Chair's Annual Report
Chairperson’s Annual Report for 2024-2025
1. Introduction and “About Ourselves”
Firstly, I would like to thank all the members of the Community Council for their continued time and support in what has been a very challenging year. Their work has not gone unrecognized, so a massive thank you to you all.
We have had a couple of CC members leave the committee due to moving away or family commitments. We would like to thank Lynsey Stewart (Strathconon) and Andrew Johnstone (Marybank) and wish them all the best going forward.
Nick Murray is resigning from the office of Treasurer due to changed family circumstances.
We have two new co-opted members: Jo Ellen (Marybank) and Susan Davison (Marybank). We are looking forward to working with them on local issues.
2. Energy Installations
We as a Community Council have been doing a lot of work this year on various issues within our community. A main concern is the ever-increasing number of energy installations. SSEN had an information event at Fairburn Memorial Hall for residents of the community to go and look at the plans they wish to put in place. They are wanting to install in our area overhead pylon cabling and underground lines. They have been making plans for routes and drilling site trial holes to assess the land for suitability to position these pylons. We as a community are not happy about this situation, but the overall feeling is that, despite all these so-called “consultations” the project may well go ahead whether we like it or not.
Also, there continues to be the possibility of a windfarm “Extension” at Fairburn beside the Orrin Reservoir, which would be larger than the existing one. To the best of our knowledge, there has been a pause on this at the moment, but it still poses very much a threat to our beautiful countryside, the environment in general and the well-being of our residents in general.
Apart from these two projects there are several further windfarms at various stages of the planning process: Kirkan, Carn Fearna, Tarvie and Ballach. If all these projects are built, we will be completely surrounded by windfarms and related structures like substations and energy storage systems. On the way to their completion, our beautiful part of the world will be turned into one gigantic industrial building site for years to come.
The local community are wondering if this will benefit our communities in any way as we are still paying among the highest prices for electricity in the whole of the UK. Besides, the alleged benefits from community funds continue to be often difficult to access and very much restricted as they can only be used in certain ways. There are still a lot of local people trying very hard for their voices to be heard on these two projects, but as long as there is no overall long-term plan on the part of the politicians it is like fighting the proverbial windmills with no visible success.
3. Communication with Residents
We still have our notice boards at six locations along the glen, with new ones at Scatwell and Curin. There are mailboxes at Marybank Primary School, Scatwell, Curin and Strathconon. We also run a website and a Facebook page.
There was an information event at Fairburn Memorial Hall on 27 April 2025 where residents were able to state their wishes and recommendations about what could or should be done to benefit our community. These wishes and recommendations were addressed to the Fairburn Hall Committee as well as to the Community Council.
The fund managers for the SSE/Fairburn Community Fund and Foundation Scotland for the EdF/Corriemoillie Community Fund and EdF Education and Training Fund were also present and gave useful advice as to what funds are available for what purposes. In the course of this year, the Community Council gave out six microgrants to residents for various purposes. There are now posters with information about funding opportunities in our notice boards and on our website and Facebook page.
There has been quite an improvement in mobile phone connection in the mid-section of the glen. The telecoms tower at Loch Luichart power station is now operational but it provides signal only to EE users.
However, we have submitted objections to planning applications for another two telecoms towers. They were intended to go to locations where they would not have benefited any people at all.
4. Cost of Living Expenses
The cost-of-living expenses are very much an ongoing issue for everyone wo is trying to pay for everyday bills and food. We continue giving vouchers out at Christmas for our residents over 65, families and single households. This has gone down extremely well, and we have had a lot of positive feedback from all ages saying how this has helped a lot with the cost of living.
When we have gone around with the vouchers we have asked people if there is anything else that would help. Suggestions that were made included “heated blankets” and maybe “a dehumidifier” for homes.
We continue to be constantly in touch with the people as to where we can improve our help.
