plan. They dis­play com­ments which were provided by Grant­own res­id­ents and busi­nesses dur­ing the two-day Big Con­ver­sa­tion drop-in event. They refer to the sug­ges­tions that have come out of the Com­munity Action Plan (CAP) responses and help express the community’s aspir­a­tions and solu­tions for devel­op­ment and use of land with­in the Loc­al Devel­op­ment Plan. This reflects the loc­al plan­ning policy which aims to cre­ate sus­tain­able, live­able and pro­duct­ive places as expressed in Nation­al Plan­ning Frame­work 4 (2023).

The maps show the community’s ideas and sug­ges­tions for the future devel­op­ment of the Grant­own-on-Spey area, as well as help­ing the com­munity to devel­op and deliv­er its own projects.

The pur­pose of the maps are to: • Com­ple­ment the CAP by show­ing how the Grant­own com­munity could look in the future once the vis­ion and CAP have been imple­men­ted. • Help Grant­own-on-Spey, High­land Coun­cil & Cairngorms Nation­al Park Author­ity con­sider the impact of plan­ning applic­a­tions on the com­munity. • Inform Cairngorms Nation­al Park Authority’s review of the Loc­al Devel­op­ment Plan. • Influ­ence invest­ment from pub­lic bod­ies, fun­ders, key landown­ers includ­ing Seafield and Strath­spey Estates and busi­nesses, in ways that sup­port the com­munity. Grant­own-on-Spey Com­munity Action Plan: Look­ing to 2030 Page 20 of 33

i. Act­ive Travel map Grant­own-on-Spe Improve pave­ment access­ib­il­ity through­out the town Bring rail­way back to Grant­own-on-Spey Move 30mph signs fur­ther out on approach roads Increase cycle infra­struc­ture on High Street Sus­tain and repair walk­ing routes in Beachan Woods 39102 Con­vert select roads to cre­ate safe one- way cyc­ling routes Seafiel Que க 939 Install zebra cross­ing near Garth Hotel T North Widen Anagach Wood paths for adapt­ive wheel­chairs, bikes and bug­gies Anagach Woods Spe­cial Pro­tec­tion Upgrade and form­al­ise walk­ing routes in Free