Introduction
Following GALE’s successful Stage 1 application to the Scottish Land Fund (SLF) we held a series of consultation meetings on February 27th 2023. At these meetings I said we would let the wider community know how plans for the Shieling Restaurant were developing after those meetings. As part of the Stage 1 application GALE did not ask for any funding towards this project. Stage 2 is where organisations apply for capital funding for buildings or land. I have been pulling together the information for a Stage 2 application over the last few months and we anticipate putting an application in shortly.
There have been a number of vocal detractors to the project going ahead. There have also been a large number of people who have contacted GALE offering support for the venture. This article is intended to help the community to know at what stage the project is at presently.
How did we end up thinking about The Shieling?
Over the years GALE has proudly worked in partnership with many local groups and provided assistance when it was needed. Some of these projects would not now exist in their current forms without the help provided by GALE. Namely, Poolewe Village Hall, Laide & Aultbea Community Wood, The Gairloch and District Times, Gairloch Aid & Mobility Support, the Den Youth Café, Gairloch and District Show, Firemore Cottages (Inverasdale) and Poolewe Market.
One of GALE’s main activities over the past few years has been building and operating The GALE Centre, a social and economic hub in Gairloch. As a project it took considerable time to create and establish, but at 11 years old it is now a financially sustainable and stable venture. There is capacity and appetite within GALE to grow and expand its portfolio of activities and so, in recent years, it has been looking for new opportunities.
A number of local buildings have been considered for community purchase – Poolewe Shop, The Perfume Studio in Aultbea, Aultbea Hotel and Kinlochewe Shop were investigated but not taken forward for various reasons. Despite these disappointments, the appetite for owning another asset in the community that can accommodate GALE and its services while also creating opportunities for growth is still strongly held within the GALE Board, membership, staff and volunteer team.
With a relatively new Board, GALE completed a strategic review during 2022 and developed a 5 year Strategic Plan the results of which were presented at our 2022 AGM, on this website and at our community consultation on February 27th 2023. Purchasing The Shieling fits within the Strategic Plan and would allow the growth and expansion of GALE’s existing services in line with agreed development priorities. The Shieling has the potential to enable GALE to meet three of its priority areas –
- Sustainable Employment and Supported Volunteering – by sustaining existing opportunities at The GALE Centre next door and creating new ones within The Shieling site.
- Strengthen the Local Economy – specifically tackling seasonality and creating year-round employment and income generating opportunities for local people.
- Food Security – creating new indoor and outdoor growing spaces on The Shieling site and utilising the existing Shieling kitchen facilities to feed local people.
The Shieling Restaurant has been on the market for over two years. Situated next door to The GALE Centre it is ideally located to be managed by GALE, sharing resources, staff and accommodation all within striking distance of existing community activity. The condition of the building and the fact that its current use is complimentary to GALE’s existing activities make it suitable for immediate use without the need for any post acquisition development.
GALE has applied to the Scottish Land Fund (SLF) for funding to purchase The Shieling. In January 2023 we received notice we had successfully navigated the first phase of the application process. We are now in the process of putting together an application for Stage 2 of the funding process which would, if successful, see GALE receive capital funding towards the purchase of the building.
Community Engagement & Consultation Activities
Pre-Stage 1 SLF Application Consultation (up to Dec 2022)
Over the past two years GALE has been carrying out a Planning for Real style community consultation across the Gairloch and Loch Ewe area, from Kinlochewe to Badcaul, including the main villages of Gairloch, Poolewe, Aultbea and Laide. This consultation looked at what local people value about their area and how they would like to see it improved.
A whole range of project ideas were contributed and prioritised with 247 ideas included in the plan. 270 Local individuals participated in the consultation. The Community Action Plan (CAP) is currently in draft form, but the findings identify several specific projects and aspirations that could potentially be delivered within The Shieling. Things like a refillery, community pub, social space for young people, second-hand shop and more community growing space have all been suggested by local people.
What is happening with the CAP at present?
We are very close to publishing the first CAP document which will be reviewed over the next few years. We had hoped this would have already been published but data analysis and document production has been delayed due to staff changes.
