Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from:-

Sue Gledhill, HIE

Viv Hamilton, NHS Highland

The Chair ruled and the Committee agreed to take the agenda items out of sequence to facilitate Officers.

There were no declarations of interest intimated.

The Minutes of the Bute and Cowal Community Planning Group meeting of 4 March 2014 were approved as a correct record.

Verbal update by Jonny Moran

Johnny Moran of Transport Scotland gave a verbal update to the Group on the Rest and Be Thankful.  He advised that he attends the A83 Taskforce Group on a quarterly basis with Police Scotland, the Head of Roads and Amenity Services and Councillors Ellen Morton and Duncan MacIntyre to help reduce the impact on the network through landslides.

He advised that £32M has been spent on the A83 in the last 7 years and £8M of that money was towards landslides.

Decision

The Group:

1. Noted the information provided;
2. Asked that information disseminated by Transport Scotland in relation to the Rest and be Thankful always be sent to Ward 6 elected Members; and
3. Asked a representative from Transport Scotland to attend the Cowal Transport Forum on Friday 6^th June to address the signage issue on the A83.

Report by Community Development Officer

The group considered a report which informed the Area Community Planning Group on the data gathered at the Area Forum events as part of the engagement on the Single Outcome Agreement 2013.

Rona Gold spoke to the report and illustrated that her intention was to work with the new Community Governance Manager once they are in post to implement more effective communication with partners and local communities, identifying any gaps and issues of concern. 

Decision

The Group:

1. Noted the information provided;
2. Agreed to set up a sub group to discuss the Single Outcome Agreement and begin to develop an action plan for Bute and Cowal and provide feedback to the next meeting of the Community Planning Group.  The members of the sub group are Max Barr, Rona Gold, Liz Marion, Councillor Breslin and a representative from Police Scotland.

(Reference: Report by the Community Development Manager, dated 12 May 2014, submitted).

Verbal update from Sue Gledhill

The Area Governance Manager spoke on a report on behalf of Sue Gledhill of HIE following a previous report that was presented  in 2013 recommending that the Steering Group which was set up in 2007 to deliver the Destination Dunoon and Cowal Framework report should no longer meet.  It was suggested that in future the issues which were being addressed should be linked to the Single Outcome Agreement Delivery plans.

The Group felt that it would be beneficial if HIE were involved in more meetings in the local area.

Decision

The Group agreed that the Forward Dunoon and Cowal and the PA23 BID Groups should continue to deliver the outcomes contained within the Framework Report and set out in the executive summary which was presented to the Community Planning Group in March, and report on their progress to the CPG.

(Ref:  Report by Sue Gledhill, HIE dated June 2014, submitted).

Report by Area Governance Officer (to follow)

A report was presented to the Members by the Area Governance Officer giving the highlights and exceptions of the Forward Dunoon and Cowal Group.

Decision

The Group noted the work undertaken.

(Ref: Report by Area Governance Officer dated June 2014, submitted).

Verbal update by Joanna Peebles

Joanna Peebles of Scottish Water introduced herself to the Community Planning Group and updated the Group on her new role to date.

She asked the Group to email her with any queries they may have in relation to Scottish Water and said she was happy to have conference/video calls and ongoing dialogue with communities on specific issues.

Decision

The Group:

1. Noted the information provided; and
2. Asked Joanna Peebles to look into the sewage system that is installed in Dunoon and come back to the next meeting to update the group on whether or not there is significant capacity for the system to be expanded.

Verbal update by Iona MacPhail

Iona MacPhail of ACHA updated the Group on the anti social behaviour figures to date.  She advised that there has been 1 eviction last year for drug cultivation and they have attempted to take another tenant to court recently for drug dealing but they left the property before the case appeared in court.  She reported on the ASBO they have for another tenant for a case of persistent noise and disturbance which they are in the process of dealing with.

Iona spoke about the evictions ACHA have had for tenants in rent arrears, none of which are related to bedroom tax and assured the Group that they are always try and help those tenants that are in need.  She advised that there have been 493 cases for bedroom tax and with help from Argyll and Bute Council they have managed to help all tenants out of their arrears.

She updated the Group on a problem ACHA are facing just now due to 38 empty homes in Rothesay and this  causes a £2,500 lose in rent payments every week, she asked the Group to please contact her if there was anyone looking to be housed in Bute.  She suggested that ACHA look into a different category of tenants, i.e workers that are coming into Bute Monday-Friday to work or pull together a package for someone that is relocating to the island. 

She updated the Group on the Community Open Day for Strachur Play Park last Friday which was a real success as the community got together and got equipment and ACHA got labourers in to carry out the job.

