Mount Blair and Glenshee Action Plan 2013

Mount Blair COM­MUNITY ACTION PLAN 2013 – 2018

CON­TENTS and INTRODUCTION

Con­tents	Page
Intro­duc­tion	2
Our com­munity now	3
Mount Blair our vis­ion for the future	8
Main strategies and priorities	9
Action	11
Mak­ing it happen	15

Mount Blair Com­munity Action Plan

This Com­munity Action Plan sum­mar­ises com­munity views about: • Mount Blair now • the vis­ion for the future of Mount Blair • the issues that mat­ter most to the com­munity • our pri­or­it­ies for pro­jects and action

The plan will be our guide for what we as a com­munity – try to make hap­pen over the next five years.

Mount Blair Com­munity Devel­op­ment Trust (MBCDT)

The Trust has led the pre­par­a­tion of this Action Plan as a way of find­ing out what the main pri­or­it­ies of the com­munity are and to help identi­fy the role for the Trust in devel­op­ing a sus­tain­able com­munity. The Trust worked closely with Mount Blair Com­munity Coun­cil (MBCC), rep­res­ent­at­ives from loc­al vil­lage halls, the Ses­sion House, the loc­al tour­ist asso­ci­ations, and loc­al coun­cil­lors from Perth and Kinross Coun­cil (PKC) in car­ry­ing out the con­sulta­tion that has informed this Action Plan.

Loc­al people have their say

The Action Plan has been informed by extens­ive com­munity engage­ment car­ried out over a four month peri­od from June to Septem­ber 2012.

The pro­cess involved: • stake­hold­er inter­views and meet­ings – with dif­fer­ent groups and indi­vidu­als rep­res­ent­ing all aspects of the com­munity • a com­munity views sur­vey, which was delivered to all house­holds • pre­par­ing a com­munity pro­file detail­ing facts and fig­ures about the com­munity • a Com­munity Futures Event

Thanks to every­one who took part.

104

com­munity views sur­vey forms were returned from our house survey

20

stake­hold­er meet­ings and inter­views were held with loc­al groups, busi­nesses and sup­port organisations

100+

Over 100 people atten­ded the com­munity futures event

OUR COM­MUNITY NOW

Mount Blair Com­munity Pro­file 2012 Summary

We have sum­mar­ised below the main facts and fig­ures from the Com­munity Pro­file and some of the views from the Com­munity Views Survey.

Loc­a­tion

The pro­file takes in the whole of the Mount Blair Com­munity Coun­cil area and includes the com­munit­ies of Kirk­mi­chael, Bridge of Cally, Enochdhu, Stra­loch, Ballin­tu­im, Drim­mie, Black­wa­ter and Glen­shee. The area is char­ac­ter­ised by high moor­land, hill farm­land, small estates, forests, rivers and mountains.

Pop­u­la­tion

The per­man­ent pop­u­la­tion is estim­ated at around 900 and is scattered through­out the area with Kirk­mi­chael Vil­lage in Strath­ardle the largest set­tle­ment and smal­ler rur­al set­tle­ments at Bridge of Cally, Enochdhu and Ballin­tu­im. The per­man­ent pop­u­la­tion is added to by people that stay reg­u­larly in the area in hol­i­day and second homes.

Hous­ing

It is estim­ated that there are over 600 houses but that around one third of them are not occu­pied per­man­ently being either hol­i­day or second homes or empty. There is a high pro­por­tion of private ren­ted accom­mod­a­tion mainly on loc­al estates, and rel­at­ively low levels of own­er occu­pa­tion and afford­able hous­ing – although hous­ing asso­ci­ation hous­ing in Kirk­mi­chael has been a not­able pos­it­ive in the last few years.

Employ­ment and the loc­al economy

Tour­ism (accom­mod­a­tion, hos­pit­al­ity and out­door recre­ation), and land based employ­ment in agri­cul­ture and on the estates are the major sec­tors mak­ing up almost 50% of the loc­al eco­nomy. There are high levels of self- employ­ment in the area with many people com­mut­ing out to work in nearby towns.

Schools and childcare

There is now just one Primary School in the area at Kirk­mi­chael which also has a nurs­ery. Older chil­dren go to the High School in Blair­gowrie with some also going to Pitlochry.

Health ser­vices

There are no health ser­vices in the area with the nearest GPs in Blair­gowrie and Pit­lo­chry. There are cot­tage hos­pit­als in both Blair­gowrie and Pit­lo­chry – with the main hos­pit­als fur­ther afield in Perth and Ninewells in Dundee.

