Action Note of Landward Ward Forum held on 13th January 2009.
Present.
Councillor Robert Coghill (Chair)
Councillor Willie Mackay
Councillor David Flear.
David Sutherland - Ward Manager
Janet Mowat - Halkirk Community Council
Elizabeth Geddes - Castletown Community Council
Jim Macdonald - Watten Community Council
Anne Alexander - Watten Community Council
Neil Buchanan - Berriedale & Dunbeath Community Council
Donald Henderson - Tannach & District Community Council
Elizabeth Henderson - Tannach & District Community Council
Alan Roberts - Bower Community Council
Bill Brown - Caithness West Community Council
Irene Hendrie - Dunnet & Canisbay Community Council
John Green - Dunnet & Canisbay Community Council
Acting Inspector Ian Graham - Northern Constabulary
Neil Macrae - Highland Council (TEC Services)
Alex Macmanus - Ward Managers Team
Robbie Mackintosh - Ward Managers Team
One Member of the Public with no press in attendance
1. Apologies
Councillor David Bremner.
Douglas Fraser - Castletown Community Council
Billy Manson - Halkirk Community Council
Elizabeth Cameron - Berriedale & Dunbeath Community Council
2. Previous Forum Action Notes.
Allan Roberts requested that Highland Council and HIE were working on the matter be added to his comments on page 2 paragraph 7.
3. Highland Council Transport Strategy.
The Chairman introduced Neil Macrae, Transportation Officer with TEC Services in Inverness. Neil spoke about the policy framework for the Transport Strategy and explained that as the Highland Council were in the process of updating its current policy there was a need to carry out local consultation and his presentation was part of this process.
He listed the large number of stakeholders involved and gave an update on the progress made on previous strategy targets. He also mentioned current trends and geographical issues involved such as the vast miles of roads, bridges etc the council had responsibility for.
He discussed new objectives and policies and stated that the transport strategy was for the whole of Highlands and referred to the Programme of the Highland Council which included, school transport and travel, working with Scottish Government on road improvements, HIAL regarding airports and air services, rail companies regarding improved services including rail freight and the progression of the Inverness trunk link road
Councillor Coghill commented that there did not appear to be any major investment north of Inverness and John Green stated that although a number of schemes had been identified by the Caithness Transport Forum they were currently shelved.
John also referred to the visit to Caithness by the transport minister last year and that he had been taken on a tour of Caithness including the A99 which is deemed one of the most dangerous roads in Britain. He also felt that although some maintenance was being carried out the work was of a poor standard resulting in the problems returning after a short period of time.
John also stated that there has been no capital investment in Caithness roads for some considerable time. Councillor Coghill commented on the fact that the council cannot keep up with current maintenance work however Neil stated that there was still a need for the council to identify new projects whilst trying to maintain existing targets.
Councillor Flear reminded the meeting that the administration had adopted the local Caithness Transport Forum plan and he had spoken to the Director regarding the offer put forward by Wellbeck Estates for the possible realignment of the A9 at Berriedale.
Allan Roberts brought up the lack of public transport in the Bower area and gave several examples of the difficulties faced by residents wishing to travel to Wick or Thurso.He also stated that busses run regularly from Thurso to Castletown but go no further and although there are Community Transport schemes in operation they have proved not to be reliable and what is really required is a regular bus service. Neil agreed to pass on details of the council official responsible for public transport.
David Sutherland referred to the greater use of the Thurso-Castletown –Wick road by vehicle users since the opening of the Tesco store in Wick and Janet Mowat referred to the poor state of the Thurso-Glengolly-Halkirk road which was not fit for the amount of traffic using it and stated Halkirk Community Council have been in touch with the Director of TEC services regarding this stretch of road.
Bill Brown spoke about the poor quality of rail services however Neil stated that the council had no control over this and could only make representations to the Scottish Government.
Councillor Flear informed the meeting that although Tesco now move their goods from the Central belt to Inverness by rail there were no plans to continue this to Caithness despite facilities being available at Georgemass.
Neil informed the meeting that the document would hopefully be available shortly on the Council website and that the consultation period was open until the end of February 2009.
