APPIN COMMUNITY COUNCIL
(www.appincommunitycouncil.co.uk)
Minutes of Meeting held in Appin Village Hall
Thursday 30th August 2012 at 7.30 p.m.
Present: Alison MacCorquodale, Issy Silkowski, David Craig, Tina Scorgie, Peter Baker, Linda MacLeod, Cllr Elaine Robertson; Cllr Duncan MacIntyre, PC Stuart Johnston, Gerry Boyle (on behalf of the primary school + 2 members of the public
Apologies: Fiona Thomson; Ethel Johnston;
Minutes of the last meeting (7/6/12) were approved and signed.
a). Traffic Calming – A828: Jim Smith of Argyll & Bute Council had been contacted prior to our meeting re outstanding issues - access to caravans at Appin Holiday Homes; the possibility of getting 40mph limit continuous through the length of the village; the ferry sign at Appin to be changed to “Passenger Ferry Only” and a request for double white lines for area near Creagan Inn. He said he has asked Transerv to report back to us direct on these issues as they were all raised at a recent liaison meeting, but nothing received as yet. PC Johnston reported having just received a report from Transerv via his Chief Inspector in relation to the double white lines. The road had been looked at both by Transerv and the Police and it has been agreed that it does not need double white lines or speed restrictions as the road is not to blame for recent accidents. Although we appreciate this opinion, it does not detract from the fact that accidents are happening and lots of near misses are being reported. The Community Council are to continue to report incidents and request some extra signage, possibly “no overtaking” or “accident blackspot” sign. It was agreed that flashing signs were more effective. A “hidden entrance” sign would also be beneficial as there have been incidents involving cars pulling out of junction at Appin Holiday Homes which then meet cars carrying out overtaking manoeuvres. PC Johnston stressed that any incidents seen should be reported to him with as much information as possible – it can be put on a note through his door. He is trying to collate all incidents and this will be available to us if required. The tree that was leaning over roadway just north of Creagan Inn has now been removed.
b). School Transport/Public Transport: Roof panels on bus shelter at Kirkton have now been replaced.
c). Port Appin and other Council Roads: Doctor’s parking space at the pier at Port Appin has now been repainted. Verges have been cut on side roads and at Lonruadh.
d). Recycling/GRAB: Litter picks were carried out recently but very poorly attended. The primary school were involved for one but only one parent, two children, one teacher and Tina turned up. The litter pick at Port Appin was only Tina and one other.
e). Cycle Track: More interpretation signs have been erected between Castle Stalker and the school. Gerry Boyle reported that the school are going to carry out a campaign of awareness on dog dirt on cycle track, especially near to the school. This will involve info via their newsletter, notes to parents, posters etc, to try and get the message across to offenders.
f). Jubilee Bridge: Mike Rayworth was unable to attend meeting but sent in a report. Unfortunately we were unsuccessful in the grant funding from Scottish Seafarms and apart from the £20,000 from Crown Estates and some donations, we have nothing else. He is currently pursuing two new funds – Heritage Lottery and SNH – which fit our criteria quite well, closing dates are January 2013. Mike had spoken to locals and visitors during the Appin Show and there was a great interest in retaining the bridge and there should be a much higher public profile with local fund raising. Suggestions made included: Notices on bridge asking for donations; Publicity Plaque from Historical Society tent to be put outside Port Appin Co-op asking for donations; set up a bridge website; fund raising events in village and having a raffle. Mike has recommended that the Community Council work more closely with Appin Community Trust as they are a charity and can therefore claim gift aid from any donations from tax payers. Also a lot of grant bodies are only open to charities and this will allow for more applications to go in. Fundraising efforts should be more proactive, inviting the community to participate and also to ask more personalities who know the area if they would like to contribute. Tina has already received a donation via this option and is currently writing to more people. The recent Queens Jubilee celebrations left us with £769 profit and this is currently held with Community Council for the bridge fund.
