Whalsay Community Council Minute of Meeting of the Council on Tuesday 3rd September, 2019 Whalsay School – Meeting Room Present: Apologies Received CCllr Jackie Leslie (JL) Michael Duncan – C.C. Liaison Officer CCllr William Polson (WP) CCllr Pete Gaines CCllr John Dally (JD) CCllr Margaret Hughson (MH) Minute Taker CCllr Anne Huntley (AH) Elinor Simpson (ES) Attending: SIC Cllr Duncan Simpson Roselyn Fraser Police – Angela Manson The meeting started at: 7.00 pm Agenda Item Narrative Welcome Chair JL opened the meeting and welcomed all attendees. Apologies were noted. Declaration of CCllr AH declared interest in request for safety mirror. Interest Minutes of the Meeting held 04.06.19 were approved by CCllr MH and Approval of Previous Minutes seconded by Cllr WP. Matters Arising Road/Pedestrian Safety concerns Further discussions took place re the possibility of a cycle path from Huxter to the school if funding could be secured through the Active Travel Project. Concerns continue to be raised also around Heatherlea Junction/Sandwick Junction. There has been no further communication from Robina Barton. An email from Bo Hickey, Information Officer, Sustrans was received 3rd June asking for more information from WCC about our priorities for routes. Clerk has emailed requesting what level of information is required. No reply so far. School Bus Transport Reply has been received from S.I.C. to effect that as yet they do not have numbers of pupils who would be needing transport next session but would let us know what is planned once they have that information. Clerk to email. Policing Concerns Police in attendance at meeting. Community Council querying if Police would be in attendance at 4th night this year. Angela Manson to check and confirm. th Querying late ferry hire for 4 night and Police presence on this. Angela Manson will check if Drugs Dogs could attend as well. Concerns raised of recent car crashes and the speed some people are driving at in 30mph zones. Concerns were also raised of young people driving quads on main roads. Police to check road laws on this and email clerk. Community Ferry Hires 4 ferry hires allocated for the year. Concerns were raised about lack of advertising of community hire for Gala Day night. This hire was used by 7 people. Anyone requesting a community ferry hire is to make sure they advertise it in plenty of time to reach as many people as possible and make it worthwhile. It was brought to attention that the hire requested by the Golf club for competition on 16th/17th August was used solely by guests of wedding held in Whalsay that same night. Wedding guests can use a community hire but if it was the other way around golfers wouldn’t be able to use a private hire for a wedding. Community hire requested by Voe show committee for 21st September. Hire confirmed. Feedback from ASCC Meeting Meeting planned for Thursday 18th July was cancelled. SIC Cllr Ryan Thomson requested a meeting with Cllr WP and other SIC Cllr Duncan Simpson to discuss this matter. SIC Cllr RT asked to attend Community Council meeting as soon as possible. Request NPV Analysis from Stephen Cannings, Associate Transport Planner, Peter Brett Associates – We have heard nothing further from SIC Cllr AP regarding this. Surface Dressing, Re-Surfacing and Reconstruction Road Programme 2019 WCC Cllr WP said he had heard that the complete road to the Symbister north breakwater was to be tarred but that only part has been done so far as the equipment was needed at a different location not on Whalsay. Clerk to contact Greg Maitland. Member of public advised that the edge of the road between The Burns and Challister is deteriorating. Work to start on 11th September and last approximately 2 weeks. Questions raised about what is happening with the installation of the small crane on the Pelagic Pier at Symbister. Email from Greg Maitland stating that installation of crane is dependent on the area having CCTV coverage. WCC Cllr WP wondered if a card system would work better. There was also an idea of a Webcam being easier to install than CCTV. Clerk to forward these ideas to Greg Maitland. Street Lighting at Saeter/Harlesdale There is still no action forthcoming re the Harlesdale light problem beside the sheltered housing. SIC replacing all street lights with LEDs. Harlesdale not planned for this year but they will try to get to it if they have time. Meeting Duration Continue to monitor. Project Funding of £1,000 has now been granted for the ‘Welcome to Whalsay’ sign and tourist leaflet. The sign is planned to be placed on grass area below public toilets, just in front of ferry terminal. Clerk to contact local companies for pricing