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Apologies:
Brand, Pam Cromdale & Advie CC, Brown, Mary Wade Centre Action Group, Rimell, Gregor Councillor B&S, Tait, Deborah Highlands & Islands Enterprise
Agenda:
2. Background information on the Forum – Presentation by Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch & Strathspey Corporate Manager, William Gilfillan.
There are now 3 operational areas across Highland Council, with 4 councillors within the ward of Badenoch and Strathspey. There has been a reduction from 9 to 7 services with a reduction in staff in terms of 20% reduction in management. There has been a new Chief Executive since 13th July and a new Highland Council Senior Management Team that includes the Chief Executive, the Directors of the services and 3 Corporate Managers who meet each Monday morning.
Ward Business Meetings take place between the Ward Manager and Elected Members on a 2 weekly basis to discuss and resolve issues arising within the ward.
For the Ward Forums to work well it is important that people feel engaged, and their partners, to help address local issues. Councillors can take issues back to council meetings when a change in policy is required. Community Safety will be a standing item at future meetings and a representative from Northern Constabulary will attend these meetings. The forums are also an effective way of rationalising all consultation into one rather than having many, and can consult in relation to priorities within the ward. Elected Members, Community Councils, the Northern Constabulary, the Ward Manager attend Ward Forum meetings as well as Highland Council staff and partner agencies, as and when necessary.
3. Presentation on Working with Young People in the Community: “Being Young in Badenoch” – by Lynn Johnson (Arts & Community Development Officer.
The Highland Council employs a part time youth worker in Kingussie, serving Kingussie High school Integrated Learning Community, Scott Sangster. A part time youth worker, employed by The highland Council is planned for Grantown Integrated Learning Community.
The ‘Being Young in Badenoch Project’ aims to provide positive alternatives to young people being on the streets with nothing to do in the Aviemore and Kingussie areas. Artists have been involved in facilitating workshops in the youth clubs with the work being shown at the Iona Gallery, Kingussie. A DVD relating to the project was shown.
The following questions were raised:
Was the project taking more difficult young people off the street? Yes it included young people with more challenging behaviour as well as other young people.
How do you reach these young people? Partnership working with VABS was key, and Eilidh Macleod (VABS Streetwork Coordinator) work with street workers and youth workers.
What % of young people aged 8-18 years did the project attract? 52 in total although amount of times young people attended varied.
How often do you meet? There are regular youth clubs on Wednesday in Kingussie at the Badenoch Centre, junior group in Aviemore on Tuesdays, The “Being Young In Badenoch Project” met on Thursday and Friday nights over 17 weeks. We would like to make activities more sustainable and on a regular basis.
What was the ratio between males and females? About 40/60 split.
What is the timescales for provision in Grantown and is it realistic? It is hoped that there will be a part time post in September, employed by Highland Council.
4. Presentation on the Community Development Officers by John Rainy Brown (Voluntary Action Badenoch & Strathspey)
The Community Planning Partnership raised the issue of identified need for activities and growth within the communities. Some communities getting funding but others not. A working group was appointed and met over a 3-month period. 60K funding for the project from CNPA, HIE and Highland Council. 2 part time community development officers employed and managed by VABS. Steering group set up to manage and identify projects. JRB went through the details of the remit of the officers including how they work with communities to assist community groups in partnership with other agencies. It’s about helping communities to become self-sufficient.
Officers received an induction since early June, which is ongoing. They have been making contacts, introducing themselves to communities and reporting back to the Steering Group. They have produced a report on their present work and are visiting community councils and village halls that need help. They are picking up on issues relating to volunteer overload and shortage and issues relating to young people.
AH from CNPA stated that it was excellent to see communities being supported to help themselves.
5. Other Community Issues / Future Agenda Items
How do the Community Council Forum, Community Planning Partnerships and the Ward Forum link together?
