Community Consultation: Have your say on plans to bring two Perthshire woodlands into Community Ownership.
West Stormont Woodland Group (WSWG) is leading an ambitious initiative to bring Taymount and Five Mile Woods near Stanley and Bankfoot in Perthshire into community ownership. The group is undertaking an on-line community consultation between 22 February and 19 March 2021 where everyone in the local community can have their say on WSWG’s vision and proposals for the woods.
WSWG aims to acquire the two woods from Forestry and Land Scotland through their Community Asset Transfer Scheme (CATS). The group has been working extensively on plans for managing the woods for climate change, biodiversity and wide-ranging community benefit.
It is now the turn of the local community to have a say on these plans. Gaining opinions on what local people think is a very important part of the Asset Transfer process in securing support for turning these woods into vibrant community woodlands. WSWG is particularly keen to hear from people who live in the Strathtay ward, but the Consultation is open to everyone. WSWG invites anyone who is not yet a member of the group to consider supporting the project by joining its free membership scheme after completing the survey.
Elspeth Coutts, Secretary of the WSWG Steering Group, said “Our community consultation has become a primarily on-line event due to Covid restrictions, but we are sending out paper copies of the Proposal and Survey to members who do not have internet access. We will have spare copies we can send out more widely, so if you are unable to do the survey online, please do get in touch.”
WSWG has also arranged a Royal Mail leaflet drop to every house in the Strathtay ward, so that members of the community can encourage each other to fill in the survey. This is a unique opportunity to bring Taymount and Five Mile Woods into community ownership which through a supportive response from the local community can be achieved.
The community consultation can be found on WSWG’s new website at www.weststormontwoodlandgroup.scot .