quotes on leaflet and sign. Repair - Old Dock No feedback has yet been received. WP asked if the coastal erosion fund could be used to tackle this issue. SIC Cllr AP said that this might be possible and to contact SIC on that heading. Clerk to contact Amenity Trust regarding this. Continued concern of the coastal erosion at North Voe. Email received from Neil Hutcheson suggesting that the Community Council find out who owns the area of land and contact them about this situation. Clerk to email Neil Hutcheson querying if this is the SICs responsibility because of the main road running through this area. Local Government Boundary Commission for Scotland – electoral review of Islands council area WCC to gauge community’s opinion on this. It was decided to use a Facebook post to gather opinions. Clerk to post this on the WCC Facebook page. Harbison Park Mast Cllr JD advised that the mast has been operational from 6th June and is only available on O2 networks at present. No other operators have joined. FOISA Requests CCllr WP has sent rewritten report to all WCC Cllrs. WCC haven’t seen a breakdown of the feedback. Hot Drinks on Ferries Clerk to contact SIC Ferries Service to ask when a replacement machine is planned for the Linga. No reply. Ferry Booking System Following contact from clerk SIC Ferries are having crews collect data on ‘no show’. There was discussion on some possible reasons, one being catching an earlier ferry and being unable to cancel later booked ferry. The suggestion was made that in that case ferry crew, as they collect fares, could be asked to contact Booking Office by phone/radio to alert them of this. This can only work during office hours. Clerk to contact SIC Ferries Service to ask can crews do this. No reply. Dates for Community Skip Hires 2019/20 Next community skip booked for 27th September. Clerk has advertised on Facebook page and throughout isle. Report from Shetland Community Benefit Fund (SCBF) WCC Cllr JD, as nominated representative for Whalsay gave feedback of the most recent SCBF Management Committee meeting. Laxo Ferry Terminal Concern WCC Cllr PG reported that ferrymen are expressing concern about a gap opening up in part of the concrete structure of the Laxo Ferry Terminal. They are concerned that if no action is taken the structure might fail putting the terminal out of use. Clerk to contact SIC Ferries Service to ask if they are aware and if so, what action is planned. No reply. Scottish Government Fish Landings Target WCC Cllr WP reported back following a meeting he had attended where a speaker had said the Scottish Government has set a target of having 55% of all pelagic catch processed in Scotland but with present processor capacity this is unachievable. After discussion the meeting did not have any immediate thoughts on what we might do to change this situation. Strategic Transport Projects Review Cllr WP presented a report for everyone to read. Whalsay Heritage Centre meeting re. roofs Building control up to look at the bit of roofing they are responsible for. They think this isn’t in too bad of a condition. Heritage Centre think they have enough money to cover the part of roof they own with tarpaulin. This should save their part of the roof from further deterioration over winter. They then think they will be able to start to renovate bits of the buildings that they own. Heritage Centre to meet with Paul Harrington and Roselyn Fraser in October to discuss this further. Unadopted Road Gravel Request Clerk to talk to George to see if gravel has been put to Houll Loch. Clerk to advertise on Facebook and in shops that anyone can apply for gravel to use on an unadopted road. Road Mirror at Sandwick AH raised concern about safety outside of her house at Sandwick, Whalsay. Clerk to contact roads department regarding a safety mirror to be placed at this corner. No reply so far. Tripwell Recycling Bins Local resident has raised concerns regarding positioning of recycling bins in Tripwell square. SIC Cllr DS has spoken to this individual and has contacted relevant SIC department. Main Agenda Whalsay Transport Poll WCC would like to hold a private consultation within Whalsay to gauge, one way or another, the support for ferries or fixed links. The options available are: 1. To hold a household survey and get Electoral Reform Scotland to pose questions. The problem with this is that there are two voting registers, opt-in and opt-out. 2. To advertise survey and ask anyone who is not on the voting register to opt-in to it. 3. To gain a list of the opted in voters and send out private letters to all others not on the list. There is an issue that someone may be missed out using these options.