Tag Archives: AGM

Our AGM and Afternoon Tea

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Tea pouring crop

A huge thank you to everyone who attended our recent AGM and Afternoon Tea and who generously donated to help with the campaign. Over £900 was raised.

There were no changes to the office bearers: Lala Burchall-Nolan remains as Chair, Glen Heggs as Vice Chair and Chris Johnston as Treasurer. Chris took over from Tom Dowman during the year and Tom remains a committee member along with Sandy Millar and Bea Holden. Lala thanked Tom for all his work as Treasurer. She also thanked Dorothy and Peter Hadden for their invaluable support during the five years of the campaign.

Many thanks to Jeanette Heggs and her team who provided some delicious home-baking, laid out the tables beautifully and kept the teas and coffees flowing. Everyone had an enjoyable afternoon and were brought up-to-date on the campaign.

We do not expect to know when the Public Local Inquiry into the Linfairn wind farm application will be held until August at the very earliest. The PLI could be held late autumn or possibly next year.

 

Our resolve is stronger than ever

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agm-dec-2016Thank you to all those who came along last night to our AGM, and to those who couldn’t manage but expressed their support with donations. We had a splendid turnout to enjoy the mince pies, prosecco and cup cakes. Our Chair, Lala, along with other members of the team gave an update on the campaign and a summary of the finances.

The team will all stay in their current roles except for Tom who wishes to step down as Treasurer when a replacement can be found. Lala highlighted our successes: over 60% of turbines have been withdrawn; Keirs Hill refused; Glenmount withdrawn and the Hadyards Hill Extension reduced in numbers. If anyone would like to join the team we’d love to hear from you. Alternatively, if you don’t want to fully commit, you may wish to be co-opted to research a particular topic which interests you. If you enjoy a party we’d love it if you could assist us in organising some fun events.

Our focus is now on Knockskae and Linfairn. Brookfield, the developer of Knockskae, have postponed the date they want to appear before the Planning Committee until next year, possibly March. The public inquiry into Linfairn is also scheduled for next spring. We’ll ensure they do not overlap and be ready for both.

loch-trool-reddit-smlOur mandate to protect the landscape around Straiton and surrounding communities was supported by all those present. The creation of a Galloway National Park would greatly help to prevent inappropriate developments and it was agreed we would campaign for this.

Thanks to your generosity over £320 was raised on the evening!

 

Read all about it – our latest newsletter is out now.

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SSfS Newsletter Nov16.pages

Click here to download our latest newsletter. Topics include Knockskae and Linfairn wind farms as both applications have critical deadlines approaching.

South Ayrshire Council’s planning meeting at which a decision on Knoackskae will be made is scheduled for 14 December. Linfairn is going to a Public Inquiry next spring but if you wish to speak you have to contact the DPEA by 16 November (the deadline was extended).

We’re having our AGM in the McCandlish Hall in Straiton on 1 December at 7.30pm, we’d love to see you there to share the very latest campaign news over a glass of wine and a mince pie.

Our AGM

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A selection of slides from the Chair's presentation

A big thank you to all who turned up on an inclement evening to support our AGM, it was great to see so many of you. The office bearers of the committee/team are now Lala Burchal-Nolan continuing as Chair, Glen Heggs is continuing as Vice Chair, Tom Dowman as Treasurer. A formidable team which also includes Whirly Marshall, Sandy Millar and Bea Holden, Whirly has become our expert on landscape matters, Sandy on noise and landscape issues and Bea covers the website and community liaison. Eoghan Baird has stepped down as Secretary, many thanks Eoghan for all your work and support over the past three years.

Lala gave an update on all the proposals around Straiton and neighbouring communities illustrated with some excellent, and very accurate, animations John Nolan has provided which show how the proposals would appear from various viewpoints. She also explained how the team see their remit in terms of which development proposals would be objected to. This included how money raised from the community would only be spent on objecting to proposals which affected the parish of Straiton. To view her slides click here.

Whirly showed interested residents sections of the Knockskae wind farm application showing visualisations of the development. This is hopefully the last application we will have to deal with in our immediate area. There is still a lot of information to digest and appraise but we have post cards available with some points we have been able to identify.

After a question and answer session the evening concluded with wine, mince pies and some good conversation, plus the raffle of course.

Thanks to all those who generously donated prizes for our raffle and helped make the evening run smoothly. Your support inspires us.

PS If you would like to join the team you would be more than welcome, co-opted members (those who wish to join for a limited time or just work on one particular issue such as ecology) are also very welcome.