‘THANK YOU’
The Knockbain Community Council extend a huge ‘thank you’ to the North Kessock & Charleston Community for responding to their recent survey concerning the lease of land for community use between Charleston & Torgorm Point.
Earlier this year we let you know that the Comunity Council have been offered the lease of the area of ground at Torgarin Point know locally as the 'Charleston Football Pitch'. The ground was previously leased to The Highland Council by Broadlands Estates, and this arrangement has now come to an end.
Ove the summer, we have been consulting with the community about:
- whether there is local interest in the lease being taken on to preserve the area for community use
- what the area should be used for
We sent a leaflet to everyone in the village, spoken to folk in the community, had consultation details on our website and facebook page, and have been attending the community markets to make sure we hear as wide a range of views as possible. Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to email, text or come along and speak to us. A summary of all responses can be seen here.
So What's Been Happening?
The feedback we received showed overwhelming support for the proposal of a lease being taken on by the Community Council. So over the summer our Chariman has been working with a local solictor and Braodlands estate office to negotiate a new lease. THis should hand tenure of the area of land over to us very soon, we are just waiting for formalities to be concluded and a date to be agreed, likely around the end of October.
Meanwhile, a sub-group of the community council have been drafting out a constitution for a management group and oversseing the initial consultation. We have collected together all the consultation responses.
Some ideas we have had to rule out because we are not allowed to build permanent structires on the land, or because we do not have enough time or resources just now to get them started. There are some common themes that have emerged are:
- Community Orchard
- Copmmunity Allotments
- Picnic Area
- BBQ and seating area
- Wildflower Beds
- Look out point for wildlife
- Open play area
- Open area for small community gatherings
We will be consulting locally again soon to see which of these ideas we should take forward, and to find out who wants to be involved in makin them happen.
Without community input and support to develop and manage the area we are very limited in what we can do - if you want to be part of the team please contact us here or on our Facebook page.
