ABERDEENSHIRE COUNCIL

Minute of Meeting of the Formartine Community Council Forum held on Wednesday 5 February 2014, at 7.00pm in Meldrum Academy Oldmeldrum.

Present: Andrew McCartney, Meldrum Bourtie & Daviot Community Council Vice Chair) Irene Dunbar Meldrum, Bourtie & Daviot Community Council Willie Sinclair, Meldrum, Bourtie & Daviot Community Council/Amenities Brian McDougal, Udny Community Council Bob Bamlet, Udny Community Council Ben Ewen, Turriff & District Community Council Sandy McDougall, Ellon Community Council Katrin Prager, Representing Foveran Community Council Kathy Kennedy, Methlick Community Council Nick Orpwood, Fyvie, Rothienorman & Monquhitter Community Council Inspector John McCluskey, Grampian Police Councillor Robert Merson, Aberdeenshire Council Rod Gunson, Formartine Partnership Development Officer Elaine Brown, Formartine Area Manager Robert McGregor, Aberdeenshire Council Carol Crawford, Aberdeenshire Council

Apologies Councillor Isobel Davidson, Aberdeenshire Council : Councillor Jim Gifford, Aberdeenshire Council Councillor Gillian Owen, Aberdeenshire Council Councillor Alan Hendry, Aberdeenshire Council Councillor Alisan Norrie, Aberdeenshire Council Councillor Anne Robertson, Aberdeenshire Council Councillor Richard Thomson, Aberdeenshire Council Councillor Sandy Duncan, Aberdeenshire Council Councillor Paul Johnston, Aberdeenshire Council Councillor Cryle Shand, Aberdeenshire Council Rod Gunson, Formartine Partnership Development Officer Marion Ewenson, Fyvie Rothienorman & Monquhitter Community Council (Chair) Bob Davidson, Tarves Community Council Richard Reville, Tarves Community Council

Item Action No 1 Introduction & Welcome

Elaine Brown introduced herself and said that before joining Aberdeenshire Council she had worked for NHS and gave her background whilst there, she also worked for Moray Council dealing with Social Inclusion and Community Safety. She said

1 that she was a Qualified Architect with an interest in Rural Development. Andrew McCartney, Vice Chair welcomed Elaine to the Meeting.

2 Apologies

The Apologies listed above were noted.

3 Minutes of the Previous Meeting

The Minute of 20 November 2014 was approved as a true record of the meeting after the following changes were advised in regard to the Tarves Community Council Report.

Item 11 last sentence read “Bain’s of Tarves had complained…..” and should have read “the residents of Bain’s Park had complained…..” and the first sentence of the report read “The school wall is being fixed now” and should have read “Agreement has been reached to repair the deteriorating sections of the School boundary wall. There had been delay due to a failure by Property Services to survey and assess the wall correctly."……..

4 Matters Arising

Item 5 Funding for Playpark

Robert McGregor agreed to investigate this and would have an R McGregor update as soon as it was available. Area Committee Budget Robert McGregor said that the budget should be fully allocated now but advised everyone they should be thinking about next year’s budget now. Item 6 Social Media Andrew McCartney said that they did not enjoy the training as it was too advanced for some. There was an assumption that people had more knowledge than they did. Nick Orpwood said that the first session was supposed to be a basic introduction and the second session more advanced but this was not the case. Item 9 Community Engagement Andrew McCartney asked if Community Councils got this in on time – M& B had completed this. Community Planning Update

Nick Orpwood gave an update to the group – he said that he is trying to put the view to the group that CCs are not hi tech and or as young etc and he tries to highlight this but not in a negative way. For example Facebook, Turriff Community Council started

2 this when their last Secretary was in place but now that she has gone the continuity is not the same Nick felt that someone younger i.e.17 year old from the academy should be taking this forward for them.

Sandy McDougall said that Ellon launched their Facebook page and it has been a very good thing and he felt that this was not a young person’s thing and it depends how pro-active the people involved were.

