ARDGAY & DISTRICT Community Council newsletter £1.00 [suggested donation] Issue No. 31 = SPRING 2016 = INTERVIEW WITH SARAH JONES, COMMUNITY BROADBAND SCOTLAND ADVISOR FOR THE AREA “A subscriber to a community broadband project should not pay more than the market rate” The Kyle of Sutherland Development Trust is working with Community Broadband Scotland to explore the possibilities of setting up a community owned broadband company that will deliver “superfast” broadband to the Kyle of Sutherland. ARDGAY & DISTRICT CC DT to confirm the details at an early stage but the bers of the community newsletter spoke to CBS of a potential project in Trust will be hosting a are kept informed of how Advisor Sarah Jones, who the Kyle of Sutherland number of public meet- the project is progressing. is working with the KoS- area. The project is still ings to ensure that mem- (Continue on page 4) Falls of Shin project awarded £1 million from the Big Lottery Fund (Page 12) Kyle of Sutherland Forest Trust set up to develop a community owned forest in Culrain IN JUNE 2015, KYLE of Suther- KoSDT manager, Helen Houston, Falls of Shin Development Manager, Valerie Houston, land Forest Trust was created Project Manager & Catriona Hill from CH Architecture with some of the KoSDT directors. in order to register interest in approximately 100 acres of Funding is now in place for the project ‘Gateway Carbisdale Forest surrounding to Sutherland’ to regenerate Ardgay Centre (Page 13) the village of Culrain. (Page 11) Give golf a go at Amat’s gardens charity a Bonar Bridge open day and many Obituary, Children Ardgay other events pages, Opening times, Telephone guide, Bus Golf Club & Train timetable, Page 14 Page 17 Crosswords, Sudoku... ARDGAY & DISTRICT Community Council newsletter SPRING 2016 = Page 3 Contents 6 13 16 18 ARDGAY NEWS =Kyle of Sutherland Forest Trust, GEARRCHOILLE WOOD =Interview with Sarah Jones, formed to register interest in =Busy winter season at your Community Broadband Scotland Carbisdale Forest ��������������������������������� 11 community wood ���������������������������������� 16 advisor for the Kyle of Sutherland �����4 =Ardgay Public Hall’s latest KoSDT WHAt’S ON IN THE AREA ����������������17 refurbishment projects ����������������������������6 =Falls of Shin project awarded with =Reduction in hours at the Bank of £1M from the Big Lottery Fund��������� 12 CHILDREN & YOUNG PEOPLE Scotland Bonar Bridge branch ����������7 =Funding in place for the project =Gledfield Primary School ����������������18 =Obituary: Alec Campbell ������������������8 ‘Gateway to Sutherland’ that aims to =Hamish, the tartan dragon ����������� 19 =Royal British Legion Scotland regenerate the centre of Ardgay ������13 service for Private Hector Levy ������������ 9 FROM THE MANSE ����������������������������� 20 =Windfarm Community Benefits: ADULT CLUBS & SOCIETIES how to apply �����������������������������������������10 =This season, why not try golf at LOCAL SERVICES A-Z =Elected Community Council Bonar Bridge Ardgay Golf Club ������� 14 =Opening times & timetables ��������� 21 Members contact details ������������������10 =Clubs info & contact details ������������15 =Telephone guide ��������������������������������22 Ardgay & District photographs EDITOR’S LETTER Community spirit hank you to all our contrib- Tutors and volunteers. It is very rewarding to be the editor of the community newsletter when there is so much excit- ing news to share. The Kyle of Sutherland, and particularly Ardgay & District is a vibrant area with many community pro- jects going on: there are plans to create a community broadband, a new visitor centre in the Falls of Shin, a community forest in Culrain, the redevelopment of the Lady Ross site, and the new facility KoS Hub! And finally, a new community council has been elected in Ardgay. I wish Spring Aurora Borealis by Janis Hedley the best of luck to all these pro- Photo taken on the 14th May 2015 from the Struie� This was the last northern lights display visible until August because the nights were getting much lighter� jects and groups. < The orange is the sun sitting just below the horizon� Silvia Muras Editor Page 4 =SPRING 2016 ARDGAY & DISTRICT Community Council newsletter Ardgay & District News EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH SARAH JONES, COMMUNITY BROADBAND SCOTLAND ADVISOR FOR THE AREA “Kyle of Sutherland’s “superfast” broadband would likely be up and running in 2017” CBS is working closely with the Kyle of Sutherland Development Trust to identify the project area. A community owned broadband company would provide “superfast ser- vice” to the Kyle of Sutherland confirmed project area with little or no extra cost. (Starts on front page) A&DCC Newsletter: What is ‘su- perfast’ broadband and what speeds should we expect? Sarah Jones: “Superfast” Broad- band is defined by the EU as having a download speed of 30 mbps