Message Board

Heritage Workshop -some key points

Wed, 16 Sep 2009 21:31:15 GMT

I am a member of the Rural Analysis Associates consultancy and took a note of the workshop discussion. These are the key points trimmed for this discussion - no significant point not appearing here will be lost as it will be covered in the Summit report.

Do you agree with these point? Would you like to expand them or comment or add your own new point?

Key Issues and Opportunities

? Sharing of information from one group to another on how to make the most of Heritage.

? Clinching ‘World Heritage status for the Pentland firth – in order to give the whole area the benefit of another ‘best in the world’ badge for promotion purposes

? Making more money from the environment indirectly by

o Guiding

o Accommodation

o Catering

o Selling necessaries - petrol

? Businesses working together by

o ‘Cross selling’ – B&B selling ,tours , local restaurants

o ‘Link Marketing’ – joint promotion of the area.

? Programme of Celebrating Sutherland Events – Outdoor Festivals, culture festivals

? Underexploited earning power of Gaelic –

o could be developed by encouraging people who go to courses in Glasgow to learn Gaelic slowly to come to Sutherland to learn it quickly by immersion learning living with a Sutherland Gaelic speaking family .. and eating local food while they are here

o evidence of continental interest in Gaelic language and culture being stimulated by their regular viewing of BBC Alba. Needs to be exploited

Some of the other issues Raised in Workshop

Small business challenges

Some activities and opportunities undervalued in the past – bed and breakfast not recognised as real work.

Small business opportunities impeded by EU regulations and their gold plating by national authorities. There is a need for determined simplification of regulations and alleviation of the rigidity of their application – eg health and safety..

A need for improved access to Broadband was cited especially in relation to marketing.

One problem for tourism is that in many areas hotels have closed ( Ardgay and Bonar Bridge ) and Bed and Breakfast provision reported to have almost disappeared.

However there is recent contrasting experience in Durness where a new hotel is doing well and the Caravan Park and bunk house facilities have been full.

Voluntary Sector, core funding and coordination

The resilience and partnership working of the Sutherland population were identified as a major asset for securing Sutherland’s future

However there was concern about how groups can be encouraged to move forward together and their progress best facilitated when recent evidence was felt by some to be adverse – the Sutherland Transport Group is inactive and the Tourism Forum was suggested to be virtually moribund.

The top priority here was felt to be not necessarily the level of finance availability but the need for a much greater degree of certainty of funding over a longer period and relief of the constant burden of having to reply and reapply in rapid succession..

The availability of assured funding over, say, three year periods would be welcome.

A strong argument was made, however, that the aim of Sutherland’s social enterprises in the long term should be to survive and prosper without support funding – ie we should aim to be marketing our assets and earning revenue stream from activities.

It was notable that throughout the discussion , whether about threats or opportunities, there was a consistent reference to the need for better coordination and an acknowledgement of the benefits of the greater efficiency that this could deliver.

Opportunities

Genealogy opportunities – significant demand is evident but only a few people are able to respond and they do so voluntarily and in an uncoordinated fashion – there is a need for coordination

Funding opportunities exist based on Gaelic – It is necessary to make better use of heritage – it has been demonstrated that continental Europeans have an appetite for Gaelic e.g. recent visit by 38 Germans on a bus tour attracted by watching BBC ALBA in Germany

The area’s landscape and geology could be the focus for a project to take Sutherland natural environmental knowledge into Sutherland schools.

The Core Paths Plan is a good resource but impeded by unnecessary conflict. Many Core paths for historic reasons terminate in people’s gardens and despite the Access code restricting access to the curtilage of a property lack of awareness of this exists among both landowners and walkers.

We should celebrate our heritage more by eg by organising international festivals featuring our world class heritage(wildlife/landscape)

It was suggested that youngsters be tought at an early age to appreciate their unique environment.. It was recognised as inevitable and indeed natural that young people will leave for more cosmopolitan interests that are attractive to them in teens and early twenties but there was a great potential to lure them back to raise their families in safety if they have first learned to understand and love their environmenmt during their childhood.

Traditional Highland music and song – the wealth of it and the skill of the musicians is a great asset – action should be taken to build on the Feisean experience – these can provide a model of good practice

Forum: Heritage

Output from the Enterprise Workshop

Wed, 16 Sep 2009 17:43:15 GMT

I was taking notes on this workshop on behalf of the consultancy team and here were the issues that I picked up on. I guess we have made a start on short term action number 7) already but do folk agree with this list? What are the priorities? Are there issues that were missed in discussion?

Key Issues and Opportunities

· 1) The challenges of making community enterprises sustainable and the opportunity to integrate renewable energy projects to generate income and sustain wider community benefit.

o Local investment in wind and biomass projects to generate community income.

o Spin off benefits from renewable activity in the Pentland Firth and possible developments at Nigg will create jobs for those living in Sutherland.

· 2) Connectivity of broadband in the area was one issue but of greater importance was the speed at which it operates. Competitive businesses need to have improved access speeds.

· 3) Support for small business development was seen as important which led to suggestions of the support network that might be required to sustain this including: -

o A local coaching and mentoring structure to support new business and growing businesses.

o Looking at business co-operation opportunities within Sutherland and engaging with wider support networks and businesses outwith Sutherland.

o Encouraging inward investment into Sutherland.

Short Term Opportunities

· 1) Improving local linkages between businesses say in the tourism and food and drink sectors. Encouraging closer integration and production and consumption in local areas. Keeping income cycling within the local economy and helping support business interdependence.

· 2) Targeted tax breaks and rebates for those living in remote areas (although this was felt to be more difficult to achieve by the wider group)

· 3) Build on the successful quality businesses already in the area and develop thematic marketing campaigns for the area (genealogy; geology; archeology; wildlife)

· 4) Develop branding to support the businesses and area advantages made relevant to the locality. Encourage the use of a brand to create regional identity.

· 5) Learn from others by visiting other areas and businesses and bringing back the good ideas and business models.

Potential short term actions

· 1) The creation of a help and support network for businesses through a coaching and mentoring initiative

· 2) Helping businesses both existing and incoming with infrastructural needs, making land available for sites and premises

· 3) Investigation to develop and build on the assets of the area through brand creation

· 4) Help to give school leavers work experience in the area through a school leaver placement programme

· 5) Build on the opportunities created by incoming UHI students coming into the area to live and learn

· 6) Fix the quick fixes like broadband speed

· 7) Create a discussion forum online to enable the wider community to input into ideas generation and to start an embryonic support network.

Forum: Enterprise

Staying in or returning to Sutherland

Wed, 16 Sep 2009 12:23:52 GMT

The participants generally wanted to leave their own communities at the end of school, althogut For many it is the opportunities offered by big cities and the chance to do something new and/or go to University that is appealing. Although most were keen to move away and see new places, it was also commented that careers advice sometimes only talks about distant universities rather than opportunities that exist a bit closer to home.

Others in the group commented that it was very healthy to want to move away and experience life outside your own community, but attracting other young people to the area would be good. The high cost of housing and generally low wages in the county were felt to be a barrier to this. It was felt that more people, more businesses, good jobs and more social activities would be needed to make it an attractive proposition for many young folk to return.

What do you think? How do you feel about leaving the area and how do you feel about coming back? Are you looking at opportunities in city Universities? Would you be interested in education a bit closer to home, for example through UHI's dispersed network? Are there business opportunities in your community not being taken up? What kind of help and assistance would you need to encourage you to look into these opportunities? Does careers guidance give you the information you need? Do you want to settle in Sutherland at some stage (even if it's not for a while)? What are the important factors for you in this decision?

Forum: Youth

Transport and access to facilities

Wed, 16 Sep 2009 08:54:33 GMT

A fair bit of the discussion in this workshop centred around the availability of facilities for young people and ease of access to them. For example, many of the participants were keen to have a youth cafe or meeting place, or where they do exist in neighbouring villages, a way of getting to them without always relying on parents for transport. Some communities have halls or facilities which could be used by young people on certain days or at certain times and there was plenty of enthusiasm for being respnsible for these facilities if they were made available.

Other facilities and activities which the participants were keen to see involve adventure sports. Abseiling, kayaking and mountain-biking were all mentioned - and although the opportunities do exist in some places, for many parts of the county, the question is still how to get to them. Ideas for organised transport to these kind of facilities were discussed around the group. Competitive sports outside school fell into the same category, with examples given of having to travel to Thurso or Inverness to take part in shinty. Opportunties to get involved in drama and acting were also mentioned as something folk would like to see being available. In some communities, community transport depends on organised groups setting it up and providing drivers.

Transport was often a key factor and some good ideas were debated. It would be good to hear views and particularly ideas for getting round some of these issues in your communities. What facilties would you most like to see locally? Are you (young person or not so young) willing to take responsibility for organising access by young people to community facilities? If there are great facilities a distance away, have you got ideas about getting to them?

Forum: Youth

Natural and Cultural Heritage

Tue, 15 Sep 2009 17:26:54 GMT

Following on from the impressive and successful Sutherland Summit it would be good to continue 'the conversation' across Sutherland via this discussion board. In the Heritage Workshop time was short for teasing out the challenges of deriving economic benefits from Sutherland's rich cultural and natural heritage while also protecting, cherishing and nurturing all of that heritage for it's own sake. In trying to imagine what we might want in terms of cultural heritage by 2025 I think it might be good to see music, singing and Gaelic language use going from strength to strength while also being open and imaginative in welcoming the creation of new songs, stories and art work amongst our significant and growing arts and crafts sector which is important both economically and socially. In terms of natural heritage perhaps we need to be extra imaginative about maintaining working landscapes in the face of serious challenges to crofting agriculture and also celebrate that sense of space which so typifies Sutherland. Several people mentioned that most of us still tend to underestimate how astonishing our natural assets are in a global sense - landscapes, seascapes, biodiversity, plants, birds, rocks, air, sea, sky. Just some quick random thoughts the day after...

Forum: Heritage

Introduction

Tue, 15 Sep 2009 11:28:32 GMT

Young people for the schools in Sutherland were accompanied by the Youth Development workers discussing Social, Economic and Environmental Youth Issues presented by Magnus Monahan and chaired by Pablo Mascarenhas

Forum: Youth

Introduction

Tue, 15 Sep 2009 11:25:52 GMT

This workshop was looking and discussing Business, Rural Economies, 3rd Sector and Social Enterprise presented by Jim Johnston and chaired by Charlotte Wright in the Kinvonvie Suite.

Forum: Enterprise

Introduction

Tue, 15 Sep 2009 11:24:30 GMT

This workshop was about Health, Leisure and Thriving Rural Communities presented by Professor Jane Farmer and chaired by David Alston in the Sun Lounge.

Forum: Wellbeing

Introduction

Tue, 15 Sep 2009 11:20:53 GMT

This workshop was about the History, Culture, Nature and Tourism of Sutherland presented by Joan Campbell and chaired by Andrew Thin in the Shin Suite.

Forum: Heritage

Introduction

Tue, 15 Sep 2009 11:18:40 GMT

This workshop was about the Environment, Farming, Forestry, Fishing and Recreation presented by Ian Ross and chaired by Anne Rae in the Main Hall.

Forum: Land and Sea

Congratulations on a great event

Tue, 15 Sep 2009 10:56:21 GMT

Congratulations to everyone who worked so hard to make The Sutherland Summit such a resounding success. The whole thing ran like clockwork. It was great to see people gathered from across the County discussing the key themes and challenges with a view to shaping the future together.

Forum: Sutherland Summit

overview

Tue, 15 Sep 2009 10:00:48 GMT

SUTHERLAND SUMMIT Monday 14^th September 2009 Lairg Community Centre

Building Sutherland’s Future Together

Two Scottish Government Ministers, Jim Mather MSP Minister for Enterprise, Energy & Tourism and Roseanna Cunningham MSP Minister for Environment, John Thurso MP, Jamie Stone MSP, Rob Gibson MSP and a series of key persons with expertise and knowledge agreed to participate.

This was a themed event on Challenges, Solutions and the Future. All introductory talks, generic questions and afternoon workshops will focus on this overall approach with discussion areas based on the Scottish Government Strategic Priorities

1. Wealthier and Fairer Scotland

2. Healthier Scotland

3. Safer and Stronger Scotland

4. Smarter Scotland

5. A Greener Scotland

The Sutherland Summit was envisaged as a strategic day of information gathering towards a clear picture of Sutherland We proposed a day of knowledge, resources and networking focused on how we can develop an effective strategy while identifying the key strengths of the county, common challenges and shared solutions.

This summit provided an opportunity for Sutherland stakeholders to influence a Socio-Economic Strategy aimed at the rejuvenation of the county including and involving all with an interest. Government Ministers were be able to see the actions being taken to turn the Sutherland vision into reality. Sutherland may be a disparate county diverse in its needs, desires and methods of working. However there are commonalities and, where there are differences, they can be used to advantage.

Forum: Sutherland Summit