The Shieling Restaurant Consultation (December 10 2022 – January 10 2023)
This consultation looked at community needs and aspirations specifically with respect to The Shieling.
We produced an information sheet which was circulated to local community groups and held in public community spaces for local people to view. We consulted on a one-to-one basis with over 150 local individuals many of whom have added their signature as evidence of these conversations and their support. During this consultation we also asked people to make suggestions for how to use the building. Several new ideas came forward which were added to our feasibility discussions. Examples of new ideas suggested and which we are likely to follow up are a community bakery, an intimate space for hosting and recording local music and a rentable space for small businesses.
Partnership working is important to GALE and as such we try to take a partnership approach where possible. Listen Well Scotland, Highland Hospice and the Communities Housing Trust all expressed an interest in working with GALE on the project. They, amongst others, provided letters of support to confirm this intent.
Gairloch High School which already partners with GALE on many activities has welcomed the project as a means of increasing education and career opportunities for local school pupils and school leavers. When asked about GALE’s support for local school pupils, Gairloch High School Head Teacher, recently stated “GALE is one of our longstanding trusted partners.”
You may be aware that Wester Ross Radio (WRR) were also seeking support in a Scottish Land Fund bid for The Shieling Restaurant. In December and January GALE met with Board members from WRR to discuss the potential for partnership working on a joint project. GALE offered to include a new radio station as part of their bid but this was turned down by the Board of WRR. Subsequently WRR withdrew their SLF bid before the funding panel met.
Over 430 local individuals participated in our consultation pre the final Stage 1 SLF application – 20% of our population.
Post Stage 1 Approval (Feb 2023 to date)
On February 27th GALE organised and managed a series of community consultation meetings about The Shieling project. These were firstly to inform the community of the position of the SLF bidding process to that point and to allow community groups and individuals to express their concerns about the project. I gave a 10-minute presentation on the project and then asked the individuals and groups present to give feedback on what they thought about the project and potential uses for The Shielding.
The public consultations were held at both The GALE Centre and The Shieling. These events had been advertised in the Gairloch & District Times on 10th and 24th February as well as being on GALE’s social media and this website. These events were publicised by Gairloch Community Council too. After the event local people were also encouraged to send in written feedback if they did not want to do it online.
This day of meetings plus others engaged with over 130 people and our website consultation had 360 unique page views with an average viewing time on the page of 6 minutes and 14 seconds.
Gairloch High School Pupils
On 16th March two GALE staff members attended Gairloch High School (GHS) and spoke to various year groups in a series of 50 minute sessions regarding their needs and aspirations. A total of 53 young people were consulted with group sizes varying across the different year groups.
The key findings of the GHS pupil consultation, included ideas like – ‘Good Gym’, ‘Farm Shop’, ‘Burger Bar’, ‘Ceilidhs’, ‘Chain restaurant’, ‘Cinema’ and ‘Kids Pub’. The most popular theme was to use The Shieling for a social meeting space focusing on young people.
Community Concerns and How They Have Been Addressed
Initially concerns centred around competition from two competing bids (GALE and WRR) going to the SLF. GALE offered to work with WRR and to lease part of The Shieling building to Wester Loch Radio. The offer was turned down. WRR subsequently withdrew their SLF bid in January 2023.
There are concerns about duplication of activity with development of The Shieling. One of the early ideas from the community consultations was to have a youth club based at The Shielding. However, there is already a Youth Club in Gairloch (The Den). After consultation with local pupils, they would like some sort of burger bar / social space for after school use. This could be provided at The Shieling which would be very different to the current local youth club. It could be provided after school closes to give pupils a social place to hang out. A very real need in the area.
There were concerns about business displacement, raised by community members and some hoteliers and publicans. Some hospitality businesses were worried that a restaurant and bar would take from their market share. This is why we had a specific hoteliers and publicans consultation meeting on February 27th to discuss these issues. Below are my thoughts on these concerns:
- Currently The Shieling runs Tuesday to Sunday 10-4pm as a café and restaurant. There is already a daytime café at The GALE Centre beside The Shieling and another at the Gairloch Museum on the other side of The Shieling. In the summer these are all busy. Continuing to run The Shieling as a daytime café/restaurant is very unlikely to displace current business patterns.
