THE NORTH HARRIS TRUST

TWELFTH ANNUAL REPORT

2014 - 2015

FEBRUARY 2015

CONTENTS

Chairman’s Report

Manager’s Report

Land Manager’s Report

Ranger’s Report

North Harris Trading Company Report

Project Development Officer Report

Scalpay Development Officer Report

Directors Information

Staff Information

Annual Report of the North Harris Trust Ltd, Tigh an Urrais, Tarbert, Isle of Harris, HS3 3DB Telephone/Fax: 01859 502222. Email: info@north-harris.org Web: www.north-harris.org Scottish Charity No SCO33413 A Charitable Company Limited by Guarantee, No 235889

CHAIRMAN’S COMMENTS

Introduction

As we conclude another busy year at the North Harris Trust, community land ownership is still very topical in the Western Isles. While we see other communities making some progress towards ownership of the land on which they live, unfortunately the pace continues to be slow. We see Pairc Trust still struggling, after eleven years of negotiation, to secure ownership of the land on which they live. We see the community on the Barvas Estate taking active steps towards purchasing the estate; hopefully they will soon make progress. We also see continued progress being made in the Bays of Harris with regard to investigating the potential for securing ownership of the Bays of Harris Estate. All community ownership initiatives are different, as illustrated by the examples above. However, the common feature to them all is that community ownership empowers people to undertake developments that would probably not take place under private ownership.

The continued success of the North Harris Trust is principally due to the commitment and hard work of staff and directors. It is also due to the strong support which the Trust has within the local community and the continued support received from partnership agencies.

Some of the work planned by the Trust happens very quickly and results can be seen in a relatively short time. However, other projects take many years to come to fruition. An excellent example of this is the Monan project. The Trust proposed to site three wind turbines at Monan about eleven years ago. It is only in the last few months that a development has finally taken place on that site. Sometimes, you just have to be patient!!

I will refer briefly to a few of the Trust’s activities; individual staff reports will contain more detail about the projects in which they have been involved.

Staffing

There were a few changes to staffing in the past year. Mark Lazzeri, who had been Land Manager for approximately 3 years, left the Trust to take up a similar post in Fife. We thank Mark for his work with the Trust and wish him every success in his present employment. We were pleased to welcome Gordon Cumming as Mark’s replacement. Gordon has a wealth of experience in different aspects of land management and we are confident that his knowledge will be invaluable to the Trust.

Ann-Marie Hewitt was recruited to the post of Scalpay Development Officer in January 2014 on a 2-year contract. Ann-Marie had previously worked for the Trust for a period of time before leaving to serve for a couple of years as Uig Community Development Officer. We are pleased that Ann-Marie has returned to work in North Harris and we are confident that her time as Scalpay Development Officer will be productive.

Linus Bewicke spent a period of six months with the Trust on a placement at the Recycling Centre. When he left, he was replaced by Angus Macdonald who is still employed there.

Scalpay

Throughout the past year, Scalpay has become an integrated part of the North Harris Trust. The Scalpay Development Officer, in collaboration with the Scalpay directors, has worked hard to progress a number of initiatives in Scalpay. Many of the projects being considered in Scalpay will take some time to complete. However, it is pleasing to see that the School Buildings are already being put to good use, with a number of local business initiatives leasing the building. The arrangement is initially for a year, but it is hoped that long-term solutions will be reached which will see productive use being made of the School Buildings in the future.

Isle of Harris Distillery Project

The Trust has continued to actively engage with the Isle of Harris Distillery Company throughout this year. Good progress has been made with the construction of the building and it is hoped that the distillery will be operational by the early summer. The company now employs ten people, all of whom have been recruited within the local community. It is good to see use being made of the ‘infill’ area by a company which obviously wishes to support and promote the island.

Support from outside agencies

As ever, the Trust is grateful for the continued support received from a number of organisations and agencies which contribute greatly to the work of the Trust. These include Highlands and Islands Enterprise, Comhairle nan Eilean Siar, Scottish Government, John Muir Trust, Scottish Natural Heritage, Comunn na Gàidhlig, Bord na Gaidhlig, Big Lottery, The Robertson Trust, Community Jobs Scotland, Marine Harvest Scotland.

