MINUTES OF MEETING MONDAY 9th September 2019
MINUTES OF MEETING
HELD AT THE KILCHOAN LEARNING CENTRE, ON
MONDAY 9th September 2019 AT 7PM
MONDAY 9th September 2019 AT 7PM
1.
WELCOME AND APOLOGIES
Present
Geoff Campbell Chair
(GCC)
Pat MacPhail Treasurer
(PM)
Gill Calver (GC)
Jessie Colquhoun (JC)
Ian Ramon, Councillor
(IR)
Apologies
Kevin Swift, Police
Scotland (KS)
Councillor Niall McLean
Also, present were 12
members of the public.
It was agreed that Sandra
Campbell would take the minutes of the meeting.
GCC welcomed everyone
present to the meeting.
The notice of Election
for Candidates wishing to serve their local Community Council’s in the
Highlands for the next four years will be published on Monday, 23 September
2019 and a copy of the Nomination Pack will be published on the Highland.gov.uk
website. The deadline for submitting
nomination papers is 12noon on Tuesday, 8 October 2019. On Wednesday 9th October the
Highland Council will publish the names and candidates have until noon on
Friday 11th October to withdraw their nominations. If there are between 4 and 8 candidates, the
candidates will be considered elected.
Fewer than 4 then no council is formed.
More than 8 will result in elections on the 20th November.
The next Community
Council meeting will be Monday, 14th October.
2.
MINUTES OF LAST MEETING
The
minutes of the meeting held August 2019 were adopted as a true account of the
meeting except that Monday is changed to Thursday in the heading. Proposed by JC
and seconded by GC.
3. MATTERS ARISING FROM PREVIOUS MINUTES
Emergency
responders. Jessie
Colquhoun, Ricky Clarke, Alan Knox, Marie Law and Geoff Campbell held a meeting
to discuss the future of the Emergency Response service in West
Ardnamurchan. Ricky Clarke addressed the
meeting with the following talk:
I’ve
been asked to report on the current Emergency Responder (ER) scheme and how we
are to sustain and take this project forward. Currently there are only two ERs
in Kilchoan Jessie and myself and between us we provide 24 hour emergency cover
365 days per year, with Jessie taking the brunt of that commitment. This as can be appreciated is not viable long
term situation.
The
Scottish Ambulance Service (SAS) have in the past run a recruiting campaign to
try and enlist more ERs into the area, this recruiting campaign was
unfortunately not successful as most of you will know with 3 applicants and all
withdrawing interest before the interview stage. After a meeting at Jessie’s house on Friday
06 September between Geoff, Jessie, Alan Knox, Marie Law (Director NHSH) and
myself at which we discussed at length the current and future ER scheme. We
came up with a couple of points.
Firstly
we must work to ensure that the current ER scheme carries on working and is
supported by the SAS and the local community. And secondly that we future proof
the scheme going forward.
We
came up with two suggestions:
1.
We will once more advertise through the normal channels that SAS must adhere
to, to try and find more ERs, this although advertised nationally, will mostly
be aimed at people in the local area. As previously stated we know it is
difficult to try and recruit nationally and to expect someone to up sticks and
move here to work part time as an ER.
2.
Move to recruit First Responders (FRs) ideally 4. Now I know that this was
tried in the past, I was one of the original FRs. this scheme did not work for
various reasons and was after a short period of time disbanded.
This
new scheme however would see the FRs trained to the standards expected of FRs
in any part of the country, it would as the last time be a totally voluntary
scheme and would see the FRs work alongside the current ERs, ie one ER and one
FR on duty at any given time. This will take away any chance of the previous
schemes failings happening, as ERs only respond to 999 calls. The FR will be
there to assist the ER and will have no responsibility placed upon them that
will take them beyond their current training practices.
That
said, the FRs would be given training in assisting the ER in administering to
their duties, ie learning about the equipment that we carry and having the
ability to go and retrieve a piece of equipment from the emergency bag or go
the car and bring a certain piece of equipment.
They
would not at anytime be asked or expected to attend an incident on their own or
carry out any duties that go beyond their current level of training as a
community FR. This scheme we hope will
attract the right type of person to the job with maybe a long term outlook of
taking further training in the future to become an ER and help take the scheme
into the future.
I
hope that this proposal will be fully accepted by you and the local community,
and that I have helped allay any of the fears of some people who believe that
this is a way out of providing ER cover in our area, or just bringing back FR
and going back to the bad old days. It is not and I can confirm and guarantee
that the SAS are absolutely intent on keeping this service running going into
the future, but it can only be guaranteed to go forward if we have the support
and help of the local community to sustain the project into the future.
As
the old army recruiting poster says, your community needs YOU.
