Fintry: Developing Our Sustainable Community by Lateral North

Fintry

Developing Our Sustainable Community

Part I & II

By Lateral North & Anne Winther MA MSc PhD For The Community of Fintry, Scotland

To cite this report, the authors must be credited as follows: Winther, A.M., Hogg, G. and Smith, T. (2015) Fintry - Developing Our Sustainable Community: Part I & II. Report for Fintry Development Trust. Glasgow: Lateral North. Available: http://lateralnorth.com

Fintry

Developing Our Sustainable Community

Part I & II

Lateral North: office@lateralnorth.com Anne Winther: anne.winther@virgin.net

By Lateral North & Anne Winther MA MSc PhD For The Community of Fintry, Scotland

Contents Introduction The Authors Fintry: Developing Our Sustainable Community Part I: Our Village 1. Geography 2. Governance and land tenure 3. Transport and connectivity 4. Health, well-being and education 5. Conservation and environment 6. Economy 7. Housing and the built environment 8. Culture, social capital and power to act 9. Sustainable energy to fuel life 10. Sustainable consumption Fintry: Developing Our Sustainable Community Part II: The Vision of Our Future Part III: Next Steps References

INTRODUCTION

Fintry has led the way with community development with the purchase of a wind turbine in 2007 and the simultaneous establishment of Fintry Development Trust (FDT). FDT’s goal is to develop a zero carbon zero waste, sustainable community. Since its inception, FDT has been successful with making significant progress towards this goal with 246 of 333 houses assessed for heat loss and insulated, 91 renewable heating systems installed so far, establishment of Fintry Energy Efficient Transport (FEET), the setup of a community garden, installation of a district heating system powered by renewables in the Balgair Castle Holiday Park and various carbon cutting education initiatives. During early 2014, the Directors of FDT recognised the need for building a strategy for Fintry’s future. Like so many rural Scottish communities, Fintry has witnessed a continual decline in services over the last few decades. FDT (in partnership with Lateral North) secured funding from the Big Lottery: Investing in Ideas to develop a “masterplan” for the community. From July until November 2014, Graham Hogg from LateralNorth and Dr Anne Winther conducted an extensive community consultation to map Fintry’s development opportunities and priorities. This report sets out the results of the consultation and key ideas for further development, prioritisation and community discussion and agreement. Developing Fintry is a six stage process: Part I is to understand where we are on the path to sustainability and is presented in the first section of this report; developing the vision of Fintry’s future is the second part of Fintry’s pathway to sustainable development; part III is the action planning and business case development arising from the visions; Part IV is the implementation of the plans; and Part V is evaluation; Part VI is beginning the cycle with reporting where we are on the path to sustainabilityi.

AUTHORS

LATERAL NORTH is a research and design collective based in Glasgow, Scotland. LATERAL NORTH looks to investigate Scotland’s new place and identity within an economically emerging northern region; exploring the relationship between people, culture, places, industries and economies. With a shift in approach and traditional ideology, LATERAL NORTH engages in cross-sectoral, multidisciplinary design and research. This collaboration allows discovery, investigation and testing of previously over-looked opportunities and engage people in long-term, strategic, holistic visioning.

As a geographer, ANNE WINTHER MA MSc PhD is concerned with the interconnections between the human and physical environment. Her research over the last nine years has focussed on measuring and modelling community sustainability in rural Scotland using her Sustainable Community Scorecard tool. ANNE has identified the problems related to energy injustice in Scotland, as well as options for future sustainability. Anne is passionate about achieving an ecologically-benign future in which rural communities can thrive and flourish. ANNE’S involvement with Fintry began in 2008 as Fintry became one of Anne’s case study communities, revealing Fintry’s sustainability and barriers and opportunities for change. ANNE’S background is in business change and consultancy and she is now a writer, researcher and community consultant.

