1st February 2010

Project Officer report

It was with great reluctance that I met with John Wackett (HPCP chair) in mid January to offer my resignation for the post of HPCP project officer. I have greatly enjoyed the many and varied challenges presented by this job and the opportunity to work with the representatives from the partner groups. I have learned an enormous amount during my time with HPCP and will always value the relationships I have built up.

 HPCP has completed many of the challenges we set over the past couple of years with the establishment of the highly successful HPCP country markets, the continued development of the Spotlight programme and the growing involvement of the partner groups. We have helped a wide range of organisations take forward the projects that are of importance to their communities- and that is what HPCP is about at its most fundamental level.

 There are fresh challenges ahead that will allow HPCP to develop in other ways and it will, I am sure, grow in numbers, range of activities and in community support. Local topic workshops, training and organisational audits are exciting areas to develop.

 I feel that I am no longer able to give the job the time and effort it deserves and that another project officer who is based in Highland Perthshire will be better able to pick up the work at this exciting time. I would, however, like to offer my continuing support if there are specific activities where I can be of service. One are might be in providing some radio and other training sessions.

 Spotlight: I have continued to produce and present the weekly radio programme Spotlight on Heartland FM. This is recorded during the week and broadcast on both Saturday and Sunday mornings. I have continued to discuss a range of topics with a range of people and have establish a regular weekly Nature News spot that has regular contributions from SWT, NTS, Atholl Estates, P&K ranger services and Highland Safaris.

 Housing Survey meeting: Following requests from 2 of the member groups, I arranged and ran a meeting on 19^th January to draw together those interested in preparing a collective response to the issues surrounding the Perth & Kinross Housing Survey. This was well attended with and led to some highly stimulating debate about the issues of common concern and a lot of consensus as to what is important in this area. I have formed this into a report that has been submitted to the council to add to their consultation. These workshops are very useful and provide a lot of interesting debate. They also serve to involve people who are not the regular HPCP representatives and therefore serve to widen our interaction and impact.

 Website: A training session in how to add a group’s details to the website in order for it to become truly interactive for the members was planned for January but became superseded by the housing survey meeting. This will be rescheduled for the next project officer to pick up so that they can become comfortable with assuming administration of the site...

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