Case Study Two:

The LAGGAN FOREST PARTNERSHIP

Roy Tylden-Wright

Introduction

The Laggan Forest Partnership was established in 1998 between Forest Enterprise (FE) and Laggan Forest Trust (LFT), which represents the 200 people of Laggan, a scattered community which lies between Newtonmore and Loch Laggan in Badenoch. The partnership allows LFT to play an active part in the management of the three plantations which make up FE's Strathmashie Forest. It was set up after a long campaign and struggle by the community to create more jobs in the area and has succeeded in achieving this primary aim. In doing so it has attracted new residents, changed the nature of the forest and provided recreational facilities to further tourism in the area.

The Forest

Strathmashie Forest comprises three very different woodlands, currently owned by the state and managed by Forest Enterprise as part of Inverness Forest District. They were formerly privately-owned plantations, established in the 19th century and acquired in the early 1950s by the Forestry Commission (FC) after being felled during the Second World War.

Today the forest extends to 1,401 hectares, of which some 25 per cent is currently unstocked. The greater part, 65 per cent of the total area, was planted mainly with Scots pine and sitka spruce between 1955 and 1964. A small area, six per cent of the total area, is over 100 years old and will provide a focus for the regeneration of native woodland within part of the forest.

Community Projects in Laggan

In 1900 the population of Laggan was 929; by 1945 it had fallen to about 650, and by 1990 it had sunk to 200. The Laggan Community Association (LCA) was established in 1974 to help stem this population drift, but the event that triggered the ‘self-help syndrome’ was the erection in the early 1980s of a community-owned television relay network, funded to this day by a monthly draw. The development process which ensued may be compared to knots in a piece of string, each project separate but inextricably linked. Key groups and individuals followed particular interests, gaining strength and perspective from preceding achievements and challenges. Following the erection of the television mast, a new village hall was built, and in a pioneering move a community co-operative, Laggan Community Trading Company, was formed to purchase and operate the village shop and post-office. Most recently, the old link between forestry and housing was re-established, centring on Strathmashie.

By the early 1980s Strathmashie Forest had become a sleeping giant on the margin of the Lochaber Forest District, employing one local man on a part-time basis. In an area which had no significant tourist activities, the only management objective was to generate timber revenues for the Exchequer. Some local people, however, could remember a time of intense activity in the 1950s and 60s when 34 local men were employed directly by FC on planting and other work, justifying the construction of 11 forestry houses in 1954 as part of the FC’s Forest Village Programme. These workers were laid off as the work programme was scaled down and FC contracted work out. When FC sold the houses in 1984, some were bought by their occupants, but others went to form part of the property empire of an American financier who was jailed for massive financial misconduct shortly afterwards. Four of the houses were left to moulder for over a decade, before being identified as candidates for the new housing provision required for local economic development.

What was effectively a one-woman campaign culminated in the purchase and renovation of the houses in 1998 after Laggan Community Trading (LCT) made a successful application to the Scottish Office’s Empty Homes Initiative with the help of The Highland Council. The houses are now leased to tenants, and managed on behalf of the community by The Highland Council’s Housing Services, which underwrites the rental income required to pay the bank loan taken out by LCT. All importantly, however, they are owned by the village: they will never again be subject to the whims of a shifting labour market or monster fraudster, nor can they be sold as second homes. They are an inalienable community resource.

Laggan Forest Initiative

This achievement, however, lay far in the future when, in the early 1990s, a small number of individuals identified Strathmashie Forest as a potential source of employment, if managed and worked by local people. A little later there were rumours that the forest was going to be sold as part of the then government’s privatisation programme, and fears arose about what might happen to the television mast. In response a team was assembled to look into the feasibility of community management of the forest with a view to providing jobs. Working as a sub-committee of the Community Association, this group adopted the title Laggan Forestry Initiative (LFI). Its objective was not just to prevent any further decline in population, but to concentrate on working families. The first priority, therefore, was to increase the contracting opportunities in the forest and to make sure these were available to local people.

For four years from 1992 to 1996, LFI engaged in a number of activities designed to secure its objective of managing the forest. It worked to build local support through a series of community workshops and regular meetings. Its lobbying and campaigning activities included direct approaches not only to the Forestry Commission but also to the Rural Affairs Department of the Scottish Office, the local Member of Parliament (and parliamentary candidates), various Highland Councillors, the Secretary of State, a number of national voluntary organisations and influential individuals. All these activities attracted considerable interest from the media, but progress was slow. Nonetheless, in 1994 the Scottish Office commissioned a feasibility study of plans to promote recreational activities in the forest. At this stage FC refused to consider any arrangement which would allow LFI to manage the forest.

Opting for Partnership

In 1996, the then Secretary of State for Scotland, Michael Forsyth, visited Laggan. His visit was to lead to changes that could not have been predicted beforehand. When he officially announced his support for Laggan’s project in his St Andrew’s Day speech of that year, the die was cast. Later that year, David Bills, the new Director-General of the Forestry Commission, personally handed LFI a paper outlining seven options relating to Strathmashie. These were:

LFI's preferred option was to buy the forest, but had to accept that this was not possible after receiving the District Valuer's independent valuation of £1.75 million, almost a million pounds higher than expected. LFI considered making an application to the Millennium Fund, but this was not permitted as the woodland was not being sold by a private owner.

LFI then indicated its readiness to explore the option of partnership, and the Laggan/Forest Enterprise (FE) Working Group was created to discuss the future of the forest. The group also held discussions, which led eventually to a formal Minute of Agreement which was drawn up in 1998 (see below).

Ministerial Announcement about the Future of the Forest

In March 1997 the Laggan/FE Working Group began the preparation of a 25-year design plan and a 5-year joint management plan for the forest, the first product of the shared willingness to work in partnership. In order to make this possible, it was FE who funded a member of LFI with a background in fencing and forestry to work jointly with its staff on these plans. This representative had the specific task of liaising with LFI over the evolution of the plans. This was an important act which strengthened the willingness to work together on implementing initiatives in the forest. This collaboration was the first example of its kind in Scotland of joint forest management and proceeded satisfactorily even before the precise nature of the partnership had been negotiated. The planning process was completed with a ministerial announcement on the future of the forest by Lord Lindsay, the then Forestry Minister, who signed the Joint Design Plan on a visit to Laggan in 1997. Shortly afterwards the first local contract in the forest - for deer-culling - was awarded by FE.

Further Developments during 1997

In July 1997 LFI were awarded a grant of £68,000 over a three-year period from the Scottish Office’s Rural Challenge Fund (RCF). This was intended to fund skills training in a range of activities necessary for participation in the management of the forest: chainsaw operation, recreational development, ranger services, forest management and business administration.

However the training that was actually provided tended to be at the lower end of the range of skills, with the remaining shortages of skills in the community being compensated for by the expertise of FE staff. This had significant implications for the roles and activities of the partners. Implementing the scheme was not without practical difficulties. Nevertheless the training programme achieved substantial success. A score of people received qualifications on completion of training - in footpath construction, harvesting operations and deer-culling. The training programme was instrumental in safeguarding two jobs, creating employment equivalent to four full-time jobs, and assisting 5 new businesses. In addition, two local people were funded by RCF, FE and Moray, Badenoch and Strathspey Enterprise (MBSE) to study for HNCs in Forestry (leading on to HNDs) at the Scottish School of Forestry at Inverness College.

This training, coupled with a greater local input into the joint working group, meant that the forest management could be organised in a way which would provide the largest possible benefits for local people. For example, LFI successfully argued for very small coupes, or working sections, to make it easier for local contractors to compete for the work.

LFI also opened the Laggan Forest Office, initially with financial assistance from the European LEADER II Programme, and then with the help of a grant of £13,000 a year for three years from WWF Holland. This facility, which allowed LFI the resources of an office (in the community-owned building which houses the shop) and a paid administrator, proved of incalculable value, especially when the project moved from preparation to operation in late 1997. This early period also saw the creation of a new car park with assistance from the Objective 1 European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund (EAGGF), and the completion of LFI’s first fencing and thinning contracts.

Partnership Mechanisms

During this period of collaboration there were several important breakthroughs in working towards an effective partnership agreement.

Creation of Laggan Forest Trust

After more than 18 months of discussions and several drafts, a formal Minute of Agreement was drawn up. In order to be able to sign what is a legally binding document, LFI transformed itself into a new legal entity - The Laggan Forest Trust (LFT), a Company Limited by Guarantee without share capital. The Cairngorms Partnership and Highlands and Islands Enterprise’s Community Land Unit helped to meet the costs of legal advice on appropriate forms of incorporation and on the drawing up of the Memorandum and Articles of the new company. At the same time there was set up a wholly-owned subsidiary of the trust, The Laggan Forest Trust Forestry Co. Ltd (LFTFCo) for the commercial management of the project (which LFT cannot engage in because of its charitable status).

