Island of Hoy Development Trust
PRESS RELEASE
Next Steps for supporting the YM, Longhope
The Island of Hoy Development Trust (IoHDT) will soon begin the process of supporting the transition of operational responsibility of the YM, Longhope to a fully constituted Community Management Group.
We acknowledge communications about our plans have caused concern across the Community and for that we apologise. It is important to now move forward to ensure that this important community asset is protected and flourishes. With these key goals in mind we propose to take the following next steps.
Project Development Officer
We will advertise the post of a temporary Project Development Officer within the next week, with the aim of appointing someone within 4-6 weeks. The person in this role will be tasked to undertake a comprehensive review of all the current guidance, regulations and legislation relevant to the future operations of a Community run facility. This will include what is required to establish Covid-19 safe operation and the range of safety issues that have been mandated by the insurers.
A key element will be the production of a set of Standard Operating Procedures that will provide the structure and documentation to support the Community Management group in meeting their regulatory and legal requirements.
Current Maintenance Requirements
The IoHDT Board will ringfence £10,000 from funds generated by the wind turbine operation to meet the costs of any maintenance required to ready the YM for eventual reopening. The cost of a complete replacement of the mandatory Fire Safety System and repairs to the heating units are not insignificant (expected to be in the region of £6,500).
Community Management Group – Expressions of Interest
Expressions of interest will be sought early next year from the Community to form a Management Group. This can be either an existing Constituted Group or members of the community interested in forming a new one. If required, the IoHDT will provide support to the successful community group in developing and adopting a constitution.
In parallel with the above we would also like to keep the community informed of additional works and upgrades also scheduled to take place at the YM in the coming weeks:
– As part of our participation in the Orkney wide ReFLEX Project, work is scheduled to commence in mid-December to upgrade the electricity supply at the YM to a higher capacity 3 phase supply. All work will be carried out by SSE and Orkney contractors under an OIC civil works warrant. The upgrade includes the installation of a freestanding Dual EV Fast Charging point that will be located in the gravel carpark
If you would like to discuss the above steps or what may be required in terms of being part of a Management Group, please feel free to contact the following IoHDT board members.
- Debs Jaques, Chair, chair.iohdt@gmail.com
- Moira Cossar, Vice Chair, mcossar@btinternet.com
- Ian Davidson, Treasurer, iandavidson950@gmail.com
If you would prefer a downloadable PDF version, please click YM Press Release November 2020 .
Revenge, Naval Hall, Longhope, Orkney, KW16 3PG
Telephone 01856 701356
Registered in Scotland as a charity (SC038909)
Company Limited by guarantee (SC306586)
Registered Office: 8 Albert Street, Kirkwall, Orkney KW15 1HP