Issue - meetings

Duncan Martin – Oban Community Council

 

The opportunities for more academic pupils has been talked about.  How well are schools stretching more gifted pupils?

 

Peter Bain commented that there are 98 subjects on the curriculum and that the number of students leaving with 8 or more highers places the school in the top 20 in the country.   Mr Bain also explained that academics were not purely the focus and that pupils, in addition to qualifications, also required to demonstrate experiences of disciplinary learning and personal endeavour.

 

Duncan Martin reflected that he was a friend of a parent whose child went to Cambridge University and that they hadn’t felt the support offer to pupils going to University outside of Scotland had been as well supported.

 

Mr Bain advised that Schools seek to support every individual and provide any necessary certification to get into any University in Scotland.  He commented that schools do have networks that pupils going to Universities in England or Europe and pupils are put in touch with others who have direct experience.  He also stated that schools offer interview training and support to sit entrance tests.

 

The Secondary School Head Teachers, and Depute Head Teachers, left the meeting at this point and the Committee considered the questions that had been submitted in advance of the meeting before taking questions from those attending.

 

 

Question 1 – 4 - Frank Roberts, Oban Community Council

 

It has often been suggested to me that parking wardens are routinely sent from OLI to other areas, leaving Oban under resourced.  Will the Council please advise therefore:-

 

1. During the year 2022-23 how many parking wardens (FTE) were employed in each respective council area (by quarter)?
2. Were parking wardens re-allocated from OLI to other areas during their normal working hours and on how many occasions also by quarter?
3. Were parking wardens from OLI offered overtime to work in other Council areas and if so what areas?
4. Have other parking wardens from other Council areas been sent to OLI either during their normal working hours or as overtime?

 

I would like to Council to respond in writing and would like a time limit on the response.

 

The questions will be put to the relevant department and Councillor Kain will request that the response is issued timeously.

 

Question 5 – Roddy McCuish

 

Roddy submitted the following question prior to the meeting by email:-

 

I recently reported rat increase of some alarming numbers at the junction of Polvinister Road and Glencruitten Road. I thought the quickest way to investigate this problem was to approach one of my elected members. I contacted Cllr Lynch who replied very promptly and reported it to the relevant department.  Unfortunately he was told the warden was unexpectedly unavailable at the moment and would look at it on their return. I fully understand that staff may be unavailable for various reasons. Surely there are other staff who can cover for the warden or even have someone seconded from another area. As you are all very aware Oban is very busy and to be without a warden of any sort is not a good position to be in as their duties are many.  Also I hasten to add the workload this person will have to come back to will place tremendous pressure on them. 

 

Mark Calder responded to the question stating that in reality the answer is No; there is no mechanism in place to cover unavailable environment wardens in each geographical area. Mr Calder, commented that as a former Councillor, Mr McCuish may recall, the service underwent significant savings which resulted the Environment Wardens cut from 9 to 4.  As a consequence there is no provision to cover when a warden is off.

 

Question 6 – B T MacDougall

 

B T MacDougall submitted the following question by email prior to the meeting:-

 

Have any of the representatives been to visit the two Piers in Taynuilt recently which are overcrowding with motorhomes, stealth caravans and tents which have resulted not only in human excrement and toilet paper in almost every shrub along the beach and repeated anti-social behaviour such as emptying cassette toilets into the Loch, driving on the beach and reckless driving on the single track road towards the Piers.

 

This has been reported to the council and the police, yet police patrols seem to have ceased or greatly reduced since the arrival of the sunny weather.

 

What needs to happen before this issue is being addressed by the council and police?

 

The local resident Otter population has already moved further up the river and it will only be a question of when and not if with all the fire pits etc before the wildlife is further impacted.

 

I am all for tourism but this is purely vandalism.

 

Mark Calder was able to pick up on part of the question, in that the Council would not have any responsibility for the piers or adjacent carparks as the land belongs to someone else.  Any anti-social behaviour should be reported directly to Police Scotland, however, fly tipping can be reported to the Council using the online form or by phoning the Council’s Contact Centre.

 

Chair stated that in essence the problems should be reported to the relevant Land Owners.

 

Question 7 – Neil MacIntyre

 

Question submitted by email prior to the meeting:-

 

Could you please put a question to Mark Calder or any officer that’s present about how much CCTV plans will cost if it goes ahead.

Even a projected cost would be great if they are putting these plans together and are waiting for further information.

 

Mark Calder advised that the costs are negligible between £500 - £2000 which could be absorbed as part of the existing budget.  We would be looking at installing 1 – 2 cameras at Ganavan possibly on the toilet block and one elsewhere to cover the area.  At the moment we are working with the Council’s Term Contractor who provides support for all our CCTV systems across the whole area, to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7