OUR COM­MUNITY NOW

Com­munity and recre­ation­al facil­it­ies • Four vil­lage halls in the area, at Kirk­mi­chael, Bridge of Cally, Black­wa­ter and Ballin­tu­im • Kirk­mi­chael Sess­sion House • Play­ing field in Kirk­mi­chael and a small play area • Ten­nis courts at Kirk­mi­chael Primary School are avail­able for use out of school hours • Some of the out­door activ­ity facil­it­ies at Cairn­well Moun­tain Sports, the Com­pass Chris­ti­an Centre and the Kin­drogan Field Study Centre can some­times be used by the com­munity when not required by pay­ing guests • 9 hole golf course at Dalmun­zie Hotel and also ten­nis courts • Fish­ing in the Shee Water and River Ardle is avail­able by per­mit and sev­er­al of the loc­al estates run shoots • Glen­shee Ski Area for winter sports and sum­mer moun­tain bik­ing and walk­ing using the ski lifts • 10 ​‘Mun­ros’ (moun­tains over 3000 ft) and 4 ​‘Corbetts’ (moun­tains over 2500 ft) • Cat­er­an Trail, a 64 mile long-dis­tance walk­ing route • Sev­er­al for­es­ted areas for walk­ing, horse rid­ing and bik­ing • Kayak­ing and canoe­ing at Black­wa­ter and Bridge of Cally • The Gar­dens at Dirnanean

Com­munity groups and organisations

Loc­al groups include: Mount Blair Com­munity Coun­cil; Mount Blair Com­munity Devel­op­ment Trust; Vil­lage Hall Com­mit­ees; Glen­shee Tour­ist Asso­ci­ation, Blair­gowrie and East Perth­shire Tour­ist Asso­ci­ation: Kirk­mi­chael Vil­lage in Bloom; Kirk­mi­chael Vil­lage Shop; Cof­fee Tots; Brownies; Youth Club; Pit­car­mick Angling Club; Strath­ardle Arch­ers; Glen­shee Curl­ers; 2 Tug-of-War teams; Zumba; Keep Fit; Pil­ates; Mar­tial Arts; Coun­try Dan­cing; Book Swap; Lec­tures at the Ses­sion House; SWRI in 2 dif­fer­ent halls; Cally Crafters; Click­ing Needles; Jig­saw Club; Fort­nightly drop in; Free­ma­sons; Monthly Ecu­men­ic­al Bible Study; PTA.

Com­munity events

Kirk­mi­chael Sum­mer Vil­lage Fest­iv­al; Glen­shee Heath­er Fest­iv­al; Strath­ardle Agri­cul­tur­al Show and High­land Gath­er­ing; Sheep­dog Tri­als; St. Andrews Day Dance; Cat­er­an Yomp and oth­er events along the Cat­er­an Trail; Blair­gowrie and East Perth­shire Walk­ing Festival.

Roads

The main road run­ning through the area is the A93 road from Perth and Blair­gowrie to Glen­shee and on to Roy­al Deeside. The A924 from Pit­lo­chry passes through Kirk­mi­chael provid­ing a link through to the A93 at Bridge of Cally.

Trans­port

There is a lim­ited bus ser­vice between Glen­shee and Blair­gowrie but no con­nec­tion from the area to Pit­lo­chry. The main rail sta­tion is in Pitlochry.

Emer­gency Ser­vices • Ambu­lances are based in Blair­gowrie and Pit­lo­chry • Tay­side Moun­tain Res­cue provides volun­teer res­cue ser­vices along­side the Police Search and Res­cue Unit and the RAF Moun­tain Res­cue Ser­vice • Two volun­teer fire bri­gade units based in Kirk­mi­chael and Glen­shee. These are backed by the retained fire bri­gade units based in Blair­gowrie and Pit­lo­chry • Police sta­tions in Blair­gowrie and Pit­lo­chry. The com­munity police­man vis­its the glens on a reg­u­lar basis and holds the occa­sion­al ​‘sur­gery’ at Kirk­mi­chael Vil­lage Shop

Envir­on­ment

Agri­cul­ture, forestry and estate man­age­ment are the main land uses. The large land own­ers are the Atholl Estates, Inver­cauld Estates and the Forestry Com­mis­sion. There are also 14 smal­ler estates in the area, all of which provide some employ­ment in either hill farms or field sports.

