Inverness City Committee Minute

Agenda

Minutes of Meeting of the Inverness City Committee held in the Council Chamber, Town House, Inverness on Monday, 5 December 2011 at 10.00 a.m.

Present:

Mr R Balfour, Mrs C Caddick, Miss J Campbell, Ms H Carmichael, Mr A Christie, Mr P Corbett, Mr J Crawford, Mr N Donald, Mr J Finnie, Mr J Ford, Mr A Graham, Mr J Gray, Mr D Henderson, Mr D Hendry, Mr D Kerr, Mrs B McAllister, Mr K MacLeod, Mr F Parr, Mr R Pedersen, Mr T Prag, Mr H Wood

In Attendance:

Mr D Haas, Inverness City Manager/Clerk
Mr M MacLeod, Head of Planning and Building Standards
Mr C Cooke, Acting Area Education, Culture and Sport Manager
Mr J Kelman, Project Manager, Housing and Property
Mr S MacNaughton, Head of Transport and Infrastructure
Miss M MacLeod, Business Support Officer
Ms T Bangor Jones, Administrative Assistant

Provost J Gray in the Chair

Provost J Gray started the meeting by welcoming Mrs C Caddick to her first meeting of the Inverness City Committee as the newly elected Member for Inverness South.

The Provost then announced that Mrs S Graham, Council Officer would be retiring in January and thanked her, on behalf of the City Committee, for her 37 years of dedicated and loyal service to the Council and in particular to the City. Mrs Graham was then presented with a bouquet of flowers and gift as a token of thanks and recognition from the Members of the Inverness City Committee.

A bouquet of flowers was also presented to Miss M MacLeod, who was leaving her post as Business Support Officer in CEX Office, Town House, for a new position at the end of the year.

Business

1. Apologies for Absence

Apologies for absence were submitted on behalf of the Mr I Brown, Mrs M Davidson, Ms P Munro, Mrs G Sinclair and Mr B Wynd.

2. Draft City Centre Development Brief

There had been circulated Report No.ICC-55-11 (1766kb pdf) dated 28 November 2011 by the Director of Planning and Development outlining the content of a draft City Centre Development Brief which had been prepared for public consultation in early 2012. The Development Brief was intended to help support the more strategic Inverness City Vision by identifying and promoting development opportunities within the City Centre.

Mr M Macleod, Head of Planning and Building Standards outlined the key areas detailed within the draft City Centre Development Brief and invited the Committee to comment on its contents, which would help inform the report to the Planning, Environment and Development Committee (PED) recommending approval of the Brief.

Members thanked Mr Macleod for his presentation and commented as follows:

this was a very important document which would help to create a vision for Inverness for generations to come;
the quality of the environment was essential to a City and the provision of cycle ways, greenspaces and links to public transport would help towards removing motorised vehicles from the City Centre;
as the Inverness Common Good Fund was a major property owner in the City Centre, the Inverness City Committee must play a strategic role in the development of the City Vision and the Development Briefs
the Inverness Common Good Fund should be continually reviewed to look at ways of investing in and underwriting the purchase of properties to principally benefit the citizens of Inverness;
Farraline Park and Station Square were prime sites for creating civic spaces for the City;
the formation of a cross party Working Group drawn from the City Committee would help produce a structured and measured response to the Brief;
there were many empty buildings in the city which provided opportunities for development through being renovated internally whilst retaining facades;
the impact of the current review of the Councils office accommodation and the economic impact of businesses relocating out of the city centre were significant factors when considering new property investments for the Common Good Fund;
there was a need for an indoor facility for tourists and the Castle would be a prime location for this purpose;
• an integrated approach to the needs of locals and tourists was required;
it was important that Inverness be viewed as a City for young people;
transport connectivity between the East and West of the City was a significant problem and needed to be addressed, with particular attention to the needs of young people;
the left (West) bank of the River Ness must benefit from the Development Brief as the River and areas adjacent were essential to the development of the City;
The Council must ensure that the Development Brief did not react to the short term financial pressures but think in the long term;
the Victorian Market was an underutilised resource for the City as a tourist destination;
Bridge Street, the Castle and Castle Street from an important hub in the City Centre that needed to be developed for tourism purposes;
the vision must allow for flexibility and change as ideas change;
Retail development in the City would prove challenging because of the increase in popularity of internet shopping;
Depopulation in the City Centre was a major problem and private landowners must be encouraged to provide affordable housing;
Quality of design MUST be of the highest priority;
the Council should be looking to the possibility of using developer’s contributions to Planning Gain made in respect of construction outside the city, in the City Centre;
Academy Street must be a high priority area for development and improvements to streetscape;
the plan must look at ways of retaining public conveniences in the city;
some buildings were in a poor state of repair. Renovation and improvements to facades would immediately help the appearance of the city e.g. the Victorian Market entrance on Academy Street;
there was a need to find suitable alternative accommodation for the Courts and Prison which were no longer fit for purpose preferably by co-locating them on a new site;
student accommodation in the City would provide a fresh vibrancy to the centre;
the current Bus Station was not fit for purpose and a more appropriate location should be found possibly at the site of the present Morrisons Supermarket Car Park
the old BT Telephone Exchange, Huntly House and 1/5 Church Street offered development opportunities;
Inverness was a City and not a Town; and
opportunities to attract European funding must be taken.

