DRAFT MINUTES – Subject to approval at the December 3rd meeting GULBERWICK, QUARFF & CUNNINGSBURGH COMMUNITY COUNCIL MINUTES OF THE MEETING HELD ON TUESDAY 29th OCTOBER 2019 IN THE CUNNINGSBURGH SCHOOL AT 7.30PM A. THE CIRCULAR CALLING THE MEETING WAS HELD AS READ. B. PRESENT Mr E MacPherson Mrs S Wishart Mrs M Davis EX OFFICIO Mr C Smith Mr G Smith IN ATTENDANCE Mrs K Geddes Mr S Douglas Mr Arwed Wenger – Lerwick South candidate CHAIRPERSON Mr C Clark APOLOGIES Mr M Duncan Ms A Garrick-Wright Mrs P Christie Mrs L Johnston Mr R Skinley Mr R McGregor NOT PRESENT Ms A Hawick Mr P Campbell Mr A Duncan C. DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST • Cllr C Smith and Cllr G Smith will leave the room during agenda item 4 due to their roles on the SIC Planning Board. • Mr E MacGregor will leave the room during agenda item 4 as his property neighbours one of the planning applications. • Cllr C Smith will leave the room during agenda item 3 out of respect for the other candidates who are not here to speak. D. APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF MEETING HELD ON TUESDAY 1 OCTOBER 2019 The minutes of the meeting held on Tuesday 1 October were approved on the motion of Mrs M Davis and seconded by Mr E MacPherson. 1. MATTERS ARISING FROM MINUTE 1.1 Meeting Dates for 2020 Confirmed The school has replied to say that the proposed meeting dates for 2020 are agreeable to them as there are no clashes with school events. They are: Tuesday 14 January • Tuesday 18 February • Tuesday 17 March • Tuesday 28 April • Tuesday 2 June • Tuesday 25 August • Tuesday 29 September • Tuesday 3 November • Tuesday 8 December • ACTION: Clerk to share meeting dates with all attendees again. 1.2 Email Problems Since the clerk has started sending the emails to everyone ‘blind copy’ in response to GDPR guidelines then several people have been missing some emails. Everyone attending agreed that they are happy to have their email addresses visible to other attendees so the clerk is to check with everyone else and if all are agreeable, she will start sending emails as she used to, hopefully eliminating the problem. ACTION: Clerk to check that everyone is agreeable to having their email address visible to other attendees, and if they are, she will start sending the emails in this way again. Page 1 of 6 DRAFT MINUTES – Subject to approval at the December 3rd meeting 1.3 Quarff Kirk Yard Update Everyone has been informed of the fence which has been erected around the older graves in the kirk yard to keep both SIC workers and members of the public safe from the damaged roof. Families and friends visiting newer graves still have access. An email from Cllr McGregor dated October 8th also stated that arrangements for Armistice Day had been made – the service will still be held but the wreaths will be laid on the cemetery gate instead of at the war memorial. 2. POLICE REPORT No report available. 3. VISIT FROM ARWED WENGER, CANDIDATE FOR LERWICK SOUTH IN THE UPCOMING SHETLAND ISLANDS COUNCIL ELECTIONS --- Cllr C Smith left the room 7.45 --- Mr Wenger introduced himself and gave some details on his background and how he came to Shetland. He has been here for ten years and his background is in economics and business planning. After joining a strategic targets and planning group his interest in local politics and helping his community was piqued and he joined the Lerwick Community Council in 2013. He is a keen cyclist, using his bike when canvassing in Gulberwick recently and has been involved in updating a cycling leaflet. He is also a tourist guide and said wants to do something for Shetland. Members had no questions for Mr Wenger but thanked him for asking to attend and for coming to introduce himself, and wished him luck in the election. --- Cllr C Smith entered the room 7.48 --- 4. FINANCIAL MONITORING REPORT The bank balance on Tuesday 29th October is £11,692.95. The only activity on the account outside of the normal monthly transactions was a £35 direct debit to the Information Commission, £99.72 to Garriock Brothers for the supply and delivery of road materials for a grant, and £82.76 worth of receipts for stationery, stamps and a gift for Ms Garrick- Wright following the birth of her baby. 5. PLANNING It has been agreed to hear this item after AOCB so that the three people who have declared an interest can leave promptly. 