Section 1 - About your organisation General Contact Details for Your Organisation 1.1 Name of Community Body (CB) (or unincorporated association if applying under the Sponsored Sale of Surplus Land) Maryculter Woodlands Trust Full I address for 4 Oldman Road Kirkton of Maryculter Aberdeenshire Postcode: AB12 5BZ Fax Your organisation's website: www.maryculterwoods.com Title: Dr First Name: Ed Chairman Address for co if different from the anisation address Address: as above Postcode Tele hone Surname: as above from the main contact address Address: as above Postcode Tele hone E-mail 1.4 What is the purpose of your organisation? Briefly explain the main purpose of your organisation, and what activities and services you undertake. 100 word maximum. (i) To restore and maintain native habitat in the Kirkton of Maryculter Wood (the 'Wood') for the benefit of the local communi J the ublic in eneral and wildlife. Activities will 3 include maintaining paths and drainage, restocking with native trees and improving access. (ii) To advance the education of the wider Community (including those attending local schools, universities, local clubs and organisations) about the natural history, environment, archaeological and cultural heritage of the Wood. (iii) To manage the land in a sustainable manner for the benefit of the Community and wildlife. Activities will include thinning of existing spruce and larch over 30 years and thereafterrelyinglargely on the managementof nativetrees to supportthe activitiesof our organisation. 1.5 What type of organisation are you? Description Documents to be enclosed Company Limited by Application to create SCIO Memorandum and Articles Guarantee (required under lodged with OSCRw/c 17th of Association community Acquisition) June 2013. Draft Certificate of Incorporation Yes - pleasetick Constitution enclosed Unincorporated Association Current status of MWT Constitution / Set of Rules Yes - insert date ./ established 2007 If yes, please give your registered Inland Application lodged w]«: 17thJune 2013 Revenue Charity Number and provide a copy of ur letter or reco nition Pleaseenclose a brief resume of each of your committee or Board members: See Appendix 1 to this application 4 1.10 Please tell us about your community. We need you to describe your community to allow us to decide whether you have demonstrated community support for the application (see Criteria 3, p13). You must include the location, population size, and a description of your community. This must also include a geographical definition such as community council boundaries, electoral wards, or postcode unit maps. Please also tell us who your neighbouring communities are. 300 words maximum. The population of your community 700 (on electoral roll) Our Community is situated in rural Aberdeenshire, 8miles SW of Aberdeen. The Community is defined by electoral ward SW1701 (Maryculter), which closely matches the Parish of Maryculter (see Appendix2). The Community falls within the area served by the North Kincardine Rural Community Council. The area is typified by small scattered rural settlements set amongst extensive farmland. The largest settlement is Kirkton of Maryculter which contains 32 properties. The rolling landscape is bounded to the north by the River Dee and most of the residents in the Community live within the valley. The Crynoch Burn runs through the Wood before joining the River Dee. The area has a rich past extending as far back as the Bronze age settlement on Oldman Hill (adjacent to the Wood). In the 13th Century the Templar Knights built the first parish church in Maryculter. There are 3 large country estates (Kincausie, Blairs and Auchlunies). The Kincausie estate, which has been owned by the Irvine family since 1535, extends up to the north eastern boundary of the Wood. This estate contains ancient woodland which supports red squirrel, pine marten, some rare raptors and nationally important populations of the rare woodland herbs Twinflower and Herb Paris. Maryculter Parish lies within the tourist destination of Royal Deeside and contains hotels (Maryculter House Hotel, Ardoe House Hotel, Old Mill Inn) and the Deeside Holiday Park. The Storybook Glen theme park lies immediately north of the Wood. The suburbs of Aberdeen (Peterculter & Milltimber) are situated to the north, on the other side of the River Dee. The rural communities of Durris and Netherley lie to the west and south respectively. In the future, 280 houses will be built at Blairs (within Maryculter Parish) and 4,000-8,000 new houses will be built to the south of the Parish at Elsick. 5 The Wood is referred to as Kirkton of Maryculter Wood, though has previously been known both as Oldman Wood and Durris Forest. 