FINTRY DEVELOPMENT TRUST

Fintry was the first community in the UK to enter into a joint venture agreement with a renewables developer, achieving the equivalent of a 2.5MW turbine at Earlsburn windfarm for the Fintry Community. Fintry Development Trust was formed in 2007 to distribute income from the turbine to the village to create a zero waste, zero carbon and sustainable community. It has over 200 members (out of an adult population of approximately 500) and an elected board of eight directors. It is constituted as a company limited by guarantee and has charitable status. Membership and the area of benefit are limited to the Fintry Community Council boundary. The Trust has implemented a range of projects from providing a bespoke domestic and commercial energy advice service, to renewable energy installations, sustainable transport options, grant schemes, community gardens, bike clubs, school projects and more. The trust continues to seek opportunities which will meet the environmental objectives and benefit the village. The Trust is currently in the process of installing a district heating system and considering the potential for deep geothermal while looking at extending the grant scheme. The development trust has a trading subsidiary, Fintry Renewable Energy Enterprise which secured ownership of a wind turbine on the nearby Earlsburn Wind Farm. Fintry Development Trust is a company limited by guarantee registered in Scotland (SC319146) and is a charity registered in Scotland (SC037820). Fintry Renewable Energy Enterprise is also a company limited by guarantee registered in Scotland (SC285958).

OUR VILLAGE

STIRLING

16.6 MILES

Fintry is classed as an accessible rural community being a 30 minute drive from Stirling. Stirling is 16.6 miles, Glasgow 18.3 miles and Falkirk 19.4 miles from Fintryii. Geographically, Fintry is isolated and lying in a valley between the Fintry Hills and Campsie Fells (to the south-east and south-west). The 2001 Census of Fintryiii reported 583 adults (aged 16 and over) and 178 children .

19.4 MILES

GLASGOW

FALKIRK

18.3 MILES

FINTRY

GEOGRAPHY

Over the last 500 years, Fintry has had significant changes in buildings, industry and population. Fintry has one main centre (which was the hamlet of Culcreuch and is at the western B818/ B822 road junction) and two peripheral centres: Fintry’s historic centre at Bogside and the location of the kirk; and the Balgair Castle Holiday Park (a caravan park and the location of an ancient settlement). There are many dispersed dwellings based around farms or former farm buildings. The current “Main Street” developed from a late 18th century water-powered cotton mill, which closed around 1890. In 2008iv, 96% of survey respondents were satisfied with Fintry as a place to live and throughout the 2014 consultation the preservation of the character and beauty of Fintry was stated as a goal for the future.

Children (<16 years old)

Adult (>16 years old)

178 (23.4%)

583 (76.6%)

GOVERNANCE & LAND TENURE

There are two community bodies, which have different roles and responsibility in the development of Fintry: Fintry Community Council and Fintry Development Trust. Fintry Community Council is the democratically accountable body and represents the community’s views to the local authority, Stirling Council. Fintry Development Trust is a company limited by guarantee and its objectives are to encourage “more efficient use of nonrenewable energy sources… and thus avoid the damage to the natural environment caused by global warming; to prevent and/or relieve poverty… through providing… energy conservation measures; advance education in the fields of renewable energy, energy conservation and similar areas; and [provide] the voluntary sector and… charities with a range of energy conservation measures…”v within Fintry Community Council boundaries . For membership, adults, agreeing to the objectives of the company, apply to the Directors.

Some of the projects undertaken by the FDT

49%

35%

Forth & Endrick local election turnout (2012)

Fintry Development Trust Membership (2011)

Although there was almost maximum turn-out for the 2014 referendum vote, the Forth and Endrick local election turn-out in 2012 was only 49% vi and in 2011, FDT membership was only approximately 35% vii of the adult population . In 2014, less than ten percent of the adult population attended the FDT AGM. In the 2008 survey, only 9% of respondents were very satisfied with how local decisions were made, and 48% fairly satisfied; only 41% of respondents agreed that they could influence decisions affecting Fintry viii. The community has some property rights with the community owned share of the Earlsburn windfarm, Fintry Sports and Social Club, the woodland classroom, the community orchard and FEET. Menzies Hall is being offered as an asset transfer to the community. All land is in private ownership with exception of The Fintry Sports Club grounds, which are at the centre of the village. The banks of the Endrick are leased by Loch Lomond Fisheries Trust and the agricultural land is owned by local farmers or landlords with farming tenancies (with the exception of Culcreuch Castle estate, whose owner is overseas).

