Kincardineshire Development Partnership

Board of Trustees Meeting – Thursday 27^th November 2025 at 7pm

Stonehaven Community Centre

Minutes

Present:

Henning Wagner – Mill of Benholm Enterprise (arrived at 2.10pm)

Bridget Scott – Bettridge Centre

Ian Hunter – Stonehaven & District Community Council

Duncan Grassick – Catterline, Kinneff & Dunnottar Community Council

Charles Roberts-McIntosh – Benholm & Johnshaven Heritage Society

Apologies:

Cat Govan – The Haven

In Attendance:

Mairi Eddie – KDP Development Worker

Margo Titmuss – KDP Windfarm & Funding Officer

1. Welcome

The Chair, Henning Wagner, welcomed all those present and thanked them for attending the meeting.

2. Approval of Previous Minutes

The minutes of the formal meetings of 17^th April and 24^th July 2025 were approved as an accurate record of the meeting. The minutes of 17^th April were proposed by Bridget Scott and seconded by Henning Wagner.  The minutes of 24^th July were proposed by Charles Roberts-McIntosh and seconded by Henning Wagner.

3. Matters Arising.

All matters arising to be covered as points on the agenda. 

4. Finance Update

The Finance Report was shared in advance.

Bridget explained that the expected deficit for 2025/26 had been reduced from £14,000 and is now £6,700.  If no other funding were to be received, KDP would no longer be viable in January 2027.  However, discussions are currently ongoing to secure a new source of funding which would relieve the financial pressures.  It is not possible to disclose the source at this time, but more information will follow.

Bridget highlighted the fact that Mairi has secured £95,000 of project funding for KDP over the last three years, and assisted Edzell Woods to secure £500,000 funding for their Community Hub.

Henning congratulated Mairi for all her work in accessing funding.

There was a discussion around the difficulty in sourcing funding to cover core costs, and that all charities are faced with this issue.  It is hoped that new windfarm admin fees could help with core costs in the future.

Bridget advised OSCR is now requesting the personal details of all Board Trustees as well as a declaration that individuals are not disqualified from acting as Trustees.

Action – Bridget to prepare a draft Trustee Form for discussion at the next meeting

Action – Conflict of interest to be added to the agenda of all future KDP meetings.

Action – Trustees to provide Henning with a brief biography of this experience and skills.

5. KDP Development Officer Report

Mairi shared an update in advance.  Main points being:

• Coastal Communities Challenge Fund – application for tourism project. Unfortunately KDP was unsuccessful in this bid, however the hard work of preparing the application has been completed, and the information can be used to apply for funding elsewhere.
• Awards for All – much of the activities related to this Fund have been completed, but there will be a big event in April 2026 to close this off. KDP will be hosting a Grassroots Festival at Mearns Academy to celebrate community activity within K&M.
• Strengthening Organisations – KDP has been awarded funding to develop three new services: bespoke volunteer placement service; audio/podcasts and encouraging business support for community groups.
• Growing Network. Continues to develop.  Grow Mearns project was huge success.  Portlethen/Newtonhill looking to run similar initiative.
• Council SLA continues with various projects ongoing: Place Planning; Community Actions Plans; Food Access Project; K&M Transport Project and Edzell Woods.
• Community Cafes – a recent newsletter specifically for the Community Cafes was shared. Ian Hunter offered to advertise the Cafes on Mearns FM.

6. Windfarm Update

Hillhead of Auquhirie

Closed on 30^th June 2025.

23 applications worth £30,154.88 were received, 16 of which were supported.

£16,101.95 was allocated, and £68.97 remained for future allocation.

Meikle Carewe

Closed on 30^th September, and the panel met at the beginning of November.

23 applications worth £55,748.70 were received, and 20 were supported.

£41,071.70 was allocated, with £0.78 remaining for future allocation.

St John’s Hill

Fund will reopen on 1^st January 2026 for 3 months.

7. Strategic Future Direction

Henning advised that he had been contacted by DTAS to become a Development Trust.

To do this there are certain criteria which must be met, that currently KDP would be unable to do:

• Must cover a more restricted area
• Membership must be open to individuals
• Need to produce commercial income

Mairi expressed concerns that we cover too large an area, that we would need to be more commercially focused, and that it may require us to change our charitable aims.   She felt that it may make more sense for KDP to support the formation of trusts in our area, rather than be one.  It was felt by trustees that changes may be required but that it was an option worth exploring further.

This prompted a discussion on the future of KDP and the role of Trustees.

Duncan expressed an interest in helping develop a 5-year plan and assisting with IT.

Charlie felt KDP required a more focused vision with heritage and culture playing more of a part.

Mairi welcomed help from trustees but explained that in the past trustees had often not had the time to devote to this and that there were some tasks that needed to be done by staff.  She also explained that significant time was spent a few years ago re-assessing KDP’s direction and key priorities.  KDP also re-branded and built a new website as part of that.  More recently we have surveyed our membership, who were extremely positive about the services we offer at present.

However, strategic priorities have at times had to be amended/flexible as we have had to focus on securing funding in order to survive.

Mairi also said that the change of Board had been unsettling for staff.  As Board members can change quite regularly and it can lead to reassessment of priorities and governance as Trustees see things differently – which can be difficult for staff to adjust to.

Margo pointed out the great progress made in the last few years, building KDP’s reputation and providing support locally and that it was hard for staff when new board members want to make changes having been with the organisation for such a short time.

Both members of staff expressed discomfort at the general discussion and the way it was carried out.

It was agreed that discussion regarding strategic priorities needs to be continued at a later date.

Action – Margo to share the Community Enterprise Study and the member feedback with Trustees.

8. AOCB

The membership application from Bervie Brow Research Station and Reserve Limited was discussed and approved unanimously. 

9. Date of Next Meeting

The next meeting will be on the 20^{th of} February.  Venue to be confirmed.  It was agreed that meetings should commence at 6pm in the future.

The meeting closed at approximately 8.50pm.