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Action notes - Ward Forum - Isle of Skye (Ward 11)
Meeting held on 28th April 2008
Attendees
Councillor Drew Millar (Chair)
Councillor John Laing
Councillor Ian Renwick
Councillor Hamish Fraser
Inspector Duncan McLean, Northern Constabulary
Maressa Munro, Dunvegan & District Community Council
Jim Rennie, Skeabost and District Community Council
Watson Laing, Glendale Community Council
Paddy Wilding, Glendale Community Council
Catriona Leslie, Portree Community Council
Ruaraidh MacNeill, Waternish Community Council
Aileane MacKinnon, Portree Community Council
Geoff Collins, Glendale Community Council
David Ashford
Margaret Collins
Margaret McPhee
Chris French
Chrisanne MacDonald, SLCVO
Colin Hutchings, Access Panel/ CAB
Officials in Attendance:
Jan Laing, Ward Manager
Mark Crowe, Community Works Manager
Richard Cairns, Community Works Officer
Apologies:
Bob Cameron, Corporate Manager
Rod Richard, Social Work
Christiane Higgins, Uig Community Council
Alex Turner, Scottish Natural Heritage
Maureen Keogh, Area Children’s Services Manager
Bill Pepe, Minginish Community Council
Les Downes, Staffin Community Council
Vic Hawthorne, Planning & Development Service
Robert Muir, HIE Skye & Wester Ross
Lachie MacDonald, Skye and Lochalsh Housing Association
Amy Millar, Area Personnel Advisor
Listed below is the action required and the outcomes resulting from discussion at the Eilean a’ Cheò Ward Forum meeting on 28 April 2008 held at Glendale Community Hall, Glendale.
Councillor Millar welcomed everyone to the meeting and explained that his time as Chair for the Ward Forum was not up and Councillor Renwick would be taking over as chair for the next year.
2.0 Action Note
The action note from the meeting on was noted.
3.0 Presentation
Inspector Duncan MacLean of the Northern Constabulary gave a comprehensive presentation covering issues such as the force objectives, crime figures, recruitment to increase in police from 700 to 744.
4.0 Waste Management Update
Councillor Laing gave an update on the developments made to date to tackle recycling.
Key features of the update were:
• All households will receive an extra bin over the coming months. These bins will be used to collect paper, cans, bottles, paper and card – all the normal household items. These bins will then be taken to a sorting site and the items sent for recycling ass appropriate. Bulky uplifts will change from July and black bags will no longer be picked up as part of the bulky uplift.
Concern was expressed that this may lead to an increase in fly tipping which is already a problem at Drumuie
Mr Watson Laing raised the issue of community skips. It was explained that each township gets six skips a year and Skye and Lochalsh are the only area in Highland Councils who get community skips.
Mark Crowe advised the meeting that the responsibility for Waste Management has now transferred from him to the Waste Management Team.
5.0 Issues raised by Glendale Community Council
TEC’s
Watson Laing raised an issue regarding a more visible and transparent management system which records requests for roadworks and progress.
It was explained that if a request is received it will be dealt with through the Customer Relation Management System which monitors the progress of the initial query. It was noted that this system is not yet available to Ward Mangers.
Mark Crowe explained that sometimes, when they agree to a certain request other incidents or priorities crop up which push the original request further down the priority list. In some cases this may mean that there are insufficient funds to carry out the original work requested.
It was noted that it was felt that this issue could benefit from further discussion, perhaps once the issue of access to CRM for Ward Managers has been addressed.
Travel Expenses to attend Ward Forums
Jan Laing explained that this is to be taken into account during the review of the Ward Forums.
It was noted that to date is that this issue only seems to be affecting the most rural areas where people generally have the greatest distance to travel.
Jan will report back to the Forum at a later date when the results of the review are collated.
Skye Airport
Councillor Laing raised the following issues as part of an update on this item.
• West Highland Air Transport who leased the airstrip for seven years did nothing by way of developing plans to provide a service.
• The airstrip does not currently meet CAA standards and will need considerable investment to bring it up to standard. The development of an airport on Skye is never the less in the Transport Strategy
• There is a private operator who is interested in operating a nine passenger seaplane into the bay at Portree.
• Councillor Fraser indicated there would still be a campaign to eventually get an airport for Skye.
6.0 Community Council Elections
Jan Laing advised that the Community Council elections were due to take place over April/May.
A copy of a guidance document which had been produced by Highland Council had been circulated. It appeared that much more onus was being placed on the Community Councils to organise the elections and this caused a lot of concerns.
It was unclear as to what everyone’s roles and responsibilities were. Jan agreed to get clarification on this and provide Community Councils with clearer instructions on what is expected of them. After the elections Jan will circulate a training needs form in order to address this issue and provide some training support.
It was noted that a lot of responsibility is placed on Community Councils these days and many potential Community Council members may find this off-putting.
It is important to encourage as many new members as possible to join.
7.0 Ward Discretionary Budget
Councillor Millar explained to the Forum that elected members for Skye had been considering a review of the Ward Discretionary Budget. He suggested that once the Councillors discussions were concluded a proposal would be brought to the Ward Forum for further discussion.
8.0 Any other Business
8.1 An issue from the floor was raised regarding the high costs of fuel and the potential impact on tourism and local businesses. It was noted that some small businesses are already beginning to feel the pressure as people cancel bookings amid concerns about availability of fuel in the Highlands and Islands.
Chrisanne MacDonald also expressed concern as this will also affect the voluntary sector and the delivery of services.
Councillor Laing agreed that this was a real concern which had been raised at the Ward Business meeting earlier in the day. He suggested that there was a need to express concern to the government regarding this matter by way of a press release or statement.
8.2 Catriona Leslie raised the issue of the call centre at Allness not being an effective way of communicating with the Council.
Councillors are to raise this at a Council meeting.
8.3 Concern was expressed at the continuing difficulties over the Ambulance Service and single manning.
It was agreed to address this again at a future Ward Forum Meeting.
8.4 Youth Provision was raised as an issue by a member of the public.
It was noted that the Councillors had been asked to participate in a review of Youth Provision by the Director of Education, Culture and Sport and that there maybe changes proposed as a result of this review.
Report back at the next Ward Forum meeting on the 9th June.
8.5 The issue of roads was raised. Transerv are to be asked to attend the next Ward Forum Meeting.
8.6 Catriona Leslie, Portree Community Council proposed a vote of thanks to Councillor Millar for his effective chairmanship over the past year.
9.0 Date of next Meeting
It was agreed that the next Ward Forum Meeting would take place on 9th June at 2pm in Tigh Na Sgire, Portree.