The question of liability on the bridge was raised – if the Community Council were responsible for it and someone was injured, where would be stand for any claim. Cllr Robertson is currently liaising with the Governance and Law Dept at the Argyll & Bute Council to find this out but it is thought that the Community Council would be covered via the A&B Council insurance.
As Mike was unable to attend, he was not able to reply to questions on total cost to build; timescale; inspections required, etc. As Argyll and Bute Council have previously stated they were not interested in taking on the bridge or putting money into it, would they still be happy to be responsible for the public liability? At present A&B Council pay Crown Estate for the bridge being there.
A big thanks went out to Mike for all the work and effort he has put into this, and is continuing to put in. A public meeting should be held in the future to raise awareness.
The little bridge on north side of Jubilee Bridge has had some repair work done on it. Mike arranged this and Glensanda provided 2 people to assist with this. Les Silkowski also helped out. Handrails replaced and path cleared back.
Correspondence:
· E-mail 7/6/12 – Argyll & Bute Social Enterprise Network – Creative Place Awards
· Planning Applications 8/6/12 – Agricultural Shed, Ardtur Farm, Port Appin and Erection of dwellinghouse, Portnacroish Croft, Appin
· E-mail 13/6/12 – Laura MacDonald, Community Development Officer (A&B Council) – Job Application – Sustainability and Development Manager: Dunollie. Also BID4OBAN vacancies – Business Improvement District Campaign Co-Ordinator and Part Time Administrator.
· E-mail 14/6/12 – Community Empowerment and Renewal Bill
· Letter 19/6/12 – Jolyon Gritten, Outdoor Access Manager, A&B Council – Final Consultation on the Argyll & Btue Core Paths Plan – Reports on Objections to the Plan.
· Planning Application 4/7/12 – Erection of dwellinghouse – land North West of Creagan Farm, Appin
· E-mail – 29/6/12 – Mike Rayworth re correspondence ongoing with A&B Council & Sustrans re grant funding for Jubilee Bridge
· E-mail – Argyll & Bute Council – Funding Alerts – July & August 2012
· Letter -3/7/12 – Argyll & Bute Council – Local Development Plan – Potential Additional Sites Consultation and Strategic Environmental Assessment.
· Letter 3/7/12 – A&B Council – Scheme of Community Councils in Argyll & Bute – By-Elections.
· Letter 4/7/12 – NHS Highland – Argyll & Bute Public Partnership Forum (PPF) Meeting Notes – 29/5/12
· E-mail 8/7/12 – Community Heartbeat Trust – defibrillators
· E-mail 10/7/12 – Planning Application – Erection of dwellinghouse & 2 letting units, land South of Dalismore, Appin
· Letter 17/7/12 – A&B Council – Community Engagement Resources Pack
· Press Release 23/7/12 – A&B Council – Council warning on cockle harvesting – Castle Stalker
· Letter 24/7/12 – NHS Highland – Argyll & Bute Public Partnership Forum – Membership Database Check
· E-mail 6/8/12 – Planning Application – Erection of holiday letting unit, Waterside Lodge, Port Appin
· E-mail 6/8/12 – A&B Council – Funding Extra – Scottish Community Foundation
· Letter 7/8/12 – A&B Council – Argyll & Bute Local Development Plan – Potential Additional Sites Consultation
· E-mail – HIE – Public Consultation – Next Generation Broadband in the Highlands & Islands
· Letter 8/8/12 – NHS Highland – Argyll & Bute Public Partnership Forum Meeting – 28/8/12
· Notice of Meeting 14/8/12 – Oban Lorn & The Isles Area Committee – 8/8/12
· E-mail 14/8/12 – Scottish Centre for Intergenerational Practice – meeting 30/8/12
· Letter (copy for info) 18/8/12 - from Helen Currie to Planning Dept, A&B Council, re planning application at Waterside Lodge, Port Appin
· Letter – 22/8/12 – Army re military exercise notification 25/9/12 – 5/10/12 (Mull & Islay)
· E-mail 24/8/12 – Planning Application – Installation of replacement windows and doors – The Manse, Appin (listed building)
· E-mail 24/8/12 – A&B Council – Agenda Document for Oban, Lorn & the Isles Community Planning Group 12/9/12
· E-mail 27/8/12 – A&B Council, Area Governance Officer – expenses for attending Area Community Planning meetings.
