MINUTES OF A GENERAL MEETING OF DORNOCH COMMUNITY COUNCIL HELD ON WEDNESDAY 16 th MAY 2018 AT 7.00pm IN COUNCIL CHAMBERS, DORNOCH Present Yvonne Ross, Chair Graeme Ross Paddy Murray Ian Grant Mike Hook Davie Macbeath Cath Macangus Maggie Hope Jimmy Melville Jim McGillivray, Cllr Approx 24 members of the public 1 APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE Apologies were received from Cllr Gale. Action 2 POLICE MATTERS PC Forbes & PC Murray attended meeting and gave an update on incidents in the last month since the last report. 37 Incidents including the following: 7 road traffic, 11 advice & information calls, 1 child protection, 4 concerns for persons, 2 public nuisance, and 2 offensive weapons. Police confirmed the offensive weapons were in this case knives, and this is rare in the area. The report will be emailed round members. The car park at the Sutherland Arms has possible garage overspill vehicles. To watch this.
Concern about the volume of campervans and touring buses parking in the square, resulting in the service bus having no where to go. As there are no parking restrictions in town they are not breaking any laws. 3 PRESENTATION FROM NOT COUL, DR TOM DARGIE Dr Dargie had circulated his presentation to members in advance. Dr Dargie ran through the work carried out by himself and the Not Coul group, and highlighted the reasons for their objections to the project. Dr Dargie raised concerns that members of public felt unable to approach any of the Community Council due to them having making a comment of support on the planning application back in 2017. Dr Dargie also noted concern at not being able to readily access minutes of previous CC meetings. He has now been supplied with full copies since September 2015. It was suggested that Agendas should be publicly displayed 7 days in advance. This can be organised. YR advised Mr Dargie that the CC have been meeting on the 3 rd Wednesday of the month for many years, and had not had any approach from residents with comment, concern or objection with reference to this project. YR and many members attended all the briefing sessions run by the applicants, and were available to speak to, but received no comments. YR highlighted that it was felt that the Not Coul group had breached Section 46 of Data Protection Act by copying and disclosing personal information of both the Chair and the Secretary without permission and asked that these be removed from social media, and an apology given. Questions were invited from the floor to Not Coul, which Dr Dargie responded to. YR also read out 4 letters now received by the CC which object to the project, and 2 letters of support. It was suggested that the CC should remain neutral, but P Murray felt this was not possible, and not what members were elected to do. When asked for comment or opinion the CC discuss and reach an agreed conclusion whether or not to support a project. 4 MINUTES OF THE LAST MEETING & MATTERS ARISING Proposed P Murray Seconded G Ross
The minutes of the April meeting were read and taken as a true record. Dornoch BRIG lease is now going forward in the name of the Community Council. The suggestion of incorporating further ground within this lease is still a work in progress. This might potentially take in the land covering the public toilets. Ambassador House project appears to be moving forward as per the recent Neighbour Notification. However, the question of the unadopted road at Earls Cross Gardens receiving full council services (bins, lighting, gritting), remains unanswered. JMcG will continue to follow up. JMcG Kyle of Sutherland Fisheries request to come to the next meeting for a further update. Caravan Site there have been 3 recent complaints, 1 pertaining to being unable to contact for booking, and 1 regarding motorbikes (this has been reported to the Police). P Murray noted that any legal action against HC for any negligence in dealing with the lease is not advisable. It was agreed that this should be left on the back burner for a few months while we wait the contents of the Community Council section within the Community Empowerment bill. Motor Homes parking at the beach etc JMcG following up on this, potentially erecting signage for maximum 4 hours parking in these areas. Members regularly check the area and report that there are constantly motor homes parking overnight and filling the car park. There are enforcement officers based in Inverness who could come up. Housing at Elizabeth Cr etc JMcG will ask John McHardy, Housing Services to come back to a future meeting to discuss the development of this area. Mr McHardy is aware of the CCs potential proposal to take on the land themselves through asset transfer. JMcG Proncynain Cemetery extension ongoing but Ward Manager now asked to intervene to take this forward to a conclusion. 5 TREASURERS REPORT P Murray has now received the audited accounts for year ending April 2018. He ran through the main spend and highlighted any income and reasons for it. The account still currently holds 30,000 on behalf of Dornoch Brig which is ringfenced for playpark equipment.
