Dear Jim,

This follows my telephone discussion with Greg Beattie earlier today - unfortunately I was unable to speak with you directly about this as I gather you are out of the office.

It is with deep regret however, I now confirm that CVDG have been forced to rescind WREN's offer of £35,000 funding dated 28th March 2007.

This decision has not been taken lightly because any development within Carron Valley is something which is very dear to our hearts - in fact, it is central to our very existence as a charity. I want to assure you that CVDG has worked tirelessly over the last two years to try and make this project happen however, we can no longer act as a fund holder in this project for four principal reasons:

1. Despite repeated assurances from Project Leaders FCS, (Forestry Commission Scotland) that they were abreast of the situation and had been consulting closely with the principal landowner SW (Scottish Water) it has now emerged that the 'close consultation' which SW so strongly advised in January 2008 has been blatantly disregarded by FCS. As SW is likely to have a prolonged lead - in time with regard to technical and legal permissions this in itself presents a major potential hurdle.

2. The schedule which the Project Managers outlined to you on 8th May 2008 (project completion mid August) came and went 6 weeks ago however, the process which precedes this (the consulting engineers report and permissions) has not even been completed. There is no plausible excuse for this nor is there any firm or anticipated date for obtaining the permission.

3. CVDG has repeatedly asked both the Project Leader and the Project Manager for:

a.) Actual and predicted project costs
b.) Consulting Engineers reports
c.) A defined Project Plan

None of this information has been forthcoming in fact both parties have gone out of their way to avoid producing any of the specific information requested. Such behaviour is neither reasonable nor is it excusable given CVDG key role and the fact this is a partnership process.

4. Since WREN's funding for this project was sought and agreed, Forestry Commission Scotland has changed its commitment to partnering and recreational development at Carron Valley out of all recognition. Essentially, FCS has slowly but insidiously moved the goalposts to a point where further partner development is all but impossible unless subject to a commercial lease. Furthermore, the Carron Valley Partnership were forced to return £15000 of funding for the same project over one year ago (ironically, this money was then subsequently "gifted" to FCS to help deliver a toilet project which they had delayed for 5 years) and CVDG and the other partners have been fighting to conclude a diluted scheme with both WREN and North Lanarkshire Councils money ever since.

In all honesty Jim, CVDG has failed to get completely to the bottom of this however, several members of our group are variously Civil Engineers & Construction / Project Managers with literally decades of industry experience and the excuses we're being given simply are not credible. What we have here is either total incompetence or deliberate political interference (to delay the project interminably / beyond the funding deadline) or perhaps both.

In summary: CVDG do not know what FCS and CSFT are actually doing, we have been presented with interminable and unexplained delays, we have no forward visibility in terms of project completion and we do not know what the project is costing. CVDG are a charity and we are the key fund holder in the project and this situation cannot be allowed to continue unchecked. These issues and the options available to CVDG have been discussed at great length by our committee, we have concluded the situation is longer tenable and also based on previous recent experience there is a high probability the problems are being deliberately engineered.

We hope that by leaving this as long as long as could reasonably be expected but by notifying you as early as possible this will somehow allow WREN to place the funds in a project where there is a reliable partner commitment to project completion.

I have enclosed all relevant correspondence to substantiate our position. If it is technically possible and you decide to try and resolve the position at Carron Valley with the remaining partners I hope this information will help inform any decision.

I will be happy to answer any further questions you may have - Greg has my number and it is detailed below.

Yours sincerely,

David Russell
Chairman
Carron Valley Development Group