Ben Ewen said that they are working on their Facebook page at the moment and it should improve.

Inspector McClusky said that they had used Facebook previously but now used twitter and he manages this for a large area. He said that some people like this some don’t and it depends on the people. One aspect is the young mums in Ellon are very pro- active on their page. They have a Facebook account for the Formartine area but could not have one for all Community Councils as this would be too time consuming. Sandy McDougall offered help to any one who wanted this.

Inspector McClusky said that he was aware that attendance at Community Council meetings was not always possible but his thoughts are that police emergencies are key to him. He said that if Community Councils felt that this was not happening then he would look at this. He understood that the time officers can spend at Community Councils is sometimes very short. He reported that anti-social behaviour is down and theft is up they are looking at this presently and also to do a questionnaire for each area to get views and a sample from across the wards. He was happy to share this with the Community Councils and noted that there were no big surprises in this. They are working to keeping the issues down – speeding, theft etc and they are definitely visiting the areas they are asked to. He felt that the speed activated flashing signs are working in this area. Community Councils were advised not to purchase their own signs because of the difficulties with maintenance etc and that it was better to move it around as this will have a better effect than a static one as people tend to get used to a static sign and eventually ignore it.

5 Community Council Reports

Elaine Brown said that she was interested to hear about 3 successes and 3 issues from each Community Council and invited those present to share their experiences.

Fyvie Rothie & Monquitter Community Council

Issues: 1 There are 3 Villages and surrounding areas covered by the Community Council which can cause problems getting

3 people to think beyond the issues in their own village to the area as a whole. 2 Each Village has their own Amenity Group but it was sometimes difficult to get them to join in Successes: 1 They have one young person on their Community Council and this is working well. It would be good if more Community Councils could have younger people involved. 2 Piers Blaxter had attended a meeting to give an overview on the Local Development Plan before the deadline for comments which was very helpful. Foveran Community Council

Katrin said that she was not an official member yet but she is thinking of this.

Successes: 1 They are proud to have Christmas Lights at Udny Station and there was a very good turn out at the light up event. 2 There are four separate villages not sure about the area yet but there is progress being made on dog bins and they are moving projects on. 3 There are two young members at Foveran Community Council Methlick Community Council

Issues: 1 The lights in the school are not working and this has been out of action for a year this is a problem now at the street lights are also out. 2 There is a plan to develop the area between the War Memorial and the Church, although they will need to find out who owns the road and who is responsible and whether they are able to have a one way system. Successes: 1 The Play Park now has 15 pieces of play equipment to cover all ages. Funding was secured through LEADER, Planning Gain, and 100 day Alliance through Aberdeenshire Council. They had to have a good project manager to manage it all. 2 They had a good open day one Sunday Afternoon the weather was not good but everyone enjoyed the good summer and the children were using the equipment well.

4 3 As previously reported they are looking at the area between the War Memorial and the Church and are intending to start another project there. They need to tidy and clean the area and level it off with a view to move the car park from one area and put it in at the back overlooking the football park. Turriff & District Community Council

Issues: 1 Finding new members for the Community Council is required as they are very short of members presently. All the same people are doing the work and others attending just want to attend but not to take anything on. 2 The Boating Pond – Ben said that he was taking this on this year as it has been failing this past couple of years. However, they hope that this will be in place this year and are looking at getting new boats and to have the re-opening take place on May Day 2014. 3 The Speed of Broadband in Turriff is an ongoing issue.

Successes: 1 The Caravan Site is now in its 3rd season and was a Community Asset Transfer which is now run by the Community Council and Turriff & District Ltd. This gets more successful as the time goes on. There are 2 part-time wardens for the site now. 2 Municipal Buildings – another Community Asset Transfer project – this will be a huge project for the Community Council and is now in the early stages but progressing well. They have had open days to raise funding and are selling fancy dress costumer to raise funds. 3 The play park equipment in Hatton Road has now been installed and everyone is happy with it. Meldrum, Bourtie & Daviot Community Council

Successes: 1 The Town Hall & Town Centre regeneration – the Community Council think they have done well with the improvements but parking is still a problem. The Meldrum Café is very popular and extremely successful. 2 They are now looking for young people to join the Community Council.

