Issue - meetings

Opportunity for verbal updates by Community Planning Partners

Police Scotland

Inspector Mark Stephen provided the Group with a quarterly update from an operational perspective and the following was noted:

• Anti-Social behaviour statistics have remained the same as last year.
• Common assault figures are down.
• There have been cases of open vehicle theft and social media has been used to warn the public.
• Funding from the Alcohol and Drugs Partnership was received to fund a cocaine wipes initiative undertaken over the festive period.
• Speed gun training to Community Councils who wish to fund and purchase their own speed gun was being delivered.
• 20 Police Officers in the Oban area are now fully trained to carry a taser, no negative perception had been detected.
• Continued promotion of Rural and neighbourhood watch schemes was being undertaken and partners were asked for their support in promoting the schemes.
• While nationally there are reports of officers being withdrawn to support Brexit arrangements it was unlikely that this would affect Oban, Lorn & the Isles due to the rurality of the area.

Scottish Fire and Rescue

John Sweeney of Scottish Fire and Rescue provided a statistical update for Quarter 3 2018/19:

• Zero fire fatalities.
• Zero Non-fatal fire casualties.
• 6 accidental dwelling fires.
• 1 deliberate fire.
• Zero Non-domestic fires.
• 16 Special services incidents.
• 2 road traffic casualties.
• 61 False alarms.

Incidents of Note

• In quarter 3 there were 3 primary fire incidents.
• In quarter 3 there were 9 chimney fires.

Special Service Incidents

• In quarter 3 there had been 15 special service incidents.

Home Fire Safety Visits

• 94 undertaken.

Community Safety Activity

• 14 People trained in Taynuilt Village hall by the British Heart Foundation.
• 13 Post domestic incident responses.
• Real time crash scenario took place at Mossfield Stadium.
• Drive to Arrive presentation took place at Oban High School.
• Rockfield nursery pre-school talk to 50 children.
• Home fire safety visits were generated from the Oban winter festival and Soroba young family group visit to the local station.

Health and Well Being Network

Alison Hardman informed the Group that Eleanor McKinnon would be retiring from the Health and Wellbeing Network at the end of March and a recruitment process for a new support officer will be undertaken and that Sandra Cairney would also be retiring at the end of May.  Alison also advised that the Locality Planning Groups would reduce in April from 8 to 4 with the islands group joining the Oban group to mirror council areas.

The Chair on behalf of the Group intimated best wishes to both ladies for their retirement.

Community Development – Argyll and Bute Council

Laura MacDonald, Community development Officer provided the following update:

Oban Access Panel are running Disability Awareness Training in the Corran Halls 10am - 3.30pm 19th Feb - this is open to businesses, community businesses and front facing staff in public sector. Contact them: obandisabilityforum@aol.co.uk

The 2nd Argyll and Bute Gaelic Gathering will be held in the Corran Halls on the 2nd March.  For more information or to register visit: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/an-darna-cruinneachadh-gaidhlig-2nd-gaelic-gathering-argyll-and-bute-tickets-53948480357 .  Any questions should be directed to: gaelic@argyll-bute.gov.uk.

Dealing with Challenging Situations training for Community Councils and community organisations is running across all four administrative areas of the council.  The Oban training will be run in Lorn House 10am - 12.30pm on 6th March.

Community Engagement training will also be coming up - 15th May, Lorn House, time tbc.  Contact communitydevelopment@argyll-bute.gov.uk for information on the Dealing with Challenging Situations and Community Engagement training.

Opportunity for verbal updates by Community Planning Partners

Police Scotland

Inspector Julie McLeish outlined the staffing arrangements within the area, highlighting the roll out of 7 new officers within the Mid Argyll and Kintyre areas and the current officer based in Carradale plans to move on.  She advised that this may have implications for the area, as the likelihood was that the office would be sold off, however she stressed that there would be an opportunity for community consultation in this regard. 

She further advised that Police Scotland were currently working with Argyll and Bute Council in planning for the year’s events. 

Councillor Anne Horn

Councillor Horn highlighted the hard work of a group of youths in refurbishing the old tennis courts in Tarbert and also advised that the old Visit Scotland office would be opening to the public in due course as a Community Hub.  She advised that she would forward the dates to the Senior Committee Assistant for circulation as soon as she was aware of them.