· E-mail 26/8/12 – Mary Gregory – Appin Directory (for attention of meeting 30/8/12)
Treasurer’s Report: No report available from Paul Zvegintzov.
Any Other Competent Business
1. Planters in Appin/Port Appin. – Team of 3 (Alison MacCorquodale , Issy & Les Silkowski) put flowers into planters around village. These were donated by Kinlochlaich Garden Centre. This is only a temporary measure and they will need to be refurbished at a later date. Funding will have to be applied for.
2. Clach Thoul– Dangerous trees on slope above Clach Thoul have still not been removed despite Bidwells asking the Estate workers to do this work. To ask Paul Zvegintzov to follow this up.
3. Dangerous Trees, Portnacroish – Still no report back from Jim Smith, Argyll & Bute Council despite recent reminder. To follow up.
4. Appin Directory – Mary Gregory was unable to attend our meeting but submitted a report in view of recent discussion on this. She stated that she had been asked to compile the directory as it had been several years since the previous one. She is willing to do this on a voluntary basis. She was also asked to include e-mails and mobile numbers in addition to the names, house name and landline numbers. She checked that there was no problem with data protection. She was not going to use old information and was starting from scratch so that inaccurate information was not published. Everyone has freedom to choose what information they wish to be published and most Appin residents seem happy for her to do this work. She has not received any other complaints and could not understand why the matter was raised with the Community Council. There was no objections at the meeting to Mary carrying out this work and anyone with any questions should contact Mary direct.
5. Local Policing – PC Stuart Johnson reported that there is a new shift pattern in operation which means that the community policemen do not have to do night shift in Oban. They now do a mix of day shift and a back shift and cover local community areas, depending on who is off at the time. This does mean more of a police presence in our local area but there has been a lot of holiday cover recently but this should settle down a bit. Stuart said that the shifts are flexible to allow more cover when community events are on and may need a police presence.
6. Appin Cemetery – Further complaint about untidy cemetery. This included grass not being picked up after cutting, with headstones/ornaments being left covered in grass cuttings; untidy spare ground; brambles growing over fence onto headstones; sentimental ornament was smashed presumably when grass cutting; bin not being emptied often enough (bigger bin required). E-mail sent to Stuart McCracken of Argyll & Bute Council for comment.
7. All Weather Pitch, Strath of Appin School. Gerry Boyle updated the meeting on progress. Tenders to be in shortly and hoped work will start in October for 6-8 weeks. It is recognised that there will be some initial disruption to local house tenants whilst lorries work on clearing the ground. Grant money of £150,000 has been raised from Sports Scotland; LEADER; Argyll & Bute Council; Appin Community Trust and the Robertson Trust. The pitch will be available to the community outwith school hours, management on this still to be finalised. Parking for use of the pitch will be within the school grounds. A coaching co-ordinator is being employed part-time for 2 years. Public meeting to be held at later date.
8. Report made that the letter box at Lonruadh, where post office used to be situated, has a hole in the bottom of it. To be reported to Royal Mail.
9. Bollards at Port Appin at front of ferry shelter are once again broken. To be reported to Roads Dept, Argyll & Bute Council.
10. New Car Park, Appin (opposite hall & church). The ground has been cleared and it is now in a 3 week settling period before the final surfacing work can be done. Sustrans will be responsible for making a link down the cycle track from the car park.
Date, Time and Place of Next Meeting: Thursday 8th November – 7.30pm – Appin Village Hall