4. Community Safety.
Acting Inspector Ian Graham informed the forum that Inspector Liz Goskirk had been transferred to Inverness however there would be a temporary inspector in post until a new appointment was made. He also stated that a review of allocating officers to Community Councils had taken place and they would be informed shortly which officer was there representative.
Councillor Coghill referred to the fact that when roadside walls or hedges were damaged as a result of a road accident landowners were not informed of the drivers details by the police which resulted in them being unable to claim for repairs. Inspector Graham stated that if the police were involved the details should be contained in the accident report and were available from the local station. He agreed to bring this matter to the attention of shift managers.
Councillor Flear referred to the condition of the road surface on the A9 on parts of the Causewaymire during the recent cold spell and the number of accidents which had occurred. The problem appeared to be the type of tar used in the recent resurfacing works which appeared to ice over very easily and the same problem has also been highlighted in Skye.
Inspector Graham stated that he was aware of the accidents occurring but was not aware of any problems with the road surface however he would raise this matter with TranServ.
Councillor Coghill wondered if motorists referring to the temperature readings produced in their vehicles were being given a false sense of security as the air temperature was often not as low as that of the ground. Inspector Graham agreed to mention this to the road safety officer.
Inspector Graham also stated that they had lost a number of probationary officers planned for the area and Neil Buchannan asked if this would result in a shortage of manpower on the ground. The inspector declined to comment on this but stated there would be the same amount of staff as at present on each shift.
Councillor Coghill raised the matter of the number of blind spots, due to overgrown vegetation, on the road north of Portgower which made it difficult to see cyclists and asked if the police would bring this to the attention of Transerv.
5. Discretionary Budget.
Councillor Coghill pointed out that this year’s budget had been used up and there was only £84 left. He highlighted the amount of money brought in from other funders as a result of the payments from the fund and hoped people felt it was being used to the benefit of all and applications should still be made for next years budget.
David Sutherland pointed out that although it was raised that 4 member wards should receive a larger budget than those with 3 members it was decided by the council that no change be made. He also stated that due to financial cut backs there would be no increase in next year’s budget.
Councillor Willie Mackay made reference to the number of different types of projects supported and felt funding was being well distributed throughout the ward.
Janet Mowat asked about donation from Landward Budget towards refurbishment of Wick Town Hall and it was explained that it was of benefit to the whole of the county.
Janet also stated that Halkirk Community Council were under the impression that they would scrutinise applications made to the discretionary budget but was informed this was not the case and the procedure was explained by the Ward Manager who also stated that the reason for producing the balance sheet was to enable public scrutiny and allow questions to be raised regarding the award of funding.
John Green asked if many applications were refused and it was confirmed by the Ward Manager that a number are, mainly due to not meeting the criteria or not having match funding in place. He also explained that funding is not released to applicants until proof of match funding applied for is in place.
Irene Hendry asked if Landward organisations could apply to the Wick and Thurso budgets and Councillor Flear stated that all three wards had contributed to the upgrade of the car park at Dunnet Forest and were contributing to the continuation of the Caithness Partnership.
He also stated that it was not only groups that were supported and that members had paid for new cemetery gates at Halkirk,Bower and Keiss.He also reminded members that the budget was not there for year on year funding for the same projects and that repeat applications would be refused.
6. Date of Next Meeting
Next meeting would be held on Tuesday 7th April 2009 at 7-30pm in the same venue and it was agreed to try and get representatives from Digital UK to give a presentation.
Councillor Flear brought up the possibility of holding a joint forum with all three wards and this would be looked into and hopefully held in June 2009.It was suggested by John Green that the Ambulance Service be invited to it to give a presentation on their first responder scheme.
7. AOB.
None.
8. Question and Answer Session.
Question was asked if figures and statistics were available to show what effect the erection of the Smiley Faces signs had in reducing speeding in Halkirk and Watten and also if local inhabitants were happy with them.
Councillor Flear explained that no surveys had been carried out before or after the erection of signs in Halkirk however it was generally felt by people in the village that the majority of motorists do respond to the signs and that safety has improved.
He highlighted the fact that they had been community led projects with members contributing towards the costs through the discretionary budget
Neil Buchannan stated that statistics appear to show that the signs work across the whole of Britain and Councillor Coghill mentioned the effectiveness of the Slow Down signs situated at known accident blackspots on the A9 south of Perth which flash up as you approach them.