Agenda item

Partners Update

Minutes:

Andy Buntin, Lochgilphead Community Council

 

Andy Buntin advised that work around regenerating public areas in Lochgilphead was ongoing and the application which had been submitted would hopefully be approved soon. It was hoped that this work would commence at the beginning of the year. Andy noted that funding of 0.25 million pounds had been awarded from the Small Towns Award and funding of 1 million pounds had also been awarded by the conservation fund. It is hoped that this will give Lochgilphead a huge lift and discussions so far have been very positive.

 

Andy Buntin advised that the Community Council have requested 4 additional disabled parking bays, including ones near the chemist and dentist in Lochgilphead to allow easier access for disabled people and that the response from the Council and Transport Scotland has been positive. 

 

Andy Buntin noted that in conjunction with the Council the Community Council have been looking at vacant land to develop and there has been positive feedback around this.

 

Andy Buntin advised that 8 members of the 19th Argyll Scout Group in Lochgilphead had recently travelled to Malaysia and assisted with building playparks in an underprivileged area – they will be providing a presentation to the Community Council on the 11th regarding this.

 

Councillor John Armour

 

Councillor Armour raised concern around the announcement that CS Wind UK are planning to make redundant 80% of their staff due to a lack of orders over the next 3-5 months. Councillor Armour met with the staff and management on Monday and noted that staff had been left demoralised. It was noted that these are highly skilled workers who could potentially move out with the area. Councillor Armour advised that he welcomed the news that the Scottish Government had announced an economic summit for Campbeltown in November as this could be a potentially dire situation.

 

Council Armour noted that when comparing the populations of an area such as Glasgow and Campbeltown the current potential loss of 90 jobs in Campbeltown would be comparative to approximately 9,000 jobs in an area the side of Glasgow.

 

James Barbour joined the meeting

 

James Barbour, Chair of the Farmer Buyout Steering Group

 

James Barbour noted that dairy farmers in Kintyre had attempted to draw up a business plan to prevent the Creamery from closing but were unable to find an economically viable option going forward. The farmers’ interest is currently safe as First Milk have agreed to continue to collect the milk without charge and process it elsewhere. At present First Milk have agreed to do this without charge but this could be a possibility in the future. Staff in the Creamery are currently working their redundancy period. The Farmer Buyout Steering Group have requested that First Milk ensure that equipment is kept in working order to ensure that the facility could be re-opened at short notice and that they retain the Mull of Kintyre cheese trademark.

 

The group have also encouraged First Milk to negotiate with the Scottish Government going forward regarding the facility and noted that the Scottish Government and local community had been very supportive. A crowdfunding appeal had attracted £94,500 worth of donations, this has now been closed and money is being returned to donators.

 

Councillor Anne Horn

 

Councillor Horn advised that 19 organisations have received awards from the Skipness Community Trust Community Benefit. Councillor Horn noted that there are currently discussions ongoing with the Community Housing Associations regarding potential new housing developments. Councillor Horn advised that roadworks at Darvel Road were on track and these had been well received. Councillor Horn noted that Tarbert Life remained busy with visitors.

 

Antonia Baird, Community Development Officer

 

Antonia advised that the Supporting Communities Fund was still accepting applications until the deadline of 6th December and encouraged further bids. It was noted that the fund was currently running with a 40% success rate and the scoring matrix is on the website to see how applications are scored.

 

John Bakes, Southend Community Council

 

John Bakes advised that over the last 3-4 months Southend have had mobile phone signal from Vodafone and 02 with a potential further mast giving signal for EE. John noted that the new Community Hall was busy and being used regularly. John advised that the Southend Bonfire had attracted 300-400 people and was very successful with no incidents.

 

Police Scotland

 

Police Scotland were unable to provide a verbal update due to an issue with the VC link. It was noted that a release had been sent to the press and social media on 5th November 2019 to advise that front counters of police stations across the MAKI area will operate a revised schedule from 11th November and be open between 7am to 6pm, 7 days a week.

 

 

Following the meeting, the following update was provided by Inspector Julie McLeish.

 

Tarbert surgeries - due to concerns raised at the Community Council about the loss of the local office and lack of visible policing, a Tarbert police surgery was arranged every Thursday afternoon in Tarbert Library for 4 weeks.

Officers who attended enjoyed meeting people and groups who were using the library facilities and 2 members of the public came in specifically to meet the officer and ask for advice.  The officers also undertook a foot patrol of the Tarbert area.  We are now looking to roll this out to a longer term commitment which is likely to be alternate weeks as we are doing the same thing in Carradale so it will be week about and we will keep everyone posted about dates for the roll out.  We would also like to highlight how welcome the library made us and thank them for their support to do this.

 

Changes to custody holding and office opening hours in some police stations - From Monday 11 November 2019 Lochgilphead and Campbeltown Police Stations will be open to the public from 0700 - 1800 7 days a week with lunch time closures to allow staff breaks.  This  has been the subject of intense evaluation and consultation which has now  resulted in the start date of 11 Nov being identified.  Oban office will remain 24 hour opening and also become the primary custody holding centre for the area.  It has long been the case we  have had to confirm the best area to hold custodies on a case by case basis dependent on a number of factors anyway but this provides the best model to meet individuals needs when they are in custody and provides consistent standards of care.  There is still the capacity to bring persons into custody in Lochgilphead and Campbeltown and that  hasn’t changed however when ndividuals brought into custody require to be held for longer periods or require a specific level of care Oban is recognised as the primary centre to do this and will be staffed on that basis.

 

In relation to the Councillor's concerns about lack of communication about this CI Baillie has confirmed that all elected members were initially notified of this on 23rd May when she sent an email out with the core information and offering to discuss any concerns held and she received 2 responses to this.  Although the background work has been going on for some time it has only recently been confirmed that this will go ahead starting 11 November and Custody Division took the action of sharing and publicising this information which led to press and social media releases yesterday. I have the email that was sent out in May if any elected member would wish it to be resent to them?

 

Events - Police are involved as usual in the Remembrance Day parades this Sunday and then we have the Festive parades and events to follow.

 

 

 

Ian Brodie, East Kintyre Community Council

 

Ian Brodie advised that following discussion around local development plans an invitation was extended to all to attend the East Kintyre Open Day on 9th November 2019 from 12 noon to 6pm. Ian advised that presentations and information would be available from a number of different organisations on a variety of issues.

 

Ian Brodie advised that the Kintyre Community Councils and South Kintyre DevelopmentTrust had joined together to create the Kintyre Renewable Energy Group who will go forward as one unit to negotiate better deals for South Kintyre with Windfarm companies.