Cllr Dave Fallows explained that the Community Council Forum deals with common interests or issues of the moment, for example policing. Community Planning Partnerships are where all agencies come together to discuss issues relating to day-to-day services and focus on planning for the future needs of the community in a pro-active way. The Ward Forum is an open forum where a broad range of issues and problems can be looked at and openly discussed.
Recycling (including Plastics) – to be discussed at a future Ward Forum meeting
Community Development Officers – contact the VABS office if further information is required. Action: any relevant parties
Community School in Grantown (accessing facilities) – to be discussed at a future Ward Forum meeting
Planning of development on flood plains – (Ian) Highland Council and SEPA are aware of the problems and ensure that each planning application is assessed for its flood risk which is being monitored regularly.
Out of Hours medical services in Aviemore – invite NHS along to a future Ward Forum meeting to discuss
Home Care Services (referrals via Inverness) – to be discussed at the next Ward Forum meeting
Young people in Badenoch and Strathspey (Youth work and the role of the development officers, to clarify what each does and what are the needs of young people within the community) – to be discussed at a future Ward Forum meeting
Arrange for issues raised to be incorporated into future Ward Forum meetings.
Action: Ward Manager
District Courts in Badenoch and Strathspey – people who wish to express their concerns about the proposed move of JP court business to Inverness need to do so now by writing to the Scottish Court Services. Phone the VABS office for the address. Action: all complainants
Sue Palmer explained that there would be a number of standing items at future Ward Forum meetings, which includes ‘Community Safety’, ‘Ward Discretionary Budget’ and the ‘Ward Profile’.
A paper relating to details of the Ward Discretionary Budget was available for attendees, which includes examples of what the budget can go towards. Application forms are discussed at the 2 weekly Ward Business Meetings where a decision whether to make an award is made. It was agreed at the Ward Business Meeting on 02.07.07 that are contribution of £650 would be made towards the bus link services from Broomhill Station to Grantown on Wednesdays during July and August. A further update regarding the budget will take place at future Ward Forum meetings.
Sue mentioned that the Ward Profile could be accessed through the Highland Council website on www.highland.gov.uk by clicking on “Your Council Ward” and “Ward 21 Badenoch and Strathspey”. Information among other topics, includes contact details relating to the 4 Elected Members, the Ward Manager and Community Councils as well as details relating to Ward Forums including agendas and papers. Questions for future Ward Forum meetings can be lodged by going onto the website and into “Ward Forum”.
Hard copies of information relating to future Ward Forum meetings will go out to community councils, distributed to libraries, service points and post offices.
Action: Ward Manager
Rosemary McKinnon is the council officer responsible for producing information in alternative formats
6. Future Meetings
It was agreed that Ward Forums would take place 2 monthly. The date for the next meeting would be Monday 24th September at 19.30 in Grantown (venue to be confirmed) and locations will move between Grantown, Aviemore and Kingussie.
Notify people of future venue. Action: Ward Manager
Update – Meeting to take place in the Ben Mhor Hotel, High Street, Grantown-on-Spey
7. Questions from the public
Question 1. Ron Laing, AW Laing Ltd (Builders in Grantown)
We submitted an application in May 2007 and it is only this week we’re informed it could be another two months at least before the building control officer can consider the application, resulting in a delay of 4 – 5 months or longer before issue of warrant.
Currently we have at least six warrant submissions, these delays will unquestionably have a detrimental impact on our forward planning and workload. Normally warrants were granted within 4 – 5 weeks of submission.
Can you urgently address this problem – the only long-term solution would be additional permanent staff, we would appreciate an early response as to what action is to be taken.
Response: Richard Hartland’s, Head of Planning and Building Standards (a written response was provided in his absence)
The Building Standards teams performance has suffered however as we have lost a senior officer and as Glenn Campbell, the councils most senior officer, is focusing on more managerial work he is no longer at the “coal face”. The office also has a technical officer on long term sick leave. The situation has been discussed with the Director and the following issues have been identified:
- We are losing staff to other authorities whose salary scales are above ours
- We are finding it difficult to recruit and in other offices have had to appoint trainees to replace experienced building standards staff.