In response to some of the Members’ comments, the City Manager confirmed that:

there had to be a strategic balance between Inverness Common Good Fund (CGF) investment and community benefit but that it had to make the best use of opportunities to move assets around. The main aim of the CGF was to produce an income;
after the draft Brief had been approved by the PED Committee, the City Committee would still have an opportunity to contribute to the Brief. It was not the right time to set up Member engagement. Mr Haas and Mr MacLeod were to work up a recommendation for a Stakeholder Group to be formed, including representatives from the Community and Members. This would be presented to the City Committee at the next meeting subject to the PED Committee approving the draft Brief;
a report on Coach Parking would be brought to the Committee in the New Year;
the Academy Street entrance of the Victorian Market would be looked at as part of the current renovations but the stone was very porous and sensitive to abrasion making cleaning difficult;
a report on the potential for development involving the Castle Wynd Toilet Block and the adjacent area would be made to the next City Committee set for 13th February 2012;
the Planning and Development Service had decanted from 1/3 Church Street because the office space was sub standard and a refurbishment programme was being worked up for consideration by the City Committee;
the need for a new Art Gallery and Museum must be recognised; and
a clear implementation plan with immediate actions needed to form part of the Brief.

Mr Macleod further commented that:

all Members’ comments would help to inform the report to PED Committee;
some funding for Academy Street Streetscape work had been earmarked from the Planning and Development Capital Programme fund and work was underway involving Mr Haas to ensure that other available budgets could have the opportunity to contribute;
both sides of the river had been included in the Brief;
the Council was working with the Prison Service to find an alternative site and,
as part of the consultation, process events would be held in central locations at appropriate times to engage with as many people as possible eg. Saturdays in Eastgate Centre, lunchtime sessions in the Spectrum Centre.

In conclusion, the Provost thanked Mr MacLeod for the comprehensive report, stating that the Brief needed to be flexible and to look at the short, medium and long term plans for the City. However, substantial funding would be required and innovative ways had to be found to finance it. Key would be the need to action improvements to Academy Street quickly and to balance the need for development with that of conserving the City’s heritage

The Committee:

i. NOTED the contents of the draft City Centre Development Brief;
ii. RECOMMENDED to the Planning, Environment and Development
Committee that the City Centre Development Brief draft document be
approved; and
iii. AGREED;

to the draft City Centre Development Brief being made available for public consultation in early 2012; and
that an update report be made to the next meeting detailing the engagement and consultation process

3. Education, Culture and Sport, Inverness City Area

There had been circulated Report No. ICC-56-11 (1352kb pdf) dated 24 November 2011 by the Director of Education, Culture and Sport providing Members with an overview of the current work and performance of primary and secondary schools in the Inverness City area.

Mr C Cooke, Acting Area Education, Culture and Sport Manager summarised the report, highlighting the key issues affecting primary and secondary schools in the Inverness area. He also asked that his thanks be recorded for the help provided by Local Members in providing Discretionary Funding for improvements to a number of schools in the area.

Members welcomed this comprehensive and wide ranging report and commented as follows:

there was nothing more vital than literacy and numeracy in the education of children and the primary school sector must be focused and resourced effectively to ensure this happened;
secondary schools should have a focus on enhancing the take up of computer sciences and modern languages. These areas of the Curriculum for Excellence needed more funding and this must be addressed to ensure pupils were equipped to compete in the modern workplace;
Inverness and the Highlands had an enviable quality of education and this was a reflection of the quality of staff in the schools;
those pupils with additional needs must continue to be supported effectively;
new housing developments often brought new schools to an area but it was important to address issues arising in established developed areas where new housing is now also being built;
nursery provision was important in local areas;
the reasons for people not coming forward for promoted posts within schools must be looked at;
inter-school co-operation in providing as wide a curriculum as possible for all pupils was essential;
too many young people were still leaving school with low level basic literacy and numeracy making them unattractive to employers and creating an additional strain on the benefit system;
with ever increasing school rolls in the urban areas increased pressure will be placed on school facilities and use of temporary accommodation;
services provided by Highlife Highland would have to be performance measured carefully;
a radical solution to providing viable class sizes for certain subjects might be the establishment of a Sixth Form College; and
freeing up staff rooms for classrooms might help to alleviate accommodation problems in some schools.