5. Housing Need
This is a very large Community Council issue. We are trying to improve the housing situation, especially for affordable housing in our area. We need to have a flourishing younger generation to eventually take over from us as Community Council members. We also need to keep the younger generation in our villages because, If we don’t have younger people with families, we won’t be able to keep our schools open. We have already had an issue with Strathconon Primary School, which was threatened with mothballing or even closure when several families moved away from the glen. This would have been a big shame after substantial money was spent on upgrading the school to a top-of-the-range standard. Luckily, some new residents arrived so the school will remain open for at least another year. We don’t want to have this situation again but without more housing becoming available and more investment in the area this could become an issue again.
6. Connection with the younger generation
There have been a couple of open days at Fairburn Memorial Hall to inform the younger generation of the benefits that are available to them in Education and Training. Quite a few young locals have benefited from this, for example receiving financial help with driving lessons, sports teacher training and support in their university education.
7. Local Place Plan and Community Action Plan
There has been no further action for a Local Place Plan or CAP as we have decided to put this on hold for now. However, the outcome of the information event on 27 April 2025 at FMH (see section C) will probably lead to a series of actions benefiting the community.
8. Roads and Potholes
CC have repeatedly been in touch with The Highland Council about the many potholes and uneven surfaces on our roads. Our Highland Councillor Dr Chris Birt informed us that THC are working on improving the situation but the limited financial means and the vast network of roads in the Highland Council area present a huge obstacle.
We also took up with THC the occasional closure of the Moy Bridge after flooding due to heavy rain. With the changes in the weather that we are seeing happening this may well occur more frequently. The ambulance service at one point was called to an incident at the Fairburn Care Home and had to turn back and go via Conon Bridge and Muir of Ord. Luckily the issue was not life threatening. In the interest of members of our community in general we asked for better information to the emergency services, better lighting at the barrier and better signposting on the access roads to the bridge.
On 16 May 2025 there was a walkabout in Marybank involving two Highland Councillors, a member of the Highland Council Roads Department and several members of the community. The group were inspecting the situation re potholes and blocked drains. Hopefully this will lead to some progress to improve these issues. As in so many cases, the main stumbling stone seems to be the lack of finance. Unfortunately, the windfarm community funds can’t be used to speed up the necessary repair and maintenance work.
There was also a meeting with representatives of Strathconon Estate about the times when wood lorries are passing people’s houses and the disproportionate damage on our road into the glen due to wood lorries. Strathconon Estate acknowledged the issue but pointed out that they had already done some repair work in Strathconon Village. They added that there was not much use doing any major work to the road while the timber harvesting was still in progress as the lorries would damage the road again and again. The timber harvesting is estimated to last another five years until the process of replanting with native tree species can begin.
Strathconon Estate reminded residents, if there were any issues with encountering lorry traffic along the road, to take the matter up with them directly as they are able to locate vehicles at any given time via GPS.
9. Village Plants in Bloom
Both Marybank and Scatwell/Curin have benefited from microgrants for hedge trimming, grass cutting and general maintenance of plant tubs on the approach to the villages. It has really made a difference, making it very welcoming to residents, trades people and visitors alike.
10. Health and Well-Being
CC regularly attends quarter-yearly meetings at Dingwall Medical Centre of medical staff with representatives of the community councils in their catchment area. Among the topics discussed are how to improve access to doctor’s/hospital appointments, help with mental issues (especially caused by loneliness in rural areas) and considerations how to bring vaccination services nearer to residents.
11. Various
Various comments have been made about woodland issues and this will also get worse if the pylons go ahead, as there will have to be more clearance of trees to make way for them.
12. Closing Statement
As you can see it has been a very busy year for our CC, and we should all be proud of what we have achieved over the year. I as Chair am looking forward to working with you all in the year ahead, doing what we can to be the voice of the people and work in their interest.
THANK YOU AGAIN FOR ALL YOUR HARD WORK.
Signed: …Julia Crombie..… Date: …05 June 2025…
CHAIRPERSON’S REPORT MAY 2024
Firstly, I would like to thank every member of this Community Council for their time and hard work and dedication to our community. This has been another challenging year for us as a community.
We as a community have had a lot to deal with this year including –
SSEN wanting to instal overhead pylon cabling in our area and underground cabling as well. They have said that this is still in the planning process, but rumour has it they have already taken steps further than just consulting.
