MINGINISH COMMUNITY COUNCIL

DRAFTMINUTES OF A MEETING OF THE MINGINISH COMMUNITY COUNCIL HELD ON

MONDAY 28 SEPTEMBER2015 AT7.30PM, CHURCH OF SCOTLAND HALL, FERNILEA

Present:

Dawn MacLeod, Chairperson / Willie Sutherland, Member
David Oliver, Treasurer / Jesse Donaldson, Associate Member
Janice Page, Member / Jim Towers, Secretary
Calina MacDonald, Associate Member
Malcolm Henry / Willie MacKinnon, Ward Manager

ITEM I – Welcome and Apologies

  1. There were apologies from Mike Shield and PS David Canning. PS Canning had sent a message to say that PC Scott Templeman might be able to represent him at the meeting dependent on call outs. Dawn MacLeodwelcomed everyone to the meeting, especially guestsMalcolm Henry andWillie MacKinnon.

ITEM II – Minutes of Last Meeting

  1. The draft minutes for meeting Mon 31 August 2015 had been circulated. The minutes were agreed and signed.

ITEM III –Malcolm Henry, New Hospital Steering Group

  1. As minuted in the last CC meeting, Malcolm is a member of the SOS NHS group, whose aim is to get an independent review of “closing 2 hospitals to get one new one”. Malcolm said the group is not against the proposed new hospital in Broadford but is trying to secure health services in north Skye. In particular,the delivery of out of hours services for north Skye need to be secured. He suggested that NHS Highland proposals were very weak on details of how out of hours will be delivered in north Skye in the future.
  1. Malcolm said he also sits on a sub-group looking at transport links to the proposed new hospital in Broadford. He said that there was still a lot of work to be done to get the necessary transport links in place. It was noted that Minginish’s only scheduled bus service runs to Portree, and anyone wanting to go to Broadford has to change at Sligachan. This is not a viable option due to the very limited service and long waits. Jim Towers reported that he had spoken to Calum MacKinnon about the possible use of the Community Bus for trips over to the new hospital. Calum said that there is no Community Bus service to Broadford at the moment but there is capacity for such a service in the future if required. Calum said that he had not been approached by anyone to date about a possible service to the proposed new hospital. It was suggested that the Minginish Community Bus was limited in what it could offer, and that there could be problems having a sufficient pool of volunteers coming forward as drivers. The CC agreed that direct transport links to the new hospital from Minginish, both for patients and for visitors, should be pursued. It was also suggested that the planning for transport services to the new hospital would offer a good opportunity to review the existing provisions for transport to Raigmore.
  1. With the permission of the CC, Malcolmattended Steering Group meetings for the new hospital on Tues 4 August as a representative of Minginish CC. Malcolm said that being a representative of Minginish CC gives him more speaking clout at the table, and he would like to continue this arrangement for future meetings. It was agreed that the best way to do this would be to make him an Associate Member of the Community Council. Malcolm was happy with this proposal. Accordingly, David Oliver proposed he be made an Associate Member and Jim Towers seconded the proposal. There were no objections.
  1. Malcolm, as Chair of Carbost Pier Ltd, then offered the CC some information regarding the company’s plans. They have just submitted an application for funding for a toilet/shower block with attached snack bar. This would be be sited where the old toilet block used to stand in Carbost. Malcom says the company is very hopeful that the funding application will be successful. Land negotiations are ongoing with the Highland Council, and the planning situation is being investigated. The CC informed Malcolm that we had previously been informed by the Planning Team Leader that a “like for like” replacement toilet block would not present any problems from a planning view.

Malcolm Henry left the meeting at his point.

ITEM IV – Community Policing

  1. There was no Community Police report as PS Canning had sent apologies, and PC Scott Templeman was unable to be present. Post Meeting: The CC received a report from PS Canning on Wed 30 Sept, and this is attached to the minutes.

