Dumfriesshire East Community Benefit Group (DECBG) was formed in 2017 to work alongside the existing Community Councils and Groups to help manage Community Benefit funds from the Ewe Hill windfarm. The Minsca windfarm has contributed funds direct to the same communities on a smaller scale for some years. There is now approximately £253,000 available each year from Ewe Hill 6 and Ewe Hill 16 windfarms, being spent within the individual communities and across the DECBG area. With further windfarm developments being built, in planning or proposed, the region is likely to see, sometime soon, this funding increase substantially and be available each year for the next 20 years or so. DECBG is keen to ensure that the communities have a chance to say how this money is used to best effect, in a way which is comprehensible and fair and which has a lasting benefit for people living here. 

To understand the challenges for the region as local people see them, and what initiatives they want to see supported, DECBG commissioned Creetown Initiative, a charities consultancy, to investigate how these windfarm benefit funds can best be used to support community aspirations. The plan has been to identify future projects that may have either a local individual community need and/or a regional impact. Importantly people have identified projects where there is a need for investment. In some cases the ideas are directly fundable from windfarm funds as things stand and in other they might require further work to source suitable funds or resources. The important point is that these are the top issues that face our communities today. 

The consultation started first with a series of 'one-to-one' interviews. over 120 such meetings took place across the region, the discussion focussing on what interviewees thought about the situation surrounding windfarm community benefit funding and its administration, and especially on what projects and what support they felt might enhance lives and communities in this region. 
The questionnaire is based on those initial conversations. It is designed to build a wider view of what the region needs, to establish priorities and to investigate any further ideas. It is detailed. It will take time to complete it. This, however, is your chance to have your say. It is important that we get views from as many people as possible. Please do fill it in. As an encouragement, we are offering entry into a free draw for a £200 cash prize.

To enter the draw, you must fill in your contact details. This information will only be used for the purpose of this project. Your details will not be shared with any other organisation or body. There is one questionnaire together to discuss the issues.

Each question has a commentary explaining briefly the detail behind it. Only answer questions that are relevant to you. If the question is not relevant leave it blank. If you want to give a more detailed answer please do so in the comment boxes provided.
Question 1) Internet
Internet connections in the region are patchy at best. There are programmes and potential solutions available that are designed to improve this situation.

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* 1. Do you think that improving people's internet connection should be a priority?

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* 2. Do you use the internet for the following?

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* 3. Do you want help or training to get better connected?

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* 4. Comments

Question 2) Housing
The housing stock in the area is often of a poor standard. New-build eco-housing schemes (Example: Dormant 'passivhaus project', Annandale) to replace existing stock are laudable. Planning and building them, however, is expensive - only part-supportable by the available windfarm funds - and would require other funds to be sourced. Another route could be to encourage upgrade and improvement in the existing stock, particularly through a domestic energy audit. This involves offering a house survey scheme, with recommendations for the improvement measures for insulation, heating or lighting systems. Staff might be employed to carry this out who could advise on access to grants. (Example: Such a scheme was successfully carried out a few years ago in Dalbeattie, Creetown and Gatehouse of Fleet, resulting in improvements that saved residents considerable amounts of money through reductions in energy bills).

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* 5. Would you support (part-funded) construction of the new-build eco-housing schemes?

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* 6. Would you be interested in someone helping you improve the energy efficiency in your home? (Only answer this if you are the house owner)

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* 7. If you rent your home, would you like an approach to be made to your landlord for permission to investigate how your accommodation can be improved and made more energy efficient?

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* 8. Comments

Question 3) Shared Community Development Worker
Delivering many of the projects that people would like to see happen requires a 'capacity' to keep a momentum going on them that is hard for a team of solely volunteers to maintain. A paid project worker can lead and help to develop the range of projects. (Example: Up until 2006 Creetown Initiative relied on volunteers. Some progress made, but it was slow. The group then employed a Community Development Officer. A strategic and proactive way of working and delivery ensued. A total of over £4m has since been secured for projects which have included the restoration of four buildings - one of them a successful enterprise centre, and a youth programme, a car-share scheme, a bee conservation project, an elderly support programme - and much more besides - have all been established).