Most of the north­ern part of the area is now in the newly exten­ded Cairngorms Nation­al Park. About a third of the land is made up of Sites of Spe­cial Sci­entif­ic Interest due to breed­ing birds of prey. The Caernlochan Spe­cial Area of Con­ser­va­tion is noted for its rare plants, rocks, mont­ane hab­it­ats and inver­teb­rates. The Scot­tish Wild­life Trust owns a small piece of land at Brerachan Mead­ows between the A924 and the Ardle River near Stra­loch and works to con­serve the diversity of wild­flowers on the unfarmed land.

Her­it­age

Her­it­age fea­tures in the area include: • Stand­ing Stones and Bronze Age hut circles • The Par­lia­ment Stone in Glen­shee • The Clan MacTho­mas Gath­er­ing Place • The Ban­ner­field in Kirk­mi­chael where the Earl of Mar raised his ban­ner dur­ing the 1715 upris­ing • Drove Roads con­ver­ging on Kirk­mi­chael and the site of the old high­land mar­ket at Siller­burn, Kirk­mi­chael which was by the fif­teenth cen­tury, one of the largest cattle mar­kets in Scot­land • A rich her­it­age of archae­olo­gic­al sites includ­ing Pit­car­mick type houses which are unique to this area

OUR COM­MUNITY NOW

Com­munity Views Sur­vey – likes and dislikes

Like	% of Responses
Rur­al Nature – scenery, peace and quiet, wildlife	84
Com­munity Spirit	35
Loc­al ser­vices and facilities	21
Loc­a­tion	13
Recre­ation	12
Everything	3
Noth­ing	1

What people said • It’s a beau­ti­ful rur­al area with out­stand­ing scenery • Won­der­ful land­scape, unspoiled nat­ur­al beauty and tran­quil­lity • The remote land­scape – we like moun­tains snow, forests and no street lights • Its sim­pler slower pace of life • The sense of com­munity – know­ing most people, good neigh­bour­li­ness and in gen­er­al people are pre­pared to put effort in to bene­fit the whole com­munity • The camarader­ie of the long estab­lished loc­al res­id­ents who share the his­tory of the area and work well togeth­er • The abil­ity of loc­al and incom­ing people to get togeth­er • The friend­li­ness of the Glen­ners • Com­munity facil­it­ies such as Vil­lage Halls and loc­al shops • Strath­ardle High­land Games and Heath­er Fest­iv­al – the com­munity events and the fact that every­one chats to you • Ease of access to Blair­gowrie, Perth, Dun­dee and the main road sys­tem • Being 30 minutes from both Blair­gowrie and Pit­lo­chry pre­serves a feel­ing of remote­ness, but only 1 hour from Perth or Dun­dee allows access to city facil­it­ies when needed • Prox­im­ity to major trans­port links and with­in reas­on­able dis­tance of all major Scot­tish cit­ies • It’s a reas­on­able dis­tance from civil­isa­tion! • The bal­ance of tour­ism and envir­on­ment­al interests with hill farm­ing and tra­di­tion­al estate management

Dis­like	% of Responses
Traffic and safety	30
Lack of pub­lic trans­port, remote­ness and access to services	30
Envir­on­ment	17
Com­munity organisation	16
Fra­gil­ity of the loc­al economy	15
Hous­ing and Population	12
Noth­ing	11
Lack of good broad­band connection	7

What people said • Motor­bikes an ongo­ing prob­lem – racing 70+mph, and dan­ger­ous driv­ing and over­tak­ing • The A924 becom­ing busier from Pit­lo­chry with very wide coaches and very fast lor­ries • The amount of log­ging lor­ries using the A93 as a main route south • Pub­lic trans­port is very poor – you can­not get to Perth or Dun­dee Col­lege or to and from Pit­lo­chry Sta­tion for example • I feel we are unne­ces­sar­ily cut off from Pit­lo­chry (nearest train sta­tion and major through­way to the north) – there is no pub­lic trans­port that goes this way • Dis­tance time from emer­gency ser­vices …dif­fi­culty access­ing med­ic­al care • Few sport­ing facil­it­ies or sport­ing clubs closer than Pit­lo­chry or Blair­gowrie • Dis­ap­pear­ing amen­it­ies e.g. Stra­loch School • Lack of pub­lic toi­lets from Bridge of Cally to Spit­tal • Threat of the wind­farm is pretty dis­con­cert­ing • The forests that you are allowed in are owned by the Forestry Com­mis­sion and a lot of the trees are non nat­ive • The derel­ict church at Kirk­mi­chael • Lack of com­munity feel • Its dif­fi­cult for people to find out about what is going on • Lack of loc­al jobs – feel­ing par­tic­u­larly vul­ner­able to fuel prices • Just like to see it bet­ter developed for tour­ism and loc­als • We struggle to encour­age vis­it­ors from Blair­gowrie and Pit­lo­chr. • I worry that the Kirk­mi­chael shop could close if people do not use it more • High num­ber of houses that spend most of the time empty which has a knock on effect on every­one try­ing to run a busi­ness, facil­it­ies, clubs etc • There are a lot of second homes that are not vis­ited often • The poor broad­band, mobile phone, TV and radio ser­vices in the area