ITEM V – Actions Arising not on Agenda

  1. Road to Glenbrittle by the Fairy Pools:Willie MacKinnon wished first to clarify a few points from the minutes of CC meeting 31 August.Referring to item 4 in the last minutes, Willie said that the Highland Council set up a meeting on the 6 October 2014 with the local community, the Forestry Commission and MacLeod Estates in Glenbrittle as a direct result of a letter received from the Local Access Forum. Referring to item 5 in the last minutes, Willie confirmed that there was no road order. He has not been able to discuss this with Mark Crowe to date, however, his understanding is that a road order would mean putting down yellow lines. The CC noted that the Highland Council had not been keen to put yellow lines down at the Sligachan junction when requested to do so by the CC. The police have said that the lack of a road order by the Fairy Pools makes it difficult for them to enforce the no parking sign. Referring to item 7 in the last minutes and the lack of any toilet provision for visitors to the Pools, Willie said that the licenses granted to vendors to sell hot drinks and snacks give permission to trade but are not area specific. The actual permission to trade by a licenced trader in any particular area is granted by the land owner, and in this case that is the Forestry Commission.

Willie informed the CC that the Options Appraisal contract to investigate options for off-road parking has been awarded by the Highland Council. Consultation with all interested parties (including the CC, the local community and adjacent landowners) is a major part of the contract, and Willie said that the CC can expect the contractor to be in touch with the CC sometime in October. The CC asked Willie to note that the last meeting of the current CC is Mon 26 October before CC elections take place in November, and the current CC would appreciate an initial meeting with the contractor before it stands down.

Willie said that there is not any budget yet to take forward any proposals put forward by the Option’s Appraisal. Land for additional parking would need to be identified, and a lease or transfer or agreement drawn up with the owner. This would suggest that any proposed construction would be unlikely to start before next summer or maybe even the summer after that. The CC suggested to Willie that the community in Glenbrittle will not be very happy about this, and said that a provisional plan needs to be drawn up for managing this section of road and keeping it clear of obstruction and fit for use until such time as new parking provision does become available. The main players in this would appear to be the Roads Authority and Police Scotland. Willie suggested that the CC should make these concernsclear to the Options Appraisal contractor.

Jim Towers reported that he had been speaking to Clive Pearson of Glenelg Ferries. Clive is Chair of Destination Skye and Lochalsh, and indicated that he would be willing to help with our tourism concerns if at all possible. Colin Simpson, the Highland Council Tourism Officer, attends Destination Skye and Lochalsh meetings. Jim said he would speak to the Glenbrittle community about this.

Regarding an approach to the next Ward Forum meeting to take Glenbrittle concerns forward, Willie advised that we should wait and see how the Options Appraisal consultation goes before making a decision about this. Also there is a little bit of doubt regarding the date of the next Forum meeting due to CC elections in November.

Janice Page left the meeting at his point.

  1. Roadside Verge Cutting:Further to the written question submitted to the Ward Forum held on the 31 August regarding the Highland Council’s decision to limit verge cutting, Willie MacKinnon said the Elected Members agreed that people who lived in remote townships should have the same rights of access as people living in larger urban settlements, and they were aware that remote townships are served only by a single track road with no footways, no paths and no restrictions on traffic speed. Willie read the item as recorded in the Ward Forum minutes:

•The decision to limit verge cutting was not a local decision but one made at full Council as part of the budget saving process that all Council Services are faced with.

•At the moment there is no planned review to change the policy on verge-cutting within the Highland Council Area, however, the new Administration may look at grass cutting in general as part of the overall budget review. The CC suggested that most of the members at a full council meeting would have little or no idea of the importance of cutting the verges of single track roads through remote rural villages, and that these decisions would be better made at local level.

Willie MacKinnon left the meeting at this point.

