Consultation
December 2022 Sunart Community Consultation
Thank you to everyone who took part in our 2022/23 Sunart Community Consultation! View our report in full
BACKGROUND
The Sunart Community Company (originally known as Strontian Community Company) was formed in 2005 and set up to allow the local community to acquire the various fishing and recreation areas being sold off by the government. In recent years however, working closely with the Sunart Community Council, the charity has flourished as one of the many hundreds of community ‘development trusts’ that have been established around the UK to help communities take more control over their affairs and make long term plans for their future, and their childrens’ future.
Following a joint workshop with the Community Company Board and Community Council and several other committees in 2016, a Vision for Sunart was developed, taking into consideration over two years of community consultations. Our vision is “a resilient community created by a socially and economically inclusive environment which adapts to change in a sustainable and dynamic way”. This was summarised as: Keeping Sunart a great place to live, work and visit!
Our latest consultation, which took place in 2022 built on previous surveys, all of which have helped us to define the issues facing the community and resulted in a number of community projects. For example residents’ views helped local groups argue the case for the new Primary School Building and to keep Dail Mhor House open, establish the framework for the Sunart Community Benefit Fund, secure the jetty for community use, purchase and establish Oakwood Tourism & Crafts, establish the Christmas Market and develop new footpaths for the area to name but a few.
2022 Consultation Summary
At the end of 2022 we conducted an extensive community consultation, to seek feedback on the community’s views about issues of importance to them in Sunart.
A total of 158 people returned a survey organised jointly by Sunart Community Company and Sunart Community Council aiming to understand what worries, concerns and hopes people had for the future.
The purpose of this consultation was to follow on from our 2016 community consultation, to better inform decisions about current and future community projects.
The feedback from 2016 has allowed us to compare our recent results to see whether what were considered priorities then are still considered priorities now. The feedback remains similar in places, with the main concerns still revolving around housing, and transport. New issues of importance to the community included food sharing initiatives (to help with the cost of living), increasing the number of social events, and access to health care.
Face to face engagement events
In 2023, following the 2022 survey, we organised 4 focus events in Strontian Hall, based on topics of importance highlighted during the Stage 1 survey, to gain further views, and volunteers for future projects, and a mailing list of people interested in these topics who may be willing to contribute to relevant projects. The events included: Food Sharing Initiatives, Sunart Paths, Social Events, and Car Sharing Schemes. 4 Zoom meetings were organised to give members of the community who were unable to attend an in-person meeting, the opportunity to comment on the above topics, and the opportunity to sign up to volunteer for any future projects relating to these topics.
Our Consultation Report:
To read the survey responses in full, and feedback from our engagement events, please read our consultation report.