Board members laud 'tremendous ideas' on community learning in wake of Falls of Shin rejection
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Board members of Lairg and District Learning Centre and Kyle of Sutherland Hub have said they feel 'sad' and 'deeply disappointed' after learning that their proposal to carry out a transfer of the Falls of Shin visitor centre had been rejected.
The groups had hoped to retain the site as a community asset with the aim of offering cheap, affordable food, ice creams and coffee to visitors in a bid to inject new life into the facility.
The board of Kyle of Sutherland Development Trust (KoSDT), with the support of funding bodies – the National Lottery Community Fund (TNLCF) and Highlands & Islands Enterprise (HIE) – issued a statement on Monday saying that the proposal was not financially viable.
The trust will now look to sell the facility.
In a statement released this week, Irene Mackintosh, chair of the Learning Centre, said: "We’re deeply disappointed, obviously. We were so buoyed by our community consultation. We had over 220 responses from local people, and 97 per cent of folk responding said they believed that the asset should stay in community hands.
"Community ownership is such a vital and empowering thing, and while it isn’t easy or straightforward, we absolutely believe it to be an essential way forward for those living in rural communities: otherwise we’re just going back to old landowner models. It’s devastating to see something owned by us slip away in this way.
"People who know and love the area shared lots of brilliant ideas and suggestions with us, many of which we built directly into our business model. We weren’t setting ourselves any lofty ambitions: we were focused on slow, sustainable growth as owner-occupiers of the site, with a team of core paid staff. And the community learning aspect was just a wee cherry on the top."
Hayley Bangs, of Kyle of Sutherland Hub, added: "We’re sad, obviously. We’ve only had a few months to pull together a business plan, in response to the trust’s public meeting in August, where it was suggested that all community solutions had been explored.
"It’s been fantastic to see the strength of feeling not only about the Falls of Shin, but also about our own organisations: people really believed we could make it a success, and we definitely did too. I hope the same people will be happy that we have tried our best.
"Community enterprises can make money, and we had hoped that our own organisations, and other local partners, could be more sustainable through this innovative collaboration."
Ms Mackintosh added: "One thing that emerged from the consultation was a truly tremendous bunch of ideas around community learning and we’re working hard now to bring all of this to life.
"We hope to welcome people from near and far to lots of new classes and workshops in the new year."