There
followed a discussion with members of the public. The question was asked why had the Scottish
Ambulance Service (SAS) not recruited more Emergency Responders. The candidates for the role had withdrawn
from the application process citing problems with accommodation. However it was also recognised that it is
difficult to expect someone to move into the area for a part time role with
considerable responsibility with pay in the region of £3-5,000 per year.
There
was opinion expressed that we should not go down the FR route as this will
result in the withdrawal of the Emergency Responder service and put lives at
risk. There was proposal was to go back
to Holyrood and ask for an Emergency Responder service. It was agreed that the Community Council
would ask the SAS to re-advertise the Emergency Responder role and this will be
actively promoted in the local area including the use of social media before
promoting the First Responder role. It
was also agreed that the Community Council would find out the statutory minimum
response time for a 999 emergency call.
Planning
application for community bus garage. PM has sent a
letter to Highland Council requesting that they revisit the 30mph issue as this
will assist with the planning application and the bus garage is very important
to the village. It was suggested that
the Community Council lobby the planners to consent to the planning application. Whilst the Community Council is happy to
lobby for a reduced speed limit, it did not feel competent to argue the case
when the Highland Council Transport Planning Team had raised safety concerns
regarding the entrance to the site.
Camping
at the new graveyard. The relevant crofting committee will take
this matter forward.
4. FINANCIAL UPDATE
Ardnamurchan Trust has very kindly donated £1,000
which brings the bank balance to £1,414.04
5. NHS SERVICES
GC gave
an update on Dalmhor.
Currently
there are 5 respite beds and one flexi.
The numbers using the beds fluctuate from week to week. Other respite beds throughout Highland (in
the private and public sectors) are diminishing and it is likely that Dalmhor
will morph into a Highland respite centre, as well as offering "step up,
step down" care. Claire Cameron has
recently been appointed as overall Care homes manager for Highland, and is
based at Dalmhor, where she will be establishing a team of around 5.
NHS
Highland has indicated that they may be relinquishing the employment of care
staff to another body. They are
currently in discussions with Highland Hospice regarding this. Highland Hospice are currently being reviewed
by the Care Inspectorate for an integrated care at home/housing support
service. We understand that this model
may well be a reform that it would be futile to oppose, and that it may be
something that we would be best to accept so that we could affect the actual
delivery in a positive way. As Highland
Hospice will need partners in the voluntary sector to facilitate this, the
Reshaping Care Working Group for Sunart, Morvern, Ardgour, Acharacle and West
Ardnamurchan (we will be looking for a new name) is now exploring setting up a
properly constituted body that will be ready to work with these reforms, should
they materialise.
To this
end, the Working Group is looking to set up a Scottish Charitable Incorporated
Organisation (SCIO) which is a legal structure for the voluntary sector in Scotland. It provides limited liability and a separate
legal identity to organisations that want to become charities but do not want
or need the complex structure of company law.
This means that even the smallest charity can access the benefits of
incorporation.
There
were discussions at the meeting last week regarding the Constitution and a
draft constitution is currently being prepared which would allow the following:
• 5 trustees - one to be nominated by each of
the Community Councils, to be resident and eligible to vote in the relevant CC
area, but not necessarily a member of the CC.
• 5 more trustees, resident and eligible to
vote in the area covered by the 5 CCs.
• 3 more trustees, who may live outwith the
area, but who may have a particular interest in the sector or a particular
expertise.
The
charity objects would be:
• the relief of those in need by reason of
age, ill-health, disability, financial hardship or other disadvantage by
providing information, advice and support services within West Lochaber.
• the advancement of the education of the
general public, influential individuals and relevant organisations on matters
relating to the social welfare of resident of the west highlands.
• the advancement of citizenship through
volunteering in the delivery of services and
• any other purpose that may reasonably be
regarded as analagous to any of the preceding objects.
West
Ardnamurchan CC needs to consider whether they support the above course of
action. Anyone who wants to get involved
with this project is strongly advised to get in touch with any Community
Council member as soon as possible.
6. ACCESS ISSUES
Donald
Houston mentioned that correspondence regarding access at Glenborrodale Farm
between Donald Kennedy, Lochaber Access officer and Geoffrey Campbell, Chair of
WACC had not been made public. GCC
commented that not all correspondence is made public. This correspondence was shared with members
of the community council and discussed at a meeting on 11th March
2019 which GCC did not attend. GCC said
that he is happy to share the correspondence and include it in the minutes.
Letter to
Donald Kennedy
Dear
Donald Kennedy,
Many
thanks for your time at the meeting on Monday 18th February 2019.
I believe
that it was helpful to all parties to hear the different views about access to
the hills.
As a
community we all want to work together for the common good so that the general
public can enjoy the great outdoors and commercial enterprise can conduct its
business.
Occasionally
there are disagreements which cannot be resolved at a local level and it is
important that the relevant authorities become involved to resolve these
disagreements.
