The recent meeting of South Cowal Community Council discussed an agenda item on the future of Castle Toward.
The Lamont clan Castle and grounds were gifted into the public sector as an outdoor education centre. Local authority reorganisation saw this territory pass from Clyde to Argyll & Bute and the gift of Castle Toward with it.
The Council tried to divest itself of the property a few years ago, with a developer waiting in the wings.
The property is now under threat again with the Council, under advice which some, fairly or not, see as convenient, closing the facility on health and safety grounds.
Actual Reality, the third party business to whom the running of the centre has been contracted, are now permitted to use the facility on a case-by-case basis and may not use it residentially at all.
The Council estimates – realistically, even prudently, that it will take around £1 million to put the property on a decent footing. It is therefore again considering a sale.
Local – and wider – opinion is set in a determination that a way must be found – in the interests of the youth of Argyll – to see Castle Toward and its grounds retained as the only outdoor education centre in the county.
There is widespread resistance to seeing it fall into the hands of developers, closing the door on the rich opportunities it is capable of offering to the young of Argyll, with its wealth of outdoor activity resources.
Public Meeting: It was decided at the South Cowal Community Council that campaigners for the retention and restoration of the property would hold a public meeting on 30th January at 3.00opm in Innellan Village Hall. This will be backed up by associated events such as a Picnic at the Castle and a March.
The role of the Community Council itself in the matter will be as a facilitator.
Argyll and Bute Council is being quite open in assisting public awareness of the nature of its ownership and of any legal obligations which it may or may not have to the property.
For Argyll has been offered the opportunity – which we are taking up – of viewing the original deeds of gift which have, of course, passed into the Council’s hands. Naturally they do not exist in digital form.
If any interested party wishes to let us know of any specific type of clause whose presence or absence they would wish to confirm, please let us know by using the ‘Contact’ email at the top right of this screen. We will read diligently.
The heart of the matter
The issue here is whether, collectively, Argyll can summon the will to find a way to retain this wonderful public resource.
It is understandable that a Council like Argyll & Bute, with a complex and expensive range of responsibilities for which it is not nearly adequately funded should, from time to time, simply be exhausted.
Meeting challenges such as those Castle Toward presents is a very real burden and one can see how attractive the option of simply offloading it would be at times when the will to gird up for another mountain might be weak.
The risks in such a solution are threefold:
- assets like this are irreplaceable and irrecoverable, once let go
- revenue generated by such a sale would bear no relation to the complex value of the property
- the community would never accept a private sector developer making a killing at the expense of the young folk of Argyll
When we first wrote about this current crisis for Castle Toward, we called it ‘a defining moment’. It is. We have a choice.
We can let this magnificent but needy property go, defending and protesting from our various foxholes.
We can come together with all possible interests in retaining Castle Toward and its grounds as an outdoor education centre for Argyll – and see what we can make happen.
A way forwards
£1 million is both a lot of money and not a lot of money. In our view, £1 million is a long way short of what Castle Toward needs.
The 90-odd islanders of Raasay were able to raise Big Lottery money of over £4 million a few years ago to buy Raasay House and grounds to run as a community business majoring in supporting outdoor pursuits.
Castle Toward, the South Cowal Community and the youth of Argyll are every bit as appropriate and as needful a target for such support.
Highlands & Islands Enterprise were very energetic in supporting the Raasay initiative. This body invests little proactive energy or finance in Argyll – which is one of its areas of responsibility. Yet Argyll is as dispersed and as poor as areas which, closer to its Inverness base and sense of ‘highlandness’, HIE feels a greater emotional affinity.
Here is an opportunity for Argyll to involve HIE centrally and vigorously in a community development project bringing into full active operation a splendid and unique community resource. Here too is an opportunity for HIE to say loudly that it is committed to Argyll.
HIE is responsible for running the Big Lottery funds that saw, for example, the Raasay project supported. It can put the same energy into helping Argyll to develop and present a successful application for Castle Toward.
