Fetlar Community Council
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Fetlar Community Council MINUTES OF A MEETING HELD IN FETLAR COMMUNITY HALL, ON TUESDAY, 25TH FEBRUARY 2020 AT 6.15PM PRESENT IN ATTENDANCE Murray Cooper Joseph Bashford, Transport Planning Mike Fogarty, Vice Chair Frances Browne, Community Development James Rendall, Chair Neil Grant, SIC Development Directorate Tom Thomason Nina Hogmo, Community Development Janet Kelly, Fetlar Resident Kathryn Lomax, Shetland Community Mediation Service Elaine Park, Transport Planning Dave & Lisa Sumner, Fetlar Residents Bridgette Thomason, Clerk 1. APOLOGIES Apologies were received from Michael Duncan, PC Angela Manson and Emma Perring. 2. MINUTE OF THE PREVIOUS MEETINGS Minutes of the previous Meeting held on the 17th December 2019 had been circulated and were taken as read and adopted. Proposed – Tom Thomason, seconded – James Rendall. 3. DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST No declarations of interest were made. Agenda items 4.1, 4.2, 4.7 & 4.10 were discussed first on the Agenda to allow those attending time to leave for the ferry at 7.40pm. 4. ONGOING BUSINESS 4.1 Islands with Small Populations (4.2/12/19) At the October Meeting a discussion surrounding health and social care on the island had taken place with the potential use of Attend Anywhere in Fetlar raised at the Drop-in Session. Attend Anywhere is a web-based platform that helps health care providers offer video call access to their services. It was agreed that the use of Attend Anywhere could help overcome the cost and time implications of folk having to travel to either Yell, Lerwick or outwith Shetland for healthcare, mental health and consultancy appointments. Mr Bokor Ingram agreed at the October Meeting to investigate trialling Attend Anywhere in Fetlar, which has a requirement for consistently good bandwidth across several appointments, which it was felt would not be an issue owing to the good broadband on the isle. It was also agreed it would be useful to include these options in the circular to residents (Minute 13th August also refers) to help raise awareness within the community. In November, Mr Bokor Ingram had apologised for the delay in responding, which had taken longer than envisaged, however, he felt it was important to get the right outcome, which at that time he felt should hopefully be finalised around the beginning of December. Ms Perring had contacted Mr Bokor Ingram and Edna Mary Watson prior to the Meeting regarding Attend Anywhere and the notice for residents with nothing further to report. The ongoing issues with delays in getting new medication prescribed by the Doctor on the fortnightly visit are still ongoing along with an option for residents to have repeat prescriptions posted out to them, if that is their preferred method. Mr Bokor Ingram had agreed at the October Meeting to follow up on this and had advised earlier in November that a plan to put different arrangements in place was being discussed surrounding governance arrangements and new costs associated with the changes identified. Mr Bokor Ingram apologised for the delay, however, confirmed that new arrangements should be in place by December. 4. ONGOING BUSINESS 4.1 Islands with Small Populations (4.2/12/19) Emma Perring had again raised the ongoing issues surrounding prescriptions prior to the Meeting and had been advised that residents are asked to take responsibility for ordering repeat prescriptions, being mindful of having at least 2 weeks supply alongside being able to order 2 months’ supply at a time. This will ensure that there is always a supply and the current delivery route can be used. There is an understanding within NHS Shetland Pharmacy and Brae Pharmacy (which is not within the NHS), that there may be issues with the speed folk are receiving acute or new medication prescribed by the GP on a Friday. There are options to improve this, including postage or by ensuring secure delivery from Brae or Yell onto the ferry across Bluemull Sound using the delivery route to Unst. However, the pharmacist at Brae felt that the first step to resolving the issues would be to look into this in more depth, such as the type and scale over a time period. The Brae pharmacist had offered to contact the District Nurse to see if some form of monitoring could be put in place for a period of time in order to establish where the problem is and then the right solutions can be found. The Community Maintenance Handyperson post had been advertised in November, owing to illness, the interviews had not taken place and Ms Perring had advised in advance of the Meeting that the short listing was now complete and interview dates had been set. At the October Meeting, John Smith had confirmed that further work was being done with succession planning for the Ferry Service; island-based crewing, training programmes, flexi/phased retirement, all of which were being considered. Mr Smith had confirmed at that time that SIC