Sandsting & Aithsting Community Council

Chairman: Clerk: Mr John Priest Mrs L Fraser Farmhouse West Burrafirth Reawick Walls Shetland ZE2 9NJ ZE2 9NT Tel: 01595 860274 Tel: Walls 01595 809203 e-mail: [email protected] e-mail: [email protected]

Minutes of a WebEx meeting of Sandsting & Aithsting Community Council held on Tuesday 10 November 2020 at 7.30pm. (delayed from Monday 9 October) 0800 051 3810 128 322 0883

Present: J Priest G Morrison Mrs S Deyell M Bennett Mrs J Fraser A Johnston J D Garrick Ex officio: Cllr C Hughson Cllr T Smith Cllr S Coutts In attendance: Mrs R Fraser, Community Involvement & Development Worker. Mrs L Fraser, Clerk

Mr J Priest presiding

The Chairman welcomed everyone to the meeting and asked for a roll call so that everyone knew who was there no matter in which order they signed in.

APOLOGIES: Apologies for absence were received from Ms D Nicolson and Mr M Duncan, Community Council Liaison Officer.

MINUTES & HEADLINES: The minutes of the meeting held on 12 October 2020, having been circulated, were taken as read and were approved. Moved by Mr M Bennett, seconded by Mrs J Fraser.

BUSINESS ARISING: Broadband: Nothing further to report. The Chairman said that the provision in their area recently has been particularly poor. Mobile phone coverage: The Chairman reported that a number of vans have recently been working at the Reawick mast but he was not aware that the mast has yet gone live. Road Matters: Road past Garderhouse: No further correspondence. Roads Reports: The Roads Reports have been received each week and circulated to the members. Speed of traffic coming down the hill towards Sandsound junction: No correspondence has yet been received in reply to the case we put to the Roads Dept. Cllr C Hughson said she had spoken to Mr N Hutcheson who had informed her that a Report is to go to the next Roads & Transport Committee meeting but that they do not intend to do anything about the speed as there have no been accidents or fatalities reported in the area. It was agreed that it is not acceptable that someone has to be injured or before they will take action. A lot of time and effort had been put into making the case and it is very disheartening when no reply is received. It has taken more than 2 years for this Report to come forward to a meeting. The Chairman said we can only hope that some reply will come from the Roads Dept following their consideration of the Report. Sign on Parkhall/Skeld road: Signs not yet provided. Viking Energy Wind Farm: A meeting of the Liaison Group had been held and brief minutes will be circulated soon. Andrew Archer had been appointed as Chair and Mr J D Garrick as Vice-Chair. At present they intend to hold a meeting every 2 months and the next meeting is scheduled for 19 January. It was agreed to place a notice on Facebook inviting questions which must be submitted to Viking Energy a minimum of 7 days prior to the meeting. The questions should be sent to the Clerk by 10 January 2021 so that they can be submitted by 12 January. Although the writers of the questions will not be disclosed, the name should be included on the submission to the Community Council. Shetland Community Benefit Fund (SCBF): Mr J D Garrick advised the members that the grant scheme application forms are being developed and that the Community Council could now be giving consideration on how best the community can be made aware of the grant scheme which is likely to commence early in 2021. Update on grants: Investing in Communities Fund: The Monitoring Report had been completed and submitted. The Chairman thanked Mrs R Fraser for her help in completing the form. Mrs R Fraser informed the members that her department are looking into online voting and Participatory Budgeting and seeing how we can use something virtually. She will update us when she receives information. As the groups filled in the forms early this year, it was felt that many of them may now have different priorities. Supporting Communities Fund: The funding for this project has now been used and the members agreed that it had been well spread throughout the area. A final Newsletter had recently been distributed giving details of how the money had been used. Mr J D Garrick passed on the thanks of Aith J H Parent Council and told the members what items had been purchased . A letter of thanks was received from Bixter Health Centre for the items purchased by the Community Council for use by the Health Centre. The Clerk reported that the completed Project Form, along with all the vouchers, is now ready for posting to HIE. Community & Third Sector Community Programme: This is the follow up to the Supporting Communities Fund and members are still considering items for this programme. No further information regarding this Fund has yet been received from Ms Mhari Macleman. Response, Recovery & Resilience Fund- VAS: A grant for £500.00 was available with a short timescale for applications but was not taken up by the members. Community Development Fund – Distribution: Consideration will also have to be given to uses for the CDF grant. When asked, Mrs R Fraser informed the members that it can be used to help groups get under way again, e.g. for halls to put up signage, put in screens, deep cleaning, etc. Mrs S Deyell said that some of the groups she is involved with do not feel that it is yet safe to start up again. The Chairman suggested that we need to get feedback from the groups to check how the pandemic has affected them and what they hope to do in the future. Mrs R Fraser suggested a short survey to circulate to all the groups in the area to get their views. We already have a note of all the groups and their contacts and she is willing to help. Mrs S Deyell said that some of the groups are daunted by the thought of filling in Risk Assessment documents and may need assistance. Community Development Fund – Project: We did not apply for funding this year for a project as we did not have one in mind. However, during some of the discussions Mrs S Deyell had had during the lockdown time, she had been approached with a suggestion. She will get further details and this may be something we can use for a project next year. Financial Spreadsheet: The finances remain as last month. Bin at Burn of Lunklet: Bin not yet provided. Funding: Various information received from Mr M Duncan, Community Council Liaison Officer. Problems with walkers on crofting and farming land: The Association Agenda item request form has been sent to Mr M Duncan and it should be discussed at the Association meeting on 9 March 2021. Clousta phone box: On checking, it was found that Community Councils are not allowed to own property. A reply will be sent to Mr M Coutts suggesting that he contact another local constituted group e.g. Bixter Hall to check whether they would be willing to take on the ownership of the box. CAB Offer to attend meeting: Ms Janice Hawick replied saying that she is fully booked until Christmas. She was informed that our meetings are normally held on the second Monday of each month and she will get back in touch when she is available. Litter caused by damaged floats leaking polystyrene: A very positive outcome was achieved following our correspondence with Ms Ruth Henderson. The float at Weisdale has been removed while the litter around Reawick, etc was cleaned up by the residents. Ms Henderson is trying to ascertain where the float at Reawick originated. A reply was received from Ms MSP who said that she had been meeting with a salmon farm that mentioned that they have been giving consideration to having all their equipment branded with their logo so, if any of it was to be washed ashore, there would be no disputing where it had come from. She shares our concern on this issue and recently wrote to Roseanna Cunningham, MSP, Cabinet Secretary for Environment, Climate Change & Land Reform, regarding the monitoring and enforcement of marine littering. She is willing to share with us a copy of the response she receives. Following further discussion, it was agreed to write again to Mr MPand Ms Beatrice Wishart MSP and to Mr Tavish Scott, Chief Executive, Scottish Salmon Producers Organisation telling them what enormous help we have received from Ms Ruth Henderson and asking that they encourage manufacturers to phase out polystyrene from their products.

