Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from:

Stuart McLean, Scottish Fire and Rescue Service

Paul Robertson, Police Scotland

Arrochar Community Council

Duncan MacLachlan, Arrochar and Tarbet Community Development Trust

As the Chair was unable to attend at the last minute and the Vice-Chair had stepped down following the last meeting, Sephton MacQuire kindly agreed to Chair the meeting with the group’s endorsement.

The minutes were approved

Roseanne MacKay, Craig Bendoris and Faye Tudor gave a joint presentation on the ongoing work to support students leaving Hermitage Academy to achieve and sustain a positive destination. Challenges included blocks in the employability pipeline, parental perception of opportunities, affordable accommodation for all partner agencies to engage with leavers post-school and the impact of transport linkages on young people.

Stuart MacDonald offered to speak with Roseanne following the meeting about exploring whether Helensburgh Fire Station could be offered as a potential space.

Ruth Cairns introduced Alice, Aubrey from Helensburgh Youth Forum and Stephanie Thomas, Modern Apprentice, who gave a presentation on the activities they had been involved with during the Year of Young People. The young people were commended for speaking to the group and for the range of activities they had undertaken over the course of the year.

Alison Morrison, Director and Chair of Cove Burgh Hall, gave a presentation on the hall and its journey from coming into community ownership in 2001 until now. Challenges included the volunteer model and fundraising.

In response to a question from Councillor Douglas on whether the council could run grantfunding workshops, Kirsty Moyes advised that the council’s Community Development Team was offering training to community groups on a variety of themes and these would be circulated widely.

Murdo MacDonald gave an overview of the activity happening within the community development trust and presented their masterplan for Kilcreggan which came out of their Community-led Action Plan.

Murdo asked how the council would be taking the masterplan forward and was advised that this would not be the forum for that to be decided but that there would be a process or assistance from within departments on how the community could work in partnership with public agencies to look at how the masterplan could be progressed. It was agreed that this question be raised to the Management Committee.

It was also agreed that the Community Planning Officer would ensure that colleagues within Spatial Planning were aware of the Kilcreggan masterplan document as they prepare the next iteration of the Local Development Plan and that a request would go to Stuart Watson, Traffic and Parking Manager, to liaise with the trust on subtle ways to calm traffic.

Kirsty Moyes advised that Kirkmichael Community group were in the process of undertaking a survey to understand the needs of their community. The group wished to extend the invitation to partners to ask if there was anything they would like to be included. Any input to be with Kirsty Moyes by the 12^th November.

Unfortunately there was no one from the Ministry of Defence present to provide an update

Allan Comrie spoke to the report. Allan advised that he attends 5 Community Planning Partnerships and was quite taken at the relevance of transport to this group and the impact rurality had. Questions were posed to Allan on the Kilcreggan ferry.

Sarah Frood of Ice Cream Architecture spoke of the findings of the Making Places: Helensburgh report.

It was noted that there was nothing guaranteed to be taken forward within the plan and the group felt that it was in a similar position with Kilcreggan in that respect. The group wished to raise this to the CPP Management Committee asking for clarity on the process and expectations for moving strategic plans forward.

The group nominated Laura Cameron to the role of Vice-Chair.

Jim Littlejohn, HSCP, advised that Jean’s Bothy had now opened and requested that the manager come to the next meeting to give a presentation on the services offered there. Jim also spoke of a new service in development for the peninsula with the provision of a number of tenancies and supported living facilities in Garelochhead for people with learning disabilities and autism.

Allan Kirk, Police Scotland, advised that the current Youth Engagement Officer had moved into a new role outwith the area and a new Youth Engagement Officer had been appointed and would start in January 2019. The Helensburgh Police Scotland Youth Volunteers had 24 young people who were successful in applying and this will launch in early December with the programme starting properly in January.

Sephton MacQuire, Dunbritton,  advised that 27 new housing units had opened within Succoth and that they were now all full. There had been issues with allocating these houses with transportation and the perception of poor job opportunities being cited as reasons for rejecting these properties. Phase 2 for more houses in Succoth is on hold as a result of the issues in allocating these houses.

Stuart MacDonald, Scottish Fire and Rescue, introduced himself as the Station Manager for Helensburgh with responsibility for Garelochhead too. He gave an update on key points of interest for the group.

Jean Senior, TSI, advised that the TSI could give information and advice on funding and appealed to groups to join the mailing list to keep up to date with news and information from the TSI.

Thursday 7^th February 2019, Venue TBC

Thursday 7^th February 2019, Venue TBC