Very Satisfied 9%

Fairly Satisfied 48%

Other 43%

Percentage of Population Satisfied or Unsatisfied with how Local Decisions are made (2008)

TRANSPORT & CONNECTIVITY

Although Fintry is classed as an ‘accessible rural community’, access to goods and services in the village is very poor, and Fintry is ranked in the lowest 10% in Scotlandx. With the lack of regular public transport in Fintry people are relient on personal cars for transport. Fintry residents have a much higher than average use of cars and flying. This is damaging to the planet and represents unfair and unsustainable use of resources (the impacts just from transport equate to using 98% of Fintry’s share of the Earth’s resources)xi.

£18 Cost of DRT / Public Transport to Stirling Return

Other than the school bus there is no public transport. The Demand Responsive Transport system fills the gap of a regular public transport system and is currently subsidised by Stirling Council. However, the lack of integrated ticketing makes the journey to Stirling unaffordable to those on low income. There is an electric car recharging point and Fintry Energy Efficient Transport provides electric bicycles for short-term hire and piloted a car share and electric car sharing scheme which was economically not viable. The absence of safe footpaths and cycle routes linking (a) all the peripheral centres, businesses and farms and (b) Fintry to other villages and transport hubs is an impediment to local travel. This was highlighted repeatedly as part of the consultation and was seen as a priority issue. Although Fintry is situated within a high quality landscape there are no recreational pathways connecting Fintry to other long distance pathways such as the West Highland Way. Fintry is also popular with cyclists, however they have to share the steep and windy roads with cars. Broadband connectivity speeds are variable across Fintry, depending on location and internet service provider. There is no fast broadband service available in the area and some respondants complained of poor connectivity.

HEALTH, WELL-BEING & EDUCATION

Fintry ranks in the top 10% of communities in Scotland for education, skills and training xii. Fintry has a Primary School and Nursery but their viability has undergone review over the last five years with the nursery closure being considered and rejected in Stirling Councilâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s most recent budget consultation. Education services could be more secure if attendance at these facilities increased. In the last year, Fintry After School Club closed, due to low numbers. After-school activities are held in neighbouring villages, mainly in Balfron, requiring private transportation to access. There is no established youth club, although limited youth facilities exist in the Sports Club. Lack of youth facilities was highlighted as one of the top priorities in the 2014 consultation. There are no medical or health care facilities in Fintry and no sheltered housing or nursing home for older residents, who are unable to continue to reside in their own dwelling. There are no local at-home caring providers and carers travel from across the county to support Fintry residents who require at-home care. In 2008 xiii, national statistics reported that only 4% of Fintry was income deprived. Also, survey respondents reported selfreported happiness as being 8.3 out of a maximum score of 10 and life satisfaction being 4 out of 5 xiv. Fintry is in the top 10% of Scotland for health with lower than average cancer and reported illnesses and Fintry ranks in the top 20% in Scotland for reported crime xv. In terms of sustainability people do not exhibit particularly environmentally friendly behaviour suggesting a gap in sustainability education in Fintry xvi. This is a problem that affects the whole of Scotland and has been recognised and being addressed through Curriculum for Excellence. However, there are nothing similar planned or instigated for adult education for community sustainability.

CONSERVATION & ENVIRONMENT

Geologically the village is bounded by the lava flows of the Clyde Plateau Lavas 350 million years ago and Double Craigs to the east of the village and the Balglass Corries to the south-west of Fintry are geological SSSIs. An area to the west of Knochraich and Balgair is designated a SSSI for its lowland grass meadow (Wester Balgair) and Balglass Corries is noted for its upland habitat assemblage, from blanket bog, tall herb ledge, siliceous rocky slope, siliceous scree and alkaline fen. The lowland and upland grassland is used for livestock (predominantly sheep) grazingxvii. There is a standing stone at Knochraich and Dunmore is an ancient fort. The area has several conservation areas. The Endrick Water is a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) with Special Area of Conservation (SAC) statusxviii. To the east, is the Loup of Fintry waterfall. The waterfall water levels are much lower than they were originally, as much of the water is diverted into the upstream Carron Valley Reservoir. Concern has been raised by a number of villagers of repeated and significant untreated sewage discharge into the SAC designated Endrick Water. The problem is thought to be caused by rain and storm water entering the village sewage system via broken pipes and wrongly connected rainwater drainage throughout the village. Regarding the pollution, Fintry Community Council is in contact with SEPA, who have reported from January to June 2014, there were 340 events, where untreated sewage diluted in storm water (46,000m3 of discharge) was released into the river from Scottish Water’s Fintry Wastewater Treatment Worksxix. The Endrick Water is the principle watercourse entering Loch Lomond. Fintry has a community orchard and garden and at least one farmer is part of an agri-environment scheme. In focus groups, switching to organic production has been identified as an opportunity to improve Fintry’s sustainability. However, no organic agricultural production has been identified. Less than 20% of survey respondents in 2008 consumed organic foodxx. In terms of environmentally friendly behaviour, Fintry survey respondents scored less than four out of a maximum score of ten, suggesting that Fintry’s residents’ consumption behaviour is not environmentally sustainable .