MOUNT BLAIR OUR VIS­ION FOR THE FUTURE

Mount Blair Com­munity Vision

This state­ment has been pre­pared to sum­mar­ise the main aspir­a­tions for the future as expressed by loc­al people and organisations.

Liv­ing and Work­ing in the Glens

We will aim to sus­tain a good pop­u­la­tion of people who want to live and work in the Glens.

Mak­ing the most of our nat­ur­al resources

To achieve our vis­ion of a sus­tain­able com­munity we will look to make best use of our nat­ur­al resources

• devel­op­ing the area as a hub for out­door recre­ation, mak­ing the most of our loc­al forests for wood fuel and recre­ation, devel­op­ing a net­work of loc­al and well con­nec­ted paths, pro­du­cing and pro­mot­ing high qual­ity loc­al food and crafts, sup­port­ing coun­try sports, and gen­er­at­ing employ­ment oppor­tun­it­ies linked to man­aging the land.

Infra­struc­ture, ser­vices and housing

To make it sus­tain­able to live and work in the Glens we will devel­op good acc­cess to afford­able hous­ing, vital ser­vices, com­munity facil­it­ies, and good com­mu­nic­a­tion and trans­port systems.

Redu­cing our car­bon foot­print and lower­ing our costs of living

At the heart of our vis­ion is a sense that our efforts to encour­age walk­ing and cyc­ling, the use of renew­able energy and our nat­ur­al resources, com­munity trans­port solu­tions, and sup­port­ing loc­al pro­duce and loc­al crafts and arts will all con­trib­ute to lower­ing our car­bon foot­print as well as the often high costs of rur­al living.

A role for the community

The com­munity will have had a strong role in bring­ing this about through work­ing in part­ner­ship with a wide range of pub­lic, vol­un­tary and private organ­isa­tions to ensure a healthy and bal­anced future for the community.

This land is your land, this land is my From Bridge of Cally to Blacklun­ans Strath­ardle forests, Glen­shee moun­tains This land was made for you and me.

As sung by pupils from Kirk­mi­chael Primary School at the Com­munity Open Day, 14^th Septem­ber 2012. land

MAIN STRATEGIES AND PRIORITIES

These are the main strategies and pri­or­it­ies the com­munity will work towards achiev­ing in part­ner­ship with pub­lic agen­cies and oth­er supporters.

Out­door recre­ation and tourism

The main assets of the area are its nat­ur­al resources. They provide great oppor­tun­it­ies for walk­ing, all ter­rain cyc­ling, horserid­ing, winter sports and coun­try sports as well as oth­er spe­cial­ist out­door activ­it­ies like ori­enteer­ing and geocach­ing. There is a real oppor­tun­ity to devel­op the out­door infra­struc­ture (e.g. accom­mod­a­tion etc.) and pro­mote the area more.

Main pri­or­it­ies: • Devel­op and pro­mote the loc­al paths net­work • Devel­op loc­al forests for recre­ation­al use • Mar­ket­ing and pro­mo­tion of the area as a hub for out­door recre­ation (lay-bys, pic­nic areas, sig­nage, leaf­lets, events) • Devel­op infra­struc­ture to sup­port out­door recreation

Loc­al her­it­age, cul­ture and pro­duce our sense of place

The area has a rich her­it­age linked in par­tic­u­lar to its cent­ral role in Scotland’s cattle drov­ing his­tory – the cattle mar­ket in Kirk­mi­chael used to be the largest in the coun­try. This her­it­age has been the inspir­a­tion for the devel­op­ment of the Cat­er­an Trail but there are more oppor­tun­it­ies to pro­mote and inter­pret loc­al her­it­age includ­ing the area’s agri­cul­tur­al past.

The area already has a grow­ing num­ber of artists and craft work­ers and this could be encour­aged and sup­por­ted and would again con­trib­ute to the loc­al eco­nomy and interest in the area for visitors.

