Action Note – Fort William and Ardnamurchan (Ward 22)
Lochaber South Ward Forum
Monday 7 February 2011
Present: Councillors Bren Gormley, Donald Cameron, Brian Murphy; Morvern Community Council; Ardgour Community Council; Sunart Community Council, Acharacle Community Council, Highland Community Care Forum; Ardnamurchan High School
Officials in attendance: Dot Ferguson, Emma Tayler (CE); Tracey Urry, Morag Cameron, Raymond King (H & P); Steve McDermott (TEC); Chief Inspector John Chisholm (Northern Constabulary); Blair Allan (Lochaber Housing Association);
For Action
Chief Executive’s (CE)
Education, Culture and Sport (ECS)
Finance (F)
Housing and Property (H & P)
Planning and Development (P & D)
Social Work (SW)
TEC
Listed below is the action required as a result of the decisions/discussions taken by the Lochaber South Ward Forum at their meeting held on Monday 7 February 2011 in the Sunart Centre.
Please arrange to take the required action on the basis of this Action Sheet.
1 Apologies – Michael Foxley; Ballachulish Community Council; Tracy Ligema; West Ardnamurchan Community Council
2 Joint Ward Action Sheet from 15 November 2010 – the note was accepted
3 Community Safety update – Ch Insp John Chisholm updated the meeting re community safety in the Ward. Key points noted were as follows:
- a reasonably quiet period has been enjoyed recently, although two serious incidents had occurred over the previous weekend
- detection rate is just over 60% which is very good
- crime generally is on a downward trend
- mountain rescue remains busy
- accident prevention measures being implemented on the A830
The Police Board has confirmed the closure of Spean Bridge police station, however there will be no reduction in police cover for the area. Glencoe Police Station is due to open in March and it is still hoped that a new area command will be built at Blar Mhor in the next few years.
There are no proposals to change policing in the Strontian area, which is one of the largest beats in the Northern Constabulary area.
4 Waste Collection – New Arrangements - Steve McDermott from Highland Council’s waste section informed the meeting of changes to the weekly refuse collection which will now become an alternate weekly collection, with mixed waste being collected one week and recyclates being collected the following week. Brown bins will be collected as at present. Materials to be placed in the recycling bin will include paper, tin, card and plastic bottles. This change is being driven by the need to reduce landfill costs and to reduce environmental impacts of waste.
In discussion, strong concerns were raised about the removal of the mobile village skip service. The main issues were around potential increases in fly-tipping and the inability of people to take bulky items to the recycling centre in Fort William.
In response to questions about fly-tipping, it was noted that while fly-tipping cleared by Highland Council has not increased, fly-tipping in other areas such as Housing Association land and private ground is not monitored / recorded.
5 Housing Update and Special Lettings Plans – Tracey Urry updated the meeting with regard to the current housing position. In excess of 11,500 people are on the Highland Housing Register, which is the joint register for Highland Council, housing associations etc. In the South Lochaber Ward, there are 130 applicants, with a demand of around 3 applicants for every vacancy.
The special lettings initiative is designed to give a targeted approach where there is evidence of local need and where it is felt the current system isn’t working. The implementation of these plans is subject to discussion with local representative organisations and if local community Councils wish to pursue this, they should contact the Area Housing and Property Manager.
The Council has also recently agreed to implement a downsizing policy, which will offer small financial incentives for people to move from larger accommodation to smaller accommodation if their needs have changed.
Blair Allan outlined the position with the Lochaber Housing Association. 78 new homes have been constructed in the last three years, an investment of over£14 million. 24 units have been completed this year and on site with a further 54 units.
The Scottish Government has just published its housing strategy document - Homes Fit for the 21st Century: The Scottish Government's Strategy and Action Plan for Housing in the Next Decade: 2011-2020 which indicates much more restricted funding will be available for house building. Around £50 million will be available for affordable housing in Scotland (Highland housing associations have been spending around £35 million each year in Highland alone). The knock on effect will be extremely limited funding for housing in Lochaber in the future. In addition, the Government has indicated that there should be no more than £40,000 subsidy per house constructed, but in Highland the required figure is usually between £70,000 - £90,000.
The following issues were raised:
- that instead of insisting on 25% affordable housing within a development, that a commuted sum should be acceptable for provision of housing elsewhere
- the Government should be investing in social housing for rent
- the Government should freeze local authority loan repayments, to allow this money to be invested in housing instead
- could modular housing be used as a way of providing a cheaper, but just as effective a solution ? This could be possibly be looked at by the LHA, but would have to meet certain quality standards
- what is meant by affordable housing as some local authority rents are outwith the means of some people ? – there are no set definitions of affordable and rental levels vary between organisations and type of property
6 AOCB – a request was received for more details of information from Councillors’ business meetings. It was agreed that the note circulated to the press could also be made available to community councils.
Acharacle cemetery – an update was requested re an extension to the cemetery. This is to be considered by Councillors, and consultation with the community will be carried out.
Corran Ferry – concern was raised about the Corran Ferry and that a larger, back-up vessel should be acquired to replace the Maid of Glencoul when the MV Corran goes for annual maintenance etc.