Also, there continues to be the possibility of a new windfarm “Extension” at Fairburn beside the Orrin Reservoir, which would be larger than the existing one. So far, no planning application has been submitted. We do not really see a need for even more windfarms around us and would object to any planning applications as much as is in our power.
If this “Extension” is to go ahead anyway, then we would have to look at how this would benefit our community further down the line. A much larger windfarm may well mean additional community funding being made available to us in the future. However, past experience with windfarm funding shows that there may be considerable restrictions on how such funds could be used to the benefit of our residents. Also, the application process can be rather complicated and may scare potential applicants off from trying in the first place. Further dialogue with SSE may be the way forward.
When I reflect on this year, I had hoped that our voices would be heard by our local government and Scottish parliament about renewable energy within our area. This has not by any means been an easy task at all. And as a community we are still dealing with this issue and will be for some time.
Apart from the SSEN Pylons project, our key issues over the last year were:
1.Communication with residents
2.Cost of living expenses.
3.Housing need.
4.Having a connection with the younger generation and helping with education and training
5.Community assets for our area, perhaps setting up a Local Place Plan
6. Various
Ad 1:
There are mailboxes at Marybank Primary School, Scatwell and Strathconon where members of the community can post questions and concerns that they have for our area. We also have notice boards in each part of our community to let everyone know of things going on. We post issues on Facebook and our website. We have a growing list of email addresses of some of our residents, so we can contact them directly. Online access to community council meetings is available as much as broadband provision in our remote glen allows. And of course, if residents want to speak to us in person, we will always welcome that. We hope that this goes some way to help our residents feel informed.
There were several pre-planning application consultations regarding siting telecoms towers in our area, which would establish more reliable mobile phone provision but so far nothing has progressed any further. There seems to be work going on at the mast by Loch Luichart Power Station but it is not known how far that has developed.
Ad 2:
The cost-of-living crisis for our community has been extremely hard for all age groups with a lot of everyday bills going up for homes (food, electricity, insurance, fuel etc.). With not a lot of public transport available it is hard. The Community Council has tried to support the older and the younger generation through our food vouchers for the butchers and local vegetable shop. In this day and age, it can be very difficult to buy good quality meat and vegetables at an affordable price for families. Families are often found to be buying more processed food as this is very much the cheaper option.
We have tried to support households with members over 65s and families with children under the age of 16. Apart from that, at Christmas time, every home in neither of these two groups got a small food voucher to help with the increasing costs of living.
We are very proud of what we have achieved with this and are going to apply for more funding for this year coming. We are also investigating further funding to offer perhaps a heated air dryer or a humidifier for moisture within homes, or heated blankets.
Ad 3:
The Community Council is still working hard to try and improve housing for our area. We would love for this to happen to persuade the younger generation to come and live within our community for it to thrive and have a new generation to take over in years to come and to make our voices heard.
Ad 4:
We have looked at how we can get in touch with the younger generation to inform them of our local funding schemes that are available to them to help with progressing in further education or learning a new skill.
A few members of our community have benefited from the Corriemoillie Education and Training Fund to learn to drive, gain extra qualifications for work, or going to college or university, supporting the local shinty clubs and to help people with learning disabilities compete in competitions for a sporting event.
Ad 5:
We have started investigating if setting up a Local Place Plan would be the way forward for us. This is very much in the early stages. Local Place Plans can include proposals from communities about how land and other assets are developed and used within their local area. They can describe the types of changes that local people want to see and what changes and suggestions they would like to be taken into account.
Ad 6:
· We continue to alert Highland Council about road issues within our area with concerns over potholes on our roads to make them safer for users.
· We have had our defibrillators serviced and new pads put in when needed in our area.
· We have responded to planning applications and furthermore called for more affordable houses to meet our needs.
· Mobile connectivity in our area continues to be an issue and we are hoping for better coverage in the not too distant future. New fibre optic cabling is being put in place now, but it is not sure if and how this will benefit the community,
· We have also given out mini grants for new notice boards, post boxes and flowerpots in our area to brighten our community, and to Friends of Fairburn nursing home for client days out.
All in all, we should all be proud of what we have achieved so far and I wish to thank you all again for your support with all our projects and I look forward to helping us pull together and achieve our future goals.