- In the summer there is an acute shortage of evening covers to feed all the tourists coming to Gairloch. This is evidenced in that many who arrive at a local hotel without an evening table reservation are turned away – just look at the queues at the Beachcomber on summer evenings. There is capacity in Gairloch during the main tourist season for The Shieling to open as an evening restaurant and not cause displacement. GALE does not currently have sufficient skills or capacity to open a full-time evening restaurant but a pop up restaurant may help to meet some demand.
- Winter opening and a community pub. In Gairloch most pubs and hotels close in the evening over the winter. There is limited access to a pub style place for locals to socialise on a winter evening. This has cropped up time and time again in our consultations. GALE would intend to run the Shieling year-round as it does with the GALE Centre. This would provide an opportunity to have a winter evening space for locals – a community pub. There is no business displacement here as other business close during this time. Currently GALE loses money in the winter by keeping The GALE Centre open but it is important to provide locals with a daytime space to meet and chat. GALE would intend The Shieling to serve the same purpose in the evenings. It is unlikely there would be enough demand for opening every night of the week.
You can read more about the public consultation here.
As part of the consultation there were a number of wider GALE issues that were brought up. Many of these queries have been answered previously in the following blogs –
- Membership and governance disputes
- GALE in numbers – An Overview, Local Employees, Local Producers, Community Bakers, Volunteers, Counselling.
Where are we now?
We have engaged a firm of architects, based in Skye, to undertake a design feasibility study with concept drawings for The Shieling. Their brief was centred on how to use the current space, inside and outside the building to deliver maximum community benefit in a flexible way. Also, to look at structural issues around adding extensions to the current footprint.
I am now putting together a phased development plan that can be implemented over a number of years as funds are raised, at a pace that GALE can cope with and which allows opportunities and ideas to evolve and grow with time and experience.
The first phase of this plan will be to allow immediate entry using the existing facilities. It is likely that this will involve basic modifications; installation of equipment and energy efficiency measures. Future phases would allow for refurbishment and extension, if required, to accommodate as wide a range of appropriate community ideas and suggestions as possible.
The initial phase is most likely to include;
- Community Pub.
- Local bakery. There are many community cake makers, but few are making bread, rolls and croissants. This is a service which would not cause displacement and may be an opportunity for local people and businesses to gain a local supplier of bread.
- Refillery – A place to bring along your empty containers and fill them up with all kinds of everyday essentials from washing liquid to lentils. It’s a great way to reduce packaging and waste while also reducing costs.
- Pop up restaurant – Themed evening restaurant events.
- Office accommodation and meeting space – Our meeting space in The GALE Centre is well used by lots of different community groups as well as individuals needing a hot desk.
- Kitchen facilities – The GALE Centre community café is in full swing all year round and we could make use of additional kitchen preparation and storage space.
- Growing space – Our raised beds at The GALE Centre are productive. They supply our community café and support a range of learning and volunteering opportunities. Owning The Shieling would allow us to create more growing space. We would particularly love to have a poly tunnel to let us extend the growing season and give our volunteers some indoor space to garden.
I recently met with the Chair of Gairloch Community Council to discuss the project and they are keen to work with us to support successful development of The Shieling. We are continuing to consult with local groups about their aspirations for The Shieling. There is an open invitation for local groups and businesses who are interested in working with us to discuss partnership projects.
We should know by the early autumn if GALE has been successful with its Scottish Land Fund Phase 2 funding bid. If that bid is successful, we are still a long way from taking over The Shieling. Other obstacles include finding match funding to go alongside the SLF funding and a willingness of the current Shieling owner to accept the financial offer from GALE for the property. GALE also needs to amend its dated Articles of Association and will need to hold an EGM in order to do this.
If you are you eager to get more information about GALE’s operations, we are organising a monthly meet-up where we can answer questions. You’ll have a twenty minute one to one session with a GALE staff member. If there is anything we can’t answer immediately, we will arrange to email you later. For more information follow the link – Ask GALE .
Cory Jones
GALE Chair