Minute subject to approval at the next Community Council Meeting BURRA AND COMMUNITY COUNCIL MINUTES A virtual meeting of the above Community Council was held on Zoom on Monday 24th August 2020 at 7pm.

Present Mr. N. O’Rourke Mr. G. Laurenson Miss N. Fullerton Mrs M. Garnier Ms. G. Hession

Apologies Miss A. Williamson Mr. B. Adamson Mr. R. Black Mr. Michael Duncan, SIC Mrs. Roselyn Fraser, SIC

In Attendance Mrs. J. Adamson (Clerk) Cllr. M. Lyall Cllr. I Scott

1. MINUTES OF LAST MEETING The Minutes of 21st July 2020 were approved by Gary Laurenson and Mhairi Garnier.

2. MATTERS ARISING (a) War Memorial, Bridge End – Grant for repairs Further photographs were submitted to accompany our Grants pre-application form to the War Memorial Trust back in March and they acknowledged receipt by e-mail on 4th March. They advised that the enquiry would undergo a preliminary assessment but due to the volume of work facing the charity they said it may take up to two months before they can provide us with a response. They asked that we do not contact them to chase our enquiry within the next 8 weeks and they will reply as soon as possible but could not guarantee any timeframes. (Our reference No is WMO/153611.) Nothing further had been heard from them.

(b) Streetlights – Brough Mervyn Smith, SIC, advised by e-mail on 1st October 2019 that these two columns are scheduled for replacement next financial year (2020/21). It was agreed that this would be kept on the minutes until this is done. (The unlit 30mph signs should also be sorted at the same time.) The Clerk will chase this up with Mervyn Smith.

(c) Picnic Bench for Glen / Hulsidale swings Mr. McCaffrey is still to get the base done for the picnic bench in the Glen. Narene advised that they now have enough money to get the swings installed and Martin Johnson is to do the work when time permits.

(d) Cauldhame Road – Children at Play sign Kevin Nicolson, who lives in at the end of the Cauldhame road, has kindly agreed to put up the sign. This has still not been done.

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(e) Access road to Playgroup Mr. Neil Hutcheson had met in February on site with Kay Anderson, Chairperson Hamnavoe School Parent Council, and Mhairi Garnier, Burra Playgroup, to see the traffic situation in the area at 3pm. At the meeting in March the members felt that the best solution would be to make more parking available on the left hand side as you drive in the road towards the Playgroup. This would make for more ‘ordered’ parking and ease the congestion. There is also plenty of scope in this area to do this. Another idea was to have a raised crossing (similar to the one leading in to the swimming pool) at some point in the road. This would slow traffic down and also set out an area where it would be safer for the bairns to cross the road. The Clerk had passed on these suggestions to Neil Hutcheson and he had replied stating that these options will all be considered and thought that these suggestions would be of benefit. He advised that all meetings had been postponed due to the current circumstances with Covid 19 but a meeting to discuss funding will be a priority when things start to get back to normal. The Clerk had asked Neil Hutcheson for an update but had still not received a reply. Mrs. Garnier reported that the children will only be starting full days in September so will see what the situation is like then.

(f) Gates to Hulsidale Playpark Mr. Magnus Malcolmson was sorting these gates as it was reported that small children were able to get out at the sides of the gates. One of the gates had been sorted some time ago. The Clerk had spoken with Magnus Malcolmson and he thought the other gate was okay now. It was noted however that this would still need attention. The Clerk will contact Magnus Malcolmson again. ACTION: Clerk

(g) Paths for cyclists/pedestrians – Active Travel Strategy Niall O’Rourke had drawn up an active path report back in March with photos showing routes through Burra and Trondra where paths would be of benefit to the community. These had been copied to Michael Duncan and Robina Barton, who was leading on this piece of work for the Council. The strategy was required prior to Sustrans considering any bids for capital projects to develop cycle/walking paths. Consultants had been engaged to work with the Council and partners to take it forward and were to be here in March but these had been cancelled due to the lockdown. Niall had contacted Robina Barton for an update and she advised by e-mail that the engagement for the Active Travel Strategy ended up happening online because of Covid. They had received a good response to their questionnaire. Consultants Systra are now pulling the strategy together. In the meantime, the Scottish Government has made funding available to support continuation of good travel behaviours resulting from lockdown. ZetTrans has secured £200,000 of funding for from the Spaces for People Fund, administered by Sustrans, which can be used to implement temporary measures to support walking/cycling, including, but not limited to, roadspace reallocation and traffic restrictions. The funding is for use across Shetland and they have some idea about what they would like to do in but there is still work need to identify best us of funding in more rural areas. They’ll be looking at routes proposed by Community Councils and the Active Travel Strategy. Cllr. Lyall advised that she had been at a meeting today, attended by Robina Barton, and Burra and Trondra proposed routes had been mentioned.

(h) Closure of W & J Gray Daycare The Councillors reported that there is a good chance that this would be looked into further and they are hopeful that further discussions will take place.

