community management plan - forestry commission · 2018. 3. 14. · community: there isnocertainty...

RAASAY FOREST

COMMUNITY MANAGEMENT PLAN

July 2013Prepared by RaasayDevelopment Partnership on behalf of RaasayCommunity Council andthe wider Raasaycommunity in preparation for an application to purchase the forest via the

National Forest LandScheme

Raasay Forest Community Management Plan

Executive Summary

The Forestry Commission has declared the entire forest estate (almost 300ha) on the Islandof Raasayto be surplus to its requirements. This presents both a threat to the island'scommunity: there is no certainty that a private-sector buyer of the forest would manage itwith the interest of the wider community in mind; and an opportunity: local management ofa currently unprofitable national asset could turn a local profit. The community thereforedecided at a well-attended public meeting in March 2013 to attempt to buy the Raasayforest for the benefit of the local community by means of an application to the NationalForest LandScheme.RaasayDevelopment Partnership (RDP)was asked to lead the processof making the application.

This plan is based on a considerable amount of consultation work carried out during theperiod 2011 - to date. That consultation work identified four main activities that that thecommunity would wish to pursue if it owned the forest. Theseare:

• Creation of woodland crofts to encourage younger families to move to/stay onRaasay

• Construction of a micro-hydro scheme on the Inverarish burn to generate asustainable income to cover forest management and other local good causes

• Development of integrated wood fuel businessesthat would supply fuel, install andmaintain burners & boilers, maintain lums, and ensure replanting, all of which wouldlower local fuel costs and carbon emissions

• Maintenance and development of the forest's amenity value including foot paths,cycle tracks, interpretation, accessto historic monuments and landscape features,protection of locally important habitats and species, all of which will contribute tothe tourism industry on the island.

The purpose of this plan is to explain our proposed management of the forest in order tostrengthen our application to the NFLS.We recognisethat our application is missingtwo keycomponents: the result of a formal ballot and a comprehensive cash-flow projection for theforest over the first 5 years of community ownership. Work on both is underway, and wewill produce both in the first 6 months following outline approval of the application. We askthat the panel grant us this approach as we are currently fully stretched with our attemptsto purchase the island's only shop, which is about to be closed down. Purchaseof the shopshould have been completed by early September, at which time RDPwill be able to workfull-time on preparing the forest businessplan and raising the funds to purchasethe forest.

RaasayForest Community Management Plan

CONTENTS

1. Organisational frameworka. RaasayCommunity Bodiesb. Proposed ForestOwnership Body

2. Project Backgrounda. Community Profileb. RaasayForestc. Valuationd. Community Consultation

3. Project Componentsa. Woodland Croftsb. Micro-Hydro Schemec. Wood Fueld. Woodland Amenity

4. Project Deliverya. Pre-purchaseb. Post-purchase

5. Project Financea. Acquisition Costsb. Acquisition Financec. Project Implementation Costsd. Project Incomee. Project Viability Statement

6. Conclusion

APPENDICES(attached to the paper copy of this document)

Appendix 1: Community Consultation Report 2011Appendix 2: Community Development Plan2012-2017Appendix 3: RaasayForest Maps


1) Organisational Framework

l.a. RaasayCommunity BodiesRaasayhas a number of community bodies, many of which already own valuable assets.Theseare:

RaasayCommunity CouncilThe local statutory democratic council for the Island community. The Community CouncilaskedRaasayDevelopment Partnership to pursue the NFLSapplication on its behalf.

RaasayCommunity AssociationA company limited by guarantee which grew out of the Village Hall association. Itsuccessfully raised over £lm to build a new hall, which it now owns, runs and maintains.

RaasayHouseCommunity CompanyA company limited by guarantee which raised funds for the purchase and restoration ofRaasayHouse, an ia" century mansion set in its own grounds. RHCCnow leases out theHouse to a private tourism business,with income from the lease being used for local goodcauses.