ECONOMY

The Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivationxxi (SIMD ) ranked Fintry in the eighth decile (the tenth decile being the most affluent). Its ranking was lowered due to the geographic access rating, which was in the lowest decile. In 2008, one third of survey respondents in employment commuted a distance of less than 5 miles. Half of survey respondents (48%) stated they commuted between 15-30 milesxxii. Businesses and trades in Fintry are insufficient to employ the majority of the population locally. There are no health care facilities, petrol station or retail outlets, apart from a small community shop in the sports centre. The majority of local employment is either within tourism or agriculture. There are approximately 15 farms in the locale. The largest single employer is Culcruech Castle; other tourismrelated businesses include the Balgair Castle Holiday Park, the Fintry Inn (a community interest company), Loch Walton fishery and Katy Rodgers Creamery and Courtyard CafĂŠ at Knochraich Farm. Other than the Fintry Inn, all these businesses are isolated from the centre of the community and there is no safe path or cycle route from Knochraich Farm, Loch Walton or Balgair Castle Holiday Park to the village centre. Businesses, services and clubs are detailed in Fintryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Green Pages.

308

HOUSING & BUILT ENVIRONMENT

number of domestic addresses within Fintry (2008)

In 2008, Fintry had 308 domestic addressesxxiii and little social or council housing (6% of dwellingsxxiv). Owner occupied housing makes up 83% of dwellings. Only 10% of households are within flats or maisonettes. In 2014 there was 335 domestic addressesxxv.

Social or Council Housing (6%)

Flats or Maisonettes (10%)

Owner-occupied Housing (84%)

Different Types of Housing within Fintry (2008)

There is a shortage of housing and occupancy (occupants:bedrooms) is low. In 2008, the per capita energy demand for domestic heating was significantly higher than the Stirling average because of the proportionally larger number of detached houses and lower occupancy levels in Fintryxxvi. The more recent activities of FDT (installing renewable heating systems and insulation) will have reduced the energy demand, but many opportunities remain to reduce Fintryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s overall energy demand. Energy saving lighting and water heaters and a biomass heating system have been installed at the Fintry Sports Club. A district heating system is being installed at Balgair Castle Holiday Park.

CULTURE, SOCIAL CAPITAL & POWER TO ACT

Fintry has a relatively large number of village organisations, clubs and societies (for example, Fintry Development Trust, Fintry Amateur Dramatic Society, Fintry Sports and Social Club, Fintry Bowling Club, Fintry Focus, Fintry Curling Club) and a number of community development activities suggesting a community with a thriving culture, high social capital and many motivated individuals who enact change (illustrated with the foundation of Fintry Development Trust, the development of the Sports and Social Club, Fintry History, Fintry Focus and the set-up of the Fintry Inn community interest company and associated microbrewery). However, although 94% of respondents were satisfied with Fintry as a place to live in the 2008 survey, only 74% said they felt close to people in the areaxxvii. This may be a reflection of many people working outwith the village.

SUSTAINABLE ENERGY

91 Renewable Energy Systems within Fintry

Fintryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s renewable energy from the windfarm is sold to Falck Renewables and exported to the national grid, thus the community wind turbine is an income generating scheme. There are 91 privately-owned micro-generation sites (domestic households and farms) in Fintry, as a result of the activities of Fintry Development Trust, but no community renewable energy generation opportunities are being progressed at present. There are sites for renewables development, which are either privately owned or part of the land managed by the Forestry Commission: the old mill reservoir (archimedes screw turbine), the Carron Valley reservoir (redundant hydroelectric site), further wind turbine development opportunities, anaerobic digester expansion (including heat recovery), and groundwater exploitation. The District Heating project is a community project and FDT are in discussion with academics from Durham and Glasgow Universities to look at the possibility of large geothermal installation.

