## **Western Gateway Community Trustees’ Annual Report** 1/1/2024 to 31/12/24
## **Charity contact information**
## Scottish Charity Number: SC051744
Website: http://www.westerngateway.wixsite.com/community
Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/westerngatewaycommunity/
## **Charity Trustees**
## **Activities**
It has been a hard year with slow progress on issues that are controlled by outside partners such as DCC and Scottish Government .This situation is more frustrating when we see the positive outcomes we have had on projects that we have a direct control over, such as the new path and the defib project.
This will be our fifth year with our inaugural AGM happening back in October 2019. This year we celebrated our 40th committee meeting.
As well as being a focus for the community we have worked with various parties to progress and complete projects that have benefited the community. Over the past 12 months we have met nine times and had numerous meetings with groups such as Paths for All, DCC outdoor activity, Planning, Children and Families and our politicians including the political convener’s who direct the various departments in DCC. Behind the scenes we have been busy writing to various groups, particularly with follow ups on outstanding promises that they have made.
We have had a lot of support from our community especially on the school project. Many of you have attended our meetings and our direct emailing list has increased significantly over the year. Worth a mention is also the continuing growth in followers to our Facebook page which is now just short of 1000. As for the wider audience we have involved the press on a few occasions with local newspaper articles and appearances on STV news with our school campaign.
## **Key areas in 2024**
## **Education.**
After the alarming news that the council had been unsuccessful in getting funding for our school from Scottish Government we set up a campaign to get them to commit to funding the school themselves. This involved a public meeting with the political leaders and organising a petition for the community to support the school. The public meeting was a great success with over 150 people attending. This helped to convince DCC to allocate £25 million in their 5 years capital plan for 2025 to 2030 and secured their full commitment to delivering the school.
More recently we spoke on supporting the planning permission for the land where the school will be built. Thankfully the application was approved and Springfield and planning officials are now in talks to reach agreement on how the 5.2 acre piece of land along with basic services will be handed over.
It was clear this year that the parents in the community didn’t want to send their children to the catchment school, with the majority opting for and requesting schools that are nearer. There was a high number of rejections which of course led to
disappointment, frustration and worry for many of the parents involved . Subsequently we applied pressure to C & F to look at Invergowrie as a short term solution to the problem that they have created but yet again they confirmed that there is nothing more they could do.
Next year placement requests for P1 are likely to result in the same disappointment so we set up a community group for parents and organised 2 meetings to help.
## **Swallow Junction**
As most of you will know we fought for years to get this project started and delivered to the promised schedule . It was one of our major issues and used a lot of resource but now, at long last the work started. “ _Springfield”_ have tried to involve all of those effected by the disruption by publishing regular updates and providing a link for project progress. So far the work appears to have caused little disruption and it appears that It is well within the schedule to be finished by May 2025.
## **Paths** :
Great work by of “ _DCC_ ” on the project for core path 7. We received £13,682 of funding for the design and concept aspect of the project from “ _Paths for All_ “ and commissioned “ _Raeburn Farquhar and Bowen”_ to do the work. Using this report we were able to apply for a provisional sum of £80 K for the construction. Towards the end of the year “ _Paths for All”_ approved this application and the contract for the construction of this path is now been awarded to Dundee Plant. Work will start in January 2025. Target completion is March 2025 and once finished this will link the Dykes of Gray road to Camperdown park with a new 2mt wide 1 kilometre long whin dust path. Part of the main funding criteria was to secure “match” funding and we managed to do this by negotiating with DCC to build two link paths worth approximately £40K. We also received a donation of 4 benches for the path and signage for either end from “ _Forestry Land Scotland_ “
Dundee City Council informed us that their application for detail design funds for numerous other path improvements including widening and lighting for D of G road had been unsuccessful and that “ _SUSTRANS”_ required further information. Later in the year we were told that the “ _SUSTRAN”_ fund had been put on hold due to Scottish government austerity measures. A decision on this will be made in January 2025. None of the walk and wheel routes into Dundee are fit for purpose, they are too narrow , they are not lit and they are secluded. Residents have no safe way to get into Dundee in the dark evenings and mornings during winter. We will continue with our work on 2025.
## **Defibrillators**
We received funding of £4793 for two defibrillators. These were installed on he external walls of two businesses in our area, courtesy of a local electrical business.
We secured free training for two CPR training sessions for residents living here. Both sessions were well attended and its likely we will repeat this in 2025. We have set up routine audits of the equipment to ensure we conform with legislation. Surplus funding was returned to DCC “Community Regeneration Forum” upon completion of the project.
## **Dykes of Gray Property Management** .
There was a significant increase in complaints about ground management in D of G and “Screenautumn” sold their business to Taylor & Martin. We have had numerous meetings with several of their reps regarding this. Progress is slow and there are still a few outstanding issues. The problems affects over 60 % of our community and we agreed that it will need to become a regular feature at our meetings.