RaasayHeritage TrustOwns and is developing the old mill as a heritage centre that will display artefacts of localhistorical significance, put on exhibitions and be a centre for the academic and genealogicalstudy of Raasayand its people over time.

Community of RaasayRetail AssociationA co-operative formed to buy and manage the local shop. At the time of writing CORRAispreparing to take ownership of the shop, having already successfully raised almost £200,000to buy the shop and cover transition costs, and having submitted an offer to the shopowner.

RaasayDevelopment PartnershipAn un-constituted umbrella group made up of the other, constituted, community groups. Itspurpose is to ensure that all community groups are in touch with each other and that localdevelopment efforts are co-ordinated and co-operative.

l.b Proposed Forest Ownership BodyThere is agreement amongst all the community groups on Raasaythat ownership andmanagement of the forest is a major undertaking and sufficiently different from existingobligations to make it preferable for a new organisation to be created specifically to carryout that task. We are currently investigating two main options, which have to be properlydebated by the various community groups before the wider community will make adecision:

RaasayForestCommunityManagementPlan

• Creation of Forest Company to own and manage the forest for the benefit of the widercommunity

• Creation of a RaasayCommunity Trust which will seek to take on owning and running anumber of community assets, including the forest, so allowing those community groupsthat wish it to transfer the bulk of their obligations (currently met by a board ofvolunteers) to the management of a team of professional development officers(including a forester to look after the forest), overseen by asset-specific sub-committeesof volunteer community members. This mayor may not be created by constituting RDP.

The process of debating these options and coming to a decision is likely to take severalmonths to be concluded properly, followed by more time required to set up theorganisation. We are not prepared to rush this stage, and can not therefore say what thefinal structure will look like. It will be in place in time for the transfer of the asset to thecommunity.


2) Project background

2. a. Community ProfileRaasayhas a resident population of about 150 people. This is believed to be the lowestlevel in living memory and on record. The population is skewed towards older people,particularly aged 60 and over. The primary school has 13 pupils, slightly below the 10%level that should be used as the minimum indicator for a healthy population structure inthe Highlands. Currently about 50% of the housing stock is non-residential (secondhomes and holiday homes), a level which significantly impacts on the operation of a freemarket in affordable housing.

Employment opportunities are limited and tend to be in low-paid, part-time andseasonaloccupations such astourism and crofting. One employer, RaasayHouseHotel &Activity Centre, accounts for about 25%of all employment on Raasay.

2. b. RaasayForestRaasay Forest estate is made up of two separate and distinct blocks of woodland.Brochel forest is about 100ha of almost entirely cleared woodland which, since 2002,has been left to naturally regenerate. Inverarish forest is about 200ha, just over halfcleared, of largely commercial conifer plantation with some mixed policy woodland. Thecommercial conifer stands are of variable quality but all have been under-managed overthe preceding 15 years, leading to over mature, un-thinned dense stands of low-gradetimber, some large areas of un-cleared wind-blown trees, a significant infestation ofrhododendron ponticum, and a compromised perimeter fence that hasallowed deer andrabbits into most of the forest. Brochel also has heavy grazing pressure from deer andsheep that accessthe woodland through fallen fences. FCShave indicated that theirrecent (2011) clear-felling of almost 100haof Inverarish did not generate a profit.

It is understood that shooting rights over the forest estate are available with the forestand that they are not currently let out.

A number of important historical monuments exist within or very close to Raasayforest.The ruined Brochel Castlesits on a volcanic plug just to the north of BrochelForest. DunBorodalebroch lies within Inverarish forest, asdoes the Raasaypictish stone.

Footpaths area major feature of Raasay,with many kilometres of pathway runningthrough the forest areas. Some of these are well-maintained, with way-markers,interpretation boards and picnic benches. Others are overgrown, eroded anddisappearing.

2. c. ValuationAn independent valuation of the forest was carried out in April 2013 by the DVS.Theirreport is appended. The value they placed on the forest is £410,000, or an average ofjust under £1,400jha.


