Balloch Village

Balloch Village Trust

Activities

Act 1 -  Public Consultation

Further details of this are available from - b.v.t@btinternet.com

Act 2 - Litter clean ups

BVT has been working with Balloch Primary School pupils and Balloch Community Council to reduce litter in Balloch. 

A successful litter clean up day was undertaken on Saturday 25th March 2006.  Many thanks to the 30 or so residents who turned out to litter pick Balloch. 

A large skip, kindly paid for by Forestry Commission Scotland, was filled to the brim with litter.  Hand tools kindly lent by the School of Forestry also enabled volunteers to clear back the scrub at the bus turning circle and entrance to the woods. 

Thanks to the shop for donating the daffodil bulbs, rescued from the shop site and now replanted at the entrance to the community woodland. 

Act 3 - Dog fouling

BVT is working with Balloch Primary School pupils and Balloch Community Council to reduce dog fouling in Balloch.  P5 school pupils undertook a ‘shoo poo’ campaign and placed posters throughout Balloch in the spring and early summer 2006. 

Councillor Bob Wynd has provided new doggie bins at the entrance to the community woodland on Culloden Road and at the Forestry School.  Balloch Community Council will also provide a new doggie bin at the Cameron Avenue entrance to Chapelton Woods..

Act 4 - Registration of Community Interest in Land

BVT has registered a community interest in the ‘field next to the village hall and primary school’. 

Registration simply allows communities to have the option of purchase if and when land comes up for sale, providing there is 50% support from the community and funds are raised within 6 months of the land going up for sale.

Making the registration requires the support of 10% of eligible voting residents by signatures.  This means a minimum of 130 residents to support the application.  This has been easily achieved.

BVT is to register a community interest in this field to provide:

1. play park
2. larger sports field for community use
3. garden for community use
4. bowling green
5. green landscaping incl. tree planting
6. extension to the village hall
7. overflow car parking for village hall.

Should the opportunity arise, the BVT would like to see the field next to the village hall and school pass in to community ownership.

Registering a community interest is a lot of preparation work and arranging a sale with the landowner direct is far easier, but the process of application in itself presents an opportunity for Balloch to put together a strong case for what a community wants. 

This is a valuable document to produce and has spin offs for funding, planning and development decisions. 

Act 5 - The Hedges

The Hedges / The Old Balloch Road

Cleared by Mr and Mrs Goodbody

March 2006

The Trust is grateful for the clearance done again in March 2007.

 

Act 6 - Logo Competition

The BVT held a logo competition for local children. The winners were  Jenna McPherson whose design is being used for the letterhead, Charlotte Failes and Ellen MacAskill. 

Click here for the designs.

Act 7 - Local history

 BVT would like to establish an archive of local history.

We are collecting material for copying; photographs of old Balloch, newspaper clippings, programmes, tickets, maps etc.  All originals will be scanned and returned. 

We are also hoping to talk with people who have knowledge of old Balloch.  Personal histories will give us a much better insight into how things have changed. 

We hope to achieve funding for this project through grant applications.

We held the first local history meeting on 29th November 2006. 

Act 8 - A96 Corridor Plans

An information flyer on the A96 proposals was jointly sent by BVT and BCC to all Balloch residents in September 2006.

Many thanks to all those residents who wrote letters, e-mailed and visited the exhibition at Culloden.  Halcrow have now presented the final proposals to the Highland Council.  No land adjacent to Balloch is zoned for housing.  Full proposals for the East Inverness part of the A96 development can be viewed here.

This letter was sent to Highland Council.

The next round of consultation has recently passed.  Balloch has not been zoned for any development.  The fields at the bottom of the hill will remain agricultural. 

BVT sent in their response with the only suggestion being a pedestrian crossing of the A96 near Balloch in order that residents can access the proposed coastal and cycle footpaths.  There is also a commitment in the plan for a woodland route from Inverness to Nairn.

Act 9 - Safer pedestrian and cyclist access around Balloch.

The BVT supports Balloch Community Council, Councillor Bob Wynd and the School Board in working to reduce traffic speed in Balloch.  The Highland Council TEC Services will be reviewing the safety of Culloden Road in early 2007. 

In anticipation of this, BVT wrote a  joint letter with BCC.

The review has now been carried out and these are the recommendations.

BVT is also working to ensure that the A96 corridor development is sensitive to the needs of cyclists and pedestrians.