Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from:-

Councillor Alistair MacDougall

Martin Hill, Fire & Rescue

Inspector Julie McLeish, Police Scotland

Carol Keeley, ABC Council

John Heron, ABC Council

Robert Cowper, ABC Council

Iona MacPhail, ACHA

Jim Smith, ABC Council

The Minutes of the Meeting of 8^th May 2013 were approved as a correct record.

Mike Wood from Police Scotland updated the Group on the new Police Scotland Team and advised it has been progressing fantastically for 5 months now.

He advised that the hotspot intelligence led searches in the Oban area were peaking significantly at weekends and that detection was up for serious violence.

Ian MacInnes from the Fire Service updated the Group on the local events that had been taking place over the summer and that information/advice leaflets in terms of fire safety had been distributed with home Tesco orders.

He informed the Group that they have a Bonfire Night Stragegy would commence soon as it has now been agreed that Bonfire night will be going ahead.

Murray Humphries from Lochwatch Loch Awe updated the Forum on the new robust signs that have been placed at strategic locations around the loch.  He advised the signs carry familiar “Save a Life – yours!” message along with a new message “Don’t drink and drown”.  The signs were funded by the An Suidhe Wind Farm Fund administrated by Glenorchy and Innishail Community Council.

He informed the Forum that a new leaflet is being designed and will be ready in time for the start of the new season in 2014.

Murray advised that LochWatch Loch Awe were unaware of any incidents on or at the loch since the last meeting but queried whether small plane had crashed on the loch.  Mike Wood from Police Scotland advised the Forum that there had been a plane crash which had occurred at the Lochgilphead side of the Loch and to his knowledge, pilot error had contributed to the crash.  The matter had been passed on to the Air Investigation team and the plane would now be part of a recovery exercise.

Murray updated the Forum on the safety on the second hand safety boat they had recently purchased.  The boat will operate on the loch during weekends and bank holidays and the boat is there to promote safety and provide assistance to emergency services.  The boat will be officially launched at Cruachan Power Station in September and members of the Community Safety Forum will be invited.

Bill Weston commented that the fatal accident earlier in the year near Campbeltown had been the first fatality in Argyll and Bute in two years.

Iain MacKinnon, Environmental Health Manager advised the group of the increase in work for event safety.

He updated the Group on the upcoming events in the Oban, Lorn and the Isles area advising that as the Tiree Music Festival was a success, the organising committee have already started planning a three day festival for 2014.

The Oban Winter Festival will take place in November and a Hogmanay event in Oban will be held in Station Square with access to pubs until 3/4am in the morning.  He reported that due to the closure of George Square this Hogmanay, many persons who normally attended this event were being encouraged to attend the Oban event.

He advised there are still gas safety checks going ahead and that with the new gas safety initiative, pipes are being replaced for peoples safety.

Mandy Sheridan, Team Leader for Community Services informed the Group that there is now a different standby system for Social Work and it is based in the Oban area for the whole of Argyll and Bute. Everyone is happy with this and checks are being processed quicker.

She also advised that access to the islands has improved and Social Workers are now getting on and off the islands and they are fully staffed.

Iain MacKinnon advised that Anti-Social Behaviour Group in Argyll and Bute has been successful.  Matters are being dealt with routinely and information sharing with Police Scotland is working well.  He advised the Group of the intention to provide an annual update which would be jointly prepared between himself and Inspector McLeish.

Councillor Glen-Lee highlighted that there has been no report on Vulnerable Person’s for a year now and requested that Governance and Law get in contact with the NHS to establish what the position is.

The Group agreed to defer this item on the basis that the Group was being refocused and that a report will come to the next meeting on 25^th November.

Report by Access Manager

A report informing the Group on issues arising from Wild Camping was considered.  

The Group agreed to distribute the report to all Community Councils in the Oban, Lorn and the Isles area and ask them to identify any problematic areas to Jolyon Gritten for inclusion in the Memorandum of Understanding.

The Group also agreed to get Jolyon Gritten to liaise directly with Police Scotland so discuss policing requirements.

Iain macinnes advised that there had been an initiative on the Muirburn code carried out by Scotland Fire and Rescue to both raise awareness and educate.  He further advised that this initiative would be carried out early next season in effort to reduce instances of grass fires.

Melissa Stewart advised that she had contacted all the Community Councils to see if they would like to take this initiative forward but that many of them had advised that they would not pursue this as cold calling was not viewed as a major problem for their communities.  She advised that Dunbeg Community Council were the only CC who wanted to take this forward and that there was information and signage on the Council’s website if there were any individuals who wished to use this deterrent.

Report by Head of Roads and Amenity Services

A report considering the request to look at introducing a reduced speed limit along the Oban/Connel back road, was considered.

It was agreed:-

                                       I.      That Mike Wood from Police Scotland would find out how many accidents there have been on the road, what days of the week and times the monitoring was undertaken in order to report this back to the next meeting;

                                     II.      That Ian MacInnes would get stats on how many incidents Scotland Fire and Rescue have been called to and report back to the next meeting;

                                    III.      That Oban, Kilmore and Connel Community Council would be contacted to establish what the views within their communities were;

                                  IV.      Copies of the National Guidance on Speed Limits would be circulated by Bill Weston; and

                                    V.      That this item be discussed again at the next meeting on 25^th November when the updated information would be available for the Group to consider.

Verbal update from Police Scotland

The Group had a discussion on the recent incidents of vandalism at Dunbeg.

Mike Wood from Police Scotland advised there have been 8 reports of vandalism since our last meeting in May but advised that other than 2 instances at the same premise, this did not appear to be targeted.

On the basis of the information before them and the action taken in attending to this issue, the Group agreed to take this item off the agenda.

Ian MacInnes raised an issue with Police Scotland in relation to call outs to the scene of an RTC.  The arrangement currently in place whereby the Police were called out first and then took a view on whether the Fire Service were required were causing delays in reaching the scene.  He would like a new criteria put in place where they can both arrive at the scene at the same time.  It was noted that Area Control Rooms allocate the call outs but agreed that Martin would raise this matter in effort to take the request forward.

Councillor Glen-Lee raised an issue about problems with parking at Dunollie.  She advised it might be a good idea to start putting leaflets on cars again which the Fire Service had previously undertaken in terms of emergency access.  Iain agreed to raise this matter with Martin.

The date of the next meeting is Monday 25^th November 2013 at 2pm in Oban Community Fire Station.