Where to find us:
Buccleuch House,
4 South Hermitage Street
Scottish Borders,
TD9 0RS
NDCT current vacancies
Finance Admin Officer
- Part time up to 20 hours pr week, £22.5-£25k depending on experience, post open till Oct 14th | DOWNLOAD JOB DESCRIPTION
Admin officer
- Part time up to 20 hours pr week, £22.5-£25k depending on experience, post open till Oct 14TH | DOWNLOAD JOB DESCRIPTION
Sign up for Membership
If you live in the Newcastleton and Upper Liddesdale & Heritage District Council areas, you can become a member of NDCT.
It is free to join you must live within the boundary and be 16 or over to join.
We are happy to welcome supporters to be added to our mailing list who will receive updates about what we are doing.
SIGN UP NOWOur Aims
Economic Benefits; Generate wealth in the local community.
To tackle dereliction and decay, preserve and enhance our local environment.
Create environmentally sound solutions for local problems, providing leadership within the community through self-help activities and initiatives combating social problems.
Newcastleton & District Community Trust
Newcastleton & District Community Trust is a membership organisation, formally established on September 16th, 2015. It is registered in Scotland. Co Ltd by Guarantee no SC515720. Scottish Charity no. SC045988.
About Newcastleton & District Community Trust
NEWCASTLETON is a small remote rural community of 762 people, we refer to ourselves as a landlocked island, often cut off from neighbours due to power cuts, road closures or weather events. As a result, we are a tough, resilient tight-knit community who work collaboratively to get things done.
Newcastleton & District Community Trust was formed in 2015. It is a membership organisation open to all aged 16+ within catchment of Newcastleton and Upper Liddesdale & Hermitage. A geographic region of 1,200 square miles.
Priorities are set by local people for the benefit of the whole community and all our projects are based on sustainable outcomes.
Principles of dignity, fairness and respect are built into all aspects of our engagement process and service delivery. We are a Charity and a Ltd Company.
We aim to:
- Regenerate of the community by the maintenance or improvement of the physical, social, and economic infrastructure
- Assist people who are at a disadvantage because of their social and economic circumstances through the provision of localised services and support
- Provide leadership within the community, developing initiatives that make us fit for the future
- Advance educational and recreational opportunities by developing strategic community spaces and facilitating development programmes and activities
Achievements and performance 2021/22
Community Projects
COPSHAW: FIT for our Future, the community development plan previously agreed was put into action:
With the successful asset transfer of the community Leisure facilities from Border Estates, Buccleuch, the community is now able to embark on our plan of upgrade and investment where facilities can be monetised and improved. NDCT’s principle of working with community groups who operate their facilities is that we work collaboratively, supporting them if they wish to develop their assets to deliver sustainable solutions.
The community now owns circa 100 acres of sites in and around the village which we refer to as our Leisure assets; these assets continue to be managed by the user groups and members, as they have done for many years; owning them, means we can develop them without hindrance, and we thank Scottish Land Fund for their support which enabled this to happen.
With help both financially and as mentors from Scottish Land Fund, Investing in Community Fund, CARES Local Energy Scotland, and our third sector partners The Bridge, Development Trust Association Scotland, and Community Enterprise in Scotland, NDCT successfully completed the community-buy-out of 750 acres of Holm Hill. The outcome of this work was a revision to COPSHAW:FIT for our Future to include the Holm Hill expanding our Development & Action Plan comprising:
Health & Wellbeing program – acquiring full ownership of community assets, working with community groups to upgrade them, increasing usage, and appealing to engage more to undertake exercise and activity throughout the year.
NDCT is currently working to overcome the challenges of living in a remote, rural location, recovering from the trauma of floods (Feb 2020 & Feb 2021) and the pandemic. These events caused great heartache and anxiety for our close-knit community, on top of the challenges already presented by our remote location; poor transport links and lack of local services. Scot Gov Covid Recovery funding helped support those in immediate need; working with 40 volunteers supporting 120 shielding homes and 100 flooded households. NDCT used the budget to invest in a short-term wellbeing service; the ‘Community Outreach’ Team (CO) has proved extremely valuable, providing local help, and bridging the gap between individual needs and other support services. Since May 2020 NDCT supported 77 households via its Hardship Fund, and Community Outreach has provided ongoing 1-1 support for 40+ individuals.
This work is ongoing and NDCT is working with public sector partners to find ways we can continue to deliver the support needed in the aftermath of the events of 2020-21.
Overcoming barriers to learning – our remoteness and lack of access to further education for our young people (and adults) remains an issue. It currently takes 2 buses/3 hours to reach our nearest college campus. As a result, attainment levels are poor. Buccleuch House, acquired via asset transfer from the Club Community Trustees it’s previous owners in 2016, will become our new community Enterprise, Learning, and Outreach (EL&O) center.