The Laggan Forest Trust is overseen by up to 12 trustees, the majority of whom must be local. They are elected by members of the trust, who comprise about 50 per cent of the population of the parish. The trustees in turn appoint the directors of the Forestry Company with particular regard to their business experience and qualities. The Trust maintains a watching brief over the activities of the Forestry Company to ensure that the project continues to provide local benefits. In this way the entire project is accountable to the community for all its activities.

Launch of the Partnership

In September 1998 Lord Sewel, the then Forestry Minister, visited Laggan to launch the partnership based on the Minute of Agreement, drafted by the Joint Working Party. The Minute of Agreement makes clear that ownership of the forest remains with the Secretary of State, and that for the foreseeable future FE will retain ultimate management control of the forest. However FE agrees to consult with LFI over its intentions, and to develop the forest in a mutually beneficial way. Both parties discuss operational and management issues at joint liaison meetings, thus enabling LFT to contribute to management plans. LFT states that it will not buy, nor attempt to buy, the forest in the next five years, but wishes to retain the option of purchase in the future. The option remains open, but FE is bound by its national policy which states that there is a moratorium on large-scale disposals until legislation on land reform has been enacted.

Operating in Partnership

Operations had started under LFI while the detail of the partnership was still unclear, but the incorporation of LFT and LFTFCo in April 1999 led to the introduction of much tighter controls over project administration, (a development welcomed by all involved, not least the bank). The early stages of the project also saw the start of the training programme funded by the RCF grant. The three local people (two men and a woman) who received training in path-building now have new opportunities as contractors and are successfully tendering for work. 1999 also saw the start of the first private business activity in the forest - pony-trekking. Thus while FE retains control over developments in the wood and any income accruing, the existence of the Forest Partnership has enabled a co-operative approach leading to new economic opportunities.

These training programmes and the new forest operations demonstrated the importance of the new community housing, as LFT was able to offer housing to the workers it had succeeded in recruiting. Without the renovated houses the opportunities for expansion would have been strangled at birth.

Funding from the Millennium Forest for Scotland Trust (MFST)

The securing, late in 1999, of funding from the Millennium Forest for Scotland Trust (MFST) is another example of the possibilities of partnership. FE gave LFT a massive boost in preparing the application, but the grant is only available to FE, as a public sector agency, by virtue of its being in partnership with an independent voluntary organisation. The MFST project expenditure of £430,000 will ensure that, without compromising basic commercial operations, the forest will be managed in ways which will benefit the community and meet sustainability criteria:

The plan provides a two-year work programme for a wide variety of local contractors, and upgrades the forest and management policy relating to it. The effects will be seen only in the long term, but they are certain to result in a forest which differs substantially from the one which would have been maintained under the previous exclusively commercial regime. FE have appointed and pay for a Community Liaison Forester, a former cutter trained as a forester under the RCF programme, who is responsible for the MFST operations. The MFST project itself maintains the office and the project manager, a former health practice manager who moved into Laggan with her family.

Current Activities

Currently almost all work in the forest - felling and extraction - is being carried out by local contractors working for LFTFCo, which has a contract with FE. Work has begun on the part of the MFST-funded project which involves the felling and removal of non-native conifers from part of the forest, followed by replanting with native species. Contracts have been let for the renewal of deer fencing and for the creation of seven kilometres of footpaths to develop the recreation and tourism potential of the area.

Work is also under way on a three-year Monitoring Project of The Laggan Forest Partnership. Originally set up by FE in partnership with the Scottish Office, it is now funded solely by FC and is being carried out by an independent researcher, working to the University of Wales. At present the main measure of public accountability is a percentage return on the forestry asset value, hence the desirability of giving a value to social benefits in order for them to be included in the equation.

