Agendas, reports and minutes

A meeting of the City of Inverness Area Committee will take place in the Council Headquarters, Glenurquhart Road, Inverness on Thursday, 28 January 2016 at 10.30am.

Webcast Notice: This meeting will be filmed and broadcast over the Internet on the Highland Council website and will be archived and available for viewing for 12 months thereafter.

You are invited to attend the meeting and a note of the business to be considered is attached.

Yours faithfully

Michelle Morris
Depute Chief Executive/
Director of Corporate Development

Business

1. Apologies for Absence
Leisgeulan

2. Declarations of Interest 
Foillseachaidhean Com-pàirt

Members are asked to consider whether they have an interest to declare in relation to any item on the agenda for this meeting. Any Member making a declaration of interest should indicate whether it is a financial or non-financial interest and include some information on the nature of the interest. Advice may be sought from officers prior to the meeting taking place.

3. Inverness City Arts – Governance and Action Plan
Ealain Meadhan a’ Bhaile – Riaghaltas agus Plana-gnìomh

There is circulated Report No. CIA/1/16 dated 11 January 2016 by the Inverness City Area Manager which provides an update on progress made by the Inverness City Arts Working Group in meeting the criteria set by the City of Inverness Area Committee at the meetings held on 8 October, 3 December 2012 and 15 April 2013.

The Committee is invited to scrutinise, comment and otherwise note the terms of the report and the Action Plan which will continue to be reported on an annual basis.

4. Governance of Inverness Old Town Arts and Inverness City Arts
Group
Riaghladh Ealain Seann Bhaile Inbhir Nis agus Buidheann Ealain Baile Inbhir Nis

There is circulated Report No. CIA/2/16 dated 15 January 2016 by the Head of Policy and Reform which provides an update on the outcome of the Internal Audit report on the governance of Inverness Old Town Arts and the Inverness City Arts Group which was reported to the Audit & Scrutiny Committee on 30 September 2015.

The Committee is invited to note the Internal Audit findings and that they were discussed in full and private at the Audit & Scrutiny Committee meeting on 30 September 2015.

The Committee is also asked to note the corrected information regarding invoices located and matched to payments.

The Committee is further asked to consider the progress with the Action Plan as appended to the report and to note that six of the eight actions have been completed, that for the two actions already underway (action 1 and action 2) they have revised target dates of 31 March 2016, that the Responsible Officer for action 2 will be the Head of Corporate Governance and that one of the actions for an annual report on ICArts is presented separately to this meeting.

5. Developing Inverness as a ‘Coach Friendly’ City
A’ Leasachadh Inbhir Nis mar Bhaile ‘Càirdeil do Bhusaichean’

There is circulated Joint Report No. CIA/3/16 dated 30 December 2015 by the Director of Community Services and the Inverness City Area Manager which invites consideration of the Evaluation of the Operation of Ardross Street as a pick-up/drop-off point for coaches for the 2015 tourist season and recommendations to improve operations for the 2016 season.

The Committee is invited to note the Evaluation and the adjustments proposed for 2016 onwards, that publicity will be produced promoting the use of Ardross Street as the Inverness City coach pick-up/drop-off location and that an application will be made to the Common Good Fund Grant Sub-Committee to fund the recruitment of a Coach Ambassador.

6. Victorian Market, Inverness – Action Plan –Market Management
Margadh Bhictòrianach, Inbhir Nis – Plana-gnìomh – Stiùireadh Margaide

There is circulated Joint Report No. CIA/4/16 dated 18 January 2016 by the Director of Development and Infrastructure and the Inverness City Area Manager which provides an update on the preparation and initial implementation of an Action Plan focused on improving trading conditions for the Victorian Market and the City Centre and details a proposal to prepare and offer a tender to the open market.

Specifically, the report sets out the status of the Market within the City, the Terms of Reference used in structuring the Feasibility Study, how the Market works, how the utilisation of a third party operator could improve performance and the risks and benefits.

Members are invited to:-

i. note the further discussions with Traders since the deferral of this report on 3 December 2015; 
ii. note the report and the Feasibility Study relating to the potential of Private Sector management of the Victorian Market as detailed in Appendix 1; 
iii. agree, subject to consultation with Stakeholders, to instruct Officers to draft and publish an Invitation to Tender for a contract for the management of the Victorian Market as described within the report and the Feasibility Study for a duration of five years, planned to commence as soon as practicable; and 
iv. note that further reports will be submitted to the City of Inverness Area Committee on progress, with a Tender Report being prepared and presented for approval as appropriate and as soon as practicable in 2016.

7. Minutes
Geàrr-chunntas

The following Minutes are circulated for noting or approval as appropriate:-

i. City of Inverness Area Committee held on 3 December 2015 for noting; 
ii. Inverness City Arts Working Group held on 14 October and 10 December 2015 for approval; and 
iii. Inverness Events and Festivals Working Group held on 10 December 2015 and 14 January 2016 for approval.