We do not dispute that this reflects the open market value of the forest, but asa small,poor, rural community we absolutelymust register our concernsat suchan assetbeingvaluedby the openmarket price.Considerthe following:

• The best value timber hasbeenclearedin 2011,and it did not makea profit for FCS.The remaining timber therefore hasa negativevalue - it is a liability not an asset inFCSbusinessmodel terms. The value does not reflect timber values, nor does itreflect potential agricultural land values,which are typically lessthan £1000jha inthe area.

• Woodland is exempt from inheritance tax. The price of woodland is thereforeinflated by an amount at least equivalent to the savingsmade from avoiding tax, ie40%

It is entirely appropriate that public-sector purveyors of public assets should seek tomaximise the returns to the public in the sale of such assets.We reject completely aninterpretation of this principle which values assetspurely in terms of their sale price. Wehope that our managementof the forest will, over time, makethis point by generatingbothsignificant public benefits and savingsfor the public purse, neither of which would havebeenavailablehadthe forest passedto a private owner evenat the inflated market price.

2. d. CommunityConsultationIn 2011 an independent review of Raasay'sopportunities and threats, including a postalquestionnaire to all households,public meetingsand one-to-one interviews concludedthatthe immediate priority for the community was to keep the shop open. Medium termpriorities were maintenance of the varied visitor attractions, attraction of new, youngerresidents, affordable housing, greater employment opportunities and creation of acommunity-owned income-generating scheme. One of the potential projects specificallymentioned wasa local-sourcewood fuel business.

In 2012 a number of public meetings were held to gauge community interests in localdevelopment opportunities. The first meeting, attended by 60% of the adult population,showedvery clearly that the shopwasabsolutepriority. A secondpublic meeting presentedoptions for dealingwith the other priorities of the localcommunity. Thatmeeting askedRDPto investigate the potential of combining new affordable housing, new employmentopportunities, creation of a green energy business,and maintenanceof paths and habitatsthat attract visitors. RDPmade a visit to FCSin Invernessto expressan interest in workingwith the Commission developing these ideas, once the shop had been bought.Subsequently, in March 2013, the Commissiondecided not to wait or consult with thecommunity, but declaredthe forest surplusto requirements.A further community meetingtherefore was held, called by the Community Council,at which it was decided to start theprocessof trying to purchasethe forest in a single bid via the NFlS in order that we canpursue our development project ideas.A ForestrySteeringGroupwas formed to guide thisprocess.At the time of writing, we still have not completed the purchaseof the shop,although it seems to be very close now that the three groups of solicitors involved arereachingagreement.


In May 2013 we included a questionnaire in the Community Newsletter (see appendix inpaper copy) and made a general appeal for comments, ideas and suggestions in relation tothe proposed NFLSpurchase. Responseswere dominated by concerns over threats to theamenity value of the forest.

As a consequenceof not being in control of the processor the speed of the process,we arebehind on the final piece of community consultation. Under the terms of the NFlS we arerequired to carry out a community ballot on purchase of the forest. We have begun thiosprocess but can not go to the actual ballot until we have presented this plan to thecommunity in early September. Presentation will be made at an open meeting in theCommunity Hall, and if a majority of those attending that meeting approve, we will then goto a full ballot which should be completed within one week. We therefore expect to havethe ballot results before the end of September.

If the ballot shows sufficient support for the NFlSapplication to progress,and if the Panelapprove our application, we will have 18 months to prepare the details of the followingproject components.


3) Project Components

3.a.Woodland CroftsWe aim to designate part of the Inverarish forest as croft land and create up to 6 woodlandcrofts of up to 10ha each. The precise size and number of crofts and their locations willdepend on a detailed soils survey. The crofts will be designated as woodland crofts andtenants will have to agree to manage them according to the overall forest managementplan. We will encourage all croft tenants to build a house on the croft suitable for a family.The housewill be tied to the croft and so can not be sold for private profit.

