MINUTES OF CONON BRIDGE COMMUNITY COUNCIL MEETING HELD AT THE LEANAIG COMMUNITY CENTRE ON WEDNESDAY 13 APRIL 2016 PRESENT Fiona MacKintosh (FM), Jim Attwood (JA), Hazel Bushell (HB), Tony Innes (TI), Alistair MacKintosh (AM), Jane Attwood (IJA), Police Sergeant Karen MacPherson (KM), Councillor Graham MacKenzie (GM), Jenny MacLennan (JM) Maryburgh Community Council and four members of the public. Fiona MacKintosh welcomed everyone to the meeting. 1. Apologies Councillor Angela MacLean and Councillor Alister MacKinnon 2. Police Report FM thanked KM for the police report, a copy of which had been received by email. KM went on to advise the meeting of the contents of the report which was based on incidents that had been reported and recorded between 1 st March and 10 th April 2016. As far as the police were concerned, it was considered that it had been a very positive period with only 49 incidents being recorded. A copy of the Police Report is held with the Minutes of the Meeting. One of the members of the public present at the meeting advised KM that about 6 8 weeks previous some houses in Riverford Crescent had been targeted by people throwing eggs at the back windows of their homes which backed on to the pathway that runs from Burnside Lane to Conon Bridge railway station. Only one householder had notified the police. KM could not comment on the incident but advised the meeting that though it was a non-criminal offence, householders should be encouraged to report such incidents as police would try to attend if resources allowed to act as a deterrent against future incidents. Even if it was not reported to the police, the Community Council should be made aware of the incident. KM then concluded by saying that if members of the public have any concerns at all, they should contact the police. 3. Co-opting of Community Councillors FM asked the members of the public present if any of them would be interested in filling the vacancies for 2 members to be co-opted on to the Council. She also advised the meeting that one member of the public who regularly attended the 1
meetings had sent an email advising the council that he was unable to commit to becoming a co-opted member at this time. As no nominations were received, the vacancies would be included as an Agenda item at subsequent meetings. 4. Previous Minutes Adoption of the minutes of the previous meeting was proposed by FM and seconded by HB. 5. Matters arising Notice Board An order would be placed when the Community Council grant was paid in July. VODAFONE 3G JA advised the meeting that 2 out of the 3 sites were now live and taking traffic. JA was aware that the signal at the Conon Bridge Hotel was working well but was not sure about the signal at Conanvet. He had been advised by Vodafone that they had done a speed test and it had shown good upload and download speeds. The equipment had also been installed at A.M. Phillip; however there was no fibre broadband capacity available at BT cabinet 8 and it could take up to 6 months for this to become available. JM advised the meeting that Conanvet was still not getting a better signal. JA would check this with Vodafone. Ben Wyvis Primary School - Items from a snagging list produced by the Head Teacher and The Highland Council were being worked on during the Easter holidays. The Community Council is awaiting an update from The Highland Council on the progress of the works. Councillor MacKenzie advised the meeting that with regard to the concerns regarding the water supply, all tests have shown that the water is clear. He also advised the meeting that there was a lot of work going on outside the school perimeter. This work is being carried out on behalf of BT for the laying of ducts for communication cables. Some paths still require re-instatement. Contact can be made with the Site Agent to find out when these works are likely to be completed. Further to the meeting of 3 rd December 2015, JA had sent another letter on 15 January 2016 to The Highland Council Chief Executive, Steve Barron, with further questions that he considered had not been fully addressed at the meeting. He had not received a response to date though Di Agnew, the Ward Manager is actively seeking a response. A 2 nd meeting of the Audit and Scrutiny Committee should have taken place following the publication of The Highland Council Internal Audit Report on the school build. Councillor MacKenzie advised the meeting that this had not taken place as scheduled and it was possibly going to be held after the meeting of the Education Committee which is to be held before the end of April. Councillor Mackenzie will press for answers to the outstanding matters. 2
6. Actions from Previous Meeting Parking of Vehicles on Leanaig Road A letter had been sent to The Highland Council Community Services team asking for measures to be taken to alleviate the problem. A reply is awaited. Planning JA had spoken to Julie Ferguson of The Highland Council Planning Department and discussed the planning application for houses and flats on land to the North of Sellar Place. He was advised that a decision on the application was awaited but the area was already zoned for housing. He was also advised that if the Community Council wished to be consulted on any planning application, they would have to give notice of their request for consultation within 7 working days of having been notified of the planning application. Parking Problem on High Street JA had spoken to the proprietor of the hairdresser s premises next to the Conon Bridge pharmacy. He was not aware of any problem with customers being unable to park outside either the hairdresser or the pharmacy. As there is no restriction on parking in this area, it was felt that the complainants should make their complaint in writing, giving times and occasions when they had been unable to park outside these premises. Until such time as written complaints were received, no further action would be taken. AOCB FM had reported all infrastructure defects notified to her to Scottish Water and The Highland Council. It had been noted that Scottish Water had been in attendance at the Old Telephone Exchange; however there still seems to be some seepage at the location, though it does appear to have been reduced. The matters raised with The Highland Council have either been dealt with or are currently being dealt with. FM mentioned that she was now also aware of the significant number of potholes in the Riverford Crescent area. She will be reporting these to The Highland Council. A member of the public present at the meeting advised the meeting that this had already been done, to no effect. Councillor MacKenzie requested that photos be taken of the potholes and emailed to him so that he could assist. He also made the meeting aware of the procedure that should be adopted for the reporting of faults, etc. He went on to say that it is only now that the weather has improved that the Council were in a position to repair the potholes throughout the area. JA also pointed out that he had used the Council website on numerous occasions to report defects, but there was no way of knowing whether the fault had been rectified. Councillor MacKenzie suggested that a meeting take place between himself, JA and Laura MacAllister to check through all the old fault reports to identify outstanding works. 3
