Huntly Community Council

main | meetings | latest minutes | agm minutes | office bearers

Minutes of the March Meeting of Huntly Community Council held in The Council Chambers, The Stewarts Hall, Huntly on Thursday 20th March 2008 at 7.30 p.m.

PRESENT

H Lumsden-Gill (Chairwoman)
A Gill (Vice Chair)
R Ness (Treasurer)
F McRae
K Henderson
F Forbes
G Petrie
Cllr J Strathdee
Cllr R Stroud

1.   WELCOME & APOLOGIES

Hilda welcomed Members to the March Meeting and extended a special welcome to Jacques Coerzer our guest speaker who will be giving a short presentation of his findings/thoughts regarding the topic of branding, although Hilda noted that Jacques sees his time in Huntly as much more than a branding exercise for Huntly which would all become evident in his presentation.  A special welcome was also extended to Anthea Alexander who was attending in the “public gallery”.

Apologies were received from Cllr M Ingleby, Cllr A Ross, H McIntosh, G Petrie and D Boyd.

Post of Secretary of HCC

Despite advertising the position in the Huntly Express on 2 occasions, no applications have been received. In order for the Meeting to proceed the Minutes of the Meeting require to be recorded as stipulated in the Constitution. The position of secretary can be held by a member of the CC or an honorarium can be paid to a non member. It was agreed for this meeting only the minutes would be compiled by Tony and Hilda, however the position of secretary would have to be resolved to ensure continuity and efficiency of the CC meetings.

At this point Hilda again thanked Anthea for her 4 years of excellent service to HCC. She noted that HCC were very lucky to have had Anthea as a secretary as it could trust and depend on her. She was very efficient and organised and most of all approachable. A small token of appreciation from the CC was handed over to her and Anthea conveyed her thanks to the CC.  

2.  MINUTES

Minutes of the Meeting held on 21st February 2008 were proposed by Bob Ness and seconded by Freda McRae.

3.  Guest Speaker – Jacques Coerzer

Hilda introduced Jacques to the Group. Jacques gave an overview of the work he has undertaken since his arrival in Huntly on 4th February. This has entailed interviews and discussions with a number of local people. Visits have also been made to churches, pubs and other Groups such as the Ramblers, the Folk Club and also a Ceilidh, which have all made him feel welcome and have given him a good feel for Huntly and its residents. He highlighted from his findings so far that the majority of the people see Huntly as a Family Town, but also sees Huntly as much more with local culture, community spirit and music being a common theme.

His presentation picked up on Huntly being the hub for the hinterland and suggests “Room to Roam” as being a theme to develop further. Room to Roam being the title of a poem written by George MacDonald in 1889 and put to music by The Waterboys in 1990. He has had discussions with Mike Scott, lead singer of The Waterboys who is prepared to get involved in donating the song to the Town and being involved in a handing over ceremony. Visually Jacques noted Huntly was surrounded by rivers and small communities and likened the interconnecting lines to that of a deer’s antlers which has an association with the Gordon’s emblem. This theme and that of adapting the old Coat of Arms of Huntly is to be developed further for a traditional and contemporary identity for Huntly. He also referred to the landscape around Huntly as being inspiring and was developing an idea involving small tent like Cathedrals being temporarily set up around the town to help appreciate the surroundings.

Some interesting discussion took place following his presentation and Fiona gave a vote of thanks on behalf of the CC and wished him well on developing his ideas further.

4.  MATTERS ARISING

• Police Issues:  PC McAdam advised that no major issues were reported over the period. He is working on preparing a Statistics Bulletin relevant to the Huntly area and should be available for the April Meeting. The Neighbourhood Watch Bulletins should also be back online soon. He also has been attending the Litter Initiative Meetings at the School and Community Planning Group Meetings. Fiona raised a concern re the Police response when reporting vandalism damage to cars where the caller was instructed to investigate the disturbance himself. He also agreed that such a response to the Caller was inappropriate and that this should not put people off calling to report incidents. Many cases are resolved through intelligence lead reporting.  Hilda referred to a communication from the ASCC asking Community Councillors to make known their experience of community policing in their area including police attendance at CC Meetings.    

• ATP Update:  Donald was unable to attend the meeting but forwarded his monthly bulletin to the CC.  Items highlighted included:
• Portsoy Road: Good discussion last week with Frank and Gary Stewart, and Linda Mathieson of Aberdeenshire Council Planning and Environmental Services Team. Result: Linda is to commission a small feasibility study into the options and accompanying costs of creating a footpath along the road. This does NOT mean that anything is definitely going to happen NOR if it does will it be quick.
• Huntly Hairst: Group looking for volunteers to join them in organising the Hairst again. Dates provisionally 31st October, 1st and 2nd of November. Next meeting of Group is Thursday 10th April at 18.00 in the Crown Bar.
• Pride and Passion Workshop in Dufftown Thursday 3rd April: Pride and Passion is a tourism industry led group looking to improve the visitor experience. This workshop is to look specifically at ways to improve the cooperation between Dufftown, Keith and Huntly. Anyone wants to attend? Let Donald know.

• Market Muir Update:  Tony advised a Committee Meeting was held on the 10th March. Members discussed plans for future fund raising events, the next being a Quiz Night in May, the date to be confirmed. Proposals for an extension to the Pavilion were also discussed with preliminary drawings prepared for review. Further discussions with the Council Planning Dept are to be arranged.  

• EIS 2008 Update: Hilda advised planning is progressing re permissions etc / licenses / technical aspects. No new performers have been in touch but she is following up a few leads plus some new features are in the pipeline for the afternoon. Charity Stalls have also shown an interest. The next meeting is planned for Monday the 24th March at 7:30 pm.    