A good example of collaborative working is the Iomairt an Obain development at East Tarbert. The building of three business units on that site was taken forward with support from Big Lottery, HIE and CnES. This development arose from an identified demand for business units and it is heartening to see new businesses being established and existing businesses wanting to expand.

We also worked in collaboration with the Western Isles Health Board on the restoration of the ‘Scott’ cairn above Amhuinnsuidhe. This initiative arose from concerns within the local community that the cairn was in danger deteriorating to an irreparable level unless remedial action was taken. We were pleased that the WIHB agreed to pay the cost of restoration of the cairn and we are grateful to Jim Crawford for undertaking the work.

Conclusion

The above notes are only a brief sample of the range of activities in which the Trust has been involved over the past year. Further details of the Trust’s work are always available on the Trust’s website.

In conclusion, I feel that this has been a successful year for the North Harris Trust and that it is a strong position to make further progress in the years ahead.

Manager’s Report

Housing The provision of affordable housing is one of the most important aims of the Trust and we are determined to build on the success of the development at Ceann an Ora which was made possible when Ardhasaig C.G. made the site available. The present Local Development Plan identified a potential site in Tarbert; however H.H.P. will not proceed with this development. I have met with the Planning department of the Comhairle, H.H.P. and Tighean Innse Gall and it is clear that we have to identify any potential sites for development for inclusion in the next L.D. Plan which will be consulted upon very shortly. Planning consent under the present Plan is most unlikely to be granted for building out with a settlement and we have argued as strongly as we can that almost all suitable land is in Crofting tenure. The policy severely limits our ability to have any development happen in North Harris and we will have to prove conclusively that there are valid reasons for exemption from this condition being applied when all other standards are met. I shall be contacting all Common Grazings to ask for help in compiling a list of potential sites on the estate. The resulting “Land bank” will make the position clear on the availability of land for Planners and the housing agency and in the event that this establishes little or no possible sites within settlements, it will strengthen our case for relaxation of the Planning policy in North Harris as we believe that it is detrimental. Cairn at Amhuinnsuidhe The restoration and improvement works to the cairn at Amhuinnsuidhe were completed in July and August. Ownership of the building has been transferred to the Community by the Health Board and the full cost of the works, carried out by Jim Crawford to a high standard, have been paid by them. Lightning protection was installed as part of the works and we are grateful to S.S.E. for providing some of the equipment. We also thank Amhuinnsuidhe Castle Estate staff for their assistance. Bunavoneader to Hushinish Water Main The project is still under consideration by Scottish Water. Our staff prepared detailed land ownership maps on the proposed route of the pipeline 18 months or so ago; however our requests for further information as to when this may happen have not been answered with any certainty. Cooperative Store Development Following the consultation held in March to seek the community’s views on the potential development by the cooperative, approval was given for the Trust to continue negotiations. One possible site has been ruled out, however we are aware that the Cooperative has had discussions with H.I.E. in respect of an alternative, therefore at the time of writing the Trust is not involved. Broadband Service Discussions were held by NHT, West Harris Trust, HIE and BT in June to establish whether the laying of the fibre optic cable through the estates would result in improved service for broadband users. While the talks were useful in allowing us to make the case for the need to upgrade speed of services, there was pressure was for us to grant the consents speedily so that the vital infrastructure could be put in place. At that point, it appeared that only population close to the upgraded exchanges might see improvement, but that additional project finance and technology advances would be needed to spread this to poorly served areas in due course.