Legally, if the way is clear for the Council to sell Castle Toward out of the public sector, it is equally open to it to gift the property to a Development Trust – enabling application for serious funding.
We repeat our suggestion that all parties recruit and collaborate with Argyll’s MSP and, appropriately, Enterprise Minister, Jim Mather, to chair a meeting of all with contributions to make and create the opportunity for a positive way forwards to emerge from this context.
Sign the e-petition
Well over a thousand people have signed this already. It needs signatures from every one who supports the widespread will to save the property for the young people of Argyll and beyond. Sign it now – and email the link to your friends, asking them to sign it and pass it on.
Quote: “The Lamont clan Castle and grounds were gifted into the public sector as an outdoor education centre. Local authority reorganisation saw this territory pass from Clyde to Argyll & Bute and the gift of Castle Toward with it.”
I regret that, once again, this article fails to accurately describe the process whereby the Castle Toward Estate fell into the custodianship of Argyll and Bute Council.
Although the land which incorporates the Castle Toward Estate was originally Clan Lamont land and the ruins of the original Lamont castle, referred to as Toward Castle, lie within its boundaries, the land was purchased and the Castle Toward Estate was constructed in 1820 by Kirkman Finlay and the building was extended by the Coats family of Paisley in 1920. It was purchased by the Corporation of the City of Glasgow after it fell into disuse following its requisition during World War II. It was used as a residential school to provide respite for the children of the city and became the base for the famous art and music summer schools. It was inherited by Strathclyde Regional Council in the 1970s and was substantially upgraded by the Regional Council to meet modern safety standards. During this period Castle Toward became an outdoor education centre.
When the regional structure was replaced with a district-based local authority structure, a Joint Management Committee (JMC) was set up by the successor district councils and a not for profit company, Actual Reality Limited, was establish under the leadership of Peter Wilson to operate Castle Toward and its two sister centres at Ardentinny and Achnamara.
The JMC agreed to disband and pass custodianship of Castle Toward and Ardentinny to Argyll & Bute Council on the condition that Actual Reality would be granted a 99 year lease on both properties. However, after initially accepting this undertaking, the Council sought excuses to delay implementation, officers failing to attend pre-arranged meetings with Actual Reality staff and failing to respond to communications from Actual Reality. It transpires, according to the public record, that in 2002 the Council took a unilateral decision to renege on its original undertaking and to sell the Castle Toward Estate.
The staff of Actual Reality have been working valiantly for the past nine years to keep Castle Toward open under the shadow of this egregious decision. All maintenance work on the Castle over the past ten years has been carried out by Actual Reality staff with the support of the Friends of Castle Toward and the Castle Toward Trust, both voluntary bodies members of which have contributed time, money and expertise to help to keep this part of our heritage going.
The Council, never having had any interest in the preservation or survival of the Castle, having refused an offer to purchase from the Castle Toward Trust and having failed to maintain it to any acceptable modern standard, have seized on the safety report by Strathclyde Fire and Rescue as a pretext to close Actual Reality and sell the grounds as building plots.
For those of us who have worked tirelessly to preserve Castle Toward for future generations of schoolchildren from the west of Scotland, in the face of its complete neglect by Argyll & Bute Council, for Councillor Walsh to shed crocodille tears when announcing its closure is nothing more than bare faced hypocrisy. As the public record shows, he and his officials have plotted this end-game for the best part of a decade.
Readers are encouraged to view the website http://castletoward.com for chapter and verse on this infamous charade played out by their elected representatives and their officials.
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for John Jamison:
Thank you for this full and detailed account, John. We were taking short cuts to get quickly to the nub of the current issue.
Why did JMC go through with the proposal to disband and transfer custodianship of Castle Toward and Ardentinny to the council on condition that actual Reality got a 99 year lease before that condition was met?
What happened to Achnamara?
What is the legal structure of Actual Reality that would allow the Council unilaterally to ‘close Actual Reality’?
What is the status of the Castle Toward Trust? If the Council did gift the Castle and its grounds to this body, is it eligible and would it be interested, were HIE to support it, in mounting a Lottery funding application to bring it into community ownership?
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Again the Govt with or without campbell (spit) help drives us from our lawful rights of our lands of old. Even the clans can’t seem to hold onto property etc now it seems to get sold off one way or another. Our forefathers must be spinning in their graves having fought and died for NOTHING….
as the Clan Motto says ; Ne Parcas Nec Spernas
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If the Council reneged on the condition of the 99 year lease ( and it can be shown that it can the shown ) then does not the custodianship fall back onto the JMC and it successor Actual Reality Limited.
Does custodianship mean owership ?
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Update:Friday, 22nd of January,2010.
With effect from today Argyll and Bute Council are in breach of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) legislation, having failed to respond adequately to a request submitted on the 18th of December, 2009 for copies of all documents relating to Castle Toward.
The Council’s FOI Officer, Mr Stephen Doogan, has also failed to respond to a follow up invitation to acknowledge receipt of the FOI request.
The next stage in the process is to submit an appeal to the Leader of the Council, Mr R. Walsh. This appeal will be expressed in the form of a recorded delivery letter addressed to Mr Walsh. The letter will also deprecate the failure of an officer of the Council to comply with an FOI request and will be copied to the Information Commissioner for Scotland. Mr Walsh will have 20 days in which to either respond or ignore the appeal. If Mr Walsh fails to respond adequately by the 22nd of March, 2010, the matter will be passed to the Information Commissioner for action.
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Further update: Friday, 22nd of january, 2010:
Recorded delivery letter winging its way to Leader of Argyll and Bute Council:-
Dear Mr Walsh,
Freedom of Information Request 18/12/2009 Regarding Castle Toward
I write in order to lodge a formal appeal to Argyll and Bute Council under the terms of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) legislation with respect to the failure of Mr Stephen Doogan, an officer of the Council, to respond adequately to my request of the 18th December, 2009, to provide copies of all documents held by the Council relating to Castle Toward, Cowal, Argyll.
I further deprecate his failure to communicate with me on the occasion of the expiry of the 20 day period set down in the FOI legislation.
I regret that in view of the intransigence of the officials of Argyll and Bute Council with regard to this matter I have taken the step of copying this letter, with associated correspondence, to the Information Commissioner for Scotland.
If it is the case that Mr Doogan has been instructed not to respond to my request then I should be grateful if you would have the courtesy to reply to this letter to this effect, copying your reply to the Information Commissioner for Scotland for information. Irrespective of whether you choose not to reply or to reply on or before the deadline for this appeal of the 23rd February, 2010, failure to provide an adequate response will result in an appeal being lodged with the Information Commissioner.
Should you or your officials require clarification of any of the above, please do not hesitate to contact me at the above address.
Yours sincerely,
Copy: Information Commissioner for Scotland
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I have been advised today (Monday, 25th of January, 2010) by the Office of the Information Commissioner for Scotland that the incomplete 23rd of December, 2009, response to my original FOI request of the 18th of December, 2009, may be regarded as the Council’s official response and that my request for a complete response (submitted also on the 23rd of December) may be regarded as a formal request for a review under the terms of the legislation.
This means that, should the Council fail to provide a comprehensive response to my request for a review within 20 working days (i.e. by Tuesday, 26th of January, 2010), it shall be deemed to have failed to comply with the terms of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 and that I may refer the matter immediately to the Information Commissioner for Scotland.
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Any news yet John?
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Very helpful and informative responses to FOI requests have now been received from Glasgow City Council and East Renfrewshire Council. Nothing of substance received from Argyll & Bute Council since 23rd of December.
I have been advised by Councillor Walsh that he has asked the Chief Executive to investigate.
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Nice one John!
I do hope you can make it to the Meeting on the 30th!
Do you have permission to share this imformation generally, or are you bound by the FOI requests finer details?
Information like this could proove to be very useful at the meeting!
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