As was
evident at the meeting on Monday, one such matter is the access past the green
sheds and the wood chip plant in Glenborrodale Farm. Members of the public have expressed a view
that the route is open to the public.
Ardnamurchan Estate has stated that this route is not open to public
access.
In a
small rural community such as ours, everyone is closely connected. Almost everyone in the area either works for
Ardnamurchan Estate or has friends or family who do. As such, conducting a debate within the
community on the merits of the arguments can end up being damaging and divisive
and can cause rifts that sometimes never heal.
While the
interested local parties, the Highland Council and Ardnamurchan Estate work on
a mutually acceptable alternative route, can you please confirm the current
status of the route regarding public access.
I have copied in William Kelly and would appreciate if you could
communicate your answer directly to him and me.
Our next community council meeting is on the 11th March and this will be
on the agenda.
Kind regards,
Geoffrey
Campbell
Chair,
West Ardnamurchan Community Council
Response
from Donald Kennedy
Dear
Geoff,
I agree
that it is unfortunate that this situation has been reached with Ardnamurchan
Estate and I do understand your concerns.
In answer
to your direct question, as there is a right of responsible public access over
most land and inland water in Scotland this includes the hills above
Glenborrodale and beyond. To the extent of my knowledge of the area all
reasonable access routes have to pass through the immediate vicinity of the
sheds. I hope to find a solution with Ardnamurchan Estate that manages the
public through this area, although the Estate have recently threatened legal
action.
Whilst I
am of the view that general access rights remain since the building of the wood
chip plant, until these issues are resolved I cannot advocate members of the
public taking access through the area between the sheds for reasons of health
and safety. I do not know the nature of the operations in and around the sheds
but the safety of the public and the estate workers is paramount.
Kind
regards,
Donald
Kennedy
7. ROAD REPAIRS
It was brought to the attention of the Community
Council that Highland Council plan to replace the bridge at Glenmore in the
summer months. This would be very
disruptive to the summer traffic and the Nature Centre. It was agreed to get more information on the
planned work. One of the possible reasons for a July schedule were water levels
in the Glenmore River. Detailed flow
rates are have been taken for the last 15 years, and can be made available to
the Roads Department. These will show
that January and February are the months when the flow rates are at their
lowest.
8. CORRESPONDENCE
8.1 Planning Applications
Installation
of 30m high telecom mast and ancillary development within fenced compound,
formation of access track | Land 115M NE Of Oakwood Glenborrodale Acharacle. No comments from the Community Council
8.2 Community Council Correspondence
Kilchoan
Harbour congestion. Iain Erskine
responded to a request to look into congestion at Kilchoan Harbour. He understands from the crew that this has
happened on the odd occasion. RET has seen a substantial increase on traffic on
all our routes and we are observing full capacities at times at all our Ports.
If it becomes a greater issue at Kilchoan we can review it to see if
alterations to the Port can be made. This would be a decision for CMAL, owners
of Kilchoan. Don McKillop has been
appointed Area Operations Manager for Argyll and Lochaber and is based in Oban.
Don and Iain would be keen to have a get together with WACC and other members
of the Community. Secretary responded
that they would be welcome to join us at a community council meeting.
Invitation
to the Highland Small Community Housing Trust Conference & AGM - Friday
13th September 2019
Consultation
from BT on closure of phone boxes including Sanna and Kilchoan.
Follow
up from Kate Forbes asking about developments with the Emergency Respond
arrangements.
9. CORRAN FERRY CONSULTATION
A
Corran Ferry Steering Group has been established to consider in more detail the
Strategic Business Case presented to Council Committee last November and to
undertake further analysis on the future shortlisted options available. GC offered to join the steering group.
10. AOB
BT phone boxes. BT
is conducting a consultation to remove phone boxes in Kilchoan and Sanna.
It was
agreed to request that both phone boxes be retained in case of
emergencies.
MOWI is
installing defibrillators at all of its shore bases and has offered to install
them in outside cabinets so that they can be accessed by the public. This offer was gratefully accepted and it was
noted that the defibrillator is only effective if the someone has carried out
CRP and everyone is encouraged to learn how to perform CPR. It was also agreed to compile a list of
defibrillators in the West Ardnamurchan area.
It was suggested that a possible new location for the Glenborrodale
defibrillator was the Distillery.
Himalayan Balsam has been
identified in the village by a visitor.
It was agreed to raise awareness of the problem. GC offered to prepare a poster.
Poppy wreath is being
organised by May Mcnicol and it was agreed that the Community Council will
purchase a wreath.
11. NEXT MEETING
The
next meeting will take place on Monday 14th October at 7pm in the Glenmore
Nature Centre.
GCC
duly brought the meeting to a close thanking all for their attendance.