Three objectives will be met through this project component:

• Up to 6 new affordable housing units built and occupied• Up to 6 new families/retained families living on Raasay• Increaseddemand on local services,especially the school and the shop

Someof the Inverarish soils are very good; even so, it is unlikely that the crofts will provide afull-time living. We will support crofters who wish to start forest product businessessuch asfuel wood, turned wood, NTFPsand livestock.

3.b. Micro Hydro SchemeThe Inverarish Burn is the one decent-sized burn on Raasay.Most of it lies within theInverarish forest from about Sm above sea level up to about 9Sm above sea level. ALowFlow 2000 analysisof the yield indicates that a scheme of about lS0kW is feasible, andperhaps twice that (full report in preparation). Using the forest as security, we will raisefinance to build the micro-hydro schemewhich, once operational, will generate a surplus tocover running costs of the forest and contribute to wider local good causes. As well asgenerating income, the schemewill create one part-time maintenance job.

In consultation work to date the local community has shown a clear preference for microhydro over wind power, the only other current technology with a realistic potential togenerate significant income for the community.

3.c. Wood FuelBusinessFossil fuel costs on Raasayare considerably higher than the average, due to the long supplychain and the ferry crossing.There is considerable scope for increasing the use of fuel woodboth domestically and in commercial properties. This will benefit from an integratedapproach, and we will look into bulk purchase of wood boilers and burners, and ofinstallation and maintenance services. We have already started discussions withneighbouring communities along the Minch and the Inner Sound about sharing expertiseand equipment to support sub-regional energy self-sufficiency. The village of Inverarish withits unusual terrace structure could be very suitable for a district heating scheme, and thiswill be fully investigated.


There will be two main sources of fuel wood available: felling existing conifer stands, andshort-rotation coppicing of newly-planted hardwoods. The latter would lend itself to beingpart of a woodland croft business.The former would be a cost-covering means to fell themature and over-mature standing timber to make way for softwood and hardwoodrestocking and forest redesign.

Additional options in support of the fuel wood scheme include re-opening of the smallsawmill at Mill Park,construction of an open-sided drying shed for logs or chips, training forRaasayresidents in the installation and maintenance of wood burners and boilers. All ofthese options will be fully investigated.

3.d. Woodland AmenityThis seemsto be the causeof most direct concerns over the forest for Raasayresidents andvisitors. As it is very difficult to earn income from amenity in a forest of this kind, we haveassumed that businessventures will have to subsidise the provision of amenity benefits. Inparticular, the micro-hydro scheme will allocate several thousand pounds a year towardsthe upkeep of existing paths and the creation of new ones. The creation of a mountain biketrack will be investigated in conjunction with RaasayHouseOutdoor Centre.

Additional interpretation boards, finger posts and way-markers will be installed. New picnicbenches and rubbish bins will be provided at car-parking areas.We will investigate schemesrun in peri-urban forests where a charge is made for car-parking which then covers the costsassociatedwith access.

3.e.Woodland ManagementThese forest project components will be integrated with each other. This will involvecollaboration between the community and private-sector businesses, overseen by a fulltime professional forester employed as a Forest Manger by the community. Diagram belowshows how the various components fit together.

The Forest Manager will be line-managed by the community ownership group. S/he willplan, manage and oversee the felling of mature timber and its sale to the fuel woodbusinessor other purchasers. Felling will be contracted out to suitably qualified operators,some of whom may be woodland crofters. The saw mill, operated and possibly owned cooperatively by the crofters, will bid for work preparing timber into fuel wood. The managerwill also have to ensure re-stocking, accessand fencing, all of which can be contracted outto local businessessuch as the woodland crofts. Crofters can sell some of their timber to thesaw mill and/or the wood fuel business.

The micro-hydro schemewill be owned by the community ownership group and any incomeit earns will be used to cover the manager's salary and costs associated with maintainingaccess.Restocking and felling costs in non-croft woodland will have to be covered by theincome from selling fuel wood. Within crofts it will be covered by crofters.