  1. Speed of Traffic Carbost: The CC is still waiting to hear from Allan Bryce about when the Road Safety Team is going to put traffic counters down in Carbost.Post Meeting: Email received from Allan Thurs 1 Oct to say counters have been requested through the Community Service Office but they are all deployed due to a full survey of Inverness. Carbost is on the list to be checked, but there is still no indication when that will be.
  1. CC elections timetable: Nomination papers are out. All CC members were asked to encourage people in the community to put their names forward for election. The closing date for nominations is Tues 6 October.
  1. Email contact on the Highland Council website:The CC is being encouraged by the Highland Council to set up a generic email address for email communications. David Oliver is working on this.
  1. Community Resilience workshops: Jim Towers reported that Nick Duffill of the Community Hall Committeeattended the Workshop on Wednesday 2nd September. The CC agreed that it would wait and see how the Hall Committee develops its ideas for community emergency planningbefore committing to further action.
  1. Highland Council staff for the 2015 Quality Awards Community Council Commendation awards: No-one came forward with any suggestions for this.
  1. Data Protection Act:Jim Towers to research this, and find out whether the CC needs to register
  1. Car parking in the road by Harport Cottages:Of the 2 parking areas on the road by the cottages, one has a sign saying Residents Parking and the other has no such sign. Community Services has informed the CC that all residents of Harport Cottages are entitled to use the area marked Residents Only. The CC has noted that it still awaits a scheme drawing of proposals to improve the road at this location, arising as a planning condition from the LSHA houses in Parc Ullieam, and that this scheme might improve the parking for the Harport Cottages residents and tidy up the area around the bus stop. The residents would need to be consulted about the possibilities. The CC has requested information about this road improvement scheme from Community Services.
  1. Bridge over the burn on the Rubha Ban to Ardtrek Core Path: Further to the bridge decking being in a bad way, Jim Towers reported that had been in touch with Euan McArthur, Marine Harvest Farm Manager at Portnalong, about this. Euan says that Marine Harvest do not own the bridge, but the steel section for the bridge deck was donated over 15 years ago to the Community Council as a “one off” gesture of help at the time. Jim said that he has put Euan in touch with Donald Kennedy, Highland Council Access Officer, and the 2 of them hopefully will be able to find a way to make the bridge fit for use again.

ITEM VI - War Memorial

  1. David Oliver reported that he has received a quote from John Hearach for cleaning and re-lettering work to the war memorial for the sum of £1,051.26p. David will check whether re-pointing work is included and then instruct John to go ahead. This has been done as per directions from the Highland Council. There has been a suggestion that the £2,000 limit per CC spend might be raised. David will keep an eye on this.
  1. David said that he has drafted up a letter of agreement to be signed by all Carbostmore common grazing shareholders. The letter sets out the maintenance and repair work that the CC intends to carry out in the area around the memorial. David will send the letter to Donnie Ross initially, and then to all other shareholders.
  1. It was noted that the date of Remembrance Sunday this year is Sun 8 November. Arrangements are in hand.

ITEM VII - Carbost Village

  1. There was nothing discussed under this item.

ITEM VIII - Community Works Items

  1. Jim Towers reported that he had had no response to his request to Community Services for updates to community works items this month.
  1. Patching on the Eynort road:It was noted that patching work has been done on the Eynort road. However, some sections have not been done as they are beyond patching.

ITEM IX – Treasurer’s Report / Bids for Funding

  1. David Olivertabled a report showing a working balance of £2,354.68, but this includes £2,000 for the work carried out by Community Services for signs and bollards on the road-verge at the Fairy Pools. This leaves the CC £354.68 as spending money for this year.
  2. The CC has£2,362.78 in itsWar Memorial Fund. Money has come in from Uisge beatha artworks, various donations and the collecting boxes.

ITEM X - Representations from the Community

  1. There were no representations to report.

ITEM XI – Local Planning Applications

  1. The CC noted application 15/03438/FUL by Marine Harvest for “2 x 100m circumference pens with pipe to shore at Ardtreck Burn for use as freshwater reservoirs for the treatment of fish at Portnalong Salmon Farm”. The CC has received no comments from the community about this. David Oliver said that he would speak to Euan McArthur, Marine Harvest Farm Manager, about the application and, meanwhile, Jim, Towers will notify the Planning Team of the CC’s interest in this application.
  2. The CC noted that there will be aconsultation event for the new Local Development Planin Portree on Mon 5 Oct 2015, 2pm - 5.30pm and 6.30 pm. Jess Donaldson said that she and Janice Page would try and attend the consultation.

ITEM XII – AOB

  1. Senior Citizens Christmas Party: A tentative date for this event was set for Thurs 10 December. David Oliver will check the Community Hall for availability, and Jim Towers will check Carbost School’s availability. Jim will also contact the Distillery for their regular dram donation.

ITEM XIII- Next meeting

  1. The next meeting will beon Mon 26 Oct 2015, 7.30pm in the Church of Scotland Hall, Fernilea.This will be the last meeting of the current council before elections are held for a new council.