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MINUTE of MEETING of the LIVINGSTON NORTH LOCAL AREA COMMITTEE of COUNCIL held within CONFERENCE ROOM 3, GROUND FLOOR, WEST LOTHIAN CIVIC CENTRE, on 8 MARCH 2018.

Present – Councillors Dom McGuire (Chair), Alison Adamson, Robert De Bold

Absent – Andrew Miller

In Attendance – Jim Jack, Lead Officer for Livingston North Local Area Committee Scott McKillop, Community Regeneration Team Leader Brian Johnston, Community Council Steve Egan, Community Council PC John McLean, Police Scotland Scott Williamson and Des Donnelly, Scottish Fire and Rescue Service Siobhan McGarty, Headteacher, St Margaret’s Academy

1. DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

There were no declarations of interest made.

2. MINUTE

The Local Area Committee approved the minute of its meeting held on 11 January 2018. The minute was then signed by the Chair.

3. ST MARGARET'S ACADEMY - PRESENTATION BY HEAD TEACHER

The Chair welcomed to the meeting Siobhan McGarty, Headteacher, St Margaret’s Academy.

Ms McGarty had been invited to the meeting to present an overview of the school’s performance and levels of attainment.

The presentation contained tables showing S4 Attainment in numeracy and literacy 2017, with comparative figures for 2015 and 2016.

The presentation also showed Higher Attainment in 2017, with comparative figures for 2014, 2015 and 2016.

Ms McGarty spoke of providing young people with the opportunity to achieve the highest possible levels of attainment through a rich blend of both academic and vocational programmes. This would be achieved by the following measures:-

 Meeting the needs of all pupils.

 Flexibility – i.e. supporting new West Lothian College courses.

 Equity and access to the curriculum. DATA LABEL: Public 36

 Creative and effective timetabling solutions to provide a broader range of courses with the same staffing resource e.g. Care.

 Awareness of labour market intelligence data to identify courses which provided young people with a skill set which was relevant to the jobs market in West Lothian and Scotland.

The presentation provided details of the areas of focus for improvement. The presentation also showed achievements in areas of the Arts and Sport.

Ms McGarty then responded to questions raised by LAC members. In particular, the Committee was informed of how the Pupil Equity Fund was being used.

Finally, the Chair thanked the Headteacher for her informative presentation.

Decision

To note the terms of the presentation.

4. WARD 3 LIVINGSTON NORTH UPDATE - REPORT BY POLICE CONSTABLE JOHN MCLEAN

The Committee considered a report (copies of which had been circulated) by Police Constable John McLean providing an update on performance, activities and issues across the ward for the period up to 20 February 2018.

PC McLean presented the report, highlighting a number of improvements in performance in the reporting period.

The Committee was informed that, as result of increased anti social behaviour near to the flats at Eagles View involving youths stealing wheelie bines and causing annoyance in the wooded area surrounding the golf course by setting the bins on fire, an Environmental Visual Audit had been carried out by Police, Fire Service and other relevant partners. A number of recommendations had been made including an improved locking system which would be managed and funded by the residents of Eagles View.

In relation to partnership working, it was noted that the Community Ward Officers and Youth Campus Officers had been working closely with West Lothian Council SNT officers identifying and targeting offenders and problematic households responsible for repeat anti social behaviour calls. As a result of good partnership work carried out in recent months, there had been a continued decrease in the number of youth calls in general.

PC McLean then responded to questions raised by LAC members.

The Local Area Committee was asked to note the content of the report. DATA LABEL: Public 37

Decision

To note the terms of the report.

5. LIVINGSTON NORTH MULTI-MEMBER WARD PERFORMANCE REPORT - REPORT BY SCOTTISH FIRE AND RESCUE SERVICE

The Committee considered a report (copies of which had been circulated) by Scottish Fire and Rescue Service providing an update on performance for Quarter 3 2017/18.

The report showed that, during the 2017-18 year to date reporting period, the service had dealt with 19 deliberate fire incidents compared to 47 during the 2016-17 year to date reporting period.

Improvement in performance was also reported in the following areas:- Fires in Non Domestic Property, Non-fatal Non-Fire Emergencies Casualties, and Unwanted Fire Alarm Signals (UFAS).

In relation to UFAS incidents, the Committee was informed of meetings with businesses and council-owned premises to reduce the number of unwanted alarm signals.

The Committee was asked to note the content of the report.

Decision

To note the terms of the report.

6. WEST LOTHIAN COMMUNITY SAFETY UNIT - ENVIRONMENTAL VISUAL AUDIT, EAGLES VIEW, LIVINGSTON

The Local Area Committee considered a report (copies of which had been circulated) by Des Donnelly (Watch Manager, Scottish Fire and Rescue Service) concerning an Environmental Visual Audit (EVA) which had been carried out following a number of fire related anti-social behaviour (ASB) incidents being reported around the Eagles View/Deer Park area.