6. GRANT APPLICATIONS There were two grant applications received at this time. Both applications met the grant conditions and after discussion were awarded money – • The Cunningsburgh Under 5s were awarded £100 towards their Christmas party. • Sandwick, Cunningsburgh and Quarff Church of Scotland were awarded £68 towards the cost of wreaths for the Remembrance Day services. SIC Grants Officer Michael Grant made small changes to the revised grants form and after reading through it one last time, members formally adopted it for 2019/20. Mr Duncan agreed that only the first three pages needed to be shared with members and that the more sensitive information does not need to be circulated, though a full hard copy should be Page 2 of 6 DRAFT MINUTES – Subject to approval at the December 3rd meeting taken to each meeting. The thirty word description we have asked for as part of the application is a good addition as it means we will have a description to put on the agenda as to what the project is asking money for, but from experience Mr Duncan said we may still have to tweak it as the quality of this ‘advert’ will vary greatly from application to application. The email went on to say that a template for grants for all Community Councils as well as a list of procedures are on his list to complete over the winter. The December meeting will be the next grants meeting and if any funds are still left then a further opportunity for grant applications will be at the February meeting. DECISION: New form to be shared and added to the website etc. Clerk to make changes to the Roads Grant Form and ask Michael Duncan to look over that next – it needs to be in place before next summer as that is when roads grants will next be looked at. Advert to be placed in the Shetland Times with grant application deadlines. 7. SHETLAND COMMUNITY BENEFIT FUND UPDATE Mr MacPherson provided an update on the latest meeting of the SCBF. He said his main observations were: • One member has stood down and has been replaced. • OFGEM had only just announced that it cannot approve the interconnector cable in light of Vikings failure to get the CfD. • This means a delay of up to six months while SSE resubmits a ‘needs case’ without the CfD but which still proves that Viking and others will definitely go ahead if there’s an interconnector. • Everything seems to be tied in with the cost of the new power station – that needs to be taken into account as part of all the sums being done. • The monthly meetings are still to go ahead. • Discussion around the rules and the type of company to set up – perhaps a Community Based Company rather than a Co-Operative but nothing has been decided yet. • A proposal that one third of the members should retire each year to keep the membership rolling. • They are going through the rules section by section and it is taking a lot of time. They were looking at how they would include junior members which would mean looking at vulnerable groups. • There was discussion regarding whether if a member of a community council was elected as Chairperson, then another member nominated by that community council would take up the vacancy left by the nominee for the Chairperson. • SSE are confident that it is still going to go ahead. The work is continuing and the groundwork is being done at Kergord just now. The next meeting is on November 27th at 6pm in the Conference Room at Market House. 8. ROAD ISSUES Water on School Brae in Quarff A resident has reported that water is running down the School Brae road in Quarff and is not draining away. Dave Coupe, SIC Executive Manager – Roads, emailed Cllr McGregor on October 23rd to say: “The Team Leader for the area has confirmed that they are aware of the problem and actually undertook some work on it a couple of years ago. However the problem still appears to persist. Page 3 of 6 DRAFT MINUTES – Subject to approval at the December 3rd meeting Due to the close proximity of the water main, he suspects that there is a leak in the main. This was brought to the attention of Scottish Water to investigate, but to date we have not heard anything back from them. We will make contact with them again and chase up a response so that we can move towards a solution for this problem.” SIC Road Engineer Neil Hutcheson replied on Monday 28th October about the remaining issues: Cones along the Bremmer to Longwell Road The cones are there to “guard” a low verge at this location. This length of verge is to be raised to the same level as the carriageway with topsoil. This and the cutting of the grass etc. in the pedestrian “refuges” and the clearing of the blockage in the ditch at Longwell will be done next month (November).