Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Hay, Councillor Kelly, Councillor MacAlpine, John Dreghorn and Marlene Baillie.

There were no declarations of interest.

The Minutes of the meeting held on 4 November 2009 were approved as a correct record.  It was noted that the text was missing from item 10 on page 4 of the Minute.

The Area Corporate Services Manager tabled three Local Area Community Plan drafts for discussion that had been prepared by the Council, Strathclyde Police and the NHS.  Lengthy discussion took place and the group amended the second and third outcomes to read “Communities within the Mid Argyll, Kintyre and the Islands area provide a sustainable range of services to support economic and social activities” and “High quality environment which supports employment, bio diversity, culture, arts and heritage”.  After discussion it was agreed that the information available on the three plans would be collated and circulated for comment by the Group and agreed at a future meeting. 

The Acting Area Corporate Services Manager advised that due to the recent Community Council elections Geoffrey Page of the Association of Community Councils had attended the previous meeting of the Group on their behalf.  He advised that now the Community Councils were in operation and had had their inaugural meetings, the Group would now need to decide on how they would like them to be represented at the meetings. 

He suggested two options, the first being one representative for the whole area and the second, splitting the area into 3 sections and having one representative from each section on behalf of all the Community Councils in that area.  He advised that the Oban Lorn and the Isles area had decided on a thematic idea (urban, rural and island) with 3 representatives on their group.

He opened the item for discussion.  During discussion it was noted that there were already Community Groups in operation in the three sections of the area which included representation from all of the Community Councils.  It was agreed that the Mid Argyll Partnership, the Kintyre Initiative Working Group and the Islay and Jura Community Liaison Group would be asked to provide  representation to the LACPG on behalf of the Community Councils. 

It was highlighted that there was not enough time between the issue of the agenda and the actual meeting to allow effective communication with community groups or preparation by representatives.  It was suggested that a programme of meetings be developed to allow representatives to prepare in advance for meetings. It was agreed that this issue would be looked into by the Area Corporate Services Manager.

Robert Pollock, Head of Economic Development and Strategic Transportation gave a presentation on the Economic Development Action Plan and advised that this would be presented to the Executive and thereafter the Council for approval.  Implementation of the Plan would begin in April 2010 and would cover a 3 year period.  He gave an overview of the vision, framework, priorities and key aspects including the delivery of the plan and measuring performance thereafter.  He then invited discussion from the Group.  

Discussion arose around renewable energy in the Mid Argyll, Kintyre and the Islands Area which had been highlighted as a top priority within the Action Plan.  It was noted that the Renewables Energy Action Plan was currently in development which would compliment the Economic Development Action Plan.  From discussion it was also noted that the plan did not include any reference to heritage which was a huge economic asset to the area.  Mr Pollock stated that he would be happy to investigate how this could be included but added that it would require consultation with external organisations such as Visit Scotland.  Finally in terms of e-commerce and ICT it was highlighted that the Mid Argyll Area had serious problems with connectivity and it was noted that a high broadband speed would be essential to any break though in e-commerce.

The Chair thanked the Head of Economic Development and Strategic Transportation for his presentation.

This item had been withdrawn from the agenda.