East Sutherland and Edderton Ward Forum

Action Notes of East Sutherland and Edderton Ward Forum held on 5 October 2009 at North Highland College, Burghfield Campus, Dornoch

Attending Representing
Cllr. Jim McGillivray(Chair) Highland Council
Cllr. Ian Ross Highland Council
Cllr. Deirdre Mackay Highland Council
Alistair MacIver Rogart Community Council
Yvonne Ross Dornoch Community Council
Iain Miller Golspie Community Council
Ann Keatinge VGES
Insp. Ramsay Aitken Northern Constabulary
Colin Simpson Highland Council
Scott Armstrong Visit Scotland
Ian Hargrave Highland Council
Phil Tomalin Highland Council

25 Members of the Public

1 Apologies

Brora CC (following election), Evelyn Mackenzie (Helmsdale CC)

2 Action Points/ Matters Arising

Highland Wide Local Development plan
• web link and info day dates forwarded to CCs
Portgower Helmsdale Stretch of A9
• Transerv attended meeting with Helmsdale CC and will meet with Councillors on Tues 6 Oct.
Neglected buildings
• Council has limited enforcement power except where buildings are dangerous. Need for more effective legislation
Helmsdale on road distance signs
• Letter has been sent to Chief Exec Transport Scotland. Letter also covered Portgower – Helmsdale section – reply awaited.

3 Ward Discretionary Budget

Sheet circulated with details of grants made to date in 2009/10. There were no questions

4 New Burghfield Campus - Russell Rekhy, NHC Campus Manager

• New campus accepted first 30 students studying hospitality, professional cooking
• Facilities include 40 seat restaurant, 2 professional kitchens, conference facilities, letting bedrooms
• Phase 2 Centre of History in Stable block
• Phase 3 30 bedroom accommodation block
• Former kitchen garden poss. use for allotments, also ESF bid for horticultural programme to make use of gardens
• 6 new local jobs have been created.

5 Tourism

Scott Armstrong, Regional Director Visit Scotland

Visit Scotland
• Non-departmental government organisation. Not a membership organisation
• Funding £72m: £42m, from Scottish Gov; £6m from 32 Scottish local authorities;
• Service level agreement with HC worth £450,000
• European funding for marketing fund
• Remaining £24m from industry paying for services and visitor fees
• 800 staff, 50% in 102 Visitor Information Centres across Scotland

Major areas of work:

Marketing
• >85% visitors from UK&I.
• VS gather intelligence on market and prioritise those most likely to visit Scotland
• International marketing targets US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
• Target European markets are Sweden, Germany, France, Netherlands, Belgium, Italy, Spain, Portugal.

Information and interpretation
• 102 VICs in Scotland - number reducing, reflecting reduced use by consumers
• Increased use of partnership working in Highland, e.g. with HC at Dornoch

Quality Assurance
• QA system currently under review
• Currently VS only promotes Quality Assured businesses, but likely to introduce new limited working relationship with non QA businesses branded as “working with Visit Scotland”

Visit Scotland.com
• Was private/ public partnership now fully in-house
• Controversial but very popular – 11m visits per year, outperforming Visit Britain, Visit Wales, Enjoy England and Discover Ireland websites

Tourism Growth Fund
• Groups can bid for marketing funding up to 50% costs
• Min £12,500 project (£6,250 contribution) max £130,000 (£65,000 contribution)

Colin Simpson, Highland Council Tourism Coordinator

HC Supporting tourism
• Rationale to support important sector of the economy
• Close working relationship with VS, SNH, FCS, HIE
• Advice and assistance to other HC services e.g. ECS events, TECS transport etc
• Cruise liner development - passengers from Invergordon, partnership working to develop itinerary, working with Cruise Scotland re previous and subsequent ports
• Funding available for projects
• Other HC work includes Countryside Rangers, core paths network, Archaeological and Heritage Trails, Business Gateway (business support has moved from HIE to HC)

HC Promoting Tourism
• Strategic view of tourism
• Work with VS based around SLA – VICs and marketing activity inc seasonal marketing. Recent winter campaign evaluated to have delivered £40 of business for each £1 spent on campaign
• Outdoor activities e.g. mountain biking use Ft William World Cup to promote further exploration of Highland
• Joint campaign with VS following introduction of flight from Düsseldorf – Inverness. Flyers sent to German residents

Future Trends and Opportunities
• Wildlife market is growing – Highland is well placed
• Adventure Travel World Summit 500 operators meeting in Scotland - opportunity to promote Scotland as an adventure destination
• Golf - Castle Stuart contributing to critical mass of local quality courses

Discussion Points

• Summer 09 has been a good season locally, now into winter season, which means short notice bookings. Good season across Scotland: largely UK and Euro based; US visitors declining, Canada steady. Homecoming has been a positive force
• Opening hours of VIC in Dornoch. Hours extended in Summer but not early evening, Need to explore alternative (inc ICT) approaches, e.g. touch screens.
• Importance of VICs - personal contact with well trained and knowledgeable local staff is very important, however expensive to provide. Hence attraction of partnership approach

Promotion of Tourism in East Sutherland
• Dornoch and Dunrobin as ‘honeypots’ – cooperation between communities could lead to wider spread and longer stays of visitors, promote local produce, environment, culture and heritage; development of E Sutherland brand e.g. ‘Carnegie Country’
• However branding takes a lot of resource to establish and maintain, cautious about brand for a small area. North Highland Initiative already maintains a useful brand for north Highland.
• How to promote and develop business opportunities surrounding mountain biking in Golspie and beyond? Also longer road /off road routes could be developed and promoted
• Need for a mechanism or vehicle to take these ideas forward
• HIE eager to be involved and to offer support where possible e.g. consultancy, expertise, training for, local businesses and groups

Brown Tourist Info road signs
• Highland Wildcat in Golspie and Historylinks in Dornoch
• VS criteria - needs to recognised as visitor attraction, businesses need to be quality assured, if not a business exception can be made. Highland Wildcat is in latter category, Visit Scotland would be happy to approve
• Funding – business needs to pay for the sign. HC tourism development budget may be approximate to use for this purpose.
• Addition of new attraction means whole new sign, cost met by added attraction
• Use of Gaelic increases the size (and cost) of the sign
• Trunk road further complicates issue
ACTION Councillors to meet with Transerv on Tuesday 6 Oct
ACTION HC to help Highland Wildcat and Historylinks achieve required brown signs.