In response:

the City Manager confirmed that the Employability Sub Group of the Inverness Partnership was working with employers to look at the problem of youth unemployment.
Mr Cooke commented that:

an increase in attainment and achievement in literacy and numeracy was a key strategy;
it was recognised that schools were struggling to provide adequate modern language provision but this would be part of an overall review of education provision in the City;
building provision was part of an ongoing root and branch review, including the use of temporary accommodation;
flexible and adequate nursery provision was available locally;
attainment for local secondary schools was improving, particularly within Inverness High School, but there was still work to be done;
in some cases, staff rooms have already been converted into classrooms but it was important that all users of schools facilities had appropriate and suitable accommodation; and
information on the criteria used for measuring services provided by Highlife Highland was not available in this report but would be reported back to Members when available.

The Committee:

i. NOTED the provision made by the Education, Culture and Sport Service in
the Inverness City Wards;
ii. COMMENTED on the range and quality of provision and priorities within the
report and
iii. AGREED that an update report be brought back to the City Committee in
August 2012

4. Inverness Common Good Fund

4.1 Inverness Common Good Fund – Revenue Monitoring Statement

There had been circulated Report No.ICC-57-11 (214kb pdf) dated 25 November 2011 by the Inverness City Manager setting out the revenue monitoring position for the period to 31 October 2011 and showing actual expenditure to date.

In response to a Member’s request for updated information on three specific projects (BID – Gutter Project, Spectrum Centre and Hawthorn Drive Project) Mr Haas confirmed that:

BID – Gutter Project – this was progressing and BID was working hard to get agreements from private landlords;
The Spectrum Centre – works had been commissioned; and
Hawthorn Drive project – the project was ongoing and a new approach for delivery was being developed by the Housing service.

A more detailed update would be provided to the Central Ward Business Meeting.

The Committee NOTED the contents of the report.

4.2 Inverness Common Good Fund – Capital Monitoring Report

There had been circulated Joint Report No. ICC-58-11 (62kb pdf) dated 21 November 2011 by the Depute Chief Executive/Director of Housing andProperty and the Inverness City Manager providing Members with an update on the status of all current key capital projects funded from the Inverness Common Good Fund and seeking approval for the additional works detailed in the report.

Mr Haas in leading the project team acknowledged the work of officers in taking forward the issues affecting the Victorian Market during the renovation work. Repairs to the roof were ahead of schedule.

Members commented as follows:

a detailed breakdown of the climate implications was required within this report;
the installation within the Victorian Market was very effective and there had been many positive comments from the public;
communication with traders could have been better handled at an earlier stage;
a lot of staff effort and time had gone into communication and improvements to the Victorian Market and staff must be commended for this.

The Committee:

i. NOTED the progress being made on the current capital projects; and
ii. APPROVED:

a) the installation of a new Fire Alarm system within the Victorian
   Market at an estimated maximum cost of £100,000;
b) that the internal re-decoration and installation of new fire alarm
   contracts be added to the existing Victorian Market re-roofing
   contract; and
c) that the addition of Heat Curtains will be funded from the existing
   Victorian Market maintenance budget within the Common Good
   Fund Revenue budget for 2011/12.

4.3 Inverness Common Good Fund – Funding Requests from 2011/12 Budget

Declarations of Interest

Mr A Graham, Mr A Christie, Mr D Henderson, Mr H Wood, Mrs K MacLeod and Mr T Prag declared non financial interests in Item 4.3.6 as members of the Scottish Liberal Democrats but, having applied the test outlined in Paragraphs 5.2 and 5.3 of the Councillors’ Code of Conduct, concluded that their interests did not preclude their involvement in the discussion.

Mr T Prag, Mrs H Carmichael and Mr J Finnie declared non financial interests in Item 4.3.5 as Board Members of Eden Court but, having applied the test outlined in Paragraphs 5.2 and 5.3 of the Councillors’ Code of Conduct, concluded that their interests did not preclude their involvement in the discussion.

