Action Note of Landward Ward held on 6 October 2008
Present.
Councillor David Bremner (Chair)
Councillor David Flear
Councillor Willie Mackay
Councillor Robert Coghill
David Sutherland, Caithness Wards Manager
Alex Macmanus, Ward Managers Team
Robbie Mackintosh, Ward Managers Team.
Billy Manson - Halkirk CC
Janet Mowat - Halkirk CC
John Green - Dunnet and Canisbay CC
Irene Hendry - Dunnet and Canisbay CC
William Brown - Caithness West CC
Donald Henderson - Tannach and District CC
Elizabeth Henderson - Tannach and District CC
James Macdonald- Watten CC
Alan Roberts - Bower CC
Sgt Ian Graham Northern Constabulary
Roy Kirk - Area Manager HIE
Eann Sinclair – Programme Manager Caithness & North Sutherland Regeneration Partnership
1. Apologies
Neil Buchanan - Berriedale and Dunbeath CC
Elizabeth Cameron - Berriedale and Dunbeath CC
Elizabeth Geddes - Castletown CC
Anne Alexander - Watten CC
2. Previous Forum Action Notes.
Bilingual Signs have not yet been erected in Caithness. Councillor Bremner informed the meeting that a new motion against the erection of bilingual signs had been signed by Caithness Members and would be raised at the next full meeting of the Highland Council on 30th October 2008.
Concession agreed allowed for three bilingual signs, one at the Ord and one each at the entrances to Wick and Thurso and it was felt a common sense approach is required.
Councillor Willie Mackay felt confident this compromise would be accepted.
4. Community Safety.
Sgt Ian Graham reported that he was at the meeting representing Inspector Goskirk who was unable to attend. He had no matters he wished raised.
David Sutherland explained that there had been a delay in getting the 20 mph signs working at some of the schools as they were waiting parts.
3. Caithness and North Sutherland Regeneration Partnership.
Eann Sinclair explained although still employed by HIE he is seconded to Highland Council and is the programme manager for the Partnership. He stated Partnership started out with a fifty point action plan in November 2007 however this has now been reduced to a ten point high priority plan. He mentioned the advisory board of which some of the Caithness elected members are part of.
New web site is being constructed and all new information will be published there. He was very aware of the need to keep the public up to date with what was happening.
Partnership has aspirations to replace two thousand jobs over a ten year period and he feels this can be done as over the last year two hundred were created.
Massive opportunities in the Pentland Firth and the First Minister’s comments at recent conference have gone out world wide. There are a number of companies showing interest and the next twelve months will be crucial.
Eann stated that he is very enthusiastic about the future and feels something spectacular is about to happen however it is important that everyone is pulling in the same direction.
Councillor Willie Mackay felt the target of two thousand new jobs would be difficult to achieve but Eann again stated he was confident.
The development of Scrabster Harbour was seen as crucial and Councillor Flear spoke about the benefits and jobs this could bring. Councillor Robert Coghill mentioned the sub sea cable requirement and the fact there was no time span for this. Eann stated it was good to see Crown Estates and Power Companies now working together on this.
Alan Roberts spoke of lack of infrastructure within the county and especially lack of broadband service and John Green stated that new fibre optic cable was only extending to populated areas.
Roy Kirk, HIE stated that there has been a recent upgrade of the John O’Groats exchange but any one further than three kilometres from an exchange would have difficulty receiving it. Alan Roberts stated the problem was very frustrating as BT and their engineers do not seem to communicate with each other.
Roy Kirk spoke on raising the profile of the county and this has been achieved over the past twelve months and certainly internationally over the recent months. He also stated that although there has been a delay with the John O’Groats master plan HIE were still firmly committed to it. He also agreed with John Green to consult again with local Community Council and public.
Roy also stated that there were a number of other countries chasing similar schemes to the Pentland Firth including Portugal and Ireland however we have a lot of assets in place and new jobs should progress over the next two-five years.
Roy also stated his three priorities are working to progress growing companies who can increase work force by 20% over two years such as Nicolson engineering and hopes to see at least ten companies developing.
Working with forty or fifty smaller companies over the next two years to increase workforces by smaller amount. Working with Scrabster and Wick Harbours and Wick Airport and also ensuring sustainable industries making money and talking the county up.
Councillor Coghill mentioned the poor standards of school and asked Roy if he could suggest a solution to the funding problems being experienced. He suggested contacting other areas who were in a similar position to see how they resolved the matter.
The case of private companies taking over Dounreay providing finance towards upgrading schools was discussed.
5 Ward Discretionary Budget.
David Sutherland gave an update on recent awards granted. £18,257 left in budget and allocation of £41,402 had resulted in other funding of £84.069. He pointed out that there was no difference in allocation of funds to ward budgets whether they were three or four member wards.
He also mentioned the Leader money due to come on stream and that the launch has been delayed further.
6. Date of Next Meeting
Tuesday 13th January 2008 - Ross Institute Halkirk at 7-30pm t 9.30pm.
It was agreed that future meetings would be every three months but no further dates were set.
7. A.O.B.
Billy Manson mentioned talk of a Green Energy Centre being set up in Aberdeen and wondered why not Caithness. Roy Kirk stated he was looking at setting up a green energy renewable unit in conjunction with UHI.
Councillor Robert Coghill talked about the poor standard of play areas and this was discussed at some length. Biggest problem facing the Highland Council is lack of funding and the cost of new equipment. Councillor David Flear mentioned costs for the Halkirk Community play area.
It was agreed that the way forward was for communities to raise money to improve play areas in their areas and David Sutherland mentioned Leader funding as a possible way forward.
It was noted that part of the Causewaymire had been re-tarred but other areas especially at Tacher still required to be done.
8. Questions and Answers.
Written question submitted by Tannach & District Community Council
Q - Voter Registration Forms were sent out about the start of September. The details you have to supply/verify are to be as correct on 15 October. Why then are reminders sent out dated 25 September if you have not returned it by then? How many reminders are sent out each time and at what cost? Surely in the 6 weeks or so from the time they are received to the date they specify, there will be quite a lot of people dying, getting married, moving house’.
A –“This is a question which is asked frequently. I shall attempt to clarify the reasons for this.
The ‘reference date’ of 15 October is statutory, as are the publication date for the new register and the wording of the standard annual canvass form. The start of the annual canvass cannot sensibly be earlier than a date allowing the inclusion of the final monthly changes to the current year’s register, and these are added in mid-August to take effect from 1 September.
So, it can be seen that we are on a very tight timetable following the start of the canvass each year. We know that after a few weeks the return of forms dies off and requires being refreshed with a reminder and the same happens before a final reminder is sent in October.
I can see why this may be considered to be premature in terms of the reference date but there is also now a requirement for Electoral Returning Officers (EROs) to send doorstep canvassers to non-responding households, all of which must take place by mid November to allow production and publication of the new register by 1 December.
Hence, at the top of each canvass form, are the words ‘Please complete this form and return it to us as soon as possible’, while the notes on the back state ‘This form should include everyone living in your household on 15 October. You don’t have to wait until then to fill it in’. I would reiterate that this wording follows faithfully the government’s statutory model.
There is further advice that if the details for any household change after 15 October they should contact us immediately.
As far as numbers are concerned, the Board issued original forms to 126,000+ households and reminders to 51,000+ households. We use the print bureau chosen by most EROs in Scotland to produce the forms and procure envelopes in bulk. As this is a very competitive market I do not think it appropriate to provide costs given in commercial confidence other than to say that it is clear that they are considered to be the best value available.
Postages are at the Walksort 2 rate which also means that there is a considerable discount from Royal Mail. The only further savings that I can see in the exercise would be as a result of changes to the legislation or a more urgent attention from the public to what is a legal requirement.
Finally, I can add that various representations have been made by professional bodies, such as the Scottish Assessors’ Association and the Association of Electoral Administrators, to the Ministry of Justice to allow EROs to either set a more appropriate reference date, to bring it forward to allow more canvassing time, or to do away with it altogether.
These suggestions are currently being considered as part of a general review of electoral administration but in the meantime we are obliged to continue with the legislation as it stands.
I trust that this is of assistance”.
David Sutherland mentioned that for the next Community Council elections they would be working with a roll a year out of date and this would be discussed at the next Association of Caithness Community Councils meeting in early December