Dunblane Development Trust - General News

Community View - September 2004

Dunblane Development Trust

The Trust has just passed its first birthday and by the time you read this, we will have had our first Annual General Meeting. Looking back over the year, what have been the highlights and where have things not gone to plan? The main highlights have been:-

Building the membership. We have already passed the 300 mark and every month, we are getting 20 or so new members. Members are our lifeblood and every one makes a valuable contribution just by showing their support and by contributing to funding through membership fees and donations. Of course, many make additional contributions of their time and that is why we have been able to carry through significant improvement actions backed up by efficient administration and management. Although new members have come to us through many different ways, the substantial effort that Andy MacLaren made in recruitment cannot be understated and we are very grateful to him.

Establishing satisfactory financial resources. In addition to the fees and donations from Members, Stirling Council, through several different grant sources, has provided good financial support and it has meant that our management efforts have largely been able to concentrate on developing improvement initiatives rather than chasing cash. However, as our activities spread we are going to require significant more income to maintain improvements as well as achieve further improvements. Our Finance Director, Fiona Conboy keeps the books and financial controls in good order.

Making significant improvements to the environment. A year ago, footpaths were overgrown, there were significant litter and dog fouling problems, most of the public open spaces were in a poor state of neglect, Ochlochy Pond was leaking and almost completely full of silt and weed, the area around the War Memorial was a disgrace and generally the appearance everywhere was one of “does anyone care?” Well, thanks to Bryan Grieve and his team of volunteers, who have worked tirelessly in all sorts of weather and always with great enthusiasm, tremendous improvements have been achieved. The way that Stirling Council has supported this effort with lots of input from Community Services and Technical Services, has also been a crucial factor in this. They know that putting extra effort into Dunblane now means substantial and permanent improvement and that is motivating people into making that extra effort.

Developing our website, DunblaneWeb.co.uk For those of you who go on line and of course for anyone around the world interested in finding out about Dunblane, possibly as part of holiday planning, this website is now full of interesting and informative script and pictures, with easy access via e mail to key people in Dunblane. Terence O’Byrne continues to put a tremendous amount of his time expanding the website and keeping it all up to date. Soon we hope to be adding a business database which should help local businesses with developing local customers as well as reaching a much wider potential customer base.

Improving our Centre. For a number of years, comments often made about our town centre was “it’s a mess”, or something similar. It was clearly in decline, with more and more empty premises and a generally unattractive appearance. The occupiers are now participating in the efforts of the Trust, they are making their own valuable contributions to improving appearances and providing a wider range of products and services. Progressively, confidence and optimism is returning.

Establishing the groundwork for developing community and identity. Both the Planning & Strategy Group and the Community Facilities Group have done a lot of groundwork in establishing contact with and involvement in matters such as major planning matters, parking, health care, schools, paths and the many community facilities around the town. The Board have concluded that all of this can now be brought together under one heading – Community Development – and the next stage will be to write a Community Development Plan, aimed at re-establishing community spirit and civic pride. Dunblane has gone through a lot of changes and it is now much bigger than it was a decade or so ago.

Now, what has not gone to plan? The main difficulties have been:-

Management resources. We have been unable to fill all the positions on the Board of Directors and as a consequence, the burden on a few is currently higher than it should be. Fortunately, all the appointed Directors have responded extremely well and everything has been covered one way or another. Within Dunblane, we know that there are many people who have both the management experience and time to be able to serve on the Board, but so far they are not coming forward and offering to participate.

Perhaps they have been waiting to see if the Trust really establishes itself. Well, if that is the case, we should soon get a rush of interested people. Perhaps it is the fear of getting too involved. Well, if we have something close to a full board of 15 directors, the burden on any individual will be low – say around 2 hours per week. We need to find out and resolve the shortage of management as a matter of priority. Would you like to have a discussion on this without obligation? If so, ring me on 822281.

Project Finance. There are two project areas where we need to secure more funding as soon as possible. The Environment Group has demonstrated how much they can achieve with small sums of money. The cost of the Ochlochy Pond project was originally estimated at between £50,000 and £100,000 by Stirling Council. The Environment Group, with significant help and contributions “in kind” from locals, completed the whole job with only around £4,000 of project cash. Recently, some of our volunteers who went on a course in dry stone walling completed a job near the Fourways roundabout, valued at around £1000, for virtually nothing. This type of leverage from small sums of project cash means real value for anyone who is able to make a contribution. The other project that we want to undertake in support of developing the town centre and the community is to buy and install improved, modern, Christmas lighting decorations. We already have a fund of £2,500, but we need to get something close to £20,000 if we are to do the job properly. Can you help with any cash or kind? Do you know anyone who might do so and can you ask them for us?

We now look forward to another good year, but we need your help in management and project finance to achieve a whole lot more that will make Dunblane an even nicer place to visit, to live, to run a business and to shop.

Mike Seal

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