The report explained that information provided by Community Safety Partners during the Daily Tasking and Co-ordinating process had highlighted a high instance for fire-related anti-social behaviour around the Eagles View area. In conjunction with Police Scotland, it had been agreed that Scottish Fire and Rescue Service would lead on an EVA, reporting back to the Partnership.

The EVA was carried out on Thursday 25 January 2018 at 1100 hrs and the findings arising from the EVA were outlined in the report. Des Donnelly (Watch Manager, SFRS) amplified aspects of the information contained in the report and spoke about the recommendations arising from the EVA. DATA LABEL: Public 38

The Watch Manager concluded that:-

 The report would be discussed by Community Safety Partners at the Monthly TAC with the expectation that relevant partners allocated work to be completed in response to the recommendations in the report.

 The expected result from the EVA and subsequent follow up works was the reduction of anti-social behaviour around the area of Eagles View. This would be measured through the TAC process.

 Further information on the EVA was available from Watch Manager Des Donnelly, Scottish Fire and Rescue Services, Civic Centre, Livingston.

During discussion, an issue was raised concerning inadequate lighting at the underpass from Eagles View towards Dechmont. In response, the Lead Officer undertook to convey concerns to the Road Lighting Team.

Decision

1. To note the terms of the report.

2. To welcome the multi agency approach and the actions identified aimed at reducing the impact of anti social behaviour in the area.

7. COMMUNITY REGENERATION UPDATE

The Committee considered a report (copies of which had been circulated) by the Head of Planning, Economic Development and Regeneration informing LAC members of progress towards developing a regeneration plan within the ward, and other related activities.

The Committee was informed that, since the LAC meeting held in January 2018, the Knightsridge Regeneration Group had met and set priorities. Instead of the four priorities as consulted on, it was agreed to integrate the bus routes priority with the Cameron Way shops and services as an ‘improving local amenities and access to services’ priority.

The priorities agreed by the group were examined in the report. These were:-

1. Improving Access to Services and Amenities

2. More Community Activity, Play and Learning Opportunities

3. The Environment and Community Safety

The regeneration group had agreed to set up sub-groups for each of the priorities to help identify the issues/opportunities with each, taking account of the community consultation responses as well as other local knowledge and input to develop short, medium and long term actions. It was hoped DATA LABEL: Public 39

that the groups could meet during March so that the early actions could then be drafted.

It had been highlighted at the regeneration meeting that there were a few community members interested in forming a community council. Group members had undertaken to encourage this and, if there was still an interest in this, ask the council to support the forming of one.

The report went on to provide an update in relation to the Post Office reinstatement and the Harvester site.

The report also advised that a consortium of five key community organisations in West Lothian had successfully applied for £248k from the Scottish Government’s Aspiring Communities fund. The funding would allow each organisation to employ a full time development worker for 16 months to work in one of five regeneration areas – Whitburn, Blackburn, Armadale, Polbeth and Livingston Central. Recruitment had taken place and the new officers would be post at the beginning of March. The Livingston Central worker would be employed by The Vennie in Knightsridge. The original intention was for the worker to cover the areas of Knightsridge, Ladywell and . However, the three neighbourhood networks in Livingston had submitted a joint application to the same fund which meant Ladywell and Dedridge would have a full-time worker. Therefore, West Calder and Harburn Community Development Trust, as the lead organisation of the consortium, were seeking Scottish Government approval to amend the project so that the worker at The Vennie could focus entirely on Knightsridge.

It was noted that the overarching aim of the Aspiring Communities fund was to build capacity in the host organisation and to build capacity in the local community. A project plan had been developed across the consortium to ensure that these outcomes were achieved, whilst still allowing for specific local needs to be met.

It was recommended that the Local Area Committee note:-

1. The update on progress towards the first version of the regeneration plan for the Knightsridge area.

2. That priorities were being set for the plan to be based on;

3. That it had been agreed to create sub-groups to further identify issues/opportunities for each of these priorities and develop actions.

4. The updates on efforts to try to improve the local neighbourhood centre within Knightsridge; and

5. The timescale for implementing the Aspiring C9ommunities Fund project.

Following consideration of the report, a number of issues were raised by LAC members and, in response, the Lead Officer undertook to raise these with officers as appropriate. The issues were:- DATA LABEL: Public 40

i. Fly tipping in the area of the railway line in Knightsridge.

ii. Dog fouling on the Munro Way path.

In addition, the Lead Officer undertook to provide LAC members with information concerning the Livingston North Blue-Green Network project. This should include details of the planned consultation events and timescales for key stages of the project.

Decision

To note the terms of the report.

8. LIVINGSTON NORTH LAC TIMETABLE OF MEETINGS 2018-2019

A paper had been circulated setting out proposed meeting dates for 2018- 19.

Decision

To agree the Timetable of Meetings 2018-19.

9. WORKPLAN

A copy of the Workplan had been circulated for information.

Decision

To note the Workplan.