ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING: will be held on Tuesday 17 June 7:30pm in Buchanan Memorial Hall. Everyone is welcome.

AFFORDABLE HOUSING: After more than eight years, Rural Stirling Housing Association has appointed a contractor and the build will begin this summer. The ELLCT community will own four two-bedroom flats, available to rent to key workers in the area and administered via Rural Stirling Housing Association.                           

BALMAHA CAR PARK, ASSET TRANSFER REQUEST (ATR): first lodged with Stirling Council in October 2020, was refused by the Finance Committee, Stirling Council in November 2024. The ELLCT initiated an appeal. The Reporter to the Scottish Government is preparing his recommendation for Scottish Ministers who will make a final decision.

…on another car parking issue – following the recent illegal and dangerous parking along east Loch Lomond the ELLCT wrote to CEO’s of LLTNP, Stirling Council, the Chief Constable and elected members. The report commissioned by the ELLCT detailing the reduction of spaces along East Loch Lomond over the last 20 years along with the increase of car ownership was also attached. Read it here.

The relevant officers have met and the community will be involved at the next stage. It’s all been heard before but as it’s the heads of these organisations who make the decisions they have to accountable for the gridlock.

REMEMBRANCE SUNDAY: a small gathering at the Memorial, Rowardennan to mark Remembrance Sunday. Thank you Debbie for the wonderful piping.

CHRISTMAS EVENT: great to see everyone who came along and joined in the fun. Thank you Duncan for doing such a great job switching on the lights and for all the memories you shared.

COMMUNITY SUMMER PICNIC: following the positive responses from the Christmas event it was decided to build on the years of wonderful Sunday School Picnics and with funding from the Buchanan Community Hydro Society we have a community picnic to Inchcailloch planned for Sunday 24 August. There will be food, soft drinks and games but feel free to bring your own supplies too. An invitation will be sent out nearer the time to get some idea of numbers. Everyone is welcome. Fingers crossed for good weather.

LOCAL PLACE PLAN: the draft version of the LPP is available to read here… the next stage is to get feedback from groups and the wider community. A final version will then be created and incorporated into the wider National Park Development Plan. The National Park will make a decision regarding the funding available to work and then dates for the next steps will be agreed.

PLAY PARKS: after conversations with Stirling Council officers, it was recognised that playparks in the area have been neglected. An officer discussed options for new play equipment with residents in Buchanan Smithy and this has recently been installed and will be open by the beginning of June. The play area in Balmaha has had some maintenance and the the area in Milton of Buchanan is to be assessed.

FOOTPATH: after years of requesting the footpath be made safe there has at last been some work done on part of the section between Milton of Buchanan and Balmaha. Stirling Council have planned to finish the section to a ‘Type 1 Level’. The work which was to be completed in June but is now scheduled for five weeks from 3 November. An update on the existing footpath/cycleway section which is needing cleared is due.

EXCESSIVE SPEEDING & NOISE NUISANCE: a meeting to discuss the speeding and noise along the B837 was requested with Stirling Council and LLTNP. Stirling Council replied saying a roads officer will respond within the statutory time period. That period expired and a communication by 5 June at the latest has now been indicated.

NOTICEBOARDS: funding from Cashel Hydro Scheme provided all weather community noticeboards which are sited in Buchanan Smithy, Milton of Buchanan and Balmaha.

THE ELLCT has been happy to support other community groups in the area to help  projects with funding applications. Huge thanks goes to Julie for all the well-being activities which have benefited so many. The Buchanan Church Heritage Trust also continue to work on options for Buchanan Church.

Background – East Loch Lomond Community Trust (ELLCT) concluded the successful Asset Transfer Request (ATR) with Stirling Council (SC) of the ‘former toilet block site’ in 2019 at the entrance of Balmaha car park under the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015.

On 15 January 2020, SC held a drop-in at the Memorial Hall, Milton of Buchanan to outline proposals to start charging in the car park. At that event, numerous people asked officials if any of the income would be ring-fenced for the community and were told it would not.

At the Trustees’ Meeting on 29 January 2020 it was agreed to move forward with the third part of the original ATR for Balmaha car park as had been discussed by different community groups over many years. At that time we had the support of a Stirling Council Community Development officer.

A complete and competent ATR and business plan was submitted to SC on 12 October 2020.

On 30 March 2021, SC Planning and Regulation Panel agreed to approve parking charges in Blamaha car park.

The East Loch Lomond Community Trust ATR was not officially recognised until 8 June 2021. The original decision date was 7 December 2021. There were then 11 extensions officially requested by SC and agreed by ELLCT.

All further information requested by SC was supplied, including an updated business plan (November 2023) which took into account the parking charges being in place and to reflect current level of the community support via a community survey, which returned an overwhelming endorsement of the original support.

On 12 April 2024 Stirling Council (SC) failed to meet the requirements of the legislation and notify East Loch Lomond Community Trust of an official decision.

Currently – after seeking advice and in line with the Act, ELLCT sent a ‘Request for Review’ to SC dated 9 May 2024. According to the legislation SC had 10 days to respond. The official response was received on 1 October 2024.

The review has been tasked to the Finance, Economy and Corporate Committee. The review process has a deadline of 8 November 2024.
ELLCT has asked for a hearing as part of the review process and are waiting to hear if the committee will agree to this.
In 2021 there was a public consultlation for the ATR which saw 14 responses from ‘interested parties’ these respondents will now be contacted again by Stirling Council and informed where to access the review documents and how to respond within 10 days, should they wish to make further representations.

ELLCT will ask SC for more details regarding some of the key parts of the process as outlined in the Scottish government guidelines and will update further if required.

This a lot of information, please get in touch for more clarification. The Request for Review documents are on SC website here