Knoydart Community Hall, 6pm
Attending: Sarah Wilson, Calum Wilson, Davie Newton, Finlay Greig, Reagan Nunn, Aaran Watson, Terra Burgoyne, Tom Dalziel, Janey DeNordwall, Sara Donald Jamespatrick Langford, Tom Harris, Rhona Miller, Trisha Birch, Stuart Dillett
Apologies: Corinna Calder
Declarations of Interest: Davie Newton – HebNet
Minutes of Previous Meetings inc. single item agenda meetings:
September Board Meeting minutes – Approved
Matters arising: Matters arising and actions from Last Meeting
None
Updates:
- Knoydart Trading Update
- Trading looking healthy – £173,000 in the bank
- Thinking of doing premium bonds
- Already made a donation to the foundation
- Waiting on a fire safety report for the bunkhouse – just approved a room to be painted
- Looking into doing up or changing the steer supply for the wee hooses
- Lower cull numbers for the butchery – pub and shop are a priority
- Shop will have same winter hours and ice cream is coming soon
- Jane Hollowood is the new post mistress
- Agreed a 4% increase for all staff
- KRL update
- Written report available
- Under grounding ongoing – new transformers will be arriving soon East end of the village will be completed end of November
- New battery will be installed in the genny shed soon.
- New turbine being installed end of November
- Customer meters will be changed by the end of the year
- New meters will be more consistent and have time of use tariffs – more modern
- Quarterly board meeting went well
- DN and Kyle will start producing a long-term financial plan
- Foundation Office update
- CC and SD have been completing legionaries testing
- JW has produced a P&L report
- Land management update – FIRNS, Deer Management budget, management agreements, Deer Management Group JMT
- Second half of the stag cull
- Discussion with Stuart and RM about the butchery’s capacity
- Compiling responses from FIRNS consultation
- Ranger update – genny shed, camping, masts and next year.
- Written Report Available
- Season is now over – Costi will continue running the kid’s club
- Private tours are £4000 higher than last year and public tours are £1000 up – bike hires are down £400
- Ranger shed now has a door and is getting electricity sorted
- Ground work and stonework are upcoming
- Removable of 900 meters of fencing in Satchell Woods
- Organising a beach clean
- Advertise the bike hire more for next year
- AW – kids club is great (well done Costi)
Items for decision/recording:
- Response to mast communication
- In a letter Cornerstone are asking for permission to carry out secondary surveys on our land to see if the two sites are viable
- We have been asked to respond to give our concerns for the two potential sites
- Have been in touch with Vodafone earlier this year however this felt unproductive
- Might be worthwhile seeking advice for dealing with Cornerstone’s letter
- Our concerns have not been adequately addressed – very vague in their responses
- Lawyer from Galbraith’s has recommended delaying the companies for as long as possible
- Discussion surrounding a meeting with Cornerstone
- Board agreed to arrange a meeting with Cornerstone as far in the future as possible
- AP – FG to reach out to Rupert Soames and neighbouring land owners and Beach Croft to check up on where they are at with this process
Reports:
- Accommodation Project Officer report.
- Written Report Available
- Workers accommodation – Highland Council has issued their report to the government
- Highland Council in the process of confirming funding – need this before we can access HIE funding
- The contractor will be arriving tomorrow for discussions
- In contact with KT to see if the wee hooses can accommodate up to three contractors
- Construction Support Facility – awaiting planning permission
- HIE will confirm 50% intervention once planning permission is received
- Exploring options for financing the other 50%
- Potential for HIE to support us to get a new secondhand fork lift
- Millburn – Awaiting update on planning been in the system 11 months
- Application has been resent to the Flood Risk Management Team C/B have requested further detail from planning
- New design meeting has been arranged for the 24th of October
- Had a meeting with Easgaigh about how to use design added value approach on the Millburn project
- Foundation Bunkhouse – Condition report carried out
- Bunkhouse fireplan – Bunkhouse warden’s flat might need a separate fire door
- Housing Maintenance – Cloiche East exit report carried out
- John Strachan has been contacted about our EPC ratings – all rented accommodation will need to be marked as a C by 2028
- Cloiche E and W are rated E however Tigh Na Roan is rated C
- Have been in touch with HICH about how to improve our energy efficiency in our buildings
- HIE are looking for communities to host events in the future
Items for discussion:
- Accounts – present situation with cash at bank overview. Donations.
- DN – £100,000 came in from renewables to Triodos account this week
- Trading donated £33,000
- Across all four account have £515,000 accessible – significantly more than last year
- The trading numbers have gone up due mainly to extra expenditures in past years
- Profit & Loss – £26,965 profit from the end of September
- DTAS governance presentation
- 3rd of November governance presentation
- Register of interests
- Directors have signed
- Cloiche East – work required and scheduling of allocation meeting
- DN, RN, AW will be the directors involved – will have a meeting before the allocation meeting
- House needs work, rotten wood
- Existing approved burdened sale of land sites – way forward.
- Two sites have bee approved for burden sales above Millburn
- One person has been approved as eligible for one of the sites – first come first serve
- Place plan
- No update
- Sports area
- A potential site has been identified next to the Wee Hooses
- Over 80% of locals said it would be something they would use
- PE teacher liked the location of the proposed pitch close to the school and the pier
- JP brought surface samples
- AW – the maintenance of the pitch is a potential concern
- The tiles are replaceable, should last up to twenty years and are easy to install
- Showers and toilets might need to be considered
- DN – submit a detailed consultation form to the community with the proposed spot
- Directors gave support of the project to go forward – a future more detailed consultation will be needed before a decision can be made
- Stuart offered to help with this project given his background
- Knoydart short film
- Western Isles short film about Knoydart is out of date
- Film could be used on the new website redesign
- AP – FG to contact Western Isles and ask if they would interested in having a new video to show
- Focus more on community than landscape
- JD has offered to assist as a producer – suggests footage from one source would be best
- The video could be distributed over multiple websites and social media platforms
- AW – there is a lot Knoydart has to offer that isn’t advertised
- Decide on what the brief of the video is – no more than two minutes long
- AP – JD and FG to make a plan
- SW is happy to assist
- Track beyond Donald’s corner
- SKCC would like the Foundation to do repairs on the road
- Nigel is planning to do four trailer loads of rock to Kilchoan a day to supply to Simpsons
- In the past, track maintenance has been financially supported by the local users and households
- Discussion around track maintenance
- AP – DN to talk to Danny about his bucket crusher
- AP – SD to talk to Jackie
- AP – SD to speak to contractors using the road
- Each of the contractors could do one day a month to maintain the track
AOB:
DN has asked Danny to give his price to underground the HebNet cable up to the broadband mast from the corner of Glaschoille loch.