6 2.4 Please describe how the community has "a substantial connection with the land" (Criteria 3). The community should be situated by, near to, or on, the land. This could also include a description of how the community currently accesses or uses the land and other community interests in the land. 300 words maximum. A number of local organisations have facilities adjacent to the Wood. The local Scout group, comprising Beavers, Cubs and Scouts, have their meeting hut in the Kirkton of Maryculter and make extensive use of the Wood. They have also provided volunteers over the last few years for some of the activities undertaken in the Wood by the Maryculter Woodlands Trust (MWT). The Redwing Riding School is also situated adjacent to the Wood and use the Wood as their main site for lessons (several times a week). The Riding for the Disabled Association (RDA) use the wood to allow disabled members an opportunity to enjoy horse-drawn carriage rides in the pleasant and varied surroundings of the Wood. They also use the Wood to train both horses and able-bodied carriage drivers. The Wood is, of course, also used for recreation by walkers, particularly dog walkers. One of the attractions of the Wood is the diversity of habitat including open areas in the valley of the Crynoch Burn, open wetland areas, heather moor, relict Caledonian pinewood, mature spruce stands and maturing broadleaf stands. The top of Oldman Hill provides panoramic views of the area. There are archaeological features, varied metamorphic and igneous rock outcrops and undisturbed glacial features. In summary, a wild & diverse landscape and only 8 miles from Aberdeen. The MWT was created in 2007 and has undertaken many activities in the Wood, in partnership with FCS, to improve further the amenity of the Wood for the local community and wider public. These activities include creation of new 'desire line' paths, planting native trees, thinning out invasive spruce and maintaining drainage ditches. The volunteer workforce for these activities has come from the local community, including the local Scouts and Cub Scouts and their leaders. 2.5 Tell us why your organisation wants to acquire the land? Please give a brief outline of your plans for the land including the long term objectives your wish to achieve, and how you will manage the land differently. 300 words maximum. The Wood has been clear-felled in batches over the last 20 years with no significant restockin . A few mature trees remain mo on the stee slo es near the C och 7 Burn. The rest of the area is mostly either open ground or is covered in self-sown spruce & birch. Whilst this has reduced the economic value of the Wood it has helped create a diverse habitat, with considerable potential for further improvement. The MWT intends to develop further the diversity of habitat and transition the tree population to 90% native species by 2035. Plans have been created for a number of different zones (see map in Appendix 3). 1) Conservation Areas. These areas have no economic value now and MWT has no ambition to use these areas for any significant economic purposes in the future. These areas are a) Valley of Crynoch Burn (part of the River Dee SAC), b) Caledonian Pinewood (degraded, but can be restored) and c) Wetland (unproductive ground for trees). These areas all still require activity to improve the native habitat. 2) Mature spruce and western hemlock. This area will be thinned (tv300t) and infilled with Scot's pine to encourage red squirrels into the wood. 3) Clear-fell area. This area will be restocked in 2015/16 with Scot's Pine and a fringe of native broad-leaved trees. 4) Immature spruce and larch. These trees will be gradually thinned, potentially for firewood or woodchip mulch, and eventually removed by 2035. The area will be restocked with native species. 5) Existing broad-leaf areas. These areas will be restocked with additional native broad-leaf species for long-term economic benefit (2060+). Heather moor will be retained. Access points will be improved, with new gates at each entrance. We have recently arranged with Storybook Glen that school parties visiting the Wood will be able use their (large) car park. Section 3 - Demonstrating Community Support 3.1 If the land has a market value of less than £50,000 please provide evidence of community support, eg petition, ballot, attendance record and minutes of public meeting (if more than £50,000 go to 3.2). A postal ballot of the entire community was undertaken as part of this application. All ballot forms were posted on Saturday 4th May to each person on the electoral roll of ward SW1701 (Maryculter). Stamp-addressed envelopes were included with each ballot form addressed to the returning officer in the Aberdeenshire Council in Stonehaven. The ballot closed on 31st May and the count was held on 7thJune. Each ballot slip had a random code (untraceable to any individual or area) to prevent any fraudulent copying of voting slips. In the event, there were no invalid voting slips. The result is shown in the 8 next section.