Balance as at 31 st March was 2772.00. YR and PM signed the accounts which will now be certified by Mackay & Co. PM to follow up the requirements for cover for the playpark equipment (as lease holders) with the CC insurers Zurich. PM 6 PATHWAYS Query from Matt Dent, Footpaths Officer circulated requesting information on a possible Right of Way to the east of Camore. After recent timber extraction the fencing has now been replaced with no gateway. There have been comments from some Camore resident who use the gate as a route to the Poles Road. Members agree that they have memory of the gateway and understood it to be a well used access from Camore to the Proncynain Cemetery. LG to pass this information back to Matt Dent to take forward. LG 7 ROADS Whitelining seems to have started. Junctions only will be marked. JMcG confirmed that to his knowledge the Embo road resurfacing will be done in June. Kennedy Avenue to be completely resurfaced as part of the development. JMcG in regular contact with Kirkland. It is likely that there will be some planning gain from this project which should come to Sutherland for Dornoch projects. 8 PLANNING No applications for comment, however G Ross noted an application for 5 houses at Fraser Street and a proposed industrial building at the Retail Park. 9 FUNDING No Common Good or Windfarm Applications to consider. YR received correspondence from Crossreach who are the Charitable Organisation for Oversteps Eventide Home. They are fundraising for a sensory garden and are looking for support.
After discussion it was agreed that it be suggested they complete a Common Good application in which they can specify a requested amount and give details of their project. Members agreed they would look favourably on any application. LG to pass M Hope the appropriate application form for Oversteps to complete. M Hope will not take part in any discussion/vote on any award due to conflict of interest. LG 10 CORRESPONDENCE Crossreach letter. Email from Matt Dent. Other general information correspondence all circulated by email. 11 ANY OTHER BUSINESS I Grant Suggested a letter be sent to Andrew Mackenzie & Andrew Macleod re their recent recognition with France s highest military honour the Legion D Honneur. LG/YR to write to both. LG/YR C Macangus Noted that the cash machines around town are insufficient in funds, constantly running out of money over weekends etc. It is thought that this is due to capacity within the machines, and the banks are unlikely to change these due to cost, and possible insurance implications when they hold higher funds. C Macangus - Also highlighted ongoing issues with public toilets. Not enough capacity for the volume of traffic from bus tours, and Carnegie Courthouse toilets are also often being used by non customers. There is a proposal by HC that the Dornoch Square toilet will have a payslot from the 31 st August (50p charge). CC can apply to take over the running of the toilets, however we may not receive any funding from the comfort fund as these toilets may be deemed as being too profitable due to the amount of use. All agreed that the current toilets are far below standard, and not big enough. Approach RDGC to see if they can help with costs of any potential renovation? Also ask whether they would be prepared to open/close beach toilets but who would pay for cleaning etc? More discussion required.
J Melville suggests that if the beach toilets are to remain closed, they should be marked as such. Disappointing for people to walk from the beach to the toilets to find them closed with no explanation. J Melville highlighted that many of the benches around town are of poor condition and would benefit from sanding and painting/staining. JMcG to ask Graham Mackenzie whether the CC can arrange work on them themselves. Members are will to volunteer time to do this. JMcG All Possibly use volunteers from the Tesco Store (community champion Kelly), or the local Coop (Shirley Obrien contact). Check if either are able to help with outdoor work. G Ross all the Christmas Lights equipment has now been moved to the Golf Club. Volunteers still required to prepare the lights for use. 12 DATE OF NEXT MEETING Wednesday 20 th June, 7.00pm AGM followed by general business.