## **Future Objectives**
Well this year we got commitment from the SNP council to building the school, so moving forward we should expect to see significant progress on this with the land handover and DCC’s design and delivery teams starting to deliver. We will push to get a date and project plan.
The progress on providing an improved path network has been slow. As well as redoubling our efforts we should look at other ways we can apply pressure to get the necessary improvements.
Working with our sponsors Paths for All, Forestry and Land Scotland and with the help of DCC we will deliver a new path connecting D of G road to Myrekirk.
Along with completion of this path, the delivery of the Swallow and the defibrillator project coming to its conclusion we should be able to free up some resources which should let us look at other issues.
## **Declaration**
Chaimian
17103125
## **Western Gateway Community Scottish Charity Number: SC051744**
## **Receipts and Payments Account for the year ended 31 December 2024**
|**Receipts**
Membership Subscriptions
Donations received
Grants received
Legacy from Wills
Fundraising - various activities
Bank Interest Received
Other Income
Total Receipts
**Payments**
Fundraising expenses
Payments for charitable activities:
Rents
Utilities, Insurance & Water Rates
Room Hire
Other costs
Total payments
**Surplus / (deficit) for year**
**All funds are unrestricted**|**2024**
£
-
-
17,082.48
-
-
62.54
-
**17,145.02**
-
-
-
54.00
17,081.48
17,135.48
**17,135.48**
**9.54**|**2023**
£
50.00
-
-
-
11.75
-|
|---|---|---|
|||**61.75**|
|||-|
|||-
-|
|||-|
|||**-**|
|||**61.75**|
||||
## **Western Gateway Community Scottish Charity Number: SC051744**
## **Statement of balances as at 31 December 2024**
|**Bank and cash in hand**
Opening balances
Surplus /(deficit)for year
**Reserves**
General Funds
Closing balances
**All funds are unrestricted**|**2024**
**2023**
£
£
592.29
530.54
9.54
61.75
**601.83**
**592.29**
601.83
592.29
**601.83**
**592.29**|
|---|---|
The financial statements were approved by the Trustees on ____30th January 2025_______________
Signed for and on behalf of the Board of Trustees
# **Western Gateway Community Scottish Charity Number: SC051744**
## **Notes to the Financial Statements**
## **1 Accounting policies**
## **Basis of Accounting**
These financial statements have been prepared on the receipts and payments basis in accordance with the Charites & Trusteees Investment (Scotland) Act 2005 and the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006 (as amended).
## **2 Trustees remuneration and expenses**
No trustees received remuneration or reimbursement of expenses in this year. There are no Related party transactions.
|**Date**
1/24/2024
2/9/2024
3/25/2024
5/2/2024
10/31/2024|**Payee**
Raeburn Farquhar Bowen
St John Scotland
WEL Medical
Raeburn Farquhar Bowen
Dundee City Council
Fowlis Easter Hall|**Amount £**
4,474.20
2,000.00
1,398.48
9,208.80
1,395.52
54.00|**Chq No**
000002
000003
000004
000005
000006
000007|**Description**
Professional & Design Fees
2 x Defibrillators
Professional & Design Fees
Return of excess grant received
2 x 2 Hour Hall Hire for Defib Training|
|---|---|---|---|---|
## **Independent Examiners Report to the Trustees of “Western Gateway Community”**
I report on the accounts of the charity for the year ended 31 December 2024 which are set out on pages 1 to 2.
## **Respective responsibilities of trustees and examiner**
The charity’s trustees are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the terms of the Charities and Trustees Investment (Scotland) Act 2005 and the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006. The charity trustees consider that the audit regulation 10(1) (d) of the Accounts Regulations does not apply. It is my responsibility to examine the accounts as required under section 44(1) c) of the Act and to state whether particular matters have come to my attention.
## **Basis of independent examiner’s statement**
My examination is carried out in accordance with Regulation 11 of the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006. An examination includes a review of the accounting records kept by the charity and a comparison of the accounts presented with those records. It also includes consideration of any unusual items or disclosures in the accounts, and seeks explanations from the trustees concerning any matters. The procedures undertaken do not provide all the evidence that would be required in and audit, and consequently I do not express an audit opinion on the view given by the accounts.
## **Independent examiner’s statement**
In the course of my examination, no matter has come to my attention
1. which gives me reasonable cause to believe that in any material respects the requirements:
- to keep accounting records in accordance with Section 44(1) (a) of the 2005 Act and Regulation 4 of the 2006 Accounts Regulations, and
- to prepare accounts which accord with the accounting records and comply with Regulation 9 of the 2006 Accounts Regulations
have not been met, or
2. to which, in my opinion, attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.