SUSTAINABLE CONSUMPTION

STIRLINGSHIRE

In the absence of local food retailers, suppliers, food purchasing co-operative and market, the vast majority of Fintry’s food is sourced by individual households from distant supermarkets. The community garden provides a small amount of growing space, but domestic production of food is minimal. The Fintry Inn is starting to provide an outlet for retailing locally grown produce.

FINTRY

In 2008, Fintry’s Ecological Footprint was 3.3 times that of the fairshare of the Earth’s available biocapacity. If everyone consumed at this level, we would need 3.3 planets to support the consumption. In terms of environmentally friendly behaviour and purchasing choices, Fintry scored 4 out of 10. Drinking water (i.e. purified water) consumption was found to be approximately 39,000 litres per person per year. Sustainable consumption practices that were recommended in community focussed groups in 2008 were: co-operative and ethical purchasing (to reduce transport and costs); promotion and support of local produce and consumer items; support of local production (e.g., facilities, funding, market creation); community composting; local food production enterprises; and community liftshare. Consideration of the wider environmental impacts of individual’s consumption choices and then making appropriate consumption choices in 2008 appeared to be no different than most places in Scotland. Fintry’s household consumption remains unsustainablexxviii.

Transport Food Housing Consumables

Private Services Public Services Capital Investment

Figure 1: Fintry’s Ecological Footprint 2008ix Transport, housing and consumables ecological footprints were measured in A. Winther’s 2008 survey of Fintry . All remaining data used were Stirling Local Authority are averages estimated from Stockholm Environment Institute’s Resources and Energy Accounting Programme using the Global Footprint Network’s national footprint accounts for Great Britain.

THE VISION OF OUR FUTURE

PART II: FINTRY POSSIBLE

The following pages detail the ideas and opportunities identified by the community of Fintry. Although all the ideas are not opinions shared by the entire community, the ideas showcase the creativity of the community and aspirations for the future of Fintry. Many of the montages, drawings and images are far from the finished article but are instead to be used as a means by the community to develop. Suggestions ranged from new affordable housing to a ski slope; food security to the re-use of farm outbuildings. It is important to note that the ideas derive from a number of community consultations that were undertaken and tried to engage with as many members of the village as possible. The community consultations were open to both the general public and also to the aspirations of businesses and how they might benefit from certain interventions. A key part of the process was to map out the different resources that were available to the community. The most important resource though is the people who live and work within Fintry. Throughout this process there has been surprise at how engaged the community is and for future development it would be good to maintain this level of local engagement. This document tries to highlight as many ideas as possible, however the report also had to focus on certain outcomes to provide visions for the future. If you would like to suggest something else that has been missed or comment of the document please contact either the authors or the Fintry Development Trust who will be happy to answer any queries you may have.

Stirling Fintry

Loch Lomond & Trossachs National Park Glasgow

VISION FINTRY IS A PLACE TO LIVE AND ENABLES QUALITY OF LIFE FOR PEOPLE OF ALL AGES

Fintry’s vision is to have sufficient services for people of all ages to reside in the community, thereby preventing the outmigration of older people who are no longer able to care for themselves. The number of people in Fintry of retirement age is increasing and within this age bracket the older residents are also proportionally increasing, making a greater demand for sheltered housing and community nursing care. Prerequisites for this are the provision of health services (at least facilities for medical practitioners and a GP or nurse practitioner who might visit on alternate days) and practitioner assisted telehealthcare services for consultant advisory appointments, for example, at Forth Valley Royal Hospital. Attracting families with young children is essential to the continuation of educational and child-care facilities within Fintry. Creation of new employment facilities and affordable housing are vital for attracting these families. The number of young people (school age) is decliningxxix and if this continues educational facilities will face threats of closure in the future. Development of a nursing home, enterprise zones, innovation hubs and additional tourism opportunities would increase employment. If a nursing home development and/or a care service enterprise were to go ahead, a strong recommendation would be tied housing linked with a garden development. Housing needs to be designed for lifetime use.