NDCT successfully delivered upskilling and Enterprise training in collaboration with Women in Enterprise in Scotland; encouraging women (particularly those living in rural, remote locations) to ‘have a go’ and follow their dreams; creating business models using their skills. Fourteen women completed the 10week course with several going on to work collaboratively supporting each other to follow their aspirations. NDCT continues to seek ways we can create and deliver other ‘remote’ skills courses to support local development and enterprise growth going forward.
Capacity Building – NDCT traditionally relied on the willingness of volunteers to work with the board to drive forward community initiatives. This built to a point where NDCT needed paid posts to support their work to build local capacity and to create proper management systems to ensure continued smooth operations given the volume of local projects spawning from the community groups/needs identified. Scot Gov awarded Investing in Communities grant enabling us to employ a development officer and the Enterprise, Learning & Outreach, Manager. NDCT outsources payroll and IT currently.
Since its inception, NDCT has acquired assets on behalf of the community and continues to explore how these can be exploited for maximum gain; socially, economically, and sustainably.
You can read more about the work of the Trust in its full set of accounts here.
N0024T- Signed AccountsNDCT Accounts 2020-2021
Trustees Statement for period 2020-21
Objectives, strategies, and activities
Background for 2020-21
Flooding – NDCT left 2020 in recovery mode following the devastation of the combined forces of Storm Ciara and Dennis in Feb 2020; snowmelt and waters combined to devastate homes and businesses. The covid pandemic forced the lockdown in March close to the aftermath of the flood meaning no remedial works were undertaken. Many residents chose to remain living in premises without homely comforts or facilities incurring additional charges as insurance solutions agreed pre-pandemic were then not sufficient to cover the increased cost of delays enforced by the lockdown.
Public service support dried up and many were faced with the daily vision of seeing their homes on pavements or in skips until the local authority freed manpower from covid support services to remove debris. Pavements, damaged curbs, drains, pavement setts and community facilities remained unusable and unsafe for many months.
In Feb 2021, just as many of our residents had returned to their homes a second devastating flood occurred with many returning households facing the prospect of relocation and remedial work again. It wasn’t as dramatic, but it was just as devastating to the homes and businesses that had to face the trauma of repairing and renewing again.
The mental impact of these events on our community has been marked and NDCT was extremely grateful to receive funds from the Scottish Government and many others to help support the work of clearing up and to face the impact of the triple whammy. What we did with this, and the many donations we received because of the events that impacted our community follows:
Board of Directors
The current Board of Directors:
Greg Cuthbert, Chair
Born and bred here Greg lives in the heart of the village and is determined to see the community thrive. His true passion is to see the railway reinstated in his lifetime – to bring wealth north from the south. Greg is a committee member on the Campaign for Borders Rail and an active member of the Community Council and volunteers for the Resilience Group in times of crisis.
Steve Hartley
Steve is an active farmer, running a smallholding, a passionate horseman and a devoted family man. He lives in Liddesdale on the outskirts of the village and experiences life living even less ‘connected’ than the majority of us – R100 cannot come soon enough! An engineer by trade his clear thinking keeps us on the right path.
Barbara Elborn, Secretary lives on the outskirts of Newcastleton village with her husband and dogs. Passionate about the village and its people she plays an active role in the community; a member of the Newcastleton Business Forum, and Newcastleton & District Community Council. Barbara is secretary of the Newcastleton & District Community Trust.
Margaret Elliot of Redheugh, Vice Chair 29th Chief of Clan Elliot. Deputy Lieutenant of Roxburgh, Ettrick and Lauderdale. Trustee of Boswell Trust, Sir Arthur Eliott Memorial Trust, Roxburghshire Landward Trust. Newcastleton & District Community Councillor. Vice President, Liddesdale Agricultural Society. Member of the Standing Council of Scottish Chiefs.
Scott Wilson lives in Copshaw Holm, the common name for Newcastleton village, and is passionate about ‘the Holm’, having lived here all his life. Scott is a member of the Newcastleton & District Community Council and a director of Newcastleton & District Community Trust.
Robert Leishman or Bert as he is known locally runs Border Autos located in the heart of the village and loves nothing better than tinkering under bonnets! His experience of running the garage with first-hand knowledge of the health and safety disciplines needed to manage a fuel site has been invaluable in helping establish the community fuel pumps.
Barry Patterson lives and works locally and is often found out on the hills – his day job is land management. He is our ‘go-to’ ask when we need advice on what to do with land parcels, forestry, and many other land-related issues. Barry is a passionate sportsman and is an active member of Newcastleton Golf Club as well as a committee member of Polysport.
Peter Irving, lives in the heart of the village with his wife Fiona. Peter is an active community volunteer often seen astride the grass cutter maintaining the greens and fairways at the golf club and community playing fields. He is an electrical engineer by trade and will play a valuable role in helping the trust make the right decisions about how to tackle decarbonisation.
We are happy to be contacted for further information or to answer any questions you may have:
