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to SOCIAL/ECONOMIC/POLITICAL Homepage Comments
on the Comrie Bulletin:
"the case for purchase".
But the case is not made
James Irvine
Comrie Resident
Filed 18 Aug 07
©www.land-care.org.uk
The first occasion to have a semblance of
a debate on the matter was on Monday 13th August: just seven days
before a decisive vote was scheduled to be taken.
The matter in question was whether or not
to proceed with the opportunity to buy 36 hectares of land on the
periphery of their village. The opportunity arose through the Community
Right to Buy component of the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003. The
topic had been on the go in this large, affluent village of some
2000 souls since September of last year (1).
The debate on the 13th March 2007 allegedly
only arose out of a formal complaint as to how previous open meetings
concerning the matter had been run (2).
The organisation that set up to handle this important project, along
with other projects, is the Comrie Development Trust (CDT). Just
in the past week or so the CDT, incorporated as a limited company
by guarantee in July 2006, has managed to set up a website to facilitate
the flow of information within the Comrie community (3).
This again, after strong complaint over its absence from another
member of the community.
At the meeting on 13th August in Comrie's splendid
White Church Community Centre, the discussion period available was
only some 45 minutes. After six months of employing consultants
at substantial public expense (Scottish Executive), no business
plan was available to give substance to the debate. There were many
in the audience who were not pleased. They were not satisfied that
they were being given enough information on which to base a reasoned
judgement, as to whether or not the Community should get involved
in such a major commitment (4).
Many felt that there was a lack of openness with
basic information on the part of the Consultants, the CDT Cultybraggan
Camp Working Party and the CDT Board to which the Working Party
is responsible. In stead the residents had been
served up with hype and highly biased press releases from the CDT
Secretary which lacked substance.
So, on Monday 13th August, the ordinary members
of the Trust were promised a Bulletin that would contain fuller
economic figures by the weekend, just a day or two before the crucial
vote on the following Monday, 20th August.
The Bulletin duly arrived by post on the morning
of Friday 17th August (5).
The Bulletin consisted of a double sided piece
of A4 paper. It contained very little fact, but yet more of the
hype of which we have become all too accustomed.
There were no cashflow predictions.
There was no business plan, other than to sell
housing plots: for a value that was far in excess of what the District
Valuer officially put on the land.
There was just the same woffle as served up by
the CDT during the past 6 months, consisting of nebulous, uncosted,
blue sky suggestions that could not conceivably meet the running
costs of maintaining the site. Even these basic running costs were
not summarised. May be we have all got to treps down to the White
Church to see if by chance if they might be there. Or may be, just
may be, they might be presented to us at the AGM on the night of
the vote.
And why is the first AGM of the incorporated CDT
being held on the same evening as the crucial vote? Is it to comply
at the last minute to the legal requirement to have a properly elected
Board in place in order to qualify them for the purchase of such
a substantial commitment. Not only are substantial funds from the
Public Purse involved, but using the Community Right to Buy legislation
excludes the sale of the property from the open market.
This is no way for a Trust to treat its members.
It is little wonder that the Trust, after all
this time, does not have Charitable Status. The rules of Charitable
Status are rightly strict. It is not enough to say that an organisation
is acting for the "good of the community". It has to be
seen to be doing so.
If the CDT met the conditions of Charitable Status
it could save itself very substantial amounts of VAT. Clearly there
must be something holding this back. What is it?
Have the CDT and their Consultants met what
they promised CDT members, let alone the residents of Comrie?
The Planning Brief published by CDT in March 2007 (6)
stated
"Local people and their partners have recognised
an opportunity to ensure the development is truly sustainable,
bringing the highest standards in ecological design and development
that will lead the way across rural Scotland
"The Community fully understands that these
benefits can only be achieved by producing an economically viable
development plan for the land."
Robert McDowell, Director DTZ, Consulting and
Research
The same Planning Brief documented in detail what
the residents of Comrie would like, and what they would not like
to happen at the Cultybraggan Camp site.
Figure 2.15 of the report indicates that Residential
Housing was the least popular use, at only 7%. Commercial use at
only 10% was a close second.
Figure 2.17 shows that Residential, Commercial
and Industrial uses featured very strongly in what the residents
of Comrie did not want to see happen at Cultybraggan Camp
And yet that is very largely what is proposed
in this eleventh hour fifty ninth minute Bulletin.
The CDT looks to cover its back financially by
selling 8 plots of land for high cost residential housing in the
event of it not be able to meet its running costs (worse case scenario,
as they call it). It plans to run commercial schemes to rent out
reconditioned Nissan huts for storage purposes in an essentially
unsecured premises. How it intends to finance a Community Petrol
Pump when petrol pumps, supported by garage services, could not
survive in Comrie's main street: a main through way from Perth to
the West. And what about the key problem of road access and the
limitation that Perth & Kinross Planners have clearly stated
as to the amount of traffic that they will contemplate? The site
has no sewerage.
It is no wonder that the residents of Comrie may
feel that they have been let down - big time.
And where are the basic facts about the so-called
interest-free loans, and the high interest rates that come in after
2 - 3 years. Where oh where are the basic economic facts that are
essential to have available before making such an important decision?
And why is it that the essential AGM has been
delayed for so long that it now clashes with the key vote on one
of Comrie's most important decisions?
The following extract from the Minutes of the
CDT Board, 26th February states (3):
"AGM: Discussion on the need to hold the
first AGM (and proper election to the board) after the community
ballot on Cultybraggan (to avoid confusion) and before the 6-month
period expires. In other words to make sure we have a properly
elected board before we have to take the legal/financial decision
to buy.
Decision
• Agreed AGM should be planned for May/June."
But that did not happen. It did not happen in
July either, nor in early August. Once again. proper debate over
the important issue of making such a huge purchase is compromised.
Was this by design?
We now have the highly undesirable situation whereby
the first AGM of the CDT is to be held on the same evening as the
vote, yes or no, to committing Comrie to a Community Buy Out that
it knows extraordinarily little about in terms of economic facts
or reasoned economic predictions.
This represents poor organisation, and even poorer
communication, with Comrie's residents. But is it due to incompetence,
or is it due to being economic with the truth while some other plan
is being hatched which will come into play once the CDT own the
land that they have bought in the name of the residents of Comrie?
Among the directors of the CDT are persons highly experienced in
their professional lives with property development/ They are not
naive.
How come that the District Valuer apparently got
his valuation so wrong, or did he?
There is clearly a problem here.
This is what the CDT/Consultants say in their
recently arrived Bulletin: the one that was to give us clear business
arguments for getting involved in this major Community Buy Out
"In this worse case scenario the Trust
could need to sell 5 - 8 housing plots (the Planning Authority
has indicated they are willing to see up to 10 houses on the sit
e)./ We could also, for example, sell the cottage (located at
the entrance of Cultybraggan Farm). Assuming a conservative value
of £75 - 100k for the cottage or per serviced housing plot,
this would enable us to cover all costs, including loans, created
a surplus in the region of £150k and still own 88 acres
of the 90 acres.
"Even without a full business plan the
consultants and the board are convinced that purchase makes financial
sense."
The District Valuer valued the whole 36 hectare
site (including the 90 acres of the Camp itself) at £350k
only a few months ago. That does not match with the inflated expectations
recently declared by the CDT in its Bulletin.
They cannot both be right. That leaves uncomfortable
alternatives to consider.
Either the District Valuer was leaned on by
his employer, the Scottish Executive, to come up with a conveniently
low valuation to suit the Executive's political wishes
or
The CDT Board is telling us porkies.
Can we base a logical judgement on this basis?
Perhaps there are things that the District Valuer knows that we,
the residents of Comrie, are not being told by the CDT Board.
Who can vote on 20th August?
Only members of the CDT can vote,
It is understood that they amount to rather less than 400, although
the CDT are desperately trying to recruit more members. They only
need to sign a form, that they are over 18 years of age and are
on the voting register of Comrie District. No subscription required,
and maximum liability is £1 should the CDT go bust.
Only a majority vote is required.
So it would appear that only 200 people, if that, can decide whether
the Camp is bought for the Community, or whether the site can go
on the open market, which could allow substantial inward investment.
According to the Scottish Executive,
"it is unusual to have so
many voting: it's is very good as far as these things go"
So much for the Land Reform legislation
drawn up by the previous Labour/LiberalDemocrat Coalition that had
been in power in Scotland since devolution in 1999, but who were
ousted in May 2007.
An easy and obvious alternative
The CDT has done good work in other areas to
the benefit of the residents of Comrie. But they should abandon
their dream of being property speculators: something that is clearly
well beyond their capabilities.
They should let the Cultybraggan Camp go on
the open market, which would also be much to the advantage of
the UK taxpayer, who - after all - is the seller of the Camp
They should leave it to the Perth & Kinross
Planners, over which they no doubt would have considerable influence,
to ensure that environmental criteria were properly met.
Comrie could thus achieve much greater prosperity
through commercial investment without taking such enormous risks.
References
1. Irvine, James (2006). Comrie
Development Trust starts its bid for Community Right to Buy: the
latest episode in the sad saga of Cultybraggan Army Camp
See SOCIAL/ECONOMIC/POLITICAL Homepage, filed 10 Sep 06,
www.land-care.org.uk Click
Here to View
2. Irvine, James (2007).
Letter of complaint to Secretary,Comrie Development Trust,18th July
2007 Click Here to View
pdf
3. www.comrie.org.uk
4. Irvine, James (2007).
So where is the business plan for Community Right to Buy Cultybraggan
Camp?
See SOCIAL/ECONOMIC/POLITICAL Homepage, filed 14 Aug 07,
www.land-care.org.uk Click
Hereto View
5. Comrie Development Trust
(2007). Cultybraggan - the case for purchase.
Comrie Bulletin , Issue 4, August 2007 Click
Here to View pdf
6. Comrie Development Trust
(2007). Cultybraggan Community Planning Brief: March 2007.
www.comrie.org.uk Go to Cultybraggan Camp: Go to Document Library.
Finis
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