Mr R Balfour and Mr R Pedersen declared non financial interests in Item 4.3.3 as members of Inverness Music Festival but, having applied the test outlined in Paragraphs 5.2 and 5.3 of the Councillors’ Code of Conduct, concluded that their interests did not preclude their involvement in the discussion.

There had been circulated Report No.ICC-59-11 (41kb pdf) dated 25 November 2011 by the Inverness City Manager detailing requests for funding from the Inverness Common Good Fund from the 2011/12 budget.

4.3.1 Community Action for Raigmore

The Committee AGREED that the City Manager be given delegated authority, in consultation with the Donations Working Group, to approve an award of £8,300 towards the cost of replacing play park equipment in Raigmore Estate on receipt of a satisfactory detailed breakdown of costs and projected income for the whole project.

4.3.2 The Presbytery of Inverness

The Committee DECLINED to award £9,000 towards the cost of providing direct access overnight accommodation for those in housing crisis in Inverness.

Following consultation with the Council’s Principal Housing Officer, the City Manager had established that there was not an unmet need for this provision in Inverness. However Members recommended that the City Manager meet with representatives of the Inverness Presbytery to discuss ways in which its members’ experience in dealing with homelessness issues could be used to assist existing day time provision.

4.3.3 Inverness Music Festival

The Committee AGREED to award £10,000 towards the cost of running the Inverness Music Festival in 2013.

Members recommended that the City Manager meet with representatives of the Inverness Music Festival to look at ways in which the Festival might increase and maximise its income stream.

4.3.4 Love Inverness (Street Pastors)

The Committee AGREED to award £22,540 towards the cost of providing a day time service in Inverness.

Members were supportive of this initiative, commenting that it was essential to look at the sustainability of the project and ensure that the effectiveness and outcomes were measured against the Council’s Single Outcome Agreements with other statutory agencies.

Members were also keen to see the License Trade engage with and support this initiative.

4.3.5 Eden Court

The Committee AGREED to award £15,000 towards the cost of a digital projector for the Playhouse Cinema.

4.3.6 Scottish Liberal Democrats

The Committee AGREED to award £6,000 towards the cost of the Scottish Liberal Democrats Conference 2012.

Members commented that Conferences were an important source of income to many businesses in Inverness and that it had to be seen as a competitive and attractive destination.

4.3.7 Highland Council/Victorian Market Installation

The Committee HOMOLOGATED the decision by the City Manager to approve expenditure of £15,580 towards the cost of the design and implementation of an installation in the Victorian Market for the duration of the roof replacement work.

Members commended the work that had been carried out by officers to help enhance the visitor experience in the Market during this period of disruption.

4.3.8 Highland Council/Rose Street Car Park

The Committee HOMOLOGATED the decision by the City Manager to approve up to £9,000 towards the cost of underwriting any losses incurred through the provision of reduced parking charges in Rose Street Car Park in the 6 Saturdays running up to Christmas.

4.3.9 Highland Council/Gull Control

The Committee HOMOLOGATED the decision by the City Manager to approve expenditure of £5,000 towards the cost of obtaining expert advice on how Gulls could be controlled within the City.

The City Manager assured Members that such expertise was essential to ensure a comprehensive report with all possible options could be presented to Committee in the New Year. All other avenues within the Council had already been investigated.

4.4 Inverness Common Good Fund – Administrative Arrangements – Grants and Donations

There had been circulated Report No. ICC-60-11 (110kb pdf) dated 18 November 2011 by the Inverness City Manager reviewing the current processes for administering Inverness Common Good Fund grants and donations and making recommendations which will assist in the management of business and decision making without reducing Members’ power of scrutiny.

The City Manager outlined the report.

Members commented as follows:

all applicants to the Common Good Fund should be required to complete an application form;
the Council’s Audit Section should be consulted to ensure appropriate measures are being taken when agreeing expenditure from the Common Good Fund;
the phrasing of the criteria needed to be softened to avoid confusion for all applicants; and
there were a lot of frequent applicants and it was important that the Fund was advertised more widely to smaller organisations.