(i) Gravestones – Nurse Pratt & Nurse Mac Donald A couple of e-mails had been received previously from Grace Laurenson asking if the Community Council would be willing to organise the cleaning and painting of a couple of headstones in the Papal graveyard. The first one is Nurse Pratt’s gravestone. (This one has apparently been done by the Community Council in the past.) The second e-mail is for another nurse who served in Burra, Naomie MacDonald. She died in 1931 after contracting the ‘flu’, Minutes 24/08/20 Page 2 of 4 along with another 4 people in Burra the same week. The first grave stone was erected by her husband and then there is a small stone at the bottom of the iron enclosure which reads “Erected by the people of Burra In Grateful Remembrance of Nurse MacKenchnie – She Hath Done What She Could”. The Clerk had located the stones in the graveyard with the help of Grace Williamson and had taken photographs. (Nicola Johnson, who lives in Papil, has kindly offered to re-paint Nurse Pratt’s headstone so that one is sorted.) The Clerk had sent on photographs of the other headstone to two contractors for quotes but only one had replied (Shetland Memorials) with various levels of work that could be done, but with no fixed quotation. The Clerk was asked to get in touch with them again for a fixed quote. ACTION: Clerk (j) BT Phone box - Hamnavoe The Clerk had contacted BT about the state of the phone box alongside the Hamnavoe toilets. They advised that there were no plans to remove this phone box as the phone was still in working order, but they could look into repairing and cleaning the phone box if necessary. The Clerk had checked the condition of the phone box and the door is missing and it is in a terrible state inside. The Clerk is to contact BT again to ask that it be repaired and cleaned up. ACTION: Clerk (k) Gate at Papal cattle grid The Clerk had contacted Neil Hutcheson back in March about the gate needing attention and he had replied stating that a work order for the repair of the gate would be issued to their contractor on their return from the lockdown. The Clerk had contacted Neil for an update and he replied on 4th August stating that the repairs to the gate will be on a list of work that their contractor will be starting in two weeks time.

(l) Scottish Government’s Supporting Communities Funding The Clerk had received messages of thanks from Kennedy Stewart and Zoe Henry for the donation given to them for the delivery of the newsletters. Tablets had not yet been sourced for the two interested parties as one had now changed their mind. The Clerk had spoken with Edna Nicol, Clerk to Scalloway CC, about the reimbursement of tokens for the Scalloway Shop but she was unsure of the amount due as this is done anonymously. The Clerk will contact the person in receipt of the tokens to see if they know how many they have received. ACTION: Clerk

(m) Stiles: Back-a-Burn to Muckle Loch Wood has been purchased from DITT to make the stiles needed. There are three or four in total needing replaced and Brian will get this done as weather permits. ACTION: Brian Adamson 3. CORRESPONDENCE (a) Community Council Advance Grant Scheme (SCBF) Michael Duncan had sent on an e-mail from Chris Bunyan, Chair of Shetland Community Benefit Fund (SCBF), with information of a new grant scheme that SCBF will be launching in the near future. They are unsure when they hope to launch this scheme as it depends on receiving funding from Viking energy and completing all their preparatory work. Community groups etc. will be able to apply to their Community Council for this funding and how a Community Council decides to invite application and select which projects to support is up to them so long as their guidelines are met. Niall pointed out that this would create a considerable amount of additional administration workload on Community Council clerks and wondered if a proportion of the money could be used to recruit someone to take on the role. A number of Clerks have been in touch regarding this. It was noted that this is on the Agenda for the ASCC meeting.

(b) Crown Estate Funding – Grant Aid Scheme Michael Duncan had sent on information on the opening of the above scheme on 20th August.

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The scheme is open to charities, community organisations etc to apply to, and can provide grants of between £10,000 and £100,000 to projects which deliver on the priorities of the Shetland Partnership Plan. The scheme will have a two-stage application process. The first closing date for stage on applications is Monday 7th September 2020. The ongoing problems with broadband connections at Papil and East Burra was brought up and the possibility of a fibre optic cable. Niall advised that he is due to meet with SSF on 7th September regarding broadband issues, as SSF have a shorebase at East Burra where the broadband connection is also very poor. He will lodge an expression of interest due to the timescale involved and will answer any questions thereafter. An e-mail had also been received from Robert Laurenson, in connection with the Crown Estate funding, with a suggestion of three car charging stations in Burra at the following locations: above the shop in the car park, Meal beach car park and Minn beach car park. The members felt that this was worth considering and Niall will send on a response to Robert. ACTION: Niall O’Rourke (c) HIAL Air Traffic Management Consultation Michael Duncan had sent information on the above with a link to the consultation document. In addition to the written responses there will be engagement sessions. The one for Shetland is scheduled for 2-3pm on Wednesday 2nd September. Niall offered to put in a written response against centralisation on behalf of the Community Council and also to attend the virtual meeting on 2nd September. ACTION: Niall O’Rourke

(d) Scottish Government Consultation: Proposed changes to Pre-Application Consultation Requirements in Planning Michael Duncan had sent on information on the above which had been circulated to the members.

(e) Letter from Community Council A letter had been received from the above and had been circulated to members. This had been sent to all Community Councils in Shetland. They requested the support of other Community Councils for an independent investigation into the integrity of information provided by the SIC over the past decade. The members did not wish to make comment on this.

(f) Corra Foundation The Clerk had completed the online report for the Community Wellbeing Fund which had been spent on gift bags for the over 80’s.

(g) ASCC Michael Duncan had sent through the papers for the next ASCC meeting to be held via Web-ex on Tuesday 8th September at 6pm. Details for joining the meeting where included and had been circulated to the members. Niall advised that he would attend. ACTION: Niall O’Rourke

4. AOCB (a) Minn beach – bin A request was put forward for a larger bin at the Minn beach car park similar to the one at the Meal beach. (The bin at Minn is one of the older type.) ACTION: Clerk

(b) Post Office As there has been no Post Office in the Burra Hall since lockdown, the Clerk was asked to speak with some of the hall committee to see if they are considering re-opening. ACTION: Clerk

5. DATE OF NEXT MEETING Monday 21st September at 7pm. (Arranged at a later date due to our Zoom meeting finishing before the date was set.)

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