“...housing for senior citizens.” “any housing development should be done in consultation with residents” “there is no point building affordable housing with no bus, no shops and no GP”

There is a lack of opportunities for young people for skills development, employment and recreation. Provision of spa and leisure facilities were repeated requests. When the Sports Club evaluated the possibility of such a centre in the past, heating and staffing costs were the main restrictions. Now, there is an opportunity to build such leisure facilities utilising the heat from the anaerobic digester. Although this is an indulgent idea, it should not be readily dismissed given the attention it received at the consultation. The needs of young people were highlighted repeatedly and require urgent attention. Some form of “gathering place” or youth club, delivered by dedicated youth workers and organised by the young people for themselves was stipulated. An example of a working project is Callander Youth Project which provides multi-functional services, with provision of a hostel, which helps fund the activities of the project. Investigation of the possibility of nurturing a similar project should be high on the priority list of actions for Fintry. Where services and opportunities cannot be delivered within Fintry (e.g. skills training and jobs for young people), transport is crucial. The cost of owning and insuring a car for young people is prohibitively expensive, but young people are left with little other choice, if they wish to pursue opportunities outwith the community. This calls for an urgent change to the provision of transport within Fintry.

DRAWING IS FOR ILLUSTRATIVE PURPOSES ONLY.

Through consultation with the local community it was discovered that one of the key propositions was to provide sheltered housing and a care home for the village. Instead of providing a small housing development with normal housing this would provide homes that can be moved into by the ageing population. Nurses and doctors could also benefit from on site housing.

COMMUNITY CONSULTATION ON MATTER IS ON GOING.

Care Home

Sheltered Housing

Community Gardens

Primary School As part of this new development it was proposed that there should be an opportunity to create a community garden that can be shared by the nursing home and the local primary school. Both the elderly within the care home and the children within the school would tend the gardens together.

VISION FINTRY IS A DESTINATION THAT CAN BE ACCESSED BY MANY DIFFERENT MEANS OF TRANSPORT

Fintry is a village which sits on a key cycling loop with it being the sister apex of the loop to Glasgow. It was suggested by many people throughout the community consultation that there was a desire to engage with this group of people. Currently cyclists go straight through the village and very rarely stop. Providing services, cycle friendly accommodation and other cycle friendly initiatives would ensure that the cycling community could bring economic benefit to a host of businesses. Other villages throughout Scotland have taken the opportunity to create dedicated cafes or buildings which cater differently for the needs of cyclists. Looking more locally at cycling though and we can see that providing different means of transport (such as electric bikes, that the FDT already do) could reduce Fintryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s carbon footprint significantly. Could there be a hostel or other accommodation provided for cyclists to stay overnight? If other activities happened within the local area, such as mountain biking, then there would be a further need for other alternative buildings that are currently not provided. Another suggestion was to create a series of pathways that connect both the peripheral village centres, neighbouring villages and long distance pathways. A suggestion of what this could be like is detailed over the next few pages.

The village of Fintry is currently spread out over three main population centres. The villagers believe that a good opportunity would be to connect the centres together through a route that runs along the river and strategically along farming lines already existing. This could be used by locals, tourists or cyclists and be a key green route through the area.

Caravan Park

Connecting Route

Main Village

Old Village

Endrick Water

VISION CONNECTING FINTRY BOTH LOCALLY AND THROUGHOUT SCOTLAND

Fintry’s transport is wholly unsustainable with the vast majority of current transport practices being personal car journeys using privately owned internal combustion engine vehicles with low occupancy. The need to address transport is recognised within the community but solutions are unidentified. Living in Fintry without transport is an impossibility. Innovative solutions are required: for example, provision of a young person’s car share (a funded car for young people who pay a high entry cost but which is much lower than personal car use), use of car liftshare schemes for young people (i.e. with trusted drivers, such as pioneered by blablacar.com). Communication of offers and requests to ride and their co-ordination would significantly reduce car use and increase occupancy. Fintry’s vision is to have all transport carbon neutral – so does the Scottish Government – the community awaits the Government’s policy intervention to negate the higher costs of plug-in hybrids and electric cars and the installation of urban re-charging points with anticipation. FEET bikes should be well used and promoted through businesses, hotels and community groups (the lack of use of FEET cars led to its demise).

“Why is the DRT not using electric vehicles? Or at least hybrid?”

