Cousland Community Plan 2013

7/29/2019 Cousland Community Plan 2013

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/cousland-community-plan-2013 1/9

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Report onCousland Community Consultation 2012

andDevelopment Plan 2014 - 2019

Our Community Voice

Our priorities and goals represent the opinions of the majority of Cousland residents. These wereexpressed in a Community Survey which had a

response rate of 70% (85 out of 120 households.) This survey reflected issues and ideas first raisedin a consultation exercise carried out as part of the

village Gala Day 2012.

A link to this Community Plan can be found on theCousland website www.cousland.net

"Cousland is a friendly, safe and peaceful place to live"



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Summary of Our Priorities and Goals

The Physical Environment

To safeguard against futureopencast, infill and othersimilar projects

To support ecologically soundand environmentally friendly

developments To improve access to and

connections with existing off road walks

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Services and Amenities.

To benefit from improvedbroadband speed

To have a mains gas supplyinto the village.

To explore the feasibility of a

shop in the village

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Our Local Heritage

To be part of a tourist traildevelopment featuring the siteof castle/nunnery, smiddy andindustrial archaeological sitesof gas/oil and limestone

To encourage and supportfurther archaeologicalinvestigation on the windmill

and pottery sites.

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Community

To value neighbourliness To have a place to meet and

chat (i.e. a community café) To value Village Hall activities

highly and continue toencourage people to helporganise one off events

To explore the development of

the former school and groundsfor the good of the community. Page 6



Physical Environment

Cousland’s quiet, beautiful and safe location scored highly with residents. The

good balance of living in a rural location but close to the city, views and scenery,wildlife, light local traffic, space and good air quality were all singled out for

mention in specific comments.

Key areas of interest

Positive actions already led by villagers

Opencast and other major developmentsOne of the highest questionnaire responses was the wish to safeguard the village againstopencast, infills etc. in future.

92% of respondents agreed this was important to them 84% agreed that Cousland and surrounds should only support developments that

are ecologically sound and environmentally friendly.

Footpaths and CyclingResidents enjoy walks from the village, but expressed concern about using roads withoutany pavement. 79% of respondents agree that more walks and connections to existingwalks should be developed.

Villagers united with the wider community and successfully campaigned againstproposed opencast developments in the local area.(CAAOC – Communities Against Airfield Open Cast)

Volunteers restored and promoted an old pathway with the support of theCommunity Council. This new route (pictured) provides a sheltered cross-country

shortcut towards Ormiston with abundant views and wildlife. Existing paths toFordel, Whitehill and the Pencaitland Railway are accessible only by roads.

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Services and Amenities

Many people value Cousland’sproximity to Edinburgh andDalkeith offering residents withcars good access to work places,shops, cultural, and businesscentres. Residents appreciate therecent investment in street lightingand the areas where roads havebeen maintained. The recyclingcentre and regular waste collectionscheme are valued by residents.


Broadband provision

Residents are increasingly dependent on fast broadband connection as morepeople work from home via the internet. 78% of respondents agreed that localbroadband service is far too slow (about 0.92 MB/s for download and 0.34 MB/supload). The demand is for a local upgrade.

Gas supply 51% of residents would be keen to have a mains gas supply in the village.

Transport 61% of respondents are concerned about local transport. Only 36 % of

respondents agreed that the present bus service was a useful service for them.Suggested improvements included evening buses (11 people), and a communitybus (35 people). Links to the Doctor at Pathhead and to a rail station were alsomentioned.

Community Shop66% of respondents said they would use a community shop. 15 people said thatthey would help with this on a rota basis.



Local Heritage

There is a very active local History Group in the village, established in 1999.Cousland Smiddy Trust was formed in 1986 and was formed to preserve and

develop the Smiddy, its buildings and garden.


Positive Action already led by villagers

The Smiddy and smiddy cottage museum70% of people said that it is important to them that the building beside the cottageshould be developed as a multi-use space for educational research and continuedinvestigations into Cousland’s history and that there should be space for craftbased workshops and courses.

Castle / Nunnery – Part of a tourist trail

61% are interested in seeing the Castle/Nunnery site becoming a focus for touristdevelopment as part of a trail supported by the Tourist Board. information boards a visitor centre/café links to the industrial heritage of limestone oil and gas

Smiddy preserved Community archaeology digs organised for Castle / Nunnery and Pottery

sites Limeworks railway carts (hutches) installed in village.

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Other Areas of Focus

‘What would you change about Cousland?’ generated these additional areas of focus from the initial survey.

Roads.

Residents want roads to be kept in better repair. Sports facilities.

There is village interest in a variety of leisure and sporting activities beingdeveloped.

Power supply. The electrical supply to the village has been subject to frequent power cuts,a recent cut lasted for more than 24 hours. This leaves residents,particularly the elderly, at risk. Reliable power was cited as somethingpeople would like to change about Cousland.

Shop. The highest number of respondents said they would like a community shop,

many people saying that they would participate in helping with this. Children

While Cousland is a great place to live with young children, it has feweramenities for older children

BusBetter / more frequent bus service to Edinburgh and to the train station forcommuting for work. Possibility of a community bus service linking to othervillages, doctors surgery etc.

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Developments and Actions for the Next Five Years.

This plan identifies key areas of interest and concern. A series of open planningmeetings were held, from which action plans and working groups have been

established.

11 areas of interest for future work have been identified by villagers with 33 peoplevolunteering themselves for work within this. This also includes people who voiced

an interest in being involved with heritage and community transport. These will be addressed in the future.

Area Progress 2013 Action 2014 - 2019Physical

environment Opencast CAAOC is again active in

safeguarding ourenvironment, submitting

comments on the proposal toinclude Airfield as an area of search in the Midlothian Local

Development Plan.

Continue to monitor, canvas,represent and act upon people’s

opposition to local opencastproposals.

Walks A group of people is exploringand developing informationand maps and encouraging

use of existing paths.

These will be printed and alsoavailable on the Cousland

website.Future action will include

developing paths which can beaccessed with minimum roaduse.

Services and Amenities

Broadband Contact has been made withthe local MSP who is

interested in improvingservices in this area.

Ongoing discourse with BT aboutlocal upgrades and MSP about

campaigning around this.

Gas supply,electricity supply,

roads andpavements

Future action needed bycommunity

Transport Future action needed bycommunity

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UDevelopments and Actions for the Next Five Years (Cont.)

0B Area 1BProgress 2013 Action 2014 - 20192BHeritage

16BSmiddy The Cousland Smiddy Trust

is in the process of applyingfor funding to furtherconserve and develop theSmiddy and its environs asmulti use community space.

Construction and use of

proposed multi use communityspace

17B Tourist trail andarchaeologicalinvestigations

History Group continuing torecord, archive and publicise

Cousland history.

Future action needed bycommunity

18BCommunity19BPlace to meet and

chatRegular monthly caféestablished and run by

volunteers.

Investigate how better to create acommunity hub / other events

20BPeople willing tohelp

A bi-monthly villagenewsletter is being produced

More villagers have comeforward to help with

organising village events andactivities. Village Hall

committee has expanded,village events are better

attended.

Expand production team andseek funding for publication.

Maintain and build on communityspirit

21BFormer school andgrounds

A group is investigatingpossibilities for use of the

former school and groundsfor community benefit. An

interest in an Asset Transferhas been registered with

Midlothian Council.

Further consultation with villageon ideas and outcomes.

With many thanks to the people of Cousland who made this happen and TheRegeneration Development Team, Midlothian Council for their support.

Cousland Community Plan 2013

Documents

Transcript of Cousland Community Plan 2013