The City Manager thanked Members for their comments and asked that authority for appropriate changes to be made to the criteria be delegated to the City Manager in Consultation with the Donations Woking Group. Mr Haas also advised that it would be inappropriate for the City Committee to agree that all internally sourced funding requests be required to made using the Council’s Financial Assistance Application Form as this would have consequences corporately

The Committee:

i. AGREED that the Donations Working Group be allowed to consider in detail
and make recommendations in respect of applications where the sum applied
for from the Inverness Common Good Fund did not exceed £10,000.
(Noting, for the avoidance of doubt, that the Donations Working Group
would continue to review applications in excess of this sum and provide
comment to the City Committee as appropriate);
ii. AGREED that authority for appropriate changes to be made to the criteria
be delegated to the City Manager in consultation with the Donations
Working Group;
iii. AGREED that the City Manager consult with the Council’s Audit Section to
ensure appropriate measures were being taken to scrutinise applications;
and
iv.NOTED that a report would be taken to the appropriate City Committee in
December 2012, updating on the operation of the new decision-making
criteria;

The Committee resolved in terms of Section 50A(4) of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 that the public should be excluded from the meeting for Item 4.5 on the grounds that it involved the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Paragraphs 6 and 9 of Part 1 of Schedule 7A of the Act.

4.5 Inverness Common Good Fund – Sites and Premises Transaction Report Booklet B

There had been circulated Joint Report to Members only No. ICC 61/11 dated 25 November 2011 by the Director of Housing and Property and Inverness City Manager summarising the property transactions recently approved by the Head of Property Partnerships, under the Highland Council’s Scheme of Delegation, after consultation with local Members as appropriate and in accordance with policy, together with a statement on the current position in respect on Inverness Common Good fund rents and tenant arrears, if any.

Members commented on the fact that there were some properties within the Common Good Fund portfolio missing from the report, and in particular 1-3 Church Street.

The City Manager noted this omission and confirmed that a comprehensive and updated list would be reported back to the next City Committee meeting, with particular reference to 1-3 Church Street.

The Committee:

i. NOTED Inverness Common Good transactions approved by the Head of
Property Partnerships, under delegated powers, during the period 16 May
2011 to 24 November 2011, and the position regarding the tenant rent roll
as at 24 November 2011; and
ii. AGREED a comprehensive and updated list would be reported back to the
next City Committee meeting, with particular reference to 1-3 Church
Street.

5. Inverness City Southern Distributor Road - West Link Project

The Head of Roads and Infrastructure briefed Members on the Inverness Southern Distributor Road – West Link project which is currently out for public consultation. The briefing outlined the details of the work carried out under Stage 2 of the project design and focused on the Options Appraisal methodology which was an essential part of the design work.

Mr S MacNaughton, Head of Transport and Infrastructure, provided Members with an update on the Options being considered as part of the public consultation.

Members commented as follows:

this should not be referred to as the City Trunk Road Link, but the Southern Distributor Road (SDR) – West Link;
traffic modelling on Dores Road was required;
it would be unacceptable to leave the SDR without a link to the West so doing nothing was not an option;
a decision must be taken as soon as possible;
amenity space must not be lost as part of the development;
this could provide an opportunity for improvements to existing facilities e.g. Rugby facilities, Torvean Golf Club; Queens Park Athletic Ground; American Football; Rowing, and create a world class sports and leisure hub in the City;
existing transport links to the West through the City were not fit for purpose and created ‘rat runs’ which were detrimental to the environment and public safety;
existing roads were not designed to carry the volume of traffic now using them;
the momentum must be maintained but the chosen option would have to be practical and affordable;
any final recommendations must come to the City Committee for approval;
landowners could prove to be a stumbling block in any of the development options;
the link road must form part of an integrated transport strategy; and
the existing issues with Longman Roundabout and Inshes Roundabout would have to be addressed as part of the Link Road construction programme.

Mr MacNaughton thanked Members for their comments and responded as follows:

there was no reason why the ‘Trunk Road’ title could not be dropped – the majority of the traffic would use the route to get back into Inverness as opposed to on to the A82;
Dores Road traffic modelling had been carried out;
all landowners had already been consulted and any compulsory purchases that might be required had been built into the costings; and
solutions for Inshes Roundabout were being looked at as part of the East Link Transport Strategy.

The Committee otherwise NOTED the content of the briefing.

6. Minutes

6.1 Inverness City Committee Minutes

The Committee NOTED the Minute of the Inverness City Committee held on 10 October 2011.

6.2 Donations Working Group

The Committee APPROVED the Minute of the Donations Working Group held on 21 November 2011 (41kb pdf).

6.3 Investment Advisory Group

The Committee NOTED the Minute of the Investment Advisory Group held on 2 September (43kb pdf) 2011.

6.4 Investment Advisory Group

The Committee NOTED the Minute of the Investment Advisory Group held on 11 November (46kb pdf) 2011.

The meeting concluded at 3.45pm.