The current objective is to make the arrangements within the partnership as effective as possible. The issue of ownership of the forest remains in the background, but there is no strong argument for purchase without proof that it would provide significantly greater benefits for local people. Currently the favoured option in the mid-term is to secure possession of the solum which would give LFTFCo control both of the development of the forest and also of usufructuary rights and revenues. This would be in contrast to the existing situation in which, if LFTFCo or a private entrepreneur develops a business such as pony trekking in the wood, FE receives the rental, meaning that the development work of LFTFCo cannot be self-sustaining.

Active participants in the project are also members of an informal working party which meets monthly with a wide representation of local interests. Meetings, which are open to anyone who is interested, are usually attended by contractors and business people as well as trustees and directors, and provide an opportunity to give feedback and share ideas, particularly in relation to future developments.

Achievements

In the three years during which Laggan and FE have collaborated there have been several notable achievements, some direct results of the collaboration, others spin-offs from the project as a whole. They include:

LFI and the LFT/FE partnership between them acknowledge the assistance of the following agencies and organisations in securing a total of almost £350,000: European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund, Highlands and Islands Enterprise, Highlands and Islands Enterprise’s Community Land Unit, the European LEADER II Programme, Moray, Badenoch and Strathspey Enterprise, Rural Challenge Fund, Scottish Natural Heritage, Millennium Forest for Scotland Trust, The Highland Council, and World Wildlife Fund.

Obstacles and Difficulties

However obstacles have had to be overcome to achieve such progress. LFI has been severely hampered by lack of funds, and especially by the lack of an asset base and the consequent lack of start-up capital. The innovative nature of the project has meant that budgeting has been difficult, and setting up appropriate community and legal structures has been time-consuming and costly. LFI's sudden shift from a community volunteer group focused largely on lobbying and campaigning to becoming commercial managers has caused problems. The community has not always had the capacity in place to meet the various administrative, financial and technical challenges confronting it. LFT's initial failure to set up properly in this way meant that two years’ work was seriously hampered. This is not only wasteful, but also damages credibility, which is unwelcome since there are many who are fearful of the success of community ventures, and others who would love to see them fail.

This ‘capacity gap’ has often been filled by FE, necessitating increased investment in the form of expensive professional man-hours. If these costs mount beyond an acceptable level, this clearly represents a danger to the perceived viability of the partnership. In addition, in the current depressed state of the timber market, the marginal profitability of contracts for forest operations has at times been discouraging.

Breaking fresh ground has also meant slow progress at times. There has been some scepticism locally about the viability of a community forest, and people have tended only to come on board when they see a personal advantage in doing so. LFI has also become aware of the difficulty of keeping people informed despite meetings and newsletters, but has tried to maintain the flow of information even when there did not appear to be much interest.

For its part FE has also found itself in a new situation and has had to cope with a lack of clear guidelines and uncertainty about its role.

Reflections on the Partnership So Far

The partnership is still in its infancy, but already certain points are clear. The period of collaborative working demonstrates clearly that with good will and openness partnership can be developed even from positions of misunderstanding and mutual distrust. An important factor in the growth of trust and the development of joint management activities is continuity of personnel. For such a partnership to be effective, each party must be helped to develop the required capacity - in FE's case, the capacity to devise and implement a social forestry policy and to make the necessary modifications to its institutional guidelines to enable this to happen.

In turn, the community must develop the necessary commercial, administrative and forestry know-how. When a community group assumes the responsibility of operating a community enterprise on business lines it must be absolutely certain that it has in place appropriate systems, and hard-headed personnel, both salaried and unpaid. Community managers must set in place everything from cash flow control to staffing strategies, and ensure the adoption of ‘commercial' attitudes by the individuals concerned. In order to support this business-like approach, it is effectively essential for the community organisation to have the necessary facilities and a paid administration.

To become a competent community enterprise may require considerable support in view of the ways in which public agencies operate. Public sector organisations such as Local Enterprise Companies and even the Scottish Office may be happy to set up projects, but on-going supervision, facilitation and other forms of assistance will not necessarily be forthcoming. The result is that when a project reaches a critical juncture, a community organisation like LFTFCo has no one to turn to for help. This provides a compelling argument for a government-funded facilitator to be seconded to two or three projects for, say, a six month period, after which he or she would continue to maintain a watching brief to ensure that the appropriate commercial and financial systems were in place. The problem is that public sector agencies are often mandated to provide start-up capital for community organisations but not sustained support in managing it. Equally, there is considerable fear of too close an involvement in community projects which are seen as high risk and where failure may impact on the reputation of an agency or the prospects of staff members.

