Glencairn Community Council

Updated 26/5/10

The results of the windfarm allocation meeting on September 28th 2009 can be found on the windfarm fund page.

Windfarm money allocation

A meeting of the Glencairn Community Council Windfarm Fund was held on Monday 24th May to outline to the community the six ‘big’ ideas received for consideration.Fears that the windfarm funds were being used solely on lots of smaller projects prompted the committee to call for ideas that required a substantial amount of funding and which would leave a lasting legacy to the community.
    Present at the meeting were the committee: Robert Hall, Scott McMillan, Val McNeil, Robin McIver, Sue Grant, Duncan Saunderson, Gordon Donald, Rab Neil, John Wilson and Wendy Wall.
    Members of the community turned out to listen to the proposals and have their say: Dr. John Moore, Gavin Kilgour, Margaret Gillies, Ken Gillies,Molly Glencorse, William Glencorse, Lindsay Dunse, Sam Todd, Fiona McMillan, Jack Fletcher, Edwina Fletcher, Rodney Holland, Jessica Shackleton, Eileen Thomson, James Thomson, John Plant and Sheena Plant. 
    The first part of the meeting was taken up with a review of the last allocation meeting. Molly Glencorse queried the criteria in the allocation guidelines.  Sue Grant explained these were mainly for committee guidance, and would be changed to ‘guidelines’ with the agreement of the committee.  Sam Todd queried the allocation of money to the Fishing Club for a hut situated outside the Parish. Chairman said that the club was open to all Moniaive resident should they wish to join.
    Feedback forms or lack of them was then discussed. It was felt that the problem had ben resolved as in future any application to the fund which had previously received funding would be informed that, until their feedback form was received, their application would not be looked at..
    Chairman, Robert Hall, then introduced the main business of the evening which was to consider suggestions for a lasting project for the community using windfarm money.
    The suggestions received by the committee up for discussion were:
    1. Moniaive Trust Fund: suggested by Mrs E. Fletcher, and presented, on her behalf, by Sue Grant. The idea was to set up a separate ‘Trust (or Emergency) Fund’ which could be used for any special, important project that would benefit the community such as a Post Bank or Post Office should our current PO close. Mrs Fletcher agreed that as no such ‘emergency’ was imminent it might be advisable to save a percentage of the fund each allocation in readiness for any eventuality.
    2. Sustainable Moniaive: Suggested by Sue Peppe.  Unfortunately Sue was unable to attend the meeting, so the suggestion was outlined in her absence.  Although she lives outwith the Parish, her idea would involve people in the area. The plan would be to have a network of local people to garden/market garden, possibly community land holding even community distribution. There was a feeling in the meeting that much of this already happens.
    3. Southern Upland Way Link:  Suggested and presented by Dr. John Moore who appears to live on the boundary of the Parish, but as his suggestion directly affects Moniaive it was felt it should be heard.  He would like to see the SUW re-routed from Dalry - Auchencheyne - Moniaive - Dalwhat and re-join the old route Benbrack. Molly Glencorse pointed out that there was already a link from Cairnhead to the village but John thought a loop would be better rather than walkers having to retrace their steps. He was looking for support and will be in contact with Southern Upland Partnership, SNH and Drumlanrig Estates among others.
    4. Sports Facility:  Suggested and presented by Sue Grant on behalf of Moniaive Sports Social Club, a group set up a few years ago. The idea is to construct, near the football pitch in the Bottom Park, changing facilities, showers and a small gym. It was felt that the loss of the football team was partly due to the fact there was no-where to change, and that such a facility would also attract bikes, orienteering etc:  It was a project that could be kept on ice for a few years till funds allowed. Suggestion was also made that perhaps it could be combined with the Bowling Club to use and extend their property.
    5. Development Worker:  Suggested by Moira McCrossan, who, unfortunately was not present. The gist of her idea was read out by the Chairman: ‘that a possible use of Windfarm Money be considered by the community for a longterm project whereby funds be made available to employ a Development Worker to seek out things like match funding for projects, project manage projects in the initial stages’. Some people thought this would be best left to those organising their own projects, and questioned who would do it?
    6. Housing:  Suggested and presented by Rab Neil. He was concerned that housing in Moniaive had been allocated to people outwith the village, leaving locals without. He would like to see houses for Glencairn Parish people only, allocated by the Community Council.  Applicants would have had to have lived in the Parish for at least five years. There was concern that the project would be very costly, who and how would it be run, and once tenants had been allocated, it might be several years before premises would become vacant for others.
    7. Community Windmill: Suggested by Neil Gourlay, who unfortunately could not be present, although he had attended an earlier community council meeting and outlined his proposal in detail. An outline of his project was read out by the Chairman, The proposal would be for the community to have a small commercial wind turbine on Upper Ingeleston hill which could not only provide a sizeable extra income for the parish but also provide all households with a sum similar to average electricity bills annually. Then the idea was taken forward by Duncan Saunderson, who suggested this was a way for the windfarm fund to grow for the future and he produced a breakdown of figures, and suggested that other sites should be investigated that might be better.  There was a heated debate, many fearing that it could open the door to further windmills, and there would be a severe clash of personalities. John Plant pointed out that not all match-funding proposals would necessarily be available.

At the end of the meeting it was decided to hold an OPEN, PUBLIC MEETING on Thursday 16th September when each proposer would present their suggestion more fully, answer questions and talk about how the project could be taken forward and be run.  It will be held in the Memorial Institute starting at 6.30pm when an exhibition of the ideas would be on display, the meeting itself would start at 7.30pm. At the end of the meeting members of the community would be asked to vote on the proposals and the Windfarm fund committee would take these results on board before making a decision.

Members

The new community councillors are: