Ballater & crathie Community magazine - Ballater Community

20Deeside Donside DevelopmentDalmochieThe project has successfullyraised the funds to purchase the site from theForestry Commission. The legal formalities arenow being dealt with and we expect the sale tobe complete before the end of March. This willmean the site being owned by the community.A partnership between BRD and the HistoricForest Project Association will be preparing thenext phase of restoring the cabins which originallyexisted on the site.Community Website AssistanceOnce again a reminder about the smallfund available from the Cairngorms NationalPark Authority to help local groups establish orimprove their group or project websites. If anybodyis interested in applying for this fund please contactme on the details below as I have the guidance andapplication forms. Several groups in Ballater havealready taken up the offer and received funds upto nearly £1000 so don’t let the opportunity passfor your group to benefit!Ballater Learning CentreThe Learning Centre initiative has securedfunds to undertake business planning andpreparation work for the centre. By the time thiscomes to print we expect that the project will bein a position to begin at least preparatory workto equip the facility.BroadbandThe project continues to work on thisissue. Presently we have succeeded in gettingGlenbuchat and Corgarff onto a programme ofbroadband upgrade over the next year. This workis through a Government initiative which targetssmaller communities that will miss out on thenational upgrade that BT are committed to. It islikely that the work on Donside can be duplicatedin the harder to reach areas of upper Deeside.Project by Nick MardallBraemar Action planThe Braemar Action plan has reacheda draft stage which is to be endorsed bythe Community Council in mid February.Thereafter actions that have been identifiedby the community will be underway which willhelp improve the village according to its ownaspirations.Ballater Action PlanBallater undertook a similar exercise of actionplanning for the community in 2009. A lot ofgood work and projects emerged as a result.This project, in partnership with the CommunityCouncil, will lead a review of the plan and lookat refocusing the efforts where it is needed most.Housing PartnershipThe Prince’s Trust and the Highland SmallCommunities Housing Trust continue to look atoptions for a site on Balmoral for self build. Anopen day will have been held in February whichwill give full details of the project to the communityand asked for interested folk to submit expressionsof interest.Finally as always I would ask folk to contactme if they have any project or funding theywould like me to help them pursue. Nick.dddp@btconnect.com or telephone 013397 53775Forbes DuguidPainter&DecoratorTelel.55816