I have been authorised to review this position and having researched the other Councils salary scales am currently preparing a report to Personnel which reviews building standards salaries, status and workload. If Personnel accept the recommendations then the proposals will require to be put before the relevant Committee and I will take Personnel’s advice on that.
In the meantime I have engaged two consultants to ease the burden and streamline the workload. I have also arranged for the larger teams in Inverness and Dingwall to help out the smaller offices although this can be difficult during the holiday period.
I must also acknowledge that developers have been reasonable in not blaming area staff who are working over the odds. Indeed that has been recognised by both the Director and myself and our thanks offered to area staff. I will prepare my report as quickly as possible but acknowledge that the process will take longer than we would all wish.
William Gilfillan added that Fergus Ewing has campaigned on this matter, and that salary scales needed to be brought up to the level of other local authorities.
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Questions 2-4. Donnie Grant, Kingussie & Vicinity Community Council
Question 2. Why has The Highland Council allowed two of the most historically important buildings in Kingussie, The Folk Museum and The Courthouse, to deteriorate almost beyond repair, over the past 20 years?
Question 3. What is the future of The Courthouse especially as the District Court is going to be removed from Badenoch and Strathspey?
question 4. Who owns the buildings and grounds at The Highland Folk Museum and what is their future after 2007
Response (attending): William Gilfillan, Corporate Manager, Inverness, Nairn and B&S
William stated that funding needed to be found to renovate and fix the courthouse and the building was shut down. 100K funding was identified within Highland Council budget but the cost of repairs was estimated at £750,000. The building was not compliant with health and safety. It was agreed that the 8 sites that Highland Council owned would be looked at (including the courthouse, 100 High Street, Ruthven Road, TEC Services depot). Highland Council and Elected Members were in agreement that Property Services needed to look at the buildings and would complete a study at the end of the summer (i.e. location of the service point, the museum needs to be looked at and Ruthven Road inaccessible). The capital would need to focus on all rather than one of the buildings.
Questions 5-7 Ian Malcolm, Aviemore & Vicinity CC
Question 5. What is the current Highland Council position and plans regarding the Tescos Crossing at Aviemore?
Response (attending): Iain Wallace, Area Roads & Community Works Manager.
Ian explained that a system of parallel streets is being proposed in Aviemore, which is currently being clarified and the traffic movements in the village is being looked at. Other developments are being proposed including a new hotel at Dalfaber Country Club and the completely new village at An Camus Mor, which will all have traffic implications.
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Question 6. Ongoing road works in Aviemore and the seeming lack of urgency to complete them.
Response (attending): Cameron Kemp, Integrated Transport Manager
Cameron explained that there are delays to the interchange and roundabout due to difficulties with the works with completion set at mid September for the roundabout with Station Square completed by last week in August. One and a half million investment has been put into the village and it is hoped that people would realise the full benefits of this enhancement in due course.
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Question 7. Aviemore Highland Resort Swimming Pool: does the Council have an agreed contract with AHR & if so, what are the conditions, for example; entry times & age restrictions. (We and by this I mean all residents have been restricted by short opening times and age restrictions).
Response from (below): Donna Reilly, Facilities Manager, B&S (Badenoch Centre & Craig MacLean Centre, including H&S Monitoring Role with AHR swimming pool)
Yes there is a Service level agreement (synopsis attached). Conditions mainly relate to H&S and include ensuring that staff have current pool lifeguard qualification, undergo regular staff training and that staffing levels and supervision is sufficient for the pool to operate safely. The pool should have minimum of 2 lifeguards on the pool this is increased as customer numbers/activities require. The role also includes monitoring of water quality and the general cleanliness of the facility.
If changes in opening times – AHR are required to let customers know, ideally press release.
