Response to Action Points Raised at previous Tain and Easter Ross Ward Forums
ACTION - CCTV van visit:
It is hoped to have this available for Ward Forum members and the public to see immediately before the next Ward Forum on 13 Nov from 7pm to 7.30pm.
ACTION – Write to Chief Fire Officer on behalf of Ward Forum to notify him of the concern.
The three local Councillors have sent a joint letter to the Chief Fire Officer.
ACTION – Get Public Relations Manager to provide the picture for the coming year. The Programme could be in a more readable format.
We have now designed The Programme document and are currently printing 3,000 copies. We will ensure that Community Councils and Ward Managers get supplies for distribution.
We will also set out the programme prominently on the web site: www.highland.gov.uk with links from the home page.
ACTION – Find out on what basis did The Highland Council pick the halls to be transferred?
There are approx. 170 village halls in Highland. The majority of these halls are owned and run by independent community groups and are grant-aided by the Council. For historical reasons, the Council continued to own and run 13 halls directly in parts of Ross & Cromarty and Inverness.
Elected Members agreed that funding arrangements for village halls, including council-run facilities, should be equalised as part of the 2008/09 budget setting process. This was to be achieved though a series of measures including increasing the annual revenue grant for independent community halls by 25% (to £1k p.a.). Other measures involved addressing historic anomalies in council support for halls in Highland which included offering the 13 council owned halls in Ross & Cromarty and Inverness to their communities to own and run.
Town halls were not included in the process. These are substantial historic buildings providing community facilities in relatively large centres of population. These buildings are usually the only local facility which can house larger-scale community functions and civic events. ECS has 6 town halls on its books. 5 are run directly by the council and 1 is supported through grant aid. The following town halls were not included:-
o Wick Assembly Rooms
o Dingwall Town Hall
o Invergordon
o Duthac Centre
o Fortrose Town Hall
o Phipps Hall, Beauly
ACTION - Nigg update.
The latest position on Nigg is as reported to the Planning, Environment and Development Committee on Tuesday, 23 September 2008. At that meeting a 4 page executive summary (PDF) was tabled.
Questions given in advance – unfortunately these were not able to be covered due to lack of time.
Question - Can Tina Luxton, the Housing Manager, give an answer to the question put at the April, May and August Ward Forums about how many people are on the waiting list for housing in Portmahomack or Tarbat as a whole, or if not can she say how long is it going to take to provide this figure?
Answer - We are sorry you were disappointed by earlier replies. The information you requested is not readily available and the likely small numbers could raise issues of confidentiality. As the probable purpose in asking your question is connected to assessments of housing need and developing new housing proposals in the Tarbat CC area these figures alone would not help with this. There are a number of factors that have to be taken into account and there is a standing offer from Housing & Property to come and speak to Tarbat Community Council about this in more detail.
Question - What progress has been made on amending the Housing Register to avoid Tarbat being classified as one of the Seaboard Villages?
Answer - The Housing & Property Service has agreed to change the housing category of ‘Seaboard Villages’ to ‘PORT/INV/FEA/ PITCA’ which is a shortened version of the suggestion ‘Portmahomack/Inver/Fearn/ Pitcalnie’ given to them by Ward Councillors. This has had to be shortened because of computer system restrictions.