JA also advised the meeting that he would be including an article in the next issue of the Conon Craic advising residents of the contact numbers and procedure for reporting defects. Ferintosh House - An article in the Conon Craic asking for members of the community to back the proposal to commit to the asset transfer or lease of the property had received no response. More volunteers would be required to take the project forward. A year has passed since the initial expression of interest in the property and the Council were now pressing for the submission of a business case with a business plan to follow. The Community Council considered that it would now have to advise The Highland Council that they were not in a position to proceed with either the purchase or asset transfer of Ferintosh House. TI raised the matter of why a full building survey had been done and paid for by the Community Council. FM advised the meeting that this had been required before any further commitment could be made to the transfer of the property to the community. Most of the cost had been met from the Ward Discretionary Budget. It was also considered that the Men s Shed and allotments could be sited elsewhere and the Lunch Club had already intimated that they did not wish to move elsewhere. The only other proposals for community use of the building were for a community cafe and a soft play area and with the costs involved for the running of such a project it would not be feasible. One of the members of the public present felt that Ferintosh House was in the wrong place for such a venture. Further, if the community had been given sufficient space within the school, it would not have been necessary to consider a development at Ferintosh House or elsewhere. It was decided that a letter would be sent to the Ward Manager thanking the Council for their support and terminating our interest in the asset transfer proposal. 7. Treasurers Report The current bank balance of 3,356.96 includes a sum of 700 from the Ward Discretionary Budget for purchase and installation of a new community notice board. An email had also been received advising the Community Council that due to financial constraints within The Highland Council, grant funding for 2016-17 had been cut to 1,290.58, the payment being made in July 2016 after submission of the Community Council accounts. 8. Insurance As agreed at the last meeting, The Highland Council has been advised that insurance cover for the Christmas lights is no longer required. 4
9. Flower Tubs and Hanging Baskets It was agreed that we would contact Greens Nurseries in Nairn requesting a quote for the planting out of our hanging baskets and the supply of summer bedding plants for the planters in the village. 10. Ferintosh House and The Lodge This had already been dealt with under Agenda item 6. 11. AOCB An email had been received from David Ogilvie, Area Inspector for Wester Ross and the Black Isle, Police Scotland enquiring about the levels of police involvement with the Community Council with a request for contact details for the Chairperson and Secretary of the Community Council. An email had been received from Transition Black Isle enquiring as to whether we considered Conon Bridge to be part of the Black Isle and whether we wanted to be considered as an interested party in their organisation. The answer to both questions was in the affirmative. A member of the public present at the meeting raised concerns about the poor condition of the fencing along Bank Street at the playing field. Cars were also being parked just inside the entrance to the playing field. The member of the public was advised that that this was a matter for the Amenities Association. As the Secretary of the Amenities Association was also in attendance at the meeting, he agreed to take up this matter with his Association for action to repair the fence and ensure that the opening was made wide enough to enable long/wide loads to gain entry to the playing field. TI asked the Community Council if funding could be made available to purchase shrubs for the Memorial Garden at the Ben Wyvis Primary School. He had made some enquiries and the cost would be in the region of 200. The Community Council thought that it would be a good idea for the planting but approaches should also be made to other organisations within the community to contribute to the purchase cost of the shrubs. It was pointed out that after the disbanding of the committee of the New Hall Fund various organisations throughout the community had been given large sums of money to benefit their organisation within the community. Councillor MacKenzie also thought that an approach could be made to the councillors to make a contribution from the Ward Discretionary Budget. 5
A member of the public present asked the meeting if there were any details of the cost of the new roundabout at the entrance to the village. Councillor MacKenzie was however unable to advise the meeting of the costs involved. JA had made contact with Tulloch Homes regarding the removal of the village gateway sign. He was advised that Tulloch Homes were willing to make a contribution towards the cost of replacing and erecting the new sign and they would also apply for the necessary planning permission. JA had asked Julie Ferguson at the Planning Department about the need for planning permission for the new notice board. He was advised that it would be prudent to submit a planning application. TI advised the meeting that the Bowling Club would be holding their annual Coffee Morning on Saturday 23 rd April between 10am and midday and all would be made welcome. 12. Date of next meeting Wednesday 18 th May at 19.30. Actions required JA to contact Vodafone regarding the 3G signal at Conanvet JA to meet with Councillor MacKenzie and Laura MacAllister re infrastructure defects FM to take and submit photos of potholes in Riverford Crescent IJA to take and submit photos of potholes in Ellis Park FM to contact Greens Nurseries for quotes for hanging baskets, bedding plants and shrubs JA to apply for planning permission for a new notice board FM to write to Di Agnew re Ferintosh House IJA to reply to Police Scotland email FM to reply to Transition Black Isle email 6