Donna visited the pool on Monday 23.07.07 and has spoken to Kirsti MacIntyre (Leisure Manager) who assures Donna that the pool opening hours are 8am – 8pm Mon – Sun, these hours have not been subject to change. If customers experience deviations from these times, Donna would urge them to record the time and date of their visit thus enabling her to investigate these occasions fully and hopefully prevent future recurrence.
The child admission policy is the MacDonald resort policy as follows; (not the industry standard below)
- Under 1’s 1 – 1 supervision ratio
- 1 – 5yrs 1 – 2 supervision ratio
- 6yrs – 8 must be accompanied by an adult over 18 in the water
- 8yrs – 16 must be accompanied by an adult on poolside
Haley Brown commented that AHR are not checking the issue regarding adult ratio with groups of young children and there were also reports from attendees of the pool being closed during normal opening times.
Send issues to Donna who can investigate further on 01540 662485 / 01479 870281 or donna.reilly@highland.gov.uk Action: all complainants
Send copy of Service Level Agreement to attendees Action: Ward Manager
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Question 8. Martin Reid
What is the councils opinion on the CNPA's proposals for huge housing development in Badenoch & Strathspey, in Aviemore in particular, compared with almost non existent development in the remainder of the park?
Response (attending): Andrew Harper, Cairngorm National Park Authority
Andrew explained that community consultation is currently taking place (from 9th July – 28th September) regarding the CNPA deposit local plan. Written comments can be made to object or endorse the plan. Karen Major in the planning team is involved in organising sessions will be taking place across Grantown, Aviemore and Kingussie with the “Strathy” notifying people of the dates.
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Question 9. Ian Gray
Have the councillors for the Badenoch and Strathspey ward forum had any meetings to consider the basic nature of the area, considering the immense and rather unbalanced allocation of future housing as proposed by Cairngorm national park authority?
Response (attending): Cllr Dave Fallows
Cllr Fallows commented that this issue has been discussed at Ward Business Meetings including the demand for homes and people leaving the area if housing is not provided, and how we make housing affordable, and how we best ensure the right infrastructure is built to accommodate new housing.
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Question 10-11. Moyra Gray
Question 10 What can be done to increase the infrastructure of Aviemore as it cannot cope with further housing development?
Question 11. Who is responsible for seeing that the infrastructure can cope with planning permissions granted?
Response: Agreed to postpone questions 10 and 11 to a future meeting.
Questions 12-13. Jim Hall, Secretary, Newtonmore & Vicinity Community Council
Question 12. How does Highland Council propose to improve its communications with Community Councils?
Response (attending): Sue Palmer, Ward Manager B&S
We have discussed this in our Ward Business Meetings (Ward Manager and Members) and agreed that members deal with issues raised at Community Council meetings in the first instance directly with the relevant service provider. Link people have been identified across Highland Council Services and members have a contact list for these people. If the issue is not resolved they will place the issue on CRM (Customer Relation Management System) where the service will have 10 days to respond. Members can monitor the response and will notify the Ward Manager of issues at the 2-weekly Ward Business Meetings. We are also asking Community Council to send us electronic minutes of meetings so they can be distributed across council services more quickly and easily to alert services of issues discussed at these meetings.
Finally, I have spoken to John Rainy-Brown (VABS) who will be arranging a meeting of the B&S Community Council Forum when one of the issues being discussed is about how we improve communication.
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Two further questions were lodged prior to the meeting as follows;
John Anderson, Secretary, Kincraig & Vicinity Community Council.
Question 14. Can we have a summary of the relationships between and respective areas covered by the following:
Highland Council Community Partnership,
B & S Community Council Forum,
B & S Ward Forum;
Cllr Fallows covered this question earlier.
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Question 15. Please clarify how best to raise issues with these respective bodies - experiences to date of writing letters by 'snail mail' to the nominated HC Official regarding road matters have not been acknowledged and little response has been noted on the ground.
Sue covered this question when answering Question 12
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Any Other Business:
There was no further business.
Date of Next Meeting: Monday 24th September 19.30 at Ben Mhor Hotel, High Street, Grantown-on-Spey
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