‘I am not forcing this on you’: Richard Gale responds to Lairg’s doubts over community car
Lairg looks set to receive a community car despite a lukewarm response from two community organisations to the offer.
Lairg Community Council felt it would be difficult to find volunteer drivers for the car while Lairg and District Community Initiatives (LDCI) said it did not have the capacity to run a community transport scheme.
However it now appears that Lairg Community Centre’s management committee is keen to take on the car.
Sutherland’s six local councillors have set up a not-for-profit company, Sutherland Resilience Initiative (SRI), to address the issues driving the depopulation crisis in the county. Factors identified as contributing to depopulation include a lack of transport, childcare and housing.
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SRI’s first project has been to provide new fully taxed and insured electric cars to communities, with four cars purchased thanks to a £102,000 award from the Coastal Communities Fund.
Two cars have already been handed over - one to the Farr North Development Trust and the other to Brora Community Enterprises. Lairg and Scourie were next in line to receive a car.
However at a meeting of Lairg Community Council last Wednesday, chairman Stephen MacLean said the biggest problem would be finding volunteer drivers.
LDCI chairperson Kaye Hurrion said they had been unaware that the offer of a car was to be made.
She said: “We did not know about this and were taken aback to read about it in the Northern Times.”
Ms Hurrion added that LCDI would not be able to run the community car scheme but suggested that the Kyle of Sutherland Development Trust (KoSDT) would possibly be able to manage it.
She said she would consult with both the LDCI board and KOSDT manager David Watson.
Cllr Richard Gale attended the meeting in his role as a director of Sutherland Resilience Initiative.
He said the transport initiative had been a constant topic of discussion at Sutherland Community Partnership over the past two years.
Cllr Gale added: “I am not forcing this on you. If you do not want it, then that is okay. I have two if not three areas that want it.”
Speaking to the Northern Times on Wednesday, Cllr Gale said that there had been some discussion following the meeting but that Lairg Hall Committee now looked like being the likely recipients of the car.
“We are just finalising the agreement and hopefully the car will be delivered to Lairg,” he said. “We are also finalising the arrangements for Scourie.”
