Opportunity Black Isle (Black Isle Place Plan)

Opportunity Black Isle is our opportunity to create and deliver a plan for Black Isle that we are proud to call home, fit for future generations.

The aim of this ‘Local Place Plan’ is to provide a Black Isle wide vision for a more sustainable and resilient future, bringing together actions by the local community, the Council and others covering big issues like getting about, housing, community facilities, and nature and the environment.

Preparation of the plan is led by the local community and funded by The Highland Council. Preparation of the plan is happening through three stages of community engagement between March and October 2023, as the diagram shows.

Stage 1 included nine community drop-in events around the Black Isle between March and May 2023 plus an accompanying online survey and work with secondary schools. You can see the display boards use in stage 1 here.

During stage 2, results and analysis of the stage 1 engagement were shared at two community events in June 2023, attended by around 60 people, where discussion focussed on possible ways forward. You can see the results of those discussions here. Online surveys of primary school pupils and their parents also took place.

Stage 3 takes place between August and October 2023. The aim is to agree what should go into the draft plan and work out how to avoid it sitting on a shelf - including how to reset the relationship between the community and the public sector. It comprises two phases of activity.

Firstly, to help develop the content of the draft plan, a number of activities are taking place in August and September.

• Black Isle-wide community discussion workshops on 15th and 16th September in Cromarty and North Kessock. You can see the presentation slides shown at the start of those workshops here.
• This online form for anybody who missed those events or has extra thoughts after them.
• A series of focus groups with Community Councils, community organisations, young people, businesses and the public sector.

Secondly, the draft plan will be developed and shared on this website for public comment in October.

After Stage 3, the plan will then be finalised and submitted to the Highland Council for registration. All of the public engagement results from the various stages will also be published, not least because they could be useful sources of community aspirations for other work.

To keep informed of progress, please sign up to our ebulletin here.

For more information please contact either Becky Richmond or Nick Wright, 07900 334110).