Main pri­or­it­ies: • Devel­op a loc­al archive pro­ject • Work with loc­al arts and crafts and oth­er busi­nesses to provide sup­port and explore the poten­tial to devel­op workspace/​studio space • Devel­op and pro­mote loc­al pro­duce • Mar­ket and pro­mote these aspects of the area through loc­al events and interpretation

Com­munity and recre­ation­al facilities

The area needs to sus­tain a num­ber of vil­lage halls that can offer good ven­ues for loc­al groups and com­munity activ­it­ies and events. This is par­tic­u­larly import­ant in an area that is rel­at­ively remote from oth­er facil­it­ies and centres. There is also the need to upgrade poor qual­ity play and sports pro­vi­sion in the area for exist­ing res­id­ents and fam­il­ies and as a way of mak­ing the area attract­ive for vis­it­ors and poten­tial future residents.

Main pri­or­it­ies: • New Vil­lage Hall in Kirk­mi­chael • Devel­op­ment and sup­port for oth­er Vil­lage Halls • Upgrade of Play Area and Sports Facil­it­ies in Kirkmichael

MAIN STRATEGIES AND PRIORITIES

Infra­struc­ture and renew­able energy

The remote­ness of the area makes it expens­ive to live in and to travel else­where. Res­id­ents and loc­al busi­nesses identi­fy lack of access to high speed broad­band and the high cost of fuel as two of the main prob­lems. Improv­ing broad­band speeds would be of bene­fit to the many self employed people in the area or that might be attrac­ted to the area. The high cost of oil has sparked dis­cus­sion about the idea of an oil pur­chas­ing col­lect­ive to try and obtain best price using joint pur­chas­ing power, while many would like to see the com­munity devel­op its own sources of fuel by mak­ing best use of the loc­al forests for wood fuel.

Main pri­or­it­ies: • Improve Broad­band • Devel­op wood fuel/​biomass com­munity ini­ti­at­ive • Estab­lish col­lect­ive buy­ing scheme for oil

Access to ser­vices and transport

The con­sulta­tion for this Action Plan has helped to high­light the need to devel­op access to emer­gency health care in the area with people show­ing con­cern for the jour­ney time for ambu­lances and the lack of doc­tors in the area.

In gen­er­al there was seen to be a need to retain and sup­port vital ser­vices like the schools and post offices and shops.

Access to oth­er ser­vices, facil­it­ies and oppor­tun­it­ies out­side the area was also high­lighted with res­id­ents sug­gest­ing there was a need for bet­ter trans­port links to Blair­gowrie and Pit­lo­chry to con­nect with rail ser­vices, schools, shops, and med­ic­al and recre­ation­al activities.

Main pri­or­it­ies: • Devel­op Emer­gency Med­ic­al Ser­vices in the area • Improve pub­lic trans­port and/​or devel­op com­munity trans­port and car shar­ing ini­ti­at­ives • Ensure reten­tion of the Primary School and Nurs­ery • Devel­op child­care ser­vices in the area

Roads, traffic, lay-bys and signage

There was real con­cern expressed about the speed and type of traffic – par­tic­u­larly but not exclus­ively on the A93. The use of loc­al roads by motor­bikes, heavy lor­ries and coaches was seen as caus­ing safety prob­lems for loc­al res­id­ents and visitors.

There has been some recent traffic speed reduc­tion meas­ures in the small set­tle­ments of the area but some meas­ures could be improved on, with the addi­tion too of more sig­nage at the many dan­ger­ous bends in the area.

Improved road sig­nage to the area and the upgrade of lay-bys in the area to include interpretation/​picnic facil­it­ies were seen as pos­it­ive steps that would encour­age people into the area and to stop rather than pass through.

Main pri­or­it­ies: • speed reduc­tion meas­ures on the A93 and the A924 • Improve traffic safety and calm­ing meas­ures gen­er­ally through­out the area and par­tic­u­larly in Ballin­tu­im and Bridge of CallyTraffic • Improve road sig­nage and lay-bys

Hous­ing and jobs

The devel­op­ment of afford­able hous­ing in Kirk­mi­chael has been a suc­cess and of great bene­fit to the area. How­ever the area still has a rel­at­ively high pro­por­tion of private ren­ted and tied housing.

The com­munity would like to work closely with the loc­al estates to devel­op hous­ing and job oppor­tun­it­ies. The aim should be that both are developed to sus­tain a viable com­munity of people that can con­tin­ue to live and work in the Glens.

