Minutes of Board Meeting for

North West Mull Community Woodland Company Ltd

Meeting held on Monday24thOctober 2016

Present: Colin Morrison, John Morrison, Andy Mayo, Ian Hepburnand John Addy

Also Present: Malcolm Ward (Development manager), Lesley Hastie(minutes)

1. CM welcomed everyone to the meeting

2. Apologies: Iain Thomson

3.The minutes of the Board Meeting held on Monday 26thSeptember2016were signed by CM as a true record of the proceedings.

4.Matters arising:

  • Clearing of cattle grids is ongoing.
  • Andy Robinson has heard nothing more from A&B Council
  • The scavenger licences are ready to go
  • The Forest Design Plan is ongoing
  • There are outstanding woodmizer orders.
  • Andy Robinson has de-stumped an area of ground and is making good progress. IH advised he should approach WOSAS for help, if needed for planning.
  • There was a discussion around crofters getting some wood FOC to assist with fencing.
  • A meeting is to be set for early November for the debrief regarding the Eagle Watch visitor scheme.
  • Nothing more heard from Cree Valley Group regarding a visit.
  • MW attended the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency to update the operator’s licence.
  • Dog walkers path – ongoing
  • All other items are on the agenda

5. Items not on the agenda

  • Community Orchard request
  • Tent
  • Parking at Langamull

6. The Finance Report was circulated by AM before the meeting.

  • Money came back into the account through the CARES scheme. The bank balance is now lower than shown partly due to the purchase of a trailer (it had been part of a year-long funded project that failed to get funding to continue and the assets needed to be sold on toa charity)
  • The Micro-Hydro accounted for the main other movement.
  • The sales, as per last month, are covering the outgoings.

7. The Development Manager’s Report had been circulated by MW prior to the meeting.

  • Forest management:

-Steve Miller still in discussion with FC on our behalf.

  • Housing:

-There was a meeting on 14thOctober between West Highland Housing, Tom Morton and Rural Housing Scotland. It was agreed that we engage Tom Morton direct. MW meeting Jodi this week to go through the application. MW gave TM an update. Funding should happen quite quickly. The Rural Housing Fund have had approval. Plan B is still being worked on – just incase.

-The masters student carrying out a Rural Housing study has sent a copy of their dissertation for our records. Available for board to read.

  • Island Woodfuels:

-We have new customers and orders are starting to increase as we head towards winter.

-TSL are having problems with punctures and have requested the haul route gets scraped in certain areas. Contractor to be asked to quote on this.

  • Micro Hydro:

-The lease with Torloisk is complete.

-MW met with Iona Hodge (LES) in Oban.

-AM, MW and IH to meet to discuss the information CARES require.

-The ground works by TSL were completed on schedule with no issues.

-MW to speak to contractor regarding finishing the woodshed groundworks.

-Information regarding the turbine has been received from Mott MacDonald.

  • Toilets:

-Nothing new

  • Woodmizer:

-New orders have been received.

  • Eagles:

-The Eagle Watch are now out of the polytunnel which now needs reorganised.

  • EGM:

-Proxy votes are requested from those who cannot attend.

  • Woodshed:

-Tree survey required for planning condition. Plotting of the trees requires a specialist as specific software and a registered person are necessary to keep the authorities happy. TSL to be asked to assist.

  • Community:

-MW and CM were filmed by “The Aim Collective”.

8. Woodshed Development

  • The council have agreed that three of the conditions be taken out. Most other conditions are standard. .
  • The Coastal Communities pre application was unsuccessful (it was heavily oversubscribed)
  • MW heard about possible funding from SSE Communities Fund to cover the grid connection (50-75% of costs). There was a discussion about possible connections and costs. MW to move forward with this

9.Micro Hydro

  • It is difficult to get proper comparisons. There was a discussion around the differing options and flow levels; initial set up, electronics, maintenance and regular cleaning of the pipe. It was suggested that we find out who Torloisk and Garmony used/are using. MW stated that it needs commissioned on time in order to catch the accreditation deadline.
  • MW to go back to Hydrover with a list of known problems and ask how they will address these.
  • MW has not had chance to speak to neighbour.
  • The weir requires modification. There followed a discussion on the history and SEPA requirements; the CARE licence being conditional on the weir alteration and the access to deal with the alterations.
  • CM agreed to speak to neighbour in a few days time.

10. Housing

  • The Board decided to go with West Highland Housing; engaging Tom Morton directly although one question needed addressed – how tied the tenancy mix is to form part of the master plan. After discussion, the board agreed to be flexible.

11. Woodfuel

  • There are only 2 bags in the cattle store. More bags need done in the next dry spell (forecast the coming week)
  • Volunteers to let the office know they’re availability during dry spells
  • The processor is now working well.

12. Correspondence

  • None.

12.AOB

  • Tent. JA saw Olive Brown. As tent not covered by insurance, we’re looking to get some spare poles. Mrs Brown agreed to forward the suppliers details. JA to sort, if not too expensive. The original tent was supplied and stored in cardboard boxes which have disintegrated. Bags are required. There was a discussion around asking HARP to pay for the hire of the tent.
  • Dervaig Community Orchard have pallets to make compost bins and have requested wood to hold the pallets together. AM and MW to look at what we already have.
  • There was a discussion regarding parking at Langamull and who owns the road access to the Langamull boundary

Date of next meeting: 28thNovember 2016

The meeting closed at 9.40pm