COMMUNITY ACTION PLAN 2017-2022 Callander Callander Community Action Plan 2017-2022 This Action Plan was developed Through partnership working and using the plan to help secure by a group of people funding, many of the priorities in the 2012-17 plan were achieved, representing Callander including the following: Community Council, Callander The part-time post of Town Coordinator, recruited in 2013, Community Development Trust, supported delivery of CAP actions and provided continuity Callander Youth Project Trust, and consistent point of contact for partners. Funding came McLaren High School, Callander from FVL LEADER, Stirling Council, National Park Authority, Primary School and the Ben Ledi View community newspaper, Scottish Government People & Communities Fund and with support from the Community Callander Community Hydro Fund. Partnership for Loch Lomond & The programme of community events was expanded to The Trossachs and the Callander include the annual Summerfest promoting arts and culture Town Coordinator. Financial and Winterfest. support for the process came Callander Youth Project Trust developed an award-winning from the Community Partnership social enterprise to deliver youth training and activities. and Callander Community Hydro The community-controlled McLaren Leisure Centre secured Fund. Climate Challenge funding, improved its environmental This Community Action Plan performance and extended its activities. (CAP) replaces the previous An all-weather pitch was installed at McLaren Leisure Centre one developed at the time of with funding from Sportscotland. the 2011 charrette and it carries forward many of the same Access to the outdoors was promoted and encouraged themes and concerns for by many local groups, such as Callander’s Countryside, further development. Skidaddle and Trossachs Mobility. BT Highspeed Broadband was installed. The Callander Landscape Partnership secured £1.7m from the Heritage Lottery Fund for access and heritage projects, including improved signage of our path network, to be delivered from 2018. The Flood Action Group was set up by the Development Trust to support people affected by flooding. 2 | COMMUNITY ACTION PLAN 2017 - 2022 Our Community Our Voice Works to extend and improve Ancaster Community views were canvassed in 2016 through Square were carried out by Stirling surveys in the Ben Ledi View, an on-line survey, a Council. series of workshops with McLaren High School pupils, The National Park Authority community meetings and a business workshop commissioned a feasibility study into hosted by Callander Enterprise. Callander Primary safer cycling and walking including School conducted a peer-led consultation. construction of a bridge at the east of A total of 379 paper surveys of which 226 were from Callander. young people and a further 133 were completed Creative in Callander was set up by online. The community meetings and business the Development Trust to occupy an workshop were attended by 56 people. empty shop and is now an independent company run by a group of artists and crafters. Both the Primary and High School developed a safe routes to school plan. Greener Callander extended and 512 improved the floral displays on the town SURVEYS RETURNED centre and constructed the Community FROM OUR COMMUNITY Friendship Garden in South Church Street St Kessog’s was purchased by the Clanranald Trust, an educational charity. VisitScotland has continued its presence in Callander through a partnership with 56 the National Park Authority. PEOPLE ATTENDED Callander Enterprise produced a THE CAP COMMUNITY promotional video and developed & BUSINESS MEETINGS its website incallander.co.uk to help promote Callander and its businesses. Callander Community Hydro Scheme Thanks to everyone who participated started generating electricity in 2014. It donates funds to the Development Trust which distributes them to local projects through the Community Hydro Fund. Some priorities from the last plan were still important in the 2016 consultations and have been carried forward. CALLANDER | 3 Our Community Now The following section summarises our Community Profile. All facts and figures are based on local research and updated through the community consultation. Location Employment and the Local Economy Callander is on the eastern edge of, The tourism and service industries are the main employers in Callander, and is the largest settlement in, Loch with retail, accommodation and food, and health and social care Lomond & The Trossachs National comprising the bulk of employment. Park. It is often described as the The construction industry follows closely, employing 10% of the local gateway to the Highlands as it sits on population. Self-employment is higher than the national average at 13% the southern edge of the Highland as opposed to 7%. Significant local employers include McLaren Leisure Boundary Fault. Centre, the schools, and Campbell’s Shortbread. The town is dominated to the west Many residents out-commute to parts of the central belt or are self- by Ben Ledi (879m), and runs in