Summary of report on the community consultation and start of fundraising for the urgent remedial work needed on the Bunessan Mill. Extracts from the report by Sara Carruthers, MCIOB, Built Heritage Consultant, on the community consultation.

Background

In 2001 the RoMHC acquired the Old Mill and Millbrae Cottage in Bunessan. Millbrae Cottage has been converted into a permanent home for the RoMHC and operates as a heritage centre, open to the public and run by volunteers. The adjacent C listed Mill is a shell, with masonry walls intact but with no roof nor interior structure. Some machinery remains in situ or the vicinity. Some urgent repairs are needed to consolidate the Mill which, if left to deteriorate, may restrict safe access to neighbouring Millbrae Cottage and limit ongoing outreach activities. In 2023, a report and contract documents were drawn up by Krystyna Pytasz, of Addison Conservation and Design, and RoMHC are starting to fundraise for these urgent repairs.

The RoMHC would like to fully repair the mill building and bring it back into use: this will preserve a heritage asset and provide a usable space for the RoMHC and the community. During the summer of 2024, the RoMHC engaged an independent built heritage specialist, Sara Carruthers, to consult the community on the project.

The consultation

The community consultation was carried out principally through an online survey in June and July 2024. RoMHC promoted the survey very actively in the local area and gave additional assistance to anyone who did not have online access to the surveys by circulating paper copies. The survey was supported by a drop-in event on 26 June in Bunessan Community Hall where there was a thorough and lively discussion on the project. The RoMHC engaged Sara Carruthers, who specialises in community led heritage projects, to assist them with the community consultation.

The total number of responses returned was 115 (56 paper surveys, one letter and 58 online surveys). The letter did not directly answer all the questions but was strongly supportive. Not all questions on the paper surveys were fully completed. Of these surveys, 89 were from full-time residents of the local area. This is out of an estimated population of the Ross of Mull and Iona which was put at 730 in 2011 (RoM&I Community Plan). This is a response rate of slightly over 12% which is a significant response in a community consultation within this type of rural area.

The drop-in event was attended by 14 members of the local community, with a full and lively discussion about the project.

Results of the consultation

In summary:-

• 98 % of respondents supported the repair and re-use of Bunessan Mill
• 94% thought a new development should include facilities for the local community
• 82% thought facilities for visitors should be included
• 64% agreed that it should include training facilities
• 93% thought that the development should support the local economy through the provision of employment opportunities
• 18 respondents offered to assist with the development as volunteers

Respondents were asked for their opinion on five specific uses for the Mill: a café/bakery; workshop/craft areas; a shop for local produce/food hub; a Gaelic centre; and flexible office space/training centre. There was majority support for all of these.

There were other uses suggested by the community which included for commercial manufacturing, as a community hub, an extended museum or complementary educational centre on the natural environment, affordable or holiday accommodation, arts centre and others.

The more general themes which were most frequently raised as wider issues were that:

• The development should not be in competition with other local facilities, whether community based or commercial.
• Building in flexibility and enabling a variety of uses was most likely to ensure sustainability and resilience.
• Grounding the project in wellbeing and sustainability may be key to securing initial funding and ensuring the long-term viability of the project.
• A committee of volunteers may not have capacity to drive the project forward without external support in the form of paid staff.
• Partnering with other organisations, whether commercial or third sector, may reduce the risk to RoMHC and bring in additional resources.
• Access to and around the Mill may limit future uses and ways to mitigate this should be considered early in the project.

Summary

The Community Consultation has established that there is support within the local community for a project which brings the Mill back into use and support for a variety of new uses for the Mill. There is potential for several of these uses to be combined within a single proposal which could increase the community benefits and create greater resilience for the project. If RoMHC wishes to develop this project further, the next stage will be to carry out an Options Appraisal and Feasibility Study. This would look in more detail at a selection of the proposed uses and test their financial, technical, management, economic and marketing feasibility. The RoMHC would then be in a position to make an informed choice on a future sustainable use for the Mill which has community support and could be worked up into a full Business Plan.

If you wish to read the complete report, please follow this link to a PDF document

The trustees are grateful to the private donors who funded the consultation, to Sara Carruthers for her skill in managing it and giving us such a thorough report and to all who took part.

Next steps

1. As mentioned in the report there are some urgent remedial repairs that must be carried out on the Mill to save it from further deterioration. These are focused around replacing two key lintels and professionally removing vegetation that has grown up in the stonework. This work is essential whatever route we follow for the future of the Mill. These urgent repairs are estimated to cost in the region of £45,000. So our immediate focus is fundraising for this expense. We are in the process of applying for possible grants towards this but recognise we will probably have to raise some funds ourselves. As most of our readers know, we are a small charity run by volunteers and relying on donations for our day to day running costs, so raising £45,000 is quite a challenge. Any donations towards this will be most appreciated and you can donate through our donate button on the website. Once this urgent work is completed we expect the Mill to be safe for the public to enter to take a closer look at its construction. We plan on creating a series of interpretation boards to put up inside and outside the building explaining how the Mill would have looked and functioned in its heyday. This in itself will be an important step in restoring access to what is an important piece of local heritage and we hope that many of you readers will have the opportunity to come visit when this work is completed.
    
2. The results of the community consultation have given us encouragement to consider the much bigger project of redevelopment of the Mill structure. This is a BIG project and the trustees recognise that we don’t have the capacity to embark on this without considerable help. So our plan is to start with gathering together those who responded in the consultation that they would be interested in being involved further and seeing if there is a group prepared to take on the next steps in the redevelopment process (namely an Options Appraisal and Feasibility Study).This step will involve some hard choices needing to be made between the various ideas for the redevelopment that came out of the consultation to narrow the focus to something realistic and achievable. If you would like your name to be added to that group, please let us know by email: enquiries@romhc.org.uk