VISION PROTECTING FINTRY’S PRECIOUS UNIQUE ENVIRONMENT

AND

The Endrick Water is a Special Area of Conservation. The people of Fintry wish to preserve and protect its unique status. Fintry’s vision is to have Scottish Water, SEPA, SNH and Stirling Council to work together urgently to cease the pollution of the Endrick with untreated human effluent. Fintry is a special village: we wish to keep it that way. Development needs to be appropriate and well-planned, not just from the perspective of visual impact, but also for transport and services. The primary school have produced a walks leaflet. Storytelling and integrating primary and secondary education in the local environment are recommended. There are numerous SSSI sites and one SAC site. How many in the community understand the significance of these sites and actively work to protect them? Yet, protecting the landscape and Fintry’s visual amenity was a repeated requested in the consultation.

VISION USING THE NATURAL LANDSCAPE OF FINTRY FOR OUTDOOR ACTIVITIES

Geographically Fintry sits within a valley that has some wonderful scenery around it and as suggested by the Fintry community there are plenty of opportunities for hill walking. Just as they would be good for hillwalking, they would also be great mountain biking routes going up and down the Campsies. We have already mentioned the opportunity to take advantage of the road cycling that goes through the village, but mountain biking would bring a completely different dynamic to the village and its surroundings. Other suggestions on how to use the landscape differently were also proposed by the local community. Could we see children taking advantage of Fintryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s interesting geography and natural features and learning from the village and regions natural formations (waterfall and lava flows for example).

VISION FINTRY IS LEADING THE WAY WITH SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT AND IS A PLACE OF INNOVATION

A lot of what has been discussed in this second part of the document has been about the opportunities that have been highlighted by the residents of Fintry. One of the key parts of a lot of this is whether Fintry can be enterprising and take advantage of some of these opportunities.

Explore innovative solutions to address the sewage effluent problem.

Fintry is a community-scale test-bed for innovations

Innovative ideas include:

Fintry has the industrial units and enterprise centre for innovation companies.

Build a spa and leisure complex using heat from the anaerobic digester

Community gardens are the community rather than the individual scale

Build an innovation hub with state of the art business facilities and connectivity

The Fintry Inn is a venue for home-grown surplus exchange and retail

Build a food growing greenhouse using heat from the anaerobic digester

There is a garden aid scheme for those that have space but do not want to grow food themselves.

Build a timber drying facility using heat from the anaerobic digester

“Lack of workshop space in Fintry is my main concern’

Build new community renewable energy at Carron Valley (refurbish the redundant generator) and old mill reservoir (Archimedes screw), install community wind turbines, and investigate other opportunities.

Need a unit for Fintry Creative - a project to develop skills in young people.

“There are plenty of sheep in Fintry, why not a spinning or weaving centre?”

Could the sports centre shop be used as a hub providing internet ordering and collection facilities especially for elderly residents.

“We need fast broadband”

VISION FINTRY IS RECOGNISED AS A DISTINATION AND THIS RECOGNITION HAS ECONOMIC BENEFITS

Branding

Fintry sits in an unique position: it has a Glasgow postcode, is part of the council district of Stirling and is a mere few miles from the boundary of Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park. Being so central should be seen as an advantage, but instead the village struggles to promote itself as a destination that can be visited by both Scottish and other tourists. This might be a result of the village itself being separated into three main centres with the only way to go between them, feasibly, by car. The east part of the village at the foot of the Crow Road is home to several new houses and the kirk; the main part of the village includes the sports centre, local pub and community hall; while the holiday park sits to the north of both of these along a B-road.

FINTRY Logo The Fintry logo was created to represent the local wildlife alongside the rolling campsie hills. The line at the back of the logo represents the campsies and the valley in which Fintry sits.

Fintry businesses are distributed throughout all 3 of these areas with others found on farmland outwith these centres. For this reason it was suggested on numerous occassions throughout the community consultation that Fintry create for itself its own brand which would allow it to market its products under the same banner. This could result in an economic benefit for the area. Far rather than see Fintry as a crossover point for 3 different areas (Glasgow/Stirling/Loch Lomond) it should take advantage of this and be the heart, and centre of, these areas. Fintry has easy access to all three areas and should utilise this. As well as this Fintry businesses working together would bring in people from outside and create a much more connected and productive village. Over the next few pages you will see examples of how Branding Fintry may be achieved and in turn would create employment for those working on a Fintry brand. The branding shown is a suggestion and by no means the final outcome, but instead to be used as a tool to ask what it might look like.