5 3 They have a very good Amenities Group in Old Meldrum who do the flower tubs etc. He said that they were very well supported by the Amenities Group and that it was much appreciated. 4 They are still waiting for their notice board – R McGregor is finalising this now – it was noted that this had been ongoing since 2009. The lack of response from Aberdeenshire Officers is quite bad for many things. 5 Replacement bins – this is not moving forward and the service is not responding 6 Planning responses are not good either. Daviot Amenities

1 Willie Sinclair reported that the Daviot Hall was almost complete and that they have received a lot of help from Aberdeenshire Council. The paths are being worked on now but this has taken some considerable time to do mainly due to the land-owners. Daviot Trust is trying to get core paths in conjunction with the Aberdeenshire Council’s core paths and they are hoping to revitalise these. The Chairperson is liaising with the Core Paths people in the Council Ellon & District Community Council

Successes: 1 This is the Christmas Lights 20th year and this event is going from strength to strength. Meldrum’s event was very good this year and they are trying to aspire to this for 2014. The Community Council thanked Aberdeenshire Council for the money from the Area Committee Budget. 2 Gig on the Brig was very successful. 3 Facebook progressing well 4 Summer Garden Competition – Ellon Civic Pride and the work they do in general. 5 Public Entertainment Licenses – Sandy McDougall said that he only found out about this because he came to one of the Community Council Forum meeting, and he felt that not many organisations would know about this. He felt that it made their Christmas event better and very successful. He suggested that everyone should follow this but it does cause more work. Inspector McClusky said that it was a very good event and 4,000 people turned out for this event and it was very successful and worthwhile.

6 Issues: 1 Travellers are back and have been a problem in Ellon for several years. 2 Lighting on the old bridge in Ellon – this should enhance the Town. The Bridge is 300 years old and they would like this to move forward now. 3 Developers in Ellon – constant “planning creep” leading to vastly different delivery from the planning permission submission without penalty. Udny Community Council

Successes: 1 The Community Turbine and Community Trust which has been established with the income from the Turbine has been a huge success. The Trust and they have opened a new office in Pitmedden and the Trust employed a Development Officer to work there and this gives them a focal point in the area. They have put back £103,000 in to the local community – the Turbine is funded by a bank loan over the next 15 years but it is very successful. 2 The Pitmedden, Udny and Tarves (PUT) Community Co- operative have started doing composting and are now doing the Formartine in Bloom and have acquired a community vehicle (Tractor) which helps with this. 3 They are in communications with the local schools but are struggling to liaise with Meldrum Academy. Bob Bamlett felt that this was because the Academy was perceived as the Meldrum Academy and not as a school from the wider area. He would like to get involved through the Duke of Edinburgh projects. They get a grant and they hoped to employ someone for a year to help with the litter problems etc. and to get the message across to all children across the board. Issues: 1 They are having great difficulty in getting the Council to do anything about the verges and nothing is getting done about this. 2 Pitmedden Park gets used by the School and they have been trying to negotiate a lease with the school and wanting the school to contribute so they can pay for the insurance. The school use this facility very often but they are not getting anything done. Councillor Merson said that the planning service is undergoing a major revamp and they now have a Team Leader employed to overview the 2 areas and to try to get everything moving first.

7 They are working very hard to improve this but it will take a little time.

Meldrum & Bourtie Community Council are very grateful for the planning gain money for projects in the town. The Town Centre Working Group has not met for some time and they would like one more meeting – Andrew McCartney asked if this could be arranged.

Compliments were given to Rod Gunson regarding Formartine in Bloom.

