Community groups in Lossiemouth are being urged not to miss a meeting being held in the town hall next month that is anticipated will form a new community development trust.
The town’s community council have been working for months towards the formation of a Lossiemouth Community Development Trust with widespread discussions already having taken place with local clubs, schools, churches and a wide variety of community interest groups.
Around 50 groups attended meetings in the town to study how a more unified approach could be taken to promote, improve and create a variety of services. The result has been the creation of a draft community action plan which it is hoped will form the basis of the new development trust.
[box] Development trusts are community organisations which:
- are owned and managed by the local community
- aim to achieve the sustainable regeneration of a community or address a range of economic, social, environmental and cultural issues within a community
- are independent but seek to work in partnership with other private, public and third sector organisations
- aim to reduce dependency on grant support by generating income through enterprise and the ownership of assets.
All trading surpluses are principally reinvested in the organisation or the community.
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A spokesman for the community council said: “From our first meeting with groups in the town last year it became clear that there was a desire in the town to form a new joint community approach towards improving facilities for the benefit of everyone in the community.
“We are now on the verge of creation a community trust in the town that would ultimately have the power to make and manage financial and purchasing decisions on behalf of everyone in the community.
“Trusts of this nature in other parts of Moray and Scotland have proven to be a fantastic benefit to their communities. They use the passion and energy that already exists alongside professional business, financial, legal and organisational skills required to guide groups and organisations into the directions required to achieve their ambitions.”
Groups are being urged to attend a meeting in the Lossiemouth Town Hall on Tuesday, September 2 at 7pm.
The spokesman added: “At that meeting we will outline progress so far and present copies of the draft action plan that will form the basis of the Trust’s initial projects.
“We aim that evening to form an initial Management Board and a number of sub-groups that would report to the Board on the variety of issues formulated from our earlier community meetings.”