Iconography The 4 icons above could be used in a series of branding elements such as a mobile phone application for the local village or a tourist/local book describing Fintry.

BRANDING FINTRY

On the previous pages we highlighted the signage that is currently on display within Fintry at a few locations, investigate the options for a future signpost which welcomes visitors to Fintry and also the opportunity to create a small booklet for the village which contains maps, things to do, places to see and so on. However, as we currently live on a digital age Fintry should embrace this and create its own application which can be used by both tourists and locals alike. An application which would work on multiple platforms would allow users to discover the village through different ways. The examples shown here highlight only four possible titles which could be extended to more when the application was made. If you were to click on one of the icons, the landscape one, for example, then it would take you to possible walking routes, natural features that you could see such as waterfalls or lava flows and other aspects of Fintry related to the surrounding landscape. This application would be a good way of ensuring that tourists are provided with interesting information whilst locals could also use the application to keep up to date with local issues and news.

References i. Winther, A.M. (2014). Survive or thrive: creating options for sustainable communities in rural Scotland. Ph.D.Thesis. University of Stirling. http://hdl.handle. net/1893/21186. Fintry’s sustainability has been researched by Anne Winther as part of a Ph.D. Thesis at the University of Stirling. Fintry’s Sustainable Community Scorecard was produced from the results of a household survey and workshops held in 2008, and was supplemented with data from national statistics and observations. ii. Google Maps [https://www.google.co.uk/maps/]. iii. General Register Office for Scotland (2001). Scotland’s Census Results OnLine: Downloaded from: www.scrol.gov.uk.This information is licensed under the terms of the Open Government Licence [http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/ open-government-licence/version/2]. iv. See note i. v. Fintry Development Trust Articles of Association, p3. vi. General Register Office for Scotland, 2011, Table 6 Local Government electors on the Electoral Register, by Council area and Electoral Ward, 2007 to 2011; Stirling Council, 2004, 2001 Census Results: Fintry Community Council, Stirling by Numbers. vii. Fintry Development Trust, 2011, Fintry Development Trust: Minutes of AGM – 29th October 2011; Scotland’s Census Results On-Line [www.scrol.gov. uk]. viii. See note i. ix. See note i. x. Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation, Scottish Government, 2010. xi. See note i. xii. See note x. xiii. See note x. xiv. See note i. xv. RoS [Registers of Scotland] (2012). SSSI Register. [https://www. eservices.ros.gov.uk/ros.sssi.presentation.ui/ros/sssi/presentation/ui/sssi/documents/ homePage.do Accessed on 07/02/2012]. xvi. Ibid. xvii. SNH [Scottish Natural Heritage] (2005). Endrick Water Special Area of Conservation. [http://gateway.snh.gov.uk/sitelink/siteinfo.jsp?pa_code=8252 Accessed on 04/04/2013]; SNH [Scottish Natural Heritage] (2010). Endrick Water, Stirling and West Dunbartonshire, Site Of Special Scientific Interest Citation. [http:// gateway.snh.gov.uk/sitelink/siteinfo.jsp?pa_code=1693 Accessed on 04/04/2013]. xviii. SEPA (2014). Fintry WwTW Flow Data January to June 2014. SEPA, Balloch.

xix. See note i. xx. See note i. xxi. Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation, Scottish Government, 2010. xxii. See note i. xxiii. Royal Mail, Royal Mail Mailing Toolkit: Find an address. [http://www. royalmail.com/postcode-finder-sme Accessed on 14/11/2012]. xxiv. Stirling Council, 2004, 2001 Census Results: Fintry Community Council, Stirling by Numbers xxv. Ibid. xxvi. See note i xxvii. See note i. xxviii. See note i. xxix. National Records of Scotland (2011). Scotland’s Census 2011. Downloaded from: www.scotlandcensus.gov.uk. This information is licensed under the terms of the Open Government Licence [http://www. nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/2]; General Register Office for Scotland (2001). Scotland’s Census Results OnLine: Downloaded from: www.scrol.gov.uk. This information is licensed under the terms of the Open Government Licence [http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ doc/open-government-licence/version/2].