Hopes to expand on Holmehill’s green oasis
Trust looks to buy extra land
Trustees of a charitable f oundat i o n a re looking to extend their ownership of land in the centre of Dunblane, pledging that it will never be developed.
Holmehill is a 13- acre greenspace east of the River Allan, and overlooking Dunblane Cathedral.
Between 2005 and 2018, the site was the centre of a community campaign to preserve and possibly purchase the land to keep it in its natural condition as a public open space for all to enjoy.
In 2018 Holmehill was bought by local charitable trust, the Carman Family Foundation, and the campaign was drawn to a close, with the Friends of Holmehill organisation formed and the foundation has since planted almost 20,000 bluebells, 2000 daffodils, created paths and planted around 500 trees.
Now it is seeking to buy the Hielieman’s site - the land north of Holmehill, stretching from Ramoyle to the new houses at Bogside - from the council.
A l etter and plan have been delivered to households living close to the site outlining the proposals.
In the letter, Bill and Celia Carman, two of the trustees of the foundation, said: “The council is minded to hand back control to us of the area of Holmehill next to Bogside.
“This was donated by a previous owner to the care of the council. It would then get added to the deeds for Holmehill so would be managed as a single environment.
“We have spoken to a few people to get a better view of its use at present and it seems to us that it is mainly used as an access path to Holmehill, but it has a nice view towards the Braes of Doune and is used as a sledging run.
“Ta k i n g this i nt o consideration, we are proposing to keep the sledging area free of trees as it is now, to keep the view towards the Brae, to plant a line of large trees to gradually replace the beeches on the edge of Holmehill, and to plant out the remainder of the slope with small to medium-sized trees. We would also plant an understory of plants that provide nesting sites and food for birds.
“The idea is to extend the developing ecosystem on Holmehill. We would keep paths so it is easy to get up to Holmehill.
“We guarantee it would never be built on.”
The pair say anyone who has any objections to - or who would like to support - their ideas can put their points to them by emailing carman.foundation@gmail. com by July 20.
The mail would also be forwarded to Stirling Council.
The idea is to extend the developing ecosystem on Holmehill. We guarantee it would never be built on Bill and Celia Carman