Main pri­or­it­ies: • More afford­able hous­ing and fol­low on altern­at­ives to tied hous­ing • More sup­port for new entrants on farms and oth­er land based job opportunities

ACTION

A more detailed guide to action

Theme 1: Out­door recre­ation and tourism

Pri­or­ity 1

Devel­op and pro­mote the loc­al paths net­work • Identi­fy main pri­or­it­ies for paths improve­ments • Work with Perth and Kinross Coun­tryside Trust to devel­op pri­or­ity paths pro­jects • This should include: loc­al cir­cu­lar routes (e.g. at Bridge of Cally using part of the Cat­er­an Trail); improve­ments to the Cat­er­an Trail as it enters Kirk­mi­chael; devel­op­ing links to Dunkeld and Pitlochry)

Pri­or­ity 2

Devel­op loc­al forests for recre­ation­al use • Work with Forestry Com­mis­sion Scot­land to devel­op plans for increased recre­ation­al use of loc­al forests • Devel­op appro­pri­ate part­ner­ship or com­munity own­er­ship capa­city to raise funds to imple­ment pro­pos­als • This should include mak­ing Kin­drogan Forest more useable for moun­tain bik­ing as well as walking

Pri­or­ity 3

Mar­ket­ing and pro­mo­tion of the area as a hub for out­door recre­ation • Com­munity, busi­nesses, tour­ism asso­ci­ations, estates to work closely togeth­er to devel­op a coordin­ated approach to mar­ket­ing the area • Devel­op a suite of mar­ket­ing mater­i­al to pro­mote oppor­tun­it­ies for out­door recre­ation • Devel­op inform­a­tion and inter­pret­a­tion with­in the area – signs, inter­pret­a­tion panels

Pri­or­ity 4

• Organ­ise events that help to attract people to the area to enjoy out­door activities

Devel­op infra­struc­ture to sup­port out­door recre­ation access • Look at the need for addi­tion­al accom­mod­a­tion linked to use of paths (e.g. bunk­house accom­mod­a­tion) • Look at the need to improve access to paths e.g. through improved park­ing, pic­nic areas, inter­pret­a­tion and inform­a­tion at lay-bys

Action by

Form a new loc­al paths and out­door recre­ation group under the aus­pices of Mount Blair Com­munity Devel­op­ment Trust (MBCDT) to take these pri­or­it­ies for­ward and bring togeth­er key interests in the area.

Work closely with Perth and Kinross Coun­tryside Trust, loc­al tour­ism asso­ci­ations, hotels, out­door recre­ation pro­viders, and VisitScotland.

ACTION

Theme 2: Loc­al her­it­age, cul­ture, and pro­duce – our sense of place

Pri­or­ity 1

Devel­op loc­al archive pro­ject • Sup­port the devel­op­ment of the MBCDT archive pro­ject • Explore oth­er ways of mak­ing her­it­age a stronger fea­ture of the area and some­thing that is access­ible to visitors

Pri­or­ity 2

Arts and Crafts Workspace/​Studio Space • Work with loc­al arts and crafts people and oth­er busi­nesses to explore the need for small work­space and stu­dio facil­it­ies in the area • Identi­fy suit­able places for this type of devel­op­ment which could be a sig­ni­fic­ant tour­ist attrac­tion — sug­ges­tions include the old Black­wa­ter Inn or the old Church in Kirkmichael

Pri­or­ity 3

Devel­op and pro­mote loc­al pro­duce • Work with loc­al estates, hotels and B&Bs, and loc­al shops to make loc­al pro­duce avail­able in the area and to sup­port its pro­mo­tion nationally

Pri­or­ity 4

Mar­ket­ing and Pro­mo­tion • Use this ​‘sense of place’ that comes from our her­it­age, cul­ture, land and pro­duce to pro­mote the area to vis­it­ors • Incor­por­ate and fea­ture these aspects of the area in loc­al events.

