Muckhart Community Plan Muckhart: Clackmannanshire’s Gateway to the Ochils A beautiful village, a sustainable community September 2017 Our Vision for Muckhart A vibrant, active, sustainable and connected community, contributing to an area of outstanding natural beauty. Welcome to the Muckhart Community Plan (MCP) achieved if community organisations and individuals which has been produced by your Community all work together to help deliver our Plan’s Council to help identify, promote and deliver our objectives. community’s priorities over the next five years. It Our Community Plan is not set in ‘tablets of stone’ describes what we wish to achieve in Muckhart, and and will be reviewed on a regular basis and may its surrounding area, and details our Aims, Policies change to meet differing priorities, as they arise from and Objectives, together with Action Plans. time to time. The community’s priorities within this Plan have Our Plan does not stand alone, as it recognises been identified through extensive consultation, our role in supporting the Clackmannanshire which took place during 2015 and 2016, and have Alliance’s Single Outcome Agreement (SOA) which been confirmed by the results obtained from our is a Clackmannanshire-wide agreement designed to Community Questionnaire. meet the shared community planning outcomes of It is clear from the consultation that residents Clackmannanshire Council, FV NHS, our emergency appreciate our beautiful village, which is set services, other agencies and the voluntary sector. in stunning countryside, and value the active We hope that you find our Plan to be interesting, community spirit created by the many local as well as a practical method of helping to achieve organisations and clubs within our village, all our community’s priorities, and that you will feel of which contribute to a vibrant and dynamic encouraged and motivated to support it. community, which we enjoy here in Muckhart and which we wish to see protected, developed and promoted, hence, our Vision for Muckhart, above. This document is a summary of the full Muckhart Your Community Council has developed a practical Community Plan which can be accessed on the Community Plan which we believe is achievable Muckhart Community Council website: within a small dynamic community - a Plan which stimulates ownership and the active involvement www.muckhart.org.uk of our residents and which supports our local organisations. Our aims, we believe, can only be Muckhart Community Council Consultation Open Public Meeting 18 Stakeholder Meetings 3 Community Workshops Community Questionnaire: returning 115 responses from 210 households 2 Muckhart Community Plan Muckhart Area Profile The name Muckhart is derived from the Gaelic, Toddler Group; and Rural SWRI. Rainbows, Brownies Muc-Àird, meaning “pig height”, which could refer and Guides meet in the village hall and there are to a hill where wild boar roamed, to pig farming or, Beaver, Cub and Scout sections located in Dollar possibly, to the shape of Seamab Hill. Muckhart is (some 3 miles away). a cluster of communities, located in the north east Muckhart boasts an excellent Primary School, corner of Clackmannanshire, the largest of which which forms an important and integral part of the is the attractive village of the Pool of Muckhart. It local community, and for secondary education, our is surrounded by several smaller settlements which children travel to Alva Academy or to schools in include: Yetts o’ Muckhart; a group of houses around Kinross or Auchterarder. Dollar Academy provides Naemoor farm; Upper Yetts; and a group of houses a private primary and secondary education service located close to the Muckhart Golf Club and along and further education services are available in Alloa, Golf Course Road, towards the Primary School. To the Stirling, Falkirk, Perth and Dunfermline. north, Muckhart is dominated by the higher ground of the Ochil hills and to the south is rolling farming The Coronation Hall, at the west end of the village, countryside in the River Devon valley. is used extensively to host meetings, parties and other events and is also used as a picture house. The Local business is based on agriculture, and related Church, at the east end of the Pool, is very active and services, as well as tourism and hospitality. There shares a minister in a linked charge with Dollar and is a golf club, a pub, a tea / coffee shop and a few Glendevon. Bed and Breakfast facilities which cater for tourists and visitors. There are also well respected, local Behind the Church is a nature park, with a dipping carpentry businesses and a number of small service pond and small open air theatre, which offers access companies are run out of private properties. to the Woodland Trust reserve, Geordie’s Wood, and the wider Ochils. To the south of the village, there is Muckhart has a large number of clubs and a community woodland and there is an enclosed play organisations which cater for all ages, including park, at the western end of the village. the: Amenity Society; Horticultural Society; Quilters; Muckhart Primary School Parent Council; Baby and Assets for the community Buildings, memorials Natural features • Muckhart Church and • Conservation area • Nature Park graveyard (various listed buildings) (with open air theatre) • Coronation Hall • Balliliesk House • Geordie’s Wood • Muckhart Primary School • Arndean (Woodland Trust) • Playpark • Old Manse • Seamab Hill • Muckhart Golf Club • Japanese Garden, • Community Woodlands (27 holes) Cowden House • River Devon • The Muckhart Inn • Muckhart Mill • Extensive foot and cycle paths • Mona’s of Muckhart • War Memorial • Widely diverse natural • BT Telephone box (listed) environment www.muckhart.org.uk 3 Image of the Village To promote Muckhart as ‘The Gateway to the Ochils’: an attractive and welcoming conservation village, offering a wide range of facilities for residents and visitors. The community consultation indicated significant support for initiatives designed to improve the appearance of Muckhart, and it’s Conservation Area, for the benefit of residents and visitors. There is support for Muckhart to continue to be recognised as a beautiful village, with well maintained gardens, footpaths and verges, for the placement of flower displays throughout the village and for the village to re-enter Scotland’s ‘Village in Bloom’ competition. There is also support for the improvement of the area located nearby the Church and that a small picnic area, including public information boards, should be provided for walkers and cyclists, together with a limited number of car parking spaces. Finally, there is support for improving the area in front of the Coronation Hall, by developing the concept of a village square. 86% agree with developing the village’s open spaces, in particular, around the Church “Improvements to the open space would create a significant feature in the village” Housing Development To encourage the gradual and incremental growth of a balanced range of new homes, to sustain a dynamic community, in keeping with existing housing in the area. The Community Council’s long held view is that a gradual, incremental growth in new housing should be viewed positively and necessary to create a thriving, vibrant community. However, it is deemed important to have a good mix of house types within the area, including homes suitable for those wishing to purchase their first home or who wish to downsize. Should the new housing development proceed, as outlined in the Local Development Plan, it is anticipated that the community will have the opportunity to discuss and agree with the developer the ‘Planning Gain’ for the community and there is wide support for the reinstatement of the original ‘Pool’ of Muckhart. Support also exists for the gradual and incremental growth of housing in countryside around Muckhart but only where clusters of houses already exist. 88% agree that housing should only be allowed to grow gradually and incrementally “This is a small village… Its character will be lost if it is developed all at once” 4 Muckhart Community Plan Sustainability & Environment To sustain and enhance the natural environment through the promotion of environmentally focussed initiatives, supporting Clackmannanshire Local Development Plan policies. The recent community consultation confirmed that there is significant interest in the protection and promotion of local biodiversity within our community. Opportunities exist to improve energy efficiency within our homes and the opportunity to consult objective, relevant and accurate information and to learn from the experience of others, from within our community, has great support. There is support for extending the present Ochils Special Landscape Area (SLA) to include the attractive countryside to the east of Dollar and south of the A91, as far as the River Devon, and including within it, the conservation village of Muckhart, to ensure that our surrounding landscape is not damaged by inappropriate development. 88% support considering the impact of any new development on biodiversity and the environment “The natural environment is one of the greatest assets of the area” “This would help protect the character of the village for the future” Education To support fully access to quality education, for all, and the continuation of Muckhart Primary School, as a core community asset. The recent community consultation suggests strong support for ensuring that the Primary School should be retained within our local community and that