The proposal is to rebuild a community hall in partnership with contractors, having local youngsters that are NEET develop skills/trades whilst giving sense of ownership over their community project.
Estimated Cost
£1,000,000
It’s important to set the scene as Alness was a very small village in the early 70’s but with the development of a huge smelter and then an oil boom our village went from just over 600 people to over 6000 and even more at the height of the boom. Housing schemes were thrown up and only ever meant to be temporary housing, infrastructure couldn’t cope with the huge influx of people. Many families lived in a temporary caravan park until houses could be built. An Academy was built to accommodate all the young people.
After the Smelter closed and oil boom died off, many families instead of returning to where they had originated stayed in Alness. The schemes that had originally been allocated as temporary housing became long term with the many problems associated with low cost housing becoming norm. Damp/mould/warped windows and doors and overcrowded schemes had many issues. The feast or famine mentality lingered with the area being used to maintain oil rigs so families became used to huge wages for brief periods of time and then no jobs. Our town became like the central belt with all the problems associated with that. Drugs and alcohol became a huge problem with mental health issues increased to the point that Alness has a higher than average percentage of people receiving medication for mental health issues. These have become the norm in many families and the problems have become generational. This is talked about within The Place Plan.
Milnafua, which sits on SIMD is one of the most recognised deprived areas within our town has lost its heart. For over 45 years it had a community hall which was a glorified portacabin however it hosted every type of group imaginable and brought the community together. At the end of 2019 it finally gave up with water coming through light fittings/roof falling in and mould everywhere. Eventually members of the community frustrated at the danger it posed, set it on fire. The community group have an agreement that they pay a £1 a year for the land it sits on. Not having a hall has led to a huge increase in anti social behaviour and a sense of loss with the community feeling that they have been forgotten.
A number of young people within the scheme have not embraced education and are some way from the job market, school have struggled finding them placements and in order to break the generational curse we need to find a way that they can learn a skill, earn a wage and not go down the criminal path which many have done.
Milnafua is a melting pot of cultures with not only locals but Polish/Syrian/Sudanese, and Unaccompanied Asylum seekers. The hall was the heart where everyone came together socially but also to have cooking classes/intergenerational groups/nurseries/youth clubs and all the things that helped build relationships and encouraged community activities. People took pride in their community.
We want funding to build a hall. We want some of our local young people to be able to work on the build and develop trade skills/We want the community to be involved in the planning/development of the project. Plans were drawn up a number of years ago and these need revisited to see if they still fit the need/The funding would be to provide all the materials and equipment needed to develop the project/We would need partners with the skills to develop the project but also to teach the youngsters
An increase in anti social behaviour within the community spills into the local primary school. Milnafua almost self excludes and doesn’t engage in wider community events. Having a hall will enable partners and agencies to deliver things in the heart of the community to the hard to reach parents/youngsters.
Alness is in the process of developing a Place plan. The Easter Ross wide plan talks about Concerns around youth services eg Post Covid rise in referrals to youth services with increase in mental health needs/Neurodiversity/Mainstream education can be challenging leading to poor outcomes and limited employment prospects/Crime: Young people can be targets for online crime, with reported rise in ‘Sextortion/Health: Concerns about young people using alcohol, illegal drugs and increased use of vapes/ Lack of knowledge about health implications.
The plan also talks about one of the priorities being Job Creation and Training:
A key priority is increasing employment opportunities, particularly for
young people and those facing barriers to getting and sustaining work.
Having a hall will encourage community events but also offer much needed support and sign posting for anyone that needs it leading to the following outcomes;
A reduction in social isolation
A reduction in anti-social behaviour
An improvement in mental health and wellbeing
Better awareness how to keep themselves safe
Clearer understanding on the impact of drugs and alcohol
Improved school attendance
In an effort to meet the deadline of the 14th of July we don’t have all the answers but we know this is a brilliant project which will have a huge impact on a community almost always forgotten however we have a number of partners that will support this project.
In terms of where we are with this project we have a community group ready to support the build/we have the land where the original hall sat with services on site/we have the overwhelming support of our local members who are keen for this project to proceed/we have the support of the local Primary school and Academy/we have the support of local partners who would access the provision/support of local SDS staff and more importantly we have the support of the wider community.
As we are working closely with contractors who are new to the area we are confident they will be on board with this project.
5. This project will be ready to start by Dec 2026 and I estimate will take 6 months to completion.
.png)
Most voted