Action by

Archive Pro­ject – MBCDT

Arts and Crafts Work­space – MBCDT and loc­al arts/​crafts businesses

Loc­al pro­duce ini­ti­at­ive – MBCDT, loc­al estates, loc­al hos­pit­al­ity sector

Mar­ket­ing and Pro­mo­tion – Tour­ism Asso­ci­ations, MBCDT, loc­al estates and loc­al events committees

Theme 3: Com­munity and recre­ation­al facilities

Pri­or­ity 1

Sup­port the devel­op­ment of Vil­lage Halls • Sup­port Kirk­mi­chael Vil­lage Hall Com­mit­tee to devel­op new hall and asso­ci­ated ser­vices and activ­it­ies • Sup­port Black­wa­ter Hall in devel­op­ing new toi­let pro­vi­sion and oth­er improve­ments • Sup­port Ballin­tu­im Vil­lage Hall to make improve­ments to car park­ing area, install renew­able and cost effect­ive heat­ing and oth­er upgrades • Sup­port Bridge of Cally Vil­lage Hall to improve heat­ing sys­tem and oth­er upgrades

Pri­or­ity 2

Upgrade Play Area and Sports Facil­it­ies in Kirk­mi­chael • Devel­op pro­pos­als for improved facil­it­ies • Identi­fy where facil­it­ies would best be improved and loc­ated (either in exist­ing or new loc­a­tions) • Sup­port fund­ing applic­a­tions for improvement/​s

Action by Vil­lage Hall Com­mit­tees on improve­ments to the vil­lage halls.

MBCDT to work with school, youth club, sports teams, vil­lage hall com­mit­tees to look at ways of improv­ing play and sports facilities.

Theme 4: Infra­struc­ture and renew­able energy

Pri­or­ity 1

High Speed Broad­band • Explore ways of upgrad­ing tele­phone exchanges and cable systems

Pri­or­ity 2

Com­munity Wood Fuel Ini­ti­at­ive • Carry out a feas­ib­il­ity study on the oppor­tun­ity to use loc­al forests for wood fuel • Work closely with Forest Com­mis­sion Scot­land to look at the best ways of imple­ment­ing any pro­posed scheme

Pri­or­ity 3

Col­lect­ive Oil Pur­chas­ing Scheme • The con­sulta­tion has shown that there is interest in pur­su­ing this pro­ject • MBCDT to pro­gress this pro­ject learn­ing from sim­il­ar pro­jects in oth­er rur­al communities

Action by

Mount Blair Com­munity Devel­op­ment Trust take action on the Wood Fuel Ini­ti­at­ive and Oil Pur­chas­ing Scheme

Mount Blair Com­munity Coun­cil to make rep­res­ent­a­tion on behalf of the com­munity for improved broad­band services

Theme 5: Access to ser­vices and transport

Pri­or­ity 1

Devel­op loc­al med­ic­al emer­gency ser­vices • Work to loc­ate pub­lic access port­able defib­ril­lat­ors in the area • Organ­ise train­ing for volun­teers on their use • Organ­ise First Respon­ders loc­al network

Pri­or­ity 2

Improve trans­port options – pub­lic, com­munity, car shar­ing • Explore options for com­munity mini bus and/​or car shar­ing scheme • Lobby bus pro­viders and Perth and Kinross Coun­cil to cre­ate a pub­lic trans­port link to Pit­lo­chry and improve ser­vices to Blairgowrie

Pri­or­ity 3

Ensure reten­tion of the primary school, nurs­ery and oth­er vital ser­vices • The com­munity should keep abreast of any policy changes that might affect the reten­tion of vital ser­vices and work to ensure they are main­tained and sup­por­ted as much as pos­sible • Loc­al use of loc­al ser­vices should be encour­aged and should include sup­port­ing the post offices, shops and pet­rol station

Pri­or­ity 4

Sup­port the devel­op­ment of oth­er needed ser­vices • The devel­op­ment of loc­al child­care pro­vi­sion or sup­port­ing easi­er access to nearby pro­vi­sion was noted as an issue with­in this con­sulta­tion and should be fur­ther explored and encouraged

Action by

MBCC and MBCDT to jointly work to devel­op pro­pos­als for Defib­ril­lat­ors and/​or First Response type ser­vice work­ing with Ambu­lance and oth­er NHS services.

MBCDT to explore com­munity trans­port and car shar­ing schemes.

MBCC to lobby for the devel­op­ment of pub­lic trans­port links to Pit­lo­chry and Blair­gowrie with bus ser­vice pro­viders and PKC.

MBCC to mon­it­or plans for pro­vi­sion of vital ser­vices and their retention.

MBCDT to sup­port the devel­op­ment of oth­er needed ser­vice such as childcare.