Scottish Fire and Rescue

Crew Manager Kelly McSporran provided a breakdown of incidents relating to the MAKI area for quarter 3 of 2018/19.  She highlighted incidents of note, which included the fire at Machrihanish Golf Club; the Community Safety Activity and the special service provided by Scottish Fire and Rescue as part of their first responder role.  

Opportunity for verbal updates by Community Planning Partners

Scottish Fire and Rescue

Bobby Tourish of Scottish Fire and Rescue provided a statistical update for Quarter 3 2018/19:

• Zero fire fatalities.
• Zero Non-fatal fire casualty in Dunoon.
• 1 accidental dwelling fires in Cowal and 2 in Bute.
• 4 deliberate fires – 3 in Cowal and 1 in Bute.
• 4 Non-domestic fires - 2 in Cowal, 2 in Bute.
• 14 Special services incidents – 9 in Cowal and 5 in Bute.
• Zero road traffic casualties.
• 46 False alarms – 37 in Cowal and 9 in Bute.

Incidents of Note

• In quarter 3 there were 4 primary fire incidents 1 in Bute and 3 in Cowal.
• In quarter 3 there were 3 chimney fires in Cowal.

Special Service Incidents

• In quarter 3 there had been 12 special service incidents – 6 Cowal and 6 in Bute.

Home Fire Safety Visits

• 53 undertaken in Cowal and 14 in Bute.

Community Safety Activity

• 5 Post domestic incident responses
• 3 PDIRS delivered in Dunoon and 2 in Rothesay

Bute and Cowal CAUCUS

Cathleen Russell raised concerns regarding the lack of road markings and white lines within the Cowal Area and wished for this to be escalated to the Roads department through the Cowal Transport Forum.

Highlands and Islands Enterprise

The Area Community Planning Group gave consideration to a report submitted by HIE which highlighted their activity across Argyll between April and June 2018.

Decision

The Area Community Planning Group:

1. Expressed their disappointment that a representative was not in attendance to discuss the report and agreed that the Area Governance Officer ask HIE to provide the Group with information about the targeted spend for Oban during the current financial year and what this was planned for.
2. Welcomed the investment in Oban but considered that Glenshellach, which was already suffering from significant congestion issues, was the wrong location to develop when there were other areas of land which may be more appropriate such as Millpark, Dunbeg or SAMS.
3. Noted that in light of the recent press release about the Glenshellach development Oban Community Council would organise a community engagement meeting to discuss the proposals in more detail.
4. Invited the Community Planning Management Committee to explore, with HIE, the concerns expressed at this meeting and what engagement with partners had been undertaken to identify areas of land suitable for industrial use.

(Reference:  Report by HIE, dated July, submitted)

Opportunity for verbal updates by Community Planning Partners

Scottish Fire and Rescue

David Hanton from Scottish Fire and Rescue provided the following verbal update:

·         Within the last quarter 95 home fire safety visits have been carried out.

·         Mentoring programme to two young people currently being undertaken.

·         Rollout of practical demonstrations aimed at young drivers to make them aware of the possible consequences of speeding.

·         Overall 60 incidents were reported in the last quarter.

A conversation was held by the group highlighting the difficulties currently surrounding the obtaining of the codes for the use of defibrillators in the Oban area.

Decision

The Group:

1.    Agreed Scottish Fire and Rescue would liaise with partner agencies in order to ensure codes can be obtained quickly;

2.    Agreed a progress update on the situation should be brought back to the next Oban, Lorn and the Isles Community Planning Group meeting; and

3.    Agreed that once a solution has been identified this will be raised with the Community Planning Partnership so it can be shared with other areas of Argyll and Bute.

Police Scotland

PC Brown provided the Group with the following verbal update:

·         Chris Edwards has been appointed as the new Community Policing Sergeant and will take up the role on the 28^th May 2018, his appointment will create a consistent approach when dealing with community items.

·         2 Summer secondments have been secured for the Oban area in order to boost staffing levels for the summer period. 

·         Additional staff will be brought into the area for any planned events.

·         Additional foot and cycle patrols are now in place.

·         Additional traffic patrols are also in place.

Opportunity for verbal updates by Community Planning Partners

Rachel Whyte, Islay Community Council raised concerns over the lack of connectivity to the village and the new housing developments in Port Ellen and Bowmore, particularly in relation to pavements.  She advised that this should be considered as a key part of any developments in the future.  It was agreed that this would be included in the highlight report for the Management Committee in June.

