Minutes – ECC Directors meeting 1.10.15

Present: Alastair Danter,Stuart Whatley,Roddy MacFarlane,Peter Macrae, Aoife Gould, Ian Brown

Apologies:John MacRae, Isabel Nelson, Karen Parker

  1. Minutes from previous meeting checked over. Proposed by SW. Seconded RM
  2. Updates from John MacRae
  3. Grass Cutting – the council would be returning to Edinbane to cut at no extra charge – already taking place by the time of the meeting
  4. Drainage at the Playpark – awaiting a quote for work from Billy MacRae
  5. Opening of the hall toilets to the public – there will be a meeting next week to decide
  6. The need for an outside wall is an issue – or an alternative is the use of roller shutters to block access to the rest of the hall.
  7. LEADER – AD
  8. Community development fund currently seeking representation from local groups
  9. There are 4 meetings per year in Portree in the Highlands and Islands Enterprise office
  10. No-one present wished to put their names forward
  11. Highlands Small Communities Housing Trust Survey Report
  12. IB – the survey report missed out the views of other agencies – i.e. the council and housing association. - Additionally, there was no extrapolated housing need presented, or comment on how to extrapolate the responses submitted to the whole of the catchment area population
  13. RM – Is a response of 20% enough to work with? –
  14. AD – council is happy with returns of 10%, so 20% is certainly acceptable
  15. AD to contact the HSCHT to arrange date of next meeting, so they can go over the report with the directors and a strategy for moving forward can be discussed.
  16. IB – would like to declare an interest as he purchased Black Hill housing plots, but will be selling them for development. He would like them to provide affordable housing for the area.
  17. Primary School update from Frances MacLean
  18. The decision by the Highland Council to close the three primaries and build a new one in Dunvegan was thrown out. The decision-making process was heavily criticised, and they were told they could not simply re-work the decision and re-submit it.
  19. The HC appealed this and a hearing date of November 16th/17th, with a pre-procedural hearing prior to that, has been set to hear the appeal. The local Edinbane team wrote to the Sherriff to identify inaccuracies in the case put forward by the Highland Council. Though Duncan Burd had stated that inclusion of those who opposed the council’s decision was not mandatory, the Sherriff said that they had to be invited to respond, and not necessarily on points of law. Frances’ father will submit a response document to this hearing.
  20. Knowing what to write in the response document has been very challenging, as the Council in their appeal of the decision to overturn the closure so far has misrepresented the various facts of the process. There is also no precedent for this case to refer to, so even the length of the document is a challenge. It is also not known if presenting a challenge in the hearing would open the Edinbane team to liability for any costs that could be claimed in the case of the Council winning the appeal.
  21. Frances wanted to clarify the ECC’s position on the closure of the schooli.e. were the directors happy to put the ECC’s name on the response document?
  22. Yes
  23. Was the idea of taking over the responsibility for the school building if the council would maintain the teaching staff still in the frame if the council would look at it as an option?
  24. Yes
  25. RM – asked about the cost of travel for students.
  26. FM – local Edinbane parents had fought for the right to get travel costs for thwir children covered if they went to McDiarmid primary, though, in the end they have decided to send their children to Edinbane primary. It may be that parents in other schools have struck similar deals regarding travel costs.
  27. It was pointed out that part of the aim of the housing strategy is to increase the local population – which would have an impact on the school.
  28. Footpath Update – RM
  29. RM had a meeting with Alasdair Hilleary and they went over two possible routes for the footpath that Alastair had walked over. One of these routes – the shorter one – only crosses Edinbane Common Grazing and land held by the Germans. This would simplify the various agreements that need to be in place. This would also involve a shorter fire break. here is a large stone marking the point of contact where the proposed route would join the existing path. Donald Kennedy is going to walk the route to get a more detailed idea of the location.
  30. The route is most likely all peat, but there may be sources of rock Coishletter forest
  31. RM – Covered Terram textile would probably be the best option for the pathway – so rock would not be necessary.
  32. Next step – if Alasdair is happy with the route, then AD will contact the lawyers, who will contact the parties involved.
  33. Broadband
  34. JM is in contact with the group from Glendale and will update in the future.
  35. AD met with TEC services + reported:
  36. They are willing to consider construction of a footpath running along side the main road from the Upper Edinbane turn off to Arnishort to meet up with the old road, this will however be at some time in 2016. They will give us a price, this may include repairs to the existing section from the Upper Edinbane Rd down to the village.
  37. They are happy for any landscaping / presentational infrastructures to be put into the layby at the head of the lock to improve its’ amenity value however it must be “understated” and not interfere with the hard surface area of the lay by in anyway. There may be some planning issues AD to discuss with planning department
  38. The issue of moving the recycling bins would need to be discussed with the “Waste” wing of TEC services however roads would not be happy with them being moved to the layby by the campsite, the option suggested is the entrance area to Coishletter forest which may be owned by HC – TEC services will clarify the ownership + get back to us.
  1. AGM – SW and AD nearly completed the necessary reports.
  2. The date of the AGM to be decided
  3. Funding Applications
  4. Harris Home Furnishings
  5. Applied for apprenticeship scheme funding in order to help fund ‘in house training’ for laying flooring and general skills, rather than a specific qualification.
  6. Three fifths of £3000 has been agreed as a funding level. Dated from the date of the decision – 1st October 2015
  7. They can apply again in a year’s time.
  8. AOB
  9. Forms from SW for AD & RM to sign
  10. Community Buyouts – AD
  11. Do we want to register interest to buy anything?
  12. There is no deadline as such, registering interest can happen at any time.
  13. Of 200-300 registered interests only a handful have gone ahead.
  14. Coishletter forest suggested as a possible location, but not for the moment.
  15. DONM - TBC