ACTION

Theme 6: Roads, traffic, lay-bys and signage

Pri­or­ity 1 Traffic speed reduc­tion meas­ures on the A93 and the A924 • Work with the police, Trans­port Scot­land and Perth and Kinross Coun­cil to address these issues Pri­or­ity 2

Improve traffic safety and calm­ing meas­ures • Key pro­jects should be pro­gressed include: Relo­ca­tion of 30mph signs in Ballin­tu­im to bey­ond the cara­van park More sig­nage of dan­ger­ous bends in the area Improv­ing safe access out of Bridge of Cally Vil­lage Hall car park Pri­or­ity 3

Improve road sig­nage and lay-bys • Identi­fy ways of improv­ing road sig­nage includ­ing tour­ist route and vis­it­or attrac­tion sig­nage to the area • Devel­op and imple­ment pro­pos­als for improv­ing the qual­ity of lay-bys in the area to include inter­pret­a­tion and inform­a­tion about the area

Action by

MBCC — rep­res­ent­a­tion con­cern­ing pri­or­it­ies 1 and 2.

MBCDT – work­ing with Tour­ism Asso­ci­ations to improve road sig­nage to the area and lay-bys in the area.

Work­ing with Perth and Kinross Coun­cil, Vis­itScot­land, Trans­port Scot­land, Cairngorms Nation­al Park Author­ity, Scot­tish Government.

Theme 7: Hous­ing and jobs

Pri­or­ity 1

More afford­able hous­ing and fol­low on altern­at­ives to tied hous­ing • Work with loc­al hous­ing asso­ci­ations and Perth and Kinross Coun­cil to devel­op hous­ing and sup­port ini­ti­at­ives to cater for people that may oth­er­wise have to leave the com­munity when they leave their employ­ment-related housing

Pri­or­ity 2

More sup­port for new entrants on farms and oth­er land based job oppor­tun­it­ies • Open up dia­logue with loc­al estates about how the com­munity can sup­port ini­ti­at­ives which bene­fit pro­vi­sion of loc­al hous­ing, land based employ­ment and spin offs for the loc­al eco­nomy linked to e.g. loc­al pro­duce, use of wood­land, farm­ing, coun­try sports etc • Devel­op part­ner­ship projects

Action by

Loc­al Jobs and Hous­ing Group – a new joint work­ing group of MBCC and MBCDT – work­ing with loc­al estates and hous­ing pro­viders (hous­ing asso­ci­ation, Perth and Kinross Council).

MAK­ING IT HAPPEN

Work­ing together

The pro­jects and this Action Plan will require that loc­al com­munity organ­isa­tions the Com­munity Coun­cil, Com­munity Devel­op­ment Trust, Vil­lage Hall Com­mit­tees, Ses­sion House, and oth­er interest groups – all take action either on their own or in con­cer­ted effort to devel­op pro­jects and make rep­res­ent­a­tion on behalf of the community.

The Action Plan will hope­fully be of bene­fit to all these organ­isa­tions in pro­gress­ing com­munity aspir­a­tions and address­ing needs.

To achieve res­ults we will need to and want to work closely with a range of pub­lic, private and third sec­tor part­ners – Perth and Kinross Coun­cil, Perth and Kinross Coun­tryside Trust, Forestry Com­mis­sion Scot­land, Scot­tish Nat­ur­al Her­it­age, His­tor­ic Scot­land, NHS, Tay­side Police, Trans­port Scot­land, Vis­itScot­land, loc­al landown­ers and busi­nesses, as well as vol­un­tary and char­it­able organisations.

Themes	Key Con­tact	E‑mail and telephone
Out­door recre­ation and tourism	Simon Calv­in	fionaandsimon@​roryrosie.​plus.​com\
01250 882284
Loc­al her­it­age, cul­ture and pro­duce — ​‘sense of place’	Liz Crichton	liz.​crichton@​virgin.​net\
0781 0803132
Com­munity and recre­ation­al facilities	Richard Watts	rrdunmay@​btopenworld.​com\
01250 885268
Infra­struc­ture and renew­able energy	John Man­ning	jm@​johnmanningarchitect.​co.​uk\
01250 881400
Access to ser­vices and improved transport	Han­nah Goodman	hannah@​camnacar.​co.​uk\
01250 881435
Roads, traffic, lay-bys and signage	Bob Ellis	bob.​ellis2@​btopenworld.​com\
01250873899
Hous­ing and jobs	Dav­id Rennie	dr200166@​aol.​com\
01250 886243

For gen­er­al inform­a­tion please con­tact	Chair­per­son	E‑mail and telephone
Mount Blair Com­munity Devel­op­ment Trust	Mike Pur­die	mikepurdie@​onetel.​com\
01250 885217
Mount Blair Com­munity Council	Doreen MacIntyre	d.​macintyre@​btinternet.​com\
01250 881336