Ferries would be in a position to move forward with this relatively soon. Nothing further to report. Those who had attended the Isles Event held in September had all agreed it had been very successful. The event had discussed topics such as jobs, transport, connectivity, tourism, housing and other services with all islands wishing to see an increase in their population. The following suggestions and points had been raised at the event in relation to Fetlar: Local lettings housing policy Free travel for commuters Discounted ferry tickets for residents Desire for Fetlar based employment opportunities at the new salmon site proposed for the Wick of Gruting (4.9 refers also) Promotion of home working and decentralisation of administrative posts within the SIC which are suitable for being undertaken in remoter locations Land and crofting, e.g., the idea of a “gateway croft” A notice had been circulated to all households detailing the Drop in Session held earlier in the afternoon along with an opportunity to discuss the progress and future of the Islands with Small Populations Project at the CC Meeting. Ms Browne passed round the Consultation Document (Appendix A) and provided background and progress to date on the Islands with Small Populations (IWSP) project and noted that the current draft had been pulled together from information provided already throughout the project, with the purpose of further discussion to ensure the points raised are correct, current and that nothing had been missed. The 5 outcomes and next steps outlined on the Consultation Document were discussed in detail and agreed by Members with the following points raised: The IWSP project has been very successful and has seen a huge benefit with very positive impacts within the community 2 4. ONGOING BUSINESS 4.1 Islands with Small Populations (4.2/12/19) Establish “Champions” for each island within each Directorate of the SIC, with service issues being the responsibility of the relevant person within the Champions network and the creation of a virtual island desk. The Working Group which was set up a number of years ago to consider the breakwater and ferry terminal at Hamars Ness had proved very successful Continue circulating information about service communications by way of the email list and copies to all households, with details of the Community Involvement & Development Officers, organisations and services included in correspondence Initial ideas for the next Isles’ event – explore further previous suggestions and points raised at the event held in September alongside healthcare, possible use of surgery for Attend Anywhere and resolving the issues surrounding medication outlined previously Waste services – staff working on the bin lorry will be retiring shortly and there is uncertainty about the arrangements for the service going forward. Would this be part of the community maintenance person’s role and how would this work? Further clarification is to be sought and then residents can be made aware of waste service provision plans going forward Bulky waste collection – further information on bulky waste/white good collection to be sought and details circulated to residents Whilst appreciative of the circumstances and recent illness which had delayed recruitment of the Community Maintenance post, Members felt this should have been passed onto another relevant person within the Service to deal with Transport – explore and resolve issues including timetabling issues with Yell and Unst Redesign services and use of resources – continue working together with Council Services and other organisations alongside development of an Island Plan. The Community Maintenance Post will provide a very diverse role and see very positive outcomes undertaken locally Ferry service – further exploration and discussion surrounding succession planning for the Fetlar ferry Housing – there are a number of void SIC housing properties on the island, explore how they could be utilised and linked in with transport and jobs in order to increase the population Mr Grant advised that work on running fibre cables to Unst and Yell had begun with short microwave links being put up to cross Yell and Bluemull Sound which should see greatly improved broadband coverage in the North Isles. It is then hoped, the SIC’s, ICT Dept will then replace the current microwave link that serves Fetlar (this link currently goes from Sellaness to Fetlar which is a fairly long route) and once the fibre gets to Yell, they can then build a new microwave link from Yell to Fetlar which is fairly close and so should improve the band-width and possibly the reliability. Mr Grant also advised that the “essy” carts had been gathering evidence on “not spots” which would be very useful in ascertaining and gathering information on areas in Shetland with no/poor mobile coverage for future development. Ms Perring had forwarded on the Scottish Governments - The Proposed National Islands Plan which was made available at the Meeting.