Councillor Horn provided an update from Tarbert and Skipness Community Trust.  She advised that the work by Scottish Water was ongoing.

It was noted that an advert had now been issued for a Development Worker.

She also advised that the Trust were still in negotiations with Visit Scotland about their premises in Tarbert.

Councillor Horn advised on complaints that have been raised by parents of Jura Primary School in relation to deer accessing the playground and asked if a deer fence could be erected as the deer are a risk to the children especially in relation to tics and deer droppings. 

Councillor Horn also mentioned the need for a sign on the road out of Craighouse on Jura to highlight that pedestrians may be on the road. 

Councillor Taylor provided information on some initiatives which are taking place through the Council, including the Industrial Regeneration Group, the Strategic Transportation Working Group and the initiative being undertaken by the Council’s Chief Executive – the “Big Listen” which relates to the Scottish Government review of Local Governance.

Councillor Armour advised that Campbeltown Creamery has been put up for sale by its owners First Milk.  The Creamery employs 26 staff and makes the world famous Mull of Kintyre Cheddar. 

Antonia Baird, Community Development Officer, advised that the “Big Listen” event would be coming to Islay on 6^th June and would be held in the High School from 6:30pm-8:30pm and encouraged partners to attend.

She also advised of a request from Tom Skinner, Islay House Garden, to see if it would be possible for Mental Health First Aid course to be held on Islay.  Petra Pearce agreed that she would highlight this with the Health and Wellbeing Network and it was agreed that the request would be put to the Management Committee.

Jim Porteous, Islay Community Council provided the Group with information relating to the ongoing ferry disruption being experienced on the islands.  He is a member of the Cal Mac Communities Board who are now working to identify ways to improve the current situation.  A sub-group has been formed by the Communities Board to take this forward.

Jim also highlighted the feedback from the Islay Summit held recently which identified that up to £17M of funding would be needed to bring the roads on Islay up to an acceptable standard.  It was noted that discussions were taking place in relation to the possibility of creating a tar plant on Islay which could reduce the costs of road repairs.

He also noted that the lack of affordable housing and a reduced workforce availability were issues for Islay.

Rachel Whyte asked what the Council were doing in relation to the new data protection regulations.  The Area Committee Manager advised that this would be discussed with all Community Councils at their inaugural meetings.

Councillor Horn raised concerns about dog fouling around the school area in Tarbert and in Bowmore.  She asked if this could be highlighted.

Opportunity for verbal updates by Community Planning Partners

CalMac Ferries

Blair Moglia informed the Group that Caledonian MacBrayne were rolling out a range of initiatives to celebrate 2018 being the year of the young person, including

·         28 modern apprenticeships.

·         Workshops for vulnerable youngsters.

·         Collaboration with young scot and Transport Scotland to roll out a ticketing pilot scheme which will include discount’s and incentives.

·         Cadet sponsorship via Clyde Marine

Ms Moglia also explained that the company were raising awareness of corporate social responsibility and would be introducing a work shadowing scheme to allow younger members of staff to gain more experience in the workplace and their Human Resources department would also be running employability workshops in schools.

Third Sector Interface

Alistair McLaren tabled a written update to the Group regarding Historic Kilmun and Scottish Rural Action.

Historic Kilmun was now open, a range of activities and projects were now available until 31 October 2018, including a Oral History and Art Therapy projects. Historic Kilmun had also submitted an application to Creative Scotland for funding to help make this season really special.

Mr McLaren reported that the location and date for the Scottish Rural Parliament in 2018 would be issued shortly. A recently released report, FareEnough?, highlighted the impact of transport costs on access to education and employment for young people. A free rural transport conference was taking place in September, which would feed into the National Transport Strategy 2.

(Ref: Briefing note Third Sector Interface, dated 1^st May 2018, tabled)

Scottish Fire and Rescue

Mr Tourish from Scottish Fire and Rescue advised that there had been 33 recorded incidents in Bute and 43 in Dunoon. Incidents recorded included primary fires, secondary fires, chimney fires, special service call outs, car accidents and false alarms.

Mr Tourish also informed the Group that 57 home fire safety inspections had been carried out in Dunoon and 33 in Bute.

The Chair noted the excellent services that the retained fire fighters offer in both Bute and Cowal.