Councillor Merson said that he was noting that issues were not being resolved and although Councillors were not in the department of marching in and taking over they are also there to work for their constituents.

Elaine Brown thanked all Community Councils for their input and said that there some very good examples and said that she was very grateful for the input

Slains & Collieston Community Council

Successes

1 Collieston Schoolhouse and Hall -A long awaited project is nearing completion in Collieston. The village school was built in the late 1800’s and comprised a classroom and Dominies house. Over time the school was closed. The classroom became the Community Centre for the district with the schoolhouse eventually becoming derelict.

Over recent years the community has worked to obtain funding which would refurbish the schoolhouse and enable the two adjoining buildings to become one large building better suited to the needs of a vibrant community.

Successful applications to the SITA Trust and to the Council’s 100 day pledge funding made this possible. Work began in November and is due for completion by Easter. Once the building is ready to open everyone is invited to the party!

Collieston Pier -The village of Collieston grew up around the fishing community. The pier was built around 1890 with the intention of creating a deeper harbour for the fishing boats. Unfortunately the new pier caused sand to be brought into the harbour, silting up the proposed deep water and resulting in an end to the local fishing fleet.

The new sandy beach however was good news to families and visitors to the area and Collieston has been widely

8 regarded as a visitor destination for many years.

The Pier is owned by the village and is in need of major repair and restoration. Local people have worked tirelessly over the years, and are now at the stage of formalising their efforts to generate the large scale funding the pier now needs.

A new group called the Collieston Harbour Heritage Fund has just been launched with application to become a Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation about to be submitted. The first event of the group is to host a black tie event at the New Marcliffe Hotel in March.

3 SmugglersCone - The Pirates Cone small business started last summer at the beach in Collieston. Leasing the former beach shelter two enterprising young Mums started selling ice cream, teas, sweets and basic groceries. The village shop had closed a few years before and was missed by locals and visitors alike, so the Pirate cone was an immediate hit from day one. The shop is not only a business venture but also acts as an information point and outlet for local fundraising and events.

The shop closed for the season in December and will re- open again in March. As well as serving a need for the community the shop has become a central meeting point, particularly for young families and has put the heart back into Collieston again.

10 FP Update

Rod Gunson reported that the current LEADER funding is now complete and was very successful and he thought that Formartine got the largest share of money. He said that there was a new fund starting in 2015. Aberdeenshire will be divided into 2 areas for funding - Buchan Formartine & Banff & Buchan to the north Marr, Kincardine and Garioch to the south. There will be 2 separate lots of funding one will be the fisheries fund & LEADER. Communities will not be able to apply for both funds and Rod said Formartine may not get much of the Fisheries fund. The reason Rod was bringing this up was that there is about to be a consultation. Community Council’s are not obliged to attend the one in Formartine and can attend other venues around the North if they wish. Groups invited will be Community Council’s and groups working on projects. The need for this will be explained in more detail and to ask how things have gone with existing projects. This will take place around the end of February/March.

Andrew McCartney asked if the Partnership Minutes were circulated to Community Councils. Robert McGregor said that they had changed to a Limited Company and this is not done now.

9 This would be down to the Directors. Andrew said that he felt that Communities should be involved and asked what they do. Rod said that there was one vacancy presently should anyone want to apply.

Cllr Merson said that there are tranches of money available through the various grants etc. that has a short period of time to apply, and he urged Community Councils to give some thought to having a plan ready made and have this in place for when something like this happens. Andrew said that if we have planning gain money sitting then the communities are not able to apply. Cllr Merson said that he did not feel that this should be the case but it would depend on what the project was.

13 Date & Time of Next Meeting

The next meeting will be held on Wednesday, 21 May 2014 at 7.00pm in Meldrum Academy, Oldmeldrum.

List of Meetings for 2014

Formartine Community Council – Meldrum Academy Conference Room 7.00pm

Wednesday, 03 September 2014 Wednesday, 19 November 2014

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