The second Minard Big Conversation on 30 July focused on the school and the Council’s plans to declare it surplus before arranging disposal. Minard Community Trust has expressed an interest in the building and grounds in order to allow time to discuss whether the community wants to take on ownership and potential uses if that happened.
Background
A summary of the current situation and five possible options were presented to the meeting to start the conversation. You can see a copy of that note here. There may be other options not included in the note.
The meeting discussed various possible uses of the buildings, the pros and cons of ownership, the burden on the title deeds and examples form other communities where there have been successes and issues with community ownership. Views ranged from No clear decision was made regarding the different options, partly because a significant number of people attending were not familiar with the internal layout of the building.
Actions
Specific actions agreed were:
- to contact the Council to ask for the buildings to be opened for public view – ideally on a weekend
- to ask the Council if contact has been made with the trust responsible for the burdens on the title deeds (and potential easing of those)
- to make contact with a hosing association to see if the site could have potential for development for social housing
If we develop a plan…
If the community decides to purchase there is significant financial support available via the Scottish Land Fund. They appoint an advisor for eligible projects to help prepare the application to the fund. Information on their web site states:
“Successful applicants will clearly demonstrate that their project will help their local community to:
- achieve more sustainable economic, environmental and/or social development through ownership of land and buildings
- have a stronger role in and control over their own development
- own well managed, financially sustainable land and buildings.
We will prioritise applications that can demonstrate significant positive impact for the community as a whole.”
If the community is to take on the buildings and grounds we need to develop ideas and put in the work to develop a credible business plan that will allow the Scottish Land Fund to look favourably on an application. If that doesn’t happen the opportunity will pass and the Council will be able to market the site for sale.
Brian and Margaret indicated that they don’t have the capacity to lead the process, but will provide support to someone who can because the Community Trust is the obvious. If you feel you have the time to lead and coordinate this as a project, please get in touch. There will be other support to draw on, including from the Scottish Land Fund.
Timeline
Whilst the Council has not set a specific date where they move to the next step, this is a process that has either to move to the community seriously looking at ownership or a lease, or deciding to let the site go to public sale.
Anyone interested in leading this process should get in touch sooner rather than later.
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