Land Manager’s Report

(Background: Mark Lazzeri resigned and left the North Harris Trust back in May. Interviews were held in July. Gordon Cumming was subsequently appointed and started on the 1st September.) Kyles Biomass Coppicing work continues and rabbit netting has been added to the boundary fences. About 50% of this trial site has successfully established and will all be coppiced before the trees flush in Spring 2015. Over the coming year the resident rabbits will need to be removed from the site and any failed areas will be weed killed and cultivated ready for re-stocking with willows and alder during the winter of 2015/16. Fencing Attempts to use volunteers to transport fencing materials out to Glen Trolamarig and the head of Loch Lacasdail were abandoned as being too arduous and dangerous. The plan is now to take the materials out by helicopter and to save cost by sharing the hire with Marine Harvest who have plans to use the helicopter for installation of a new communications mast in the area. The materials are now being bundled so that they are ready to airlift whenever the opportunity arises. Deer As the helicopter count in Nov. 2013 supported local impressions that deer numbers were lower than expected or desired, it was decided that there would be a moratorium on the hind cull during the 2014/15 season. The stag cull was limited to the 30 animals required to fulfil our lease with Amhuinnsuidhe Castle Estate. A decision on whether to resume the hind cull next season will be made following a count carried out in Spring 2015. Upland Habitat Management Plan The Land Management Agreement between NHT and Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) expired December 2012, but was extended until December 2014. Under the terms of this extension, the NHT must appoint a consultant to prepare an Upland Habitat Management Plan (UHMP). This will detail grazing management of domestic livestock and red deer over the designated areas for the next 5 years. This UHMP will then form the basis of our next Management Plan with SNH, or an application for support from the Scottish Rural Development Fund (SRDP). Professor Rory Putman was appointed to start this work in October 2014 with a deadline for completion of end February 2015.

North Harris Ranger Report Guided Walks Programme In the 2014 season (April to October), 638 people attended a total of 59 guided walks led by the North Harris Ranger Service – an average of nearly 11 people per walk. We continued running the weekly Eagle Walks in partnership with RSPB Scotland. The popular Machair Walk at Hushinish was made into a weekly event through July and August, and we also introduced a weekly Eagle Watch at the observatory. Isle of Harris Mountain Festival The 2014 Festival was funded by John Muir Trust, Marine Harvest and Bòrd na Gàidhlig. 570 people attended - including around 40 who had come specifically to Harris to take part in the festival – bringing significant additional benefits to the local economy. We partnered with numerous local organisations to deliver different events during the week, and received support from a number of volunteers via the Volunteer Centre. The festival is now becoming a well established annual event, and arrangements are well underway for the 2015 Festival. Eagle Observatory We estimate around 6000 people visited the eagle observatory during 2014, based on entries in the visitors book. This is up from around 4000 people the previous year – demonstrating that the observatory is continuing to develop as a fantastic visitor attraction. The collections from the donations box are paying for any maintenance needed. A weekly “Eagle Watch” at the observatory was held during July and August. Woodland In Spring 2014 we purchased 9000 native trees with a grant from the Woodland Trust. The trees were used for enrichment planting within the developing native woodland at Ardvourlie. The planting was carried out by NHT staff, groups from Sir E Scott School, Western Isles Cub Scouts, WISE, local volunteers and JMT volunteers. Invasive plant control Our management of Gunnera this summer focused primarily on Scalpay. With work from NHT staff and by holding a couple of volunteer days we have almost fully eradicated the plant from Scalpay, for the time being. JMT Work Parties We hosted two JMT work parties during 2014. In April, the volunteers helped us finish the tree planting at Ardvourlie Woodland. In September they carried out maintenance work on the Glen Leosaid track, as well as beach cleaning at Meavaig and around Scalpay Lighthouse. Otter Signs on Scalpay Bridge In response to reports about otters being hit by cars on the Scalpay bridge during January 2014, I spoke with CnES who agreed to erect a pair of “Caution – Otters Crossing” signs on either side of the bridge – the signs were installed in early March. The story was picked up by the Stornoway Gazette. Engagement with Sir E Scott School Polytunnels/crofting connections S4 Enterprise Day John Muir Awards Hosting a work experience pupil Footpath work during activities week

Publicity & Promotion In July I manned a table at North Harris Show, promoting the work of NHT The “Roaring and Rutting” walks were picked up by the National Geographic’s website, including them in an online feature entitled “Ten Best Fall Trips 2014” In August I met with a journalist from BBC Wildlife Magazine writing a feature about Eagles in Harris. The article is now published in the February 2015 edition of the magazine. Training In April 2014 I attended a Summer Mountain Leader training course. This year I will return for the assessment, making me fully qualified to lead groups into mountainous terrain. In the Autumn I carried out training to support the ShoreWatch coastal monitoring programme run by Whale & Dolphin Conservation. Wildlife Monitoring February – supported the RSPB’s national beached bird survey March – supported SNH’s greylag goose survey. Monitoring of Golden Eagle territories in Ulladale and Meavaig. Information for Sron Ulladale passed on to Mountaineering Council For Scotland. Miscellaneous Footpath maintenance sessions with the “First Steps” youth employability support group. Footpath maintenance and gunnera eradication with visiting group from George Watsons College, Edinburgh. Assisting the Distillery project by providing advice on local botanicals. Ongoing handling of various access inquiries throughout the year.

North Harris Trading Company Report The North Harris Trading Company (NHTC) is the wholly-owned subsidiary of the North Harris Trust (NHT). It was established in 2003 to deliver new income streams to the Trust to allow it to expand its community development activities. After over ten years developing a windfarm at Monan, the first turbine was commissioned on December 18th 2014. Earlier this year, the project took a leap forward with the establishment of Monan Wind Company Limited (MWC) – a joint venture between the Trust and Windflow Technologies, the turbine manufacturer. Windflow has a 500kW medium-sized, two-bladed turbine which has been designed for the turbulent conditions that had previously been the barrier to progressing the Monan project. MWC has since carried out a tendering exercise and appointed contractors. Work started on site in August, with a new 1.2km track being built up to the three turbine sites. The first machine is now live; a further two are in the process of being commissioned. New income will start flowing into both the Trust and the local crofting community in 12 months time. After a number of financial setbacks, NHTC has signed a Heads of Terms agreement to create River Generation Limited (RGL), a joint venture with Sustainable Technology Investors Limited. RGL hope to progress the 100kW hydro-electric scheme at Bunavoneader. An agreement has been reached with the interested crofting parties, and contracts have been drawn up with the turbine supplier and the civil works contractor. It is hoped that construction will start in the spring of 2015. Over the Clisham from Bunavoneader, we have made progress towards developing a similar scheme at Maraig. Following an earlier Feasibility Study, we secured funding from the Scottish Government’s Community and Renewable Energy Scheme. This has allowed us to carry out the required environmental survey work to allow a planning application to be submitted. A grid connection offer was accepted and the deposit paid. A Planning application was submitted along with the SEPA abstraction licence. In addition to the above renewable energy schemes, NHTC has been progressing two building projects. Firstly after assembling a funding package that includes contributions from Big Lottery, HIE and CnES, we tendered for construction. Construction started on site in East Tarbert at the end of June. After two months of rock-breaking, three timber framed buildings rose from the ground. The development has been named Iomairt an Obain and will be due for completion in February 2015. The buildings will be allocated to businesses that can assure us that they will create new jobs and employment opportunities. The second building project is the creation of the Huisinis Gateway. Planning permission was granted in September to create a new formal parking area and redevelop the existing toilet block to include changing facilities and an indoor meeting space. The project has been costed at £250,000. The search is now on for funding. NHTC continues to operate the North Harris Community Recycling Site at Urgha on behalf of CnES. NHT has invested further in site infrastructure with a new storage container and concrete access ramp and loading apron. Once again an application to the Community Jobs Scotland scheme for out-of-work under 25’s has been successful. We now have our third placement through the scheme. Finally, after securing planning permission for a 50kW wind-turbine at Outend in Scalpay we have struggled to make the project viable. The cost of upgrading the powerlines back to the main village is the problem. NHTC has decided not to develop the site, however there has been interest from a Skye renewables company, so the site may yet be developed.