• KEYPerson involved in forestry

Activity or business

Saleof goods or services

Management


Community

(via Ownership Company)

Forester


4. Project Delivery

This is an integrated rural development project with a number of components, each ofwhich supports other components of the whole. In addition, the project will work closelywith the private sector and will encourage a number of small businesses to start up. Projectdelivery will therefore be a combination of direct management and collaborative reactionsto wider activities and events.

Central to project delivery will be the role of the Forest Manager. This will be a full-time,permanent post for a suitably qualified and experienced forester. The post will be funded bya combination of support grants in the first two years, tailing off during the transition perioduntil it is entirely funded from the project by the end of year 5. The Manager will beoverseen by a board of community volunteers, either the board of the CommunityOwnership Group, or specific sub-committee.

The Manager will be responsible for overall management of the forest, including:

• Scheduling felling operations in community-managed woodlands• Scheduling restocking in community-managed woodlands• Establishing, letting out and supporting several woodland crofts• Implementing a Forest Access Plan, including path creation and maintenance• Co-operation with the local wood fuel business and saw mill• Maintaining the forest, including fencing, emergency felling, clearing hanging trees,

unblocking drainage, etc.• Reporting to the community and to project funders

Many of the tasks associated with the manager's responsibilities will be contracted outlocally. For instance, the fencing contract could be taken up by one of the existing crofterson Raasay, while clearing wind-blown trees could be taken by one of the new woodlandcrofters. In this way the community asset will support local small businesses without havingto take on a large staff contingent.

The wood fuel scheme can be managed with a combination of community and privateenterprise. Our preference is for an almost entirely private business approach, but othermodels are possible. For instance, the community may decide to own a saw mill and lease itout to woodland crofters who would use it partly to saw fuel logs which they sell from themill. The community could decide to buy logs in bulk and deliver them at cost to elderlyresidents. It is not possible to say with certainty how the scheme will eventually work, butwe are aware that there are many ways to achieve the desired outcome.

The Hydro scheme will be an entirely separate scheme, run as a commercial enterprisewhich returns its net profit as dividend to its owner, the Community Company or Trustwhich owns the forest. This structure is best suited to a) ensuring a business-likerelationship with commercial banks funding the build and b) separating the operation of thescheme from the utilisation of the income derived from it. Although there are at least twopotential local commercial customers for the electricity generated (Raasay House, and the


new diesel/electric hybrid ferry), technical considerations investigated so far indicate thatthe most likely customer for the electricity will be the National Grid. Net profits will bedivided between forest overheads (Manager's salary, paths O+M, etc) and a local goodcausechallenge fund.

Paths and accessthrough the forest will be overseen by an accesssub-committee of theTrust or community company that will own the forest. An annual O+M budget will beallocated from Hydro revenues. Development funding will have to be raised by the AccessCommittee, with assistancefrom the Forest Manager, by charging for accessservices (carparking, leaflets, events, etc), bidding into the Hydro challenge fund or from third-partyfunders such asSRDP,HIEand private donors.

5. Project Finance

a. Acquisition CostsThe DVSvaluation calculated the total value of the Raasayforest as being £410,000. Thiswas comprised of 3 parts: £100,000 for Brochel Forest; £200,000 for Inverarish forest; and£10,000 for the pier-head site at Suisnish Pier. The DVSreport therefore allows only for afairly crude division of the forest should lessthan the required amount be raised and shouldthe community and FCSwish then to proceed with a partial sale. A more complicateddivision into many compartments and blockswould probably require a new valuation.

