As we come to the end of 2022, the Pitlochry Community Action Plan has published its end of year report looking back on the progress they have made since it launched in March.
The document was distributed throughout Pitlochry and Moulin and seen the formation of six Theme Groups who are now working to fulfil the goals of the action plan.
Speaking on the achievements Steering group member Charlie McCarthy said: “I think the main achievement is that we’ve got theme group leaders six themes and they’ve started engaging in the conversation with the people who are interested, who make these points and the various surveys and feedback events and so on, that they want to include in the action plan. and that’s what we’re trying to drive on.”
Achievements made by the Pitlochry Community Action Plan so far include:
- We have a Housing Needs Assessment completed, funded by PKC and delivered by the Community Housing Trust. There were 167 responses from Residents, 27 from Non- residents and 16 from Businesses.
- We have a first ever Parking Survey published in November, commissioned by PKC and delivered by Systra. This will help Theme 3 ‘Town enhancement and Traffic management’ with their work going forward.
- The Men’s Shed has a premises and is up and running on a weekly basis and they have agreed to create a local Tool Library.
- A Community Garden Share group has been established and we are looking at possible land for an orchard and allotments.
- A Community Woodlands Group is established and looking into opportunities for sites around Pitlochry.
- A meeting is being organised with the Community Council and Enchanted Forest to continue to develop ways to be more carbon neutral.
- Delta Park. There is now a ‘Friends’ group active in the Park. A new hedge has been planted in November to restore the boundary of the park and encourage wildlife and biodiversity in this part of the town. Fruit trees have been planted as a mini orchard for the benefit of the Community Garden Share and children who use the park will be encouraged to pick and consume the fruit.
- The Pitlochry footpath group is active; we have seen major improvements to our footpaths around the town.
- The Ben Y Vrackie footpath has had a lot of attention. We hope to see contractors coming in to drive further improvements to the access to Pitlochry’s iconic hill.
- The Environment and Sustainability Theme group have begun to work with similar groups in Dunkeld to develop a renewable energy sources plan that will benefit the Pitlochry and Moulin communities.
- The Steering Group who initiated the CAP are in the process of becoming a Charitable Trust.
- The Steering Group has twice met with PKC and there are plans for more meetings in the New Year; seeking to work cooperatively to achieve the goals of the CAP.
- Other positives for Pitlochry in this period have seen the Community Hospital Inpatient Ward reopen and the High Street looks thriving. These were concerns raised in the CAP survey.
Mr McCarthy went on to speak about the priorities for the first part of 2023 saying: “The priority is that the steering group have got to become a constituted group and we’re looking at forming a trust and then going back to the community and asking people to become members of the trust, and hopefully, when we become a constituted group will be able to apply for money, we would be charitable status, applying for money and attract new money in to fund some of the initiatives that we want to see happening.”
Anyone wishing to get involved in the CAP can do so by emailing PitlochryCAP@gmail.com