PROJECT DEVELOPMENT OFFICER’S REPORT Digitising Croft Records and Maps With the Scalpay Estate formally becoming part of North Harris in November 2013 we inherited a large number of files from the previous factor. An exercise to digitise these files was undertaken. This had already been done for the rest of the North Harris Estate files a number of years ago and a copy of these files is stored off site. The original North Harris Estate maps from the 1920's were regularly used in the office, the condition of these map had deteriorated considerably due to this and so they were also digitised. Trail West Ceilidh A ceilidh was held on 4th April 2014 to celebrate the 11th anniversary of the formation of the North Harris Trust. The ceilidh was held in the Tarbert Community Centre and featured popular Scottish Ceilidh band "Trail West". The event was well attended and was an enjoyable experience for all. Community Development Fund Awards amounting to £7200 were approved through the Community Development Fund between Oct 13 - Oct 14. The fund is open to grant applications from groups or individuals based in or working for the benefit of North Harris. Common Grazing Mapping Project Having first been approached by the Crofting Commission in July 2013 the Trust agreed to pursue the registration of the 16 Common Grazings across the Estate. This was no easy task as very few of the grazings had mutually agreed maps, boundaries or even agreed names. After liaising closely with local Crofters and the Crofting Commission over a number of months a meeting was then held in the Trust Office on 9th April to agree the finalised maps and put forward the registration applications. The project was completed in September 2014 and the registered grazings can be viewed via the online Crofting Register www.crofts.ros.gov.uk/register/home Croileagan Building The old croileagan building was gifted to the Trust in 2013 with the request that it be put to a community use. The building requires some refurbishment works and a number of different funding avenues were investigated to turn the building into office space. Securing funding for this use proved to be extremely difficult. An approach was made by a group of local mothers looking to turn the building into a "soft play" facility for the young children in Harris. Work on this proposal continues and in the mean time the building is still used on an informal basis by a variety of different local groups. Bunavoneader Whaling Station Due to various different factors work, on a possible conservation project on the Bunavoneader Whaling Station halted in 2007 after the production of a conservation plan. The continued deterioration of the site's condition was a real concern and so it was agreed that we would begin work to pursue the project once more in 2014, this resulted in an application being submitted to the Heritage Lottery Fund for £1.4 million in August. This application has sadly since been refused. Work continues to pursue a more modest project to deal with the most urgent issues threatening the site.

SCALPAY DEVELOPMENT OFFICER REPORT Following a successful application to the Scottish Land Fund in September 2013 I was appointed as the Trust’s dedicated Scalpay Development Officer for a 2 year fixed-term contract in January 2014. In 2014 the Trust has hosted a number of evening events that have been well attended by locals. There has been a good level of discussion and engagement at these meetings, and they have been useful to help the Trust to form ideas on future projects. A number of projects are being considered and progressed in Scalpay. These include the West Loch Marina Project (West Loch Tarbert and North Harbour Scalpay), the future use of the former school buildings and the future use of the former Care Unit, and the expansion of existing Land Management and Ranger activities to the island. West Loch Tarbert Marina Harris Development Limited (HDL) are progressing the plans for pontoons in the North Harbour and West Loch Tarbert. The current plans for Scalpay include a pontoon 120m long, with 25 dedicated berths, and a further 25 with rafting, available. HDL is securing relevant permissions and is seeking funding for the project. Although the Trust is not leading this project NHT representatives sit on the Marina Project Group. Scalpay School The Trust has been engaged in lengthy discussions with Comhairle nan Eilean Siar with regard to leasing the Scalpay School Buildings for a 1 year trial period. The lease of the School proved to be more challenging than originally anticipated as we had to overcome some hurdles related to the Change of Use Planning process. Planning Permission was approved and sub-tenants moved into the building on 1 December 2014. The Trust is leasing the building as business and office space to various local sub-tenants for a year. Leasing the building for a year from the Comhairle will allow the Trust and sub-tenants the time to build a strong business plan and source funding for the possible purchase and future renovation of the site. The delays with the planning process mean that the project has not progressed as quickly as we would have liked this year. Over the course of 2015 NHT will be working on a business plan and commissioning condition surveys and will obtain a valuation of the site along with estimates for potential renovation costs, in order to determine if it is viable and sustainable to purchase the site from CnES. Care Unit The Trust has also secured the lease of the Care Unit on a one year lease from CnES. We were approached by a private individual who had need of a fully accessible and adapted building for a short term let. We are looking into the possibility of converting the Care Unit into accommodation units. This would provide the area with some affordable rental accommodation and provide a sustainable income for the Trust. Gunnera With the help of some local volunteers Matt, NHT Ranger, and I cleared the large Gunnera plants that we know about on the island during the summer. Efforts were concentrated on areas at Bayhead and along the road between the Bridge and the Factory. We also cleared some smaller plants towards Loch an Duin and in scattered areas across the island. NHT will continue to monitor the growth of Gunnera on Scalpay, but we hope that last summer’s effort will have made a noticeable difference to the spread of this invasive plant on the island.