POLICE REPORT: The September Police Report was received and had been circulated to the members.

VIRTUAL MEETING WITH MS BEATRICE WISHART MSP: An email was received from Ms B Wishart, MSP offering to attend a virtual meeting with this Community Council as she is interested to hear how people in our area are managing with the pandemic restrictions. A reply will be sent saying we would be very pleased if she will join one of our meetings. We will suggest that she joins us at a conveniently suitable date early in the New Year. A list of questions will also be prepared and forwarded to her prior to the meeting.

SECTORAL MARINE PLAN FOR OFFSHORE WIND ENERGY: Details of the Final Sectoral Marine Plan for Offshore Wind were received and noted.

ADVOCACY SHETLAND: A message was received from Ms Jane Leask at Advocacy Shetland saying they are currently trying to highlight the role of Advocacy Shetland in supporting people within Shetland. She asks that we include a mention of their work on our Facebook page. The Clerk had replied asking that she forward some information which could be included on our Facebook page but so far she has not replied.

ISLANDS COMMUNITIES IMPACT ASSESSMENT (ICIAs) – consultation: An email was received from Ms L Haughton, Policy Officer – Scottish Islands Team at the Scottish Office, saying that they are carrying out a public consultation. They enclosed a link to the consultation.

TYRE CLINIC: A message was received from Ms E Skinley, SIC Road Safety Officer, informing us that October is Tyre Safety month. They hope to run a Tyre Clinic in November. AWARDS FOR COMMUNITY LED ENVIRONMENTAL PROJECTS: Entries are now open for the Scottish Civic Trust My Place Awards 2021.

COMMUNITY COUNCIL MEETING DATES FOR 2021: Mr M Duncan, Community Liaison Officer, has requested the Community Council meeting dates for 2021. The members confirmed that, as at present, the second Monday of each month is suitable to them.

NEW SIC WEBSITE: An email was received from Mr M Duncan saying that the new SIC website is now live. Community Council minutes are not currently on the new website but they should be added in the near future as the site is a work-in-progress and there are a few links still to be fixed but hopefully it is much more user friendly and easy to navigate. A link to the Community Council pages is https://www.shetland.gov.uk/community/community- councils and a link to view planning applications is https://www.shetland.gov.uk/planning- applications/view-planning-applications. Ms D Nicolson had offered to add the above links to our Facebook page and the members agreed that this would be a good idea. The Clerk will inform her.

ACTIVE TRAVEL STRATEGY: A message was received from Ms Robina Barton, Transport Policy and Projects Officer, Transport Planning/ZetTrans thanking us for input earlier on this subject. The consultation can be accessed at https://www.zettrans.org.uk/about/consultations. The deadline for responses is Friday 11 December 2020. Members can make individual comments as well as being part of the Community Council.

NEXT MEETING: The next WebEx meeting will be held on Monday 14 December 2020 at 7.30pm.

The Chairman thanked everyone for taking part and for their contributions.

The meeting closed at 8.45pm