Sunnylaw Meadow secured for the Community of Bridge of Allan
With huge thanks to the community of Bridge of Allan we are delighted to confirm that the community bid for ownership of Sunnylaw Meadow was successful!
As a result of the overwhelming community support we were able to submit a bid to the owners of the land at closing date on 27 March, and after a nail biting wait we were notified that our bid was successful.
The community purchase would not have been successful without the support of the residents of Bridge of Allan, whether that was offering words of support, completing and sharing our survey, offering a financial donation to support the purchase, putting up posters in the community or joining the action group who led the work. We also want to say thank you to others in the community who had considered making a private offer on the land as an investment opportunity, but decided instead to withdraw in support of the community purchase.
Our local lawyers, Mailers, are now working through details to finalise the purchase, and we’ll keep the community up to date with timescales for that. In the meantime the Sunnylaw Action Group will continue to meet and plan for the ongoing management of the land, based on the almost 400 responses we received to our community survey. One of our first tasks will be putting in place a regular maintenance schedule, so if you’re interested in helping with that please get in touch.
All decisions on the future use of the Meadow will be progressed through Discover Bridge of Allan, our local Development Trust, who will hold the land in trust for the community. To ensure you’re involved in decisions, and have the opportunity to have your say, please sign up for free membership if you haven’t already.
We’ll soon be launching the Our Bridge of Allan survey – keep an eye out for further updates.
Thank you again to everyone for making this happen
Thanks to the concerned and interested local residents who brought this opportunity to our attention, the members of the Community Council, Ward Councillors, Discover Bridge of Allan and local residents working together as the Sunnylaw Action Group who have shown what great results can be achieved by working together for the benefit of the community.
April Meeting Agenda
Our next Community Council meeting will be held on Tuesday 16th April in the Allan Centre GP room.
The meeting starts at 7.30pm and any member of the public is welcome to attend. We will be joined by people and organisations that work together for the people of Bridge of Allan, the community policing team, Friends of Bridge of Allan and elected representatives when their calender permits.
This month we have on our Agenda:
Police report – read it here Residents voice Tennis Courts – James from Stirling Council will be attending to answer questions about access and bookings to the courts Guala – Future of UCP Site Sunnylaw Land Bid – Success! see the latest update Local Place Pan Succession Planning/Co option Christmas Lights Weeding and litter issues Banking and post office provision Recycling Bin provision Well Road – Alexander Drive Footpath Planning Applications ReportReports from our position holders – Chair and Secretary.
Flood Protection Scheme moves to Notification Stage
The planning of the Flood Protection Scheme for Bridge of Allan has been ongoing for some time now.
See our updates from March 19th 2022, and March 4th 2022
The process has now reached the notification stage with Stirling Council proposing the pictured option to take forward. The notification stage is now open for 28 days to 23rd April 2024. The new defence aims to protect 87 properties and 700 meters of road from flooding, with the scheme providing a 50 year standard of protection level.
The scheme will cost £15 million to construct and has been awarded 80% funding from the Scottish Government, with the remaining £3 million from Stirling Council. Work is scheduled to begin in the summer of 2026 and will last an estimated 12 months.
Stirling council will be holding two in-person meetings and two online meetings and would appreciate your participation:
In-person drop-in events will be held at Bridge of Allan library:
- Tuesday 16th April 2024: 2pm- 7pm
- Thursday 18th April 2024: 9am- 1pm
Online information sessions will be held via Microsoft Teams:
- Wednesday 17th April 6pm- 7pm
You are asked you register your details for one of the meeting time slots by Monday 15th April. This will help Stirling Council to share meeting links and necessary materials in advance of the online session. To register for the meeting or to request an alternative time, please email flooding@stirling.gov.uk or call a member of the flooding team on 01786 404040
Interested in reducing flood risk on the Allan Water catchment? You might like to learn about what Forth Rivers Trust are doing upstream to implement Natural Flood Management https://forthriverstrust.org/project/allan-water-project/
Check your local flood risk on SEPA’s interactive map: https://map.sepa.org.uk/floodmaps/FloodRisk/Risk
Sunnylaw Update
We wanted to say a huge thanks to all of you who took the time to give your views as part of our sunnylaw survey, which closed last week.
Almost 400 of you fed in to the survey about future use and management of the land.
As we head ever closer to the closing date for the sale we are staying to plan (optimistically) how we will use and manage the land once it’s in community ownership. Discover Bridge of Allan, our local development trust, are the body who will hold ownership of the land on behalf of the community, but they will be directed by the views of their members. So we’re encouraging all Bridge of Allan residents to join if they’ve not already done so.
Membership is free and can be completed here: https://www.