• Updates from Marr Area Office/Aberdeenshire Council 

• Post Office Closures: Over the whole of the UK they plan to close 2500 post offices and have the agreement of the UK government to do this. The consultation will only take place in locations where Post Office Ltd are considering closing that branch and not across the whole of Aberdeenshire. Where a branch is not threatened there will be no consultation. Although across the UK approximately 18% of the total post offices will close this could vary between 13% and 23% in an individual closure plan area. It is therefore difficult to second guess how Aberdeenshire will be affected. It is very important to note that if a branch is reprieved following a consultation another branch elsewhere will need to take its place. This is likely to be somewhere else in Aberdeenshire. On the 28th May 2008 affected post offices will put up posters and will have information leaflets for all users. Post Office Ltd will also write to affected community councils and other groups with an interest that have been identified. A detailed press release will also go out for the consultation start date. The consultation will only last for 6 weeks.

• Planning Permission at 11 Gordon Street: Full Planning Permission has been granted for Change of Use from Class 1 (Shops) to Class 11 (Assembly and Leisure).

• Aberdeenshire Sustainable Communities Halls Initiative: A series of seminars are to take place across Aberdeenshire during March, April and May. The initiative aims to help communities improve the long term sustainability of their halls and buildings through energy efficiency and renewable energy measures.

• Data Protection Acts 1984 and 1998: The Association of Scottish Community Councils (ASCC) has advised that the Information Commissioner, the UK regulator of Data Protection laws has determined that all CC in Scotland will require to register with him as “data processors” for the purpose of Data Protection Acts 1984 and 1998. This has implications for any CC that keeps data electronically (eg. Minutes of Meeting) or operate a website. Registration will be annually with a fee of £35.00 and one Community Councilor is to be nominated as the “Data Controller”. The ASCC urges that this should not be ignored.

• First Periodical Review of Scottish Parliament Constituencies: The Boundary Commissioners provided the Council with 1 set of maps for the above to be made available for public inspection at the Alford
  Area Office. However the Marr Area Office managed to purchase an additional set which will be available to view in the Huntly Office by  21st March.

• Bogie Bridge: Following a more detailed inspection of the bridge paintwork it is not in as bad a condition as was first thought and will last a number of years yet. Malcolm Taberner does however recognise that it looks shabby because of staining and to make the town look as good as it can be he has organised for the bridge to be cleaned. This will be done as soon as the necessary permits are in place to provide temporary traffic lights and create a temporary footway.
   
• Huntly Cleansing Plan: Alistair Black who manages street cleansing for the Council advised that while it would be desirable to have reviewed the street cleansing plan for Huntly they continue to clean the streets including any new ones as they come on stream. This approach meets the Litter Code Guidelines produced by Keep Scotland Beautiful. Planning and Environmental Services are investigating the use of a particular continuous improvement approach to look at street cleansing together with other aspects of the service Aberdeenshire wide. If and when this is rolled out it may bring about cleansing improvements to Huntly and other places. He also confirmed that a new bin is on order for Deveron Road and will be installed when in stock.

• Bin for Devern Road: David Marks from Aberdeenshire Council confirmed that a litter bin was available to be placed at Deveron Road. The best strategic position to capture all the litter from that area is to be agreed with the local community. Hilda commented that in her opinion a new bin in that location would be beneficial and that the area was very lucky as other areas could also benefit from additional bins.

• Road Closures: Granary Street - commencing 16th March for 5 days for footway works. The Square, Castle Street to Duke Street, east side - on the 1st Saturday of the month throughout the year for the Farmers Market.

• Litter Initiative – Hilda reported that she had attended the Litter Initiative Meeting at the Gordon Schools in the morning and referred members to the Information Pack placed on the table. The proposal is that Huntly participates in the National Spring Clean Scotland which is promoted by Keep Scotland Beautiful. It is proposed that a Public Meeting is held on the 15th April for all those wishing to participate and target areas will be identified. The actual Event will take place on Sunday 27th April – to be confirmed.  The Event will be promoted through the Huntly Express and links with Community Groups and what can be achieved will depend on the response to the Public Meeting.  A lot of planning, organization, including risk assessments will be necessary and it is hoped that the Town will respond to the challenge. Further information about the National Event is available on www.keepscotlandbeautiful.org. In addition Hilda reported that the Huntly Business Association (HBA) had responded positively to our suggestion to promote a joint venture re a Poster Competition or something similar later in the year.

4.   TREASURERS REPORT

Bob confirmed the account balances as:

General Fund:  £749
The Gordon Highlanders Memorial Fund:  £1,358
EIS Fund:  £2,577

Fiona proposed that, inline with an agreed proposal last year to appoint a successor to J Cullen to audit the Accounts, we should be looking for a replacement now. Bob indicated that the end of our financial year is the 31st March and that he will be preparing the balance sheets soon. Various options were suggested and it was agreed to approach Mr. B Henderson to ascertain his willingness to take on this task.

5.   CORRESPONDENCE

Items for the table:

• Aberdeenshire Sustainable Community Hall Initiative
• Queensbury Shelters for your Community
• Newsletter - The Community Councilor
• Glasdon Products for Local Councils
• Felling Applications
• Latest edition of Huntly Country 2008/09

Planning Applications for the Huntly area:

• Building Warrant to extend dwelling house at 31 Princess Street
• Building Warrant for proposed extension to existing superstore, Asda, Steven Road
• Advertisement Consent for erection of signage at 1-7 Duke Street
• Listed Building Consent for erection of signage at 1-7 Duke Street
• Building Warrant for alterations, installation of replacement hot water boiler with