a employed. ribbon along the A84 trunk road, sandwiched between Callander Education and Childcare Crags to the north and the River Teith Most local children attend Callander Primary School, which has a pupil to the south. It is 16 miles north-west of roll of 231, and also provides 30 places of pre-school nursery care during Stirling, 45 miles north of Glasgow and school hours. McLaren High School has a roll of 591, and covers a wide 50 miles north-west of Edinburgh. catchment from Tyndrum in the north to Aberfoyle in the south-west. Callander is a focus of the There is no under-3 or private nursery care in Callander but there are surrounding rural area, providing several registered childminders. shopping, schooling and health McLaren Leisure Centre provides holiday and extra-curricular activities and leisure services to a much wider for children, including swimming, climbing, hockey, football and rugby. population. Callander Youth Project runs a youth club and provides other activities for Population children and young people. Callander’s population at the 2011 Services & Community census was 3,077. Local health services can be found at the Bracklinn and Leny Practices at Housing the Callander Medical Centre, a modern building on the edge of town, covering Callander and the surrounding rural area. Dental and optical The number of households has services can be found separately in the town centre. The nearest hospital increased from the 2001 census is the NHS Forth Valley Royal Infirmary in Larbert. A small library is located to 1,553, of which about 70% are just off the main street. Sheltered housing is provided by Stirling Council owner occupied, and 20% classed and Trust Housing, and there are two private nursing homes in the town. as social housing. Although Rural Further social-care for disabled and the elderly is provided by Enable Stirling Housing Association has built Scotland and Stirling Council. Support for young people can be found a number of homes in recent years, through the Callander Youth Project, who liaise with local organisations, difficulty finding affordable family businesses and groups to provide support for 11 to 25 year olds through accommodation is still a significant activities, education, training, recreation, and resources, aiming to stem local issue. the flow of young people from rural areas. They set up and run the five- star Callander Hostel as a social enterprise to trains young people in hospitality. 4 | COMMUNITY ACTION PLAN 2017 - 2022 Retail, Food and Accommodation Heritage Environment & Outdoor Access Callander hosts a variety of shops, Callander and its surrounding area The stunning landscape surrounding mainly aimed at the visitor and has a long a varied history. Some Callander is very mixed, comprising tourist market, including arts and of the earliest can be found at the wooded uplands to the north and crafts, clothing, and gift shops. Auchenlaich Neolithic burial cairn west, floodplain, parkland and The town also has a butcher, three and the Neolithic settlement at farmland to the south and east, with bakeries, a farm shop, charity shops Claish Farm and significant Roman a plethora of flora and fauna. There and two small supermarkets. The remains can be found on the are three local SSSIs (Sites of Special Edinburgh and Trossachs Woollen Bochastle Plain. The main town of Scientific Interest), and the River Mill recently vacated four premises Callander was constructed in the Teith is a Special Conservation Area in the town, and one of the two late 1730s as a planned-town by (SAC). A wide variety of paths and banks closed. Two of these four the Duke of Perth, although there is walks are accessible from Callander, premises and several others have settlement evidence dating back from steep hill and woodland walks been refilled and a relatively small to the 14th century. By the late to the Bracklinn Falls or through number are currently empty. 18th century the town became the Coilhallan Woods, to riverside walks A small, light industrial estate is focus of a retired soldiers’ settlement through the Meadows, which also located on the southern edge and the construction of the military provides further formal and informal of Callander, providing premises road. Cotton manufacturing was recreational activities. for a number of local enterprises. one of the main industries during Several long-distance walking and Callander has a number of popular this period. Following publication cycle routes pass through Callander, cafes, restaurants and hotels. of Sir Walter Scott’s Lady of the including the Rob Roy Way, NCN A significant amount of holiday Lake, Callander became a popular Route 7 (cycle route connecting accommodation can be found in tourist destination further boosted Sunderland and Inverness). The and close to Callander, including by the arrival of the railway in the Great Trossachs Path runs from self-catering, bed and breakfasts, 1850s, which laid the foundations of Callander to Inversnaid on Loch hotels and Callander Hostel; cabin Callander’s economy today. Lomond.