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* 9. Do you think it would be a good use of windfarm money to employ support staff to help projects move forward?

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* 10. Comments

Question 4) Youth Workers
Because of transport issues, some young people in the area cannot access youth activities and events. Larger towns such as Langholm have excellent youth programmes and already employ professional staff. The idea is to employ additional staff and run outreach youth activities across the region using local village halls. This might mean a youth drop-in at smaller venues on different nights of the week.

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* 11. Do you think youth workers should be employed to deliver youth activities across the region?

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* 12. Comments

Question 5) Environmental Projects
People with whom we talked mentioned parts of the landscape that they appreciated and which they wanted to see enhanced and sustained through judicious conservation or 're-wilding'. Places, such as the now-drained Gull Pond near Carrie or the Black Esk Reservoir near Boreland, were named but other appreciated areas of woodland or moor were mentioned. Routes across the landscape, whether for walking, cycling or driving were mentioned. These can be ambitious (like the 214-mile Southern Upland Way) or local (like the series of fourteen 'Langholm and Eskdale Walks'). The potential is there to create two or three, 20 to 30-mile routes that people - locals or visitors - can complete over a weekend. Cycling options could be added to this.

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* 13. Do you think that such environmental projects will provide a benefit to the region?

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* 14. Comments

Question 6) Tourism and Marketing
Because there is limited focus on the area from the key national drivers, such as VisitScotland, there is a lack of effective tourism marketing for the area. Previous research suggests that the region needs its own dedicated marketing (Example: Visit South West Scotland). Regional initiatives can link into marketed initiatives and routes, such as South West 300, and provide tailored and more accurate services which are sustainable and strengthen the regional identity. It is easier to promote single events and to keep the relevant media platforms up-to-date and responsive (This work could be managed as part of a regional project worker's brief)

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* 15. In your view, is tourism important for the region?

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* 16. Do you think it will help tourism in the area if more information was administered locally?

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* 17. Comments

Question 7) Staff Support in Key Groups
Key community groups such as the Langholm Play-Care, Langholm Day Centre, Langholm Initiative, the Buccleuch Centre, Townfoot Sports Centre, Eskdale and Liddesdale Advertiser (Muckle Toon Media) and Xcel Youth Trust serve the Langholm and wider area. They struggle each year to secure funds to support their core staff. This annual battle takes up a lot of time and seriously detracts from the activities the groups are constituted to deliver. Eight local Langholm Trusts contribute funds to support these groups, but they do not have the means to cover all the funds required. The proposal is that DECBG and Langholm's Charitable trusts combine to support these key groups with both parties contributing around £75,000 per annum for five years. The requirement woulb be for each group to submit an agreed five-year business plan, followed by provision of an annual review.

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* 18. Do you think that supporting key local groups by providing support, which enables them to concentrate on service delivery, is a good use of wind farm funds?

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* 19. Comments

Question 8) Investment of Funds
Some people suggested that a proportion of the wind farm benefit funds be invested for the long-term so that funding continues to be available after the 20 or so years lifespan of current schemes. This might be through a financial investment, or through the purchase of property, or taking a share in a renewable project.

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* 20. Do you think that investing wind farm funds should be considered after it is properly researched?

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* 21. Comments

Question 9) Sports Facilities
The failure of the Lockerbie Sports Centre project is widely regretted. There is interest, too, in reviving the Townfoot Sports Centre in Langholm. Existing facilities cater for several sports already, however accessing general sports centre facilities, including a gym and a pool, is time consuming and expensive. 

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* 22. Do you think that money should be invested in creating sports facilities in the region?

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* 23. If there were more local sports facilities would you or members of your family use them? Please list facility ideas below, that you'd like to be able to use.

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* 24. Comments

Question 10) Childcare Support
Providing a childcare support service that is sustainable, particularly where small numbers are involved, is difficult. However, working parents often have a strong need for childcare. 

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* 25. Do you think funds should be allocated to support local childcare facilities to improve/increase current provision?