Iona advised the Group that recent meetings had been ongoing in relation to Ardenslate shop and they have discovered that the ground outside the shop actually belong to them so the shop owner is now looking to buy the ground from ACHA.

The Group noted the information provided.

A report updating the Community Planning Group regarding the main pieces of work undertaken in the last reporting period by the Cowal Transport Forum was considered.

Decision

The Group noted the work undertaken.

(Ref:  Report by Area Governance Officer dated June 2014, submitted).

Report by Quality Standards Manager

The group noted a report the purpose of which was to update the members on the progress being made within Education in Argyll and Bute.

Decision

1. The group noted the information provided; and
2. The Group agreed to take this item to the September Community Planning Group when an officer from Education is present to answer any queries that they may have and to forward any queries they have in the meantime to the Area Governance Manager.

(Ref: Report by the Quality Standards Manager dated 30 April 2014 – submitted).

• Food and Healthy Weight

(Report by Carol Muir)

 The Group heard an update and presentation on healthy weight by Carol Muir, Senior Health Promotion Specialist – Community Development.

Further discussion followed and Carol Muir outlined another initiative – Beyond the School Gate – whereby parents and teachers would try and encourage children to eat healthier lunches.

Decision

The Group:

1. Noted the partnership working activity and the contents of the paper in relation to healthy weight; and
2. Agreed to pass this information onto the Health and Wellbeing Partnership.

(Ref: Report by the Senior Health Promotion Specialist, dated May 2014, submitted).

Verbal update by Alistair MacLaren

There was no one present from Argyll Voluntary Action so the Group agreed to postpone this item to the next meeting.

Gary Stitt from Police Scotland advised the Group that the local Policing Plan was now complete and his main priorities for the area were road safety and enforcement, anti social behaviour and violence and drug dealing.

He advised that the anti-social behaviour levels have risen in Cowal as they had 28 cases in the first 2 months and in Rothesay there has been an increase in common assaults as there have been 11 this year and was only 2 last year.

Gary updated the group on the serious crime stats and advised that this has gone down by 63%.  He advised there have been 11 fatalities across Argyll and Bute in the last year so road safety will be the main focus of their activity.

He reported on the recent trouble they have had with house break ins but have targeted this issue and have identified a group of 4 people who are now in jail.

He advised that the police are in the process of conducting Operation Myriad which a will be a month of activities specifically to targeting alcohol, Anti-Social Behaviour, Drug, and  Traffic Offences etc.,  and that an action plan is currently being drawn up to take this forward.

The Group noted the information provided.

Eddie Renfrew from Scottish Fire and Rescue advised the Group that the Fire Plan for 2013/14 met most of its targets.

He updated the Group on the 10 dwelling house fires they have had recently, with 2 being in Rothesay and 8 in Dunoon since January.  He advised his aim is to try and engage with other partners to help prevent this from happening in the future.

He advised that they are looking into starting cook safety courses and will be carry these courses out in sheltered housing complexes.

He advised that there is an actors group set up called “Home Sweet Home” that could deliver Community safety based plays in the area if the local community want them to come.  For the exercise to be worthwhile, at least three groups per day are necessary to provide morning, matinee and evening performances. This has a cost of approximately £600, for which funding may be available.

The Group noted the information provided.

Report by Area Governance Officer

A report updating the Area Community Planning Group regarding the main pieces of work undertaken by the Community Safety Forums was considered.

Decision

The Group noted the work undertaken.

(Ref: Report by Area Governance Officer dated June 2014, submitted).

• Car Parking
• Dog Fouling
• Public Toilets
• Transport A83

Max Barr outlined the recent discussion held at  the Caucus of Community Councils regarding the feeling that the CPG meetings were not progressing issues raised by Community Councils effectively, and noted that he had written to the Chief Executive to this effect and was awaiting her response.

Car Parking

The caucus raised an issue about car parking which was discussed at the last Community Planning Group meeting.  The Chair advised that De-Criminalisation of Parking came into effect on 12^th May and Mr. Barr asked that a consultation event is held with communities later this year as parking policy for the area is developed in light of the outcome of DPE.

Dog Fouling

It was noted that this item is coming to the September Business Day as the new Warden’s had only taken up their post on 12^th May, update on that iscvusison will be provided to the September CPG meeting.

Public Toilets

The Area Governance Manager agreed to contact the Roads Performance Manager and ask him to circulate an update on the signage of public toilets.

Transport A83

This item was covered at item 5(c) of this minute when Jonny Moran from Transport Scotland was present.

Mr Barr also aksed a question regarding the apparent costs of waste disposal at Dalinlongart, it was agreed that this information would be forwarded by the Amenity Services Manager to Mr Barr.

There were no issues raised by Third Sector Partnerships.

There was no other business discussed.