The most remarkable exception to this rule however is FE staff themselves, who have demonstrated a genuine commitment to problem-solving (and where possible pre-empting problems) on a continuous basis, and have been generous with innovative mechanisms, professional back-up and staff input.

Looking Ahead

In the short term, LCT plan to seek funding for a Development Officer, and hope to benefit from a Forest of Spey study researching furniture manufacture and timber building. For the forthcoming LFTFCo Annual General Meeting we have circulated to each member a list of development options, and asked people to indicate their interests with a view to setting up working parties. However any impetus this may generate will be at risk unless supported by development funding.

In the longer term we are very much in the hands of FE, for Laggan’s Forestry Company has no way of earning money and is totally dependent on grant aid. Other shortages are critical too. Our continuing skills deficit means that FE tends to suggest that LFTFCo can concentrate on ancillary activities while it manages the forest but it is difficult for LFTFCo to develop such activities when it does not have authority over what happens in the forest. Ultimately, it appears that the issue of authority hangs on the issue of ownership, unless the understanding of partnership takes a quantum leap forward.

The changes that have taken place have been made possible only by a dramatic shift on the part of FE in support of ‘social’ forestry (certainly so far as the Laggan pilot project is concerned). It is probably true to say, however, that while FE accepts that the forest should be run for the benefit of the local community, it has not yet reached the point of accepting that the forest should be run in a way which will eventually enable the community to manage it for themselves. Conversely, if the Laggan Partnership were to develop along such enlightened lines, the onus would clearly be on the community to develop both the managerial capacity and most importantly, the co-operative mentality, in order to perform effectively. Deficiencies in both these areas would have to be overcome.

The ground rules for FE’s management of Strathmashie Forest have undoubtedly changed, but the culture and norms of the institution which has to apply these has not yet adapted fully. FE needs to be enabled by its political masters to develop a clear set of policies and institutional capacities, and be allocated the necessary resources, including staff, to assist local communities to undertake joint forest management schemes and other innovative rural development forestry approaches. It also needs to be enabled to develop the necessary instruments and methodologies which would allow it to demonstrate that it is both financially accountable to the public purse, and acting in a socially responsible way with regard to the economic and social well-being of local communities. To do this, it needs to be supported through the use of social auditing and other techniques which will allow the evaluation of the full range of the benefits of rural development forestry.

Conclusion

Despite the problems discussed above, there is an increasingly positive mood about the future of this joint forest management initiative - and of the community of Laggan. With the school roll now over 20, Laggan has seen the first upturn in its population for at least 150 years. The appearance of new private businesses marks the beginning of the operation of a virtuous circle in which improved economic prospects generate increased confidence, which in turn leads to better economic opportunities for more local people.

FE retains authority over what happens in the forest, but the development of the wood is very much a joint process, and its future form is going to be very different, both physically and functionally, as a result of the Forest Partnership and successful project bids like that made to the Millennium Forest for Scotland Trust.

LFT supports FC in resuming its social mandate, which will help the trust to meet the needs of the people of Laggan by changing the management of the wood to maximise social and economic opportunities. Our vision of the growing importance of Strathmashie Forest in the lives of the community is informed not just by the relatively recent past, when elsewhere in Scotland FC let holdings in the forest to the families who worked there, but also by an earlier period in Laggan's history. Over many years the village grew from a river crossing, where roads met, to become a parish consisting at its peak of eighty various settlements, townships, farmsteads and estates. The grassy mounds and roads and tumbled stones bear witness to the loss of many, leaving the remainder like surviving teeth in the mouth of an old-time prize fighter. These are the sites to concentrate on in the future, allowing a growing population access to the land as new community-led opportunities and computer technology make different rural livelihoods possible.

We will construct these using our own wood allied to the innovative timber building techniques being developed by Scottish architects and builders. Nor will we issue contracts to outside construction companies. Instead we will build co-operatively, keeping costs down and garnering the skills learned in the process as an additional local capability. With the co-operation of an increasingly enlightened FE, we hope to create forest grazings and crofts, so that our forest can become truly diverse, not simply upgraded biologically and commercially but allowing living space for homo sylvestris, the people of the woods. In this way work opportunities and housing provision are knotted indivisibly on the same length of twine: tools for creating vibrant, functional communities and a working landscape, not simply a decorative one.