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* 26. It might be that providing a sustainable childcare service can only be done effectively in either Langholm or Lockerbie. Would it help working families if there were some support for transport to and from the childcare providers?

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* 27. Comments

Question 11) Training and Education
Helping people into employment, particularly where retraining is needed, is a subject which a number of people raised. Also support for students to meet some of the cost of moving on to further and higher education. The form this support might take is up for debate. Supporting people (through Bursaries) was suggested. The means of doing this, and decisions on eligibility, would need to be worked out.

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* 28. Do you think that people who want to access training and education should be given financial support from the wind farm benefit funds?

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* 29. If you think people should be given support, should this be means tested?

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* 30. Comments

Question 12 ) Transport
Concerns about transport vary, often depending on where people live. Many people living in remote villages own cars, but some don't. Running empty buses on awkward schedules was generally recognised as a bad use of resources. There was interest in alternative, more flexible, maybe tailored solutions. 

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* 31. Do you think that resources should be directed at providing some form of community transport? 

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* 32. Should Annandale Community Transport Services (ACTS) be expanded in any way? 

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* 33. Comments

Question 13) Protecting the Environment
Acknowledging climate change, there were suggestions of consistent improvement to community buildings (particularly village halls) both in their energy consumption and in there being part of a region-wide network of electric charge points.

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* 34. Do you think that money should be invested in projects that protect the environment such as electric car charge points?

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* 35. Comments

Question 14) Business Support
Some people were passionate about job creation in the area. There are limited means to support business. One suggestion was the creation of low-cost rented workspace. As well as providing this for start-up or expanding businesses, this could be an income generator with the workspaces earning rent. 

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* 36. Do you think that providing workspace for start-up or expanding businesses would be a good use of funds?

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* 37. Comments

Your Ideas
The previous questions emerged from the one-to-one meetings with people across the region. Please can you now tell us about your own ideas for how to best use wind farm community benefit money? Some people are against the very presence of wind farms. We fully respect this view. However, this consultation is not about the pros and cons of wind farms. It is about the funds that exist when a wind farm has been built. These amounts are considerable and may increase in the future. Their existence is an opportunity to effect useful change in the region.

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* 38. Please can you list your top five projects that you would like to see happen? List them in order of importance. These may be projects listed here, or they can be completely new ideas.

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* 39. Is there a particular issue you would like to see resolved? Please use the space below to describe it.

About You
All personal details will be kept strictly private and only used for the purpose of this project, including entry into the free £200 cash prize draw.

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* 40. Would you like to be kept informed of future development?

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* 41. Would you like to talk to the consultants to discuss your ideas?

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* 42. Do you want to be entered into the free £200 cash prize draw.

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* 43. If you answered yes to any of the above, please provide the following:

The following section will help us identify who responded to the questionnaire. This information will be kept strictly private. Understanding the make-up of the community will help develop projects in the future.

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* 44. How many people live in your household?

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* 45. Did everyone take part in filling in the Questionnaire?

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* 46. If no, what was the age of the person who responded?

The following questions will help us develop specific projects such as transport. Again, your answers will be kept strictly private. These answers will give us an idea about the number of people who might benefit from specific projects. 

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* 47. Do you consider yourself, or are you registered, disabled?

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* 48. Do you receive care support at home?

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* 49. Do you have access to private transport?

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* 50. Do you have access to the internet?

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* 51. Do you own your home or is it rented?

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* 52. Are there young people in your household who might be interested in youth activities?

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* 53. If yes, what are their ages?

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* 54. Do you use childcare services?

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* 55. If yes, where?

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* 56. Are you thinking about further education or training in the future?

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* 57. If yes, what do you have in mind?

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* 58. If there were local accessible sports facilities how many people in your household would use them? What are their ages?

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* 59. Are you employed or self-employed?

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* 60. If you are self-employed, would you be interested in renting a workspace?

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* 61. If yes, when you would consider renting a workspace?

We really appreciate the time you have taken to respond to this survey. Our aim is to keep people informed about the study as it progresses. The final question is:

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* 62. Would you be interested in joining the DECBG Board if a vacancy arose?

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