In addition to the purchase price, the community will have to cover the legal costsassociated with making such a purchase. These are likely to be around £5,000 as they willhave to include the formation of a suitable ownership organisation as well as the usualconveyancing costs.The total acquisition costs will therefore be £415,000.

b. Acquisition FinanceThere are three potential sourcesof funds that could contribute to financing the acquisition:local subscription; loans; and grant aid. local subscription is likely to be very limited, giventhe small size of the community. It has taken 4 months to raise £10,000 through a localshare issuetowards the cost of buying the local shop. It is unlikely that we could match thisso soon for the purchaseof the forest. Public sector grant aid is currently limited to 20%dueto official fears of state aid rules. Until UKcivil servants test the ludicrous presumption thatstate aid rules are there to prevent local communities owning their local assets, we havehad to assume that the 20% limit applies to us. It may well be possible to match publicgrants with private trust fund grants, and we will be holding detailed discussionswith EsmeeFairburn Foundation, The Ashden Trust and other organisations sharing our aims. loanfinance could be available against short-term income from limited asset-stripping. Inparticular, it may be possible to raise loans against sale of housing development plots andagainst timber sales.At the time of writing we are waiting for an independent report on thevalue of standing timber and costs of its extraction, but we expect that scope for makingmoney from timber export is very limited.


Financetype Source Potential amount %of total requiredSubscription Localcommunity £5,000 1%Loans Banks- Housing £140,000 32%

Banks- Timber £10,000 2%Grants Public sector £90,000 20%

Private sector 1 £90,000 20%Private sector 2 £90,000 20%

TOTAL £415,000 100%

c. Project Implementation CostsUntil the new support rates under SRDPare available in early 2014 no certain projection canbe made about project implementation costs. Table below details some of the likely costs ofimplementing the project, but there will elements that are in large part defined by the focusand level of SRDPsupport. For instance, r.ponticum eradication is an achievable and highlyprized objective for an island like Raasay,but will require levels of support equivalent tothose ofthe previous (2007-13) funding round.

Secondly, some elements of the project are not deliverable by the community, but dependon the community creating an environment within which private enterprise can flourish.This is particularly the casefor supporting servicessuch aswood-fuel boiler installation andservicing.

d. Project IncomeTable below also indicates sources of income for the project in the short and medium term.The difference is important: in the short term we will have limited income and significantoverheads; in the medium and long term we will have significant income and limitedoverheads. This is the case for any small community seeking to take ownership of an assetof this sort and re-designing it for local income. In our casewe expect a micro-hydro schemeon the Inverarish burn to generate enough revenue to cover all overheads, repay its ownfinancing charges, and provide a surplus for community good causes. The surplus will besmall in the first 10 years while the main loans are repaid, but thereafter will beconsiderable.

{seeattached exceltable)

e. Project Viability Statement

In the short to medium term this project covers its investment and running costs. In themedium to long term it will show a considerable surplus, primarily from the revenuesgenerated by the micro-hydro scheme.


6.Conclusion

This project will cover its investment and running costs and then generate a significantincome for the community of Raasay. This is important, but the non-financial benefit toRaasay of community ownership of the Forest is also very important. That benefit willaccrue in three main ways:

1. Resilience. A secure, sustainable supply of fuel to heat houses at below comparablefossil-fuel costs will go a long way towards removing fuel poverty in Raasay andlowering costs of living here. Additional numbers of people joining the community aswoodland crofters, bringing children into the school, will support the local economyand service-providers. This means a bigger pool of people from which to draw thevolunteers who make all the other community activities happen.

2. Environmental Amenity. Forests are managed to meet the objectives of the owners:we will gearRaasay Forest towards providing walks, trails, mixed habitats, outdoorsactivities, education and enjoyment for residents and visitors. This will encouragegreater numbers of people to visit, which will have a knock-on benefit for the localeconomy. Coupled with the existing varied geology and flora, and the new "green"ferry due to start service in late 2013, Raasay will be well placed to become the ecodestination for tourists in the North West Highlands.

3. Confidence. The local community will become a local landlord, owning a beautifuland important small estate. It will have tenants, income, staff, business plans andenterprises. Managing all these and seeing the flow of money and other benefitsthat come from them will further strengthen Raasay's sense of being in charge of itsown destiny.

Opportunities like this do not come often to small, remote and fragile communities likeours. We will grow considerably by implementing this project and this will return benefits tous and to the wider Scottish public for generations to come.

community management plan - forestry commission · 2018. 3. 14. · community: there isnocertainty...

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