Action Note of North, West and Central Sutherland Ward
held on 23 August 2008
Present
Cllr Robbie, Rowantree, Chair
Cllr George, Farlow
Cllr Linda Munro
Ian Hargrave, Corporate Manager
Andy Mackay, Ward Manager
Russell Taylor, Creich Community Council
Tony Gibb, Ardgay Community Council
David Walker, Lairg & District Community Council
Robin Noble, Assynt Community Council
Alasdair Wood, Scourie Community Council
Charlotte Wright, Regional Director, HIE
Fiona Hampton, Director Highland 2007
Nicola Ewing, Development Manager, Leader Programme
Fiona Cameron, Are Coordinator, Leader Programme
William Sutherland, Sutherland Partnership
Nicola Welsh, Social Enterprise Academy
Ian Mitchell Development Manager SNH
Anne Sutherland, Manager Strengthening Communities HIE
Dr Fiona Mackenzie, NWH Geopark
Evelyn Mackay, NWH Geopark
Lindsay Kelly, Social Enterprise Academy
Apologies
Janette Mackay, Strathy and Armadale Community Council
Sandra Munro, Bettyhill Strathnaver & Altnaharra Community Council
Graham Wild, Kinlochbervie Community Council
Sgt Garry Campbell, Northern Constabulary
Roy Kirk, Area Manager HIE
Introduction
Cllr Robbie Rowantree welcomed everyone to the Forum and went on to explain the format of the forum and today’s proceedings. He accentuated the positives of living in Sutherland, the quality of life, marketing and enterprise opportunities, the 4G network coming soon will help communications, how to turn disadvantages into positives and why the Enterprise companies invited today will help to explain this.
Social Work Meeting Feedback
Ian Hargrave thanked the people who attended for making the meeting constructive and has taken the matters up with senior colleagues and the ward forum will have further opportunity to discuss the issues raised. Dr David Saltor, Chair of the Assynt Centre Action Group asked about the timescale and was reassured by RR that due to the Administration change, he is now Vice Chair of the Housing and Social Work Committee and this was important to him and he is pushing for a model of delivery to the community.
Presentations
Charlotte Wright, Regional Director HIE gave a strategic overview and their plan to build sustainable growth in the Highlands and Islands. She talked briefly on their key areas – regional competitiveness; high growth business; strengthening communities; and what this all means for HIE. She emphasised that ‘high growth business’ does not mean only working with big businesses, but those with potential to grow big. They have a National Performance Framework to follow and these are monitored by the Government as well as following the guidelines in the Single Outcome Agreement.
Nicola Ewing, LEADER explained that Fiona Cameron will be this area’s first point of contact for the LEADER programme. It is hoped to enable people to fulfil personal and social potential, improve access to services, develop plans, improve learning and training and maximise community assets. Each area must establish a Local Area Partnership (LAP) to administer applications and handle the budget, in this area this will be done by the Sutherland Partnership. At present, £6.63m has been allocated to the Highlands.
William Sutherland, Sutherland Partnership explained his role relating to the LEADER programme and said Draft copies of the Leader Development Plan for Sutherland were available for comments, deadline 26 September.
Fiona Hampton, Highland Legacy gave a background to the Legacy programme which came on the back of the Highland 2007 programme. £500,000 worth of grants are available each year for festival and events funding, with two application deadlines per year, the first of which closed yesterday (200 applications received). Other events funding bodies are going through transition periods, ie Scottish Arts Council are becoming Creative Scotland, but a proposed final programme will be put to the Highland Council in Feb 2009.
HC Area Cultural Officer, Adrian Clark should be the first point of contact.
Nicola Welsh, Social Enterprise Academy explained the social aims in trading for businesses and that they offer courses with qualifications, but also modular and on-site training, business packages and marketing. There are currently over 1,000 social enterprise companies in the Highlands with an approximate turnover of £1.25b but it is still an underdeveloped area. The SEA are currently developing training courses in the area starting from September.
The Forum then broke for the various workshops led by
• Anne Sutherland, HIE
• Nicola Ewing, LEADER
• William Sutherland, Sutherland Partnership
• Fiona Hampton, Highland Legacy
• Nicola Welsh, Social Enterprise Acad.
• Fiona Mackenzie, NWH Geopark
• Ian Mitchell, SNH
where there was lively discussion, presentations and question and answer sessions.
The Forum re-convened after a short lunch break.
Ward Budget
Andy Mackay explained the detail in the budget, and how in this financial year the fund has contributed to projects valued around £791k, he reminded everyone that applications can be downloaded and made on-line from then Highland Council website, www.highland.gov.uk.
Community Council Issues
Robin Noble, Assynt CC raised two points – the Assynt Care Centre (which had already been discussed) and the Lochinver Primary Teacher situation (which will be discussed at a meeting immediately following this one). He praised the format of the Forum and felt it worked well, he did however, criticise the communication between the HC and the community on issues such as the Assynt Centre and the school which should be being improved. His points were taken on board.
Councillors Issues
Linda Munro mentioned the increase in provision of dental care for P1-P7 children, 60% required no remedial dental work, and 80% of 3-5 year olds are registered with an NHS dentist.
George Farlow spoke about community engagement and the problem with volunteer overload, and recommended the Sutherland Area Development Plan for comments.
Robbie Rowantree felt his comments were all dealt with by the workshops, which were extremely interesting and informative and thanked Kelly Strickland Manager of Assynt Leisure and her team for all the effort they put into providing the excellent the refreshments and supporting the forum.
Themes
Two themes were suggested – Integrated Transport Service and Waste Management.
Questions
These had mainly been raised and answered during the Forum and Workshops. One point raised was for an increase in provision and/or frequency of recycling facilities. It was also agreed from this to invite a representative from GREAN to the next Forum.
Police matters were discussed and Chief Inspector Andy Brown is also to be invited to attend the next Ward Forum to explain the changes and his vision for the Police Service in the ward.
Generally, there was positive response and feedback to today’s Forum, and the next one was set for Saturday 22 November in the Invershin Hall and the theme would be on Integrated Transport and Recycling & Waste Management.
The forum asked that the Ward Forums be advertised through their local papers as well as the Northern Times.
Please note:
Community Council representatives were reminded that the forum had agreed that funding is available for them to claim travel expenses, for one car, from each community, to attend the Ward Forum.
Also that if they are unable to attend as the chair that a member from the community are welcome to attend and be the nominated local representative (ie, it does not have to be the same representative each time).
Date of next Forum - Saturday 22 November in the Invershin Village Hall at 11am.