and over. The community broadband project area is still being confirmed so it is not possible to say at this stage who will get what speed. It is worth noting that the current plan is for the project to deliver a “super- fast service” to the project area and this area will be confirmed in the coming months. A&DCCN: Is the Kyle of Suther- land broadband project different In the Western Isles Connected Communities Broadband project, a single hilltop site from previous projects you have can serve a widely scattered community in line of sight. been involved in? SJ: All community broadband SJ: This project is still at an early projects are different as they cover “CBS will help with funding stage so it has not yet been con- different terrain and have differ- for planning the project and firmed who would “run”/”operate” ent numbers of subscribers to the the capital cost, but 11% of the project. CBS will work with the broadband service. However, the community to identify what the process that we follow for each pro- the funding needs to come appropriate operating model will ject is very similar so in this regard from non-public sources” be. Some projects are operated by this project is not that different. a team of people from the commu- CBS will work closely with the Kyle is available for the capital cost of the nity who have undertaken the nec- of Sutherland Development Trust community broadband project (i.e. essary training, other projects are and expert consultants to design a building the system) at an interven- run by a third party. Due to the size project that will best provide a ser- tion rate of 89%. 11% of the fund- of the project in this area it is likely vice for the project area. ing needs to come from non-public that a third party would operate the A&DCCN: How does a communi- sources. There a number of ways project on behalf of the community. ty broadband work for customers that the 11% can be raised including A&DCCN: Will I need to buy any here? Who pays the costs of set- community share offers or through special equipment to use the ting it all up? community benefit funds from re- community broadband? SJ: CBS funding is available for newable energy developments. SJ: This depends on the final de- planning the project (at an inter- A&DCCN: Who operates it or sign of the project. If it is a wireless vention rate of 100%) and funding ‘runs’ it? project, you are likely to need some ARDGAY & DISTRICT Community Council newsletter SPRING 2016 = Page 5 Ardgay & District News form of wireless “receiver” on your house to capture the wireless inter- net signal. Once the signal has been received it then travels down a ca- ble into your home and into a wire- less router. This “receiver” is about the same size as a presentation whisky case. If the project design includes fibre then there is likely to be some trenching in order to lay the fibre cable. These details will be determined through the final pro- ject design in consultation with the consultants. Through working with consultants, CBS will support the community in developing a project Knoydart Community Broadband: a relay point receives the signal from the hilltop that will provide the best coverage site and distributes it to areas in the shadow of the direct transmission. for the project area. A&DCCN: Who will provide me have the community broadband with support? “You should pay a up and running? SJ: Who will provide the broadband comparable price to your SJ: The next key step is to confirm support is still to be confirmed for current internet the project area. CBS is working this community broadband pro- closely with the Kyle of Sutherland ject. Some projects are supported provider for a given Development Trust on this. Once entirely by fully trained volunteers, broadband speed” this has been confirmed meetings other projects are supported by paid will be organised with the com- members of staff who work for a is that a subscriber to a communi- munities due to benefit from the third party and some projects have a ty broadband project should not community broadband project. In combination of the two. pay more than the market rate for parallel with this a State Aid con- A&DCCN: Will the community a broadband service (excluding any sultation process will commence, broadband be more expensive introductory offers). So you should following this a tendering process than our current Internet pro- pay a comparable price to your cur- will start for the build of the pro- vider? rent internet provider for a given ject. Because this project is at an SJ: CBS does a lot of work on the broadband speed. early stage it is difficult to say with business planning for each com- A&DCCN: We have been informed accuracy when the project will be munity broadband project to help that there is enough interest and up and running but it is likely to be determine numbers of subscribers now the project is in “phase two”.