Eilean Glas – Register of Community Interest in Land At a Public Meeting in Scalpay it was agreed that the North Harris Trust would look into submitting a Register of Community Interest in Land, under Part 2 of the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003, for the Eilean Glas Lighthouse complex. The Register of Interest would give the community the opportunity to purchase the site should it ever go on sale within the 5 year period of the Register of Interest. In order to comply with the strict set of conditions that community groups must meet in order to be eligible to register a community interest in land the Trust’s Memorandum and Articles of Association (Memo & Arts) will have to be re-written. Our solicitors are looking into this at the moment, and will advise on the best way to proceed. Understandably, we do not want to alter the Memo & Arts in a way that would prejudice any of the current work the Trust undertakes, so we need to take our time with re-writing the Memo & Arts.

North Harris Trust Directors Calum J MacKay Chairman Depute Head Teacher of Sir E Scott School, Tarbert. Crofter. Represents Ardhasaig and Bunavoneadar area. Catherine I Morrison Vice Chair Retired Citizens Advice Bureau Manager. Represents Hushinish – Meavaig area. Barbara MacKay Secondary School French teacher. Represents Tarbert area. Steve McCombe Ambulance Technician, Crofter. Represents Tarbert area. John Archie MacDonald Local Authority Chargehand, Crofter. Represents Kyles Scalpay area. Kenneth MacKay Crofter. Represents Rhenigidale – Marig area. Donald J Morrison Bus Driver, Crofter Represents Urgha area. Ian A MacSween Retired Teacher, Crofter. Represents Scaladale- Ardvourlie- Bowglas area. Tim Langley Solicitor Represents Tarbert area Mick Blunt Representing John Muir Trust. Sheila Roderick Weaver Represents Scalpay Donald John Cunningham Fisherman Represents Scalpay Kenny MacLeod Civil Servant Represents Scalpay

North Harris Trust

Staff Update: February 2015

Member of Staff

Job Title Date of Appointment

Length of Contract

Salary Paid By

Alistair MacLeod

Development Manager

2003 Permanent NHT

Diana MacLennan

Administrator 2007 Permanent NHT

Gordon Cumming

Land Manager 2014 Permanent NHT

Karen MacRae Project Development Officer

2013 Permanent NHT

David Wake Energy Officer 2009 3 Years 50% HIE 50%NHT

Matt Watts Ranger 2009 3 Years SNH Robertson Trust & NHT

Ann-Marie Hewitt

Scalpay Development Officer

2014

2 Years 90% HIE

10% NHT

Steven Morrison

Civil Amenities Operator

2010 12 Months (renewable)

NHT (reimbursed by CNES)

Angus MacDonald

Recycling Assistant

2013 6 Months SCVO

Community Jobs Scotland

Isle of Harris Mountain Festival – Clisham Walk

Turbine 1 @ Monan

Tree Planting

Iomairt an Obain Units

Proposed Hushinish Gateway Development

John Muir volunteers @ Scalpay Lighthouse beach

North Harris Trust @NorthHarris

Annual Report of the North Harris Trust Ltd, Tigh an Urrais, Tarbert, Isle of Harris, HS3 3DB Telephone/Fax: 01859 50 2222. Email: info@north-harris.org Web: www.north-harris.org Scottish Charity No SCO33413 A Charitable Company Limited by Guarantee, No 235889