• Is there an opportunity for temporary /slide in signs that can promote regular annual events? Are events eligible for brown sign promotion? Any precedents?
ACTION Cllrs to follow up with Transerv on Tuesday 6 Oct

Accommodation in Dornoch
• Role of VS does not include attracting accommodation providers to Highland (e.g. Travelodge)
• HC works with Scottish Development International which promotes inward investment.
• HIE potentially could support development and recognise advantage of e.g. Travelodge “flag” on map in attracting additional visitors
• HIE undertaking E Sutherland accommodation report.
ACTION HIE to share the report with Ward Forum

Aviemore Adventure Travel World Summit
• Opportunity for HIE to promote business opportunities
ACTION Colin Simpson to liaise with HIE and other agencies on the programme

6 Community Council Review

• Driven by Scottish Govt. COSLA and Association of Scottish Community Councils
• Consultation in line with nationally agreed approach
• Phase 1: re CC boundaries - ends before Christmas
• Phase 2: consultation on new scheme and constitution - ends in Summer 2010
• Phase 3: consultation on reviewed scheme incorporating Phase 2 amendments - end Autumn 2010
• Final ratification by HC end 2010,
• Likely implementation date April 2011

Discussion
Ward 5 CCs apparently happy with current boundaries
Some concern voiced about overburdening CCs, who are volunteers, but important to recognise statutory function carries a degree of responsibility and accountability

7 Community Safety – Ramsay Aitken, Area Commander Sutherland and E. Ross

New senior officers at Northern Constabulary
• North Division Commander Superintendent Julian Innes
• Acting Chief Inspector Angus MacInnes (Caithness Area) acting as CSER Commander until arrival of Chief Inspector Matthew Reiss

Latest crime figures
Recent figures show Sutherland remains a safe place to live – NC aim to keep it that way. Figures are the total number of calls logged Aug/Sept 09 and do not represent the total number of crimes. They are “raw” figures used merely to highlight current work. Figures are for Sutherland (Sutherland and East Ross totals in brackets):
• Disturbances 4 (109)
• Assaults 2 (15)
• Vandalism 5 (34)
• Road Traffic Offences 33 (123)
• Road Traffic Collisions 26 (57)
• Drugs 2 (26)
• Drug and Drink Driving 4 (26)
• Thefts 5 (35)
• Theft by Housebreaking 2 (8)

Update
• NC recognise importance of contact with CCs - already attend Ward Forums but aim to attend CCs also. Not always possible - written report will be submitted
• School liaison continues: primary schools once per term, high schools monthly
• Antisocial driving remains an issue and a priority
• Princess Anne visit to Tain and Golspie went well,
• Dornoch Police Station - NC recognise still issues re meeting community expectation
• Diversion following A9 accident - difficulty of managing large vehicles on single track diversions
• Golspie Service Point - soon to move to Olsen House to be shared with Northern Constabulary and ESCAB

• Recent accident at Skelbo crossroads investigation ongoing. Pothole on corner perceived as contributing factor by local community
ACTION Councillors to raise with Transerv

8 Issues raised by Voluntary Sector Ann Keatinge (VGES)

Training
• Village Halls seminar Thurs 12 Nov. Golspie Fountain Road Hall will include feedback from Community Energy Scotland audit.
• ACAS training on Employment Law - new grievance and disciplinary procedures. Tues 17 Nov Brora Community Centre.
• Personal Safety for Lone Workers - Clare Collins, Keeping Children Safe Date tbc late Nov / early Dec.

Update
• Greenspace Project Lawson Memorial Hospital aims to increase use of hospital grounds. Survey via online link from VGES website and hard copies in Service Points and medical centres.
• Sutherland Summit - start of a process culminating in Action and Development plan for Sutherland. Online discussion forum for further comment. Further workshops around Sutherland will be promoted widely. Many positive comments received so far. Request to consider one workshop for youth issues although 3 workshops may include youth issues as based in High Schools.

9 Issues raised by Community Councils

Golspie
• Mound Speed Camera - Widely believed in community to be in the wrong place. Camera is run by Northern Safety Camera Partnership
ACTION Insp. Ramsay Aitken to investigate location
ACTION Ward Forum to write to Camera Partnership outlining community view
• Speeding by police through A9 villages following recent fatal accident at Halkirk. NC aware of the issue. Debriefing sessions are being held with British Transport Police. Issue has also been discussed Chief Constable.

Dornoch
• Remembrance Sunday -The road closure during the Remembrance Parade has been resolved.

10 Issues raised by Councillors

Driving Ambitions an event to promote safer driving by young people will be held at Golspie High School

HC Budget
• All public sector budgets are tight and £500m reduction from Scottish Budget having knock on effect of £132m from Local Authority budgets and approx £40m from capital programmes.
• Allocations to individual Local Authorities to follow
• Next 3 years spending review may result in up to 8.5% reduction in budget. This will lead to challenging decisions.
• Likely to be subject of future Ward Forum.

11 Questions from Members of the Public

No further questions from the floor

12 Date of Next meeting

Tues 8 Dec 2009, Edderton Hall