Green Streets Turbine appeal

While of course it accepts the decision, Eilean Eisdeal is disappointed by the Reporter's determination to refuse its appeal against the Council's decision to disallow a small wind turbine on the south west corner of the island.

This turbine, inspired by the Green Streets programme, was designed to run in tandem with the solar panels and the heat pump, and so heat the hall and at the same time contribute to community wellbeing, carbon saving and energy efficiency ideals.

However, on the bright side as always, Eilean Eisdeal is greatly inspired and encouraged by the majority of the Reporter's findings about the Conservation Area, and her precise application of the relevant statutory tests. The decision has rejected all the more or less identical objections about noise, flicker and amenity which characterised the opposition to this worthwhile project.

The Reporter has strongly endorsed the renewables message given out by the Scottish Government and by the local authority, and we can take heart from that. Eilean Eisdeal looks forward to working with the whole community towards finding a way to enhance sustainability and reduce our dependence on fossil fuels, for the benefit of all the Island's residents and visitors alike.

Oct 2011

 

Charities regulator dismisses complaints against EE

The directors of Eilean Eisdeal, the Easdale Island community development group, are pleased to announce that the Scottish Charities Regulator OSCR have found all complaints against the group to be unfounded. In addition, they have advised Eilean Eisdeal, and other small charities, of measures that can be taken in future to handle persistent complainers and avoid malicious attacks.

Eilean Eisdeal is the community charity on the smallest inhabited inner Hebridean island of Easdale, which has 67 full time residents. The directors are all volunteers, mostly with full time occupations, and are committed to sustaining the future of the island.

Following a detailed investigation by OSCR of a string of complaints including "ignoring opposition", "conflict of interest", "transparency" and "maximising the visibility of renewable energy sources", no evidence has been found of serious misconduct in terms of section 66 of the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005 and the case is now closed. OSCR are publishing their report under section 33 of this Act.

In addition OSCR advised the charity on a number of governance matters such as having a code of conduct for managing conflicts of interest and a policy to address external complaints, which have now been put in place. This advice was also extended to other small charities as learning points to enable them to avoid similar problems.

The directors would like to thank the community for their support throughout this period and now look forward to pursuing the community plan with renewed enthusiasm.

Aug 2011

 

Green Streets Project Update

The Solar PV and Heat Pump are due to be installed in the very near future and a reporter has been appointed to determine the outcome of the planning permission appeal for the wind turbine.

Scottish Gas continue to support the project to completion.

Aug 2011

 

Atlantic Adventure Day Success

Easdale Island hosted its annual Atlantic Adventure Day on 6th August and raised over £2,400 for the community charity Eilean Eisdeal.

A great fun day out for all the family and every one of the competition events was very well supported with entrant numbers for the Aquathon alone up over 150% on 2010. Twenty six swimmers braved the Atlantic chill to swim Easdale Sound from Ellenabeich to Easdale Island and 14 then competed in the run round the island. First man home and winning the Aquathon was Michael Wright from Stirling followed by Neil Morrison from Cuan in 2nd and Sam Cohn from Easdale Island in 3rd. Evelyn Bryce from Larkhall was the first young lady home, Allida Pettie from Dunoon was 2nd and Jan Fraser from Easdale Island in 3rd.

The Kayak race was won by Kenneth Bryce from Larkhall with Jan Fraser from Easdale Island in 2nd and Keith Jackson from Easdale Island in 3rd.

The Raft Races provided the usual hilarity especially for the gathered crowd and were won by Evelyn Bryce in the 16 and under and Neil Morrison, Simon Fraser and Seamus Morrison in the adults.

One hundred ducks of the rubber variety set forth across Easdale Harbour in the annual duck race and No 34 came home first owned by the Hennes family who have just recently arrived on the island.

As well as all the water based shenanigans there was also the wheel barrow race, kids race, pet show, Sea.fari round the island trips, stalls and craft fair.

In the evening local band “The Antics” entertained us all at the family dance in Easdale Island Community Hall. Eilean Eisdeal who organise the event would like to thank everyone for helping make the day such a success, the local businesses for donations, all the volunteers who helped organise and run the event and the ferrymen for their help on the day.

Aug 2011

 

Green Streets Project Update

The directors were invited to Edinburgh to take part in the regional event for the Green Streets competition. There were three regional events across the UK to accommodate the 14 national projects and from these events 3 projects would go forward to London to compete for the final prize of a further £100,000 to spend on another renewable project for their community.

Each community had to make a presentation to a panel of judges and demonstrate how their project had best met the green streets criteria. We decided to make our presentation in typical Easdale style and do it as a panto! This was extremely well received by the judges and although we did not get further in the competition we were delighted that our innovative presentation stole the show!

June 2011

 

New full-colour newsletter

Our very first full-colour newsletter is available to download from our Archive section.

 

Green Streets Project Update

A community consultation was held to discuss ideas for another community renewable energy project if we win the Green Streets final prize. Waseem led an interactive mind map which provided an array of ideas and the top ideas were discussed. The community are keen to use tide as a resource and it was decided that the directors would look into this idea further.

 

Play park

Easdale Island play park is going to have a solar and wind renewable powered facelift!

Children from the island spent a few hours creating sounds and graphics that will turn the play park into a haunted pirate ship.

Rob Welsh has worked with the children to create an innovative, fun and educational design. The playpark will benefit from renewable lighting with motion sensors that will provide audio and visual effects.

As part of the Green Streets project, Eilean Eisdeal hopes to install a solar photovoltaic array and has agreed to contribute a percentage of the feed-in tariff to the island's children. The children will be forming a committee to decide how to spend their income. What a great way of leadership and budgeting skills!

See Rob and the children's draft sketch (780kb).

6 April 2011

 

Green Streets update

We are delighted to announce that planning permission was granted for the solar PV and heat pump for the hall however the directors were extremely disappointed that the wind turbine application was refused by the planning committee. This was difficult to comprehend when there had been nothing but positive signs from the planners. We remain committed to this innovative and exciting proposal to heat our fantastic community hall and intend to appeal to the Scottish Government.

We are also pleased to say that the first ever wood pellet stove/boiler has been installed on Easdale Island and its new owners are delighted with the results. This was always going to be a challenging part of the project due to the size of a typical Easdale cottage however good design skills and excellent workmanship by Mike and Iain and their team has created a successful solution. We look forward to more energy efficient appliances making an appearance on the island and hopefully we will eventually have an annual wood pellet day instead of coal.

April 2011

 

Green Streets update

The British Gas Green Streets competition has been extended into the spring.

Planning applications for the technologies are still under consideration by the council but we are moving forward with parts of the project. These include draught proofing and insulation work in the participating houses and museum, artwork and data for the information sign and thermal imaging. The ‘all island’ meter and monitor funded by Climate Challenge Fund should be installed shortly.

See our Projects section for more information

26 Feb 2011

 

Green Streets turbine update

We have updated our plans to erect a small wind turbine on Easdale Island, funded by British Gas Green Streets, to produce electricity to help heat the Hall, and to produce a much needed revenue stream for the future.

Many islanders supported this project but some have expressed concern about the proposed location of the turbine. We understand these concerns and in response now propose to move the planned turbine further away from cottages. The turbine still has to be put into the prevailing wind and in a position that makes sense as far as construction and cabling is concerned. However, it is still possible to move the turbine further away and the new proposed location is over 105m from the nearest cottage.

For the new location map and further information please see our Projects section

11 Nov 2010