You may remember that back in June we asked you to share your views in an online SurveyMonkey.

When asked to chose ONE word to describe how they saw Moniaive High Street at the moment, 37%  of Respondents chose the word “neglected”, but we are pleased to say that a further 37% selected “Friendly”.

Our community-wide Questionnaire will be delivered across Glencairn in the next few days – please do use this to have your say on how we can best tackle the “neglected” look of the High Street, to let us again focus on the friendly, strong community that lives here.

You can see the full SurveyMonkey Results here:

MI_SurveyMonkey Results_June2015

In July we submitted an “Expression of Interest” to the Forestry Commission for their Office in Dunreggan, and under their Disposal procedure this gave us 56 days in which to carry out local consultation into possible community use of the site.  We advertsied our request for suggestions here on our Website, on Facebook, through the Glencairn Gazette, and through face-to-face discussions at the Moniaive Gala.  We received three suggestions: general community space, car park, and campsite/bunkhouse.  No evidence of community need or wider community support for any of these was forthcoming.  No local community group or organisation approached us with a specific requirement for space that could be fulfilled by this location.  Given that the site is located in a flood risk area and a residential area, it is subject to planning restrictions that make it unlikely that we would achieve planning permission or grant-funding for any significant development of the site.  Moniaive Initiative therefore took the decision to withdraw our Expression of Interest in this site.

With the children back at School after the Summer holidays, now is the time for us to return to our proposals for improving play equipment provision on Macara Park.  Grant funding for such projects is very limited at the moment, so we are putting together a revised package which will hopefully secure provision of a new “Toddler Area” and an Aerial Runway for older children, as well as repairs to the existing equipment.  You can see pictures of the options we are considering here:

equipment pictures_1_July2015

equipment pictures_2_July2015

equipment pictures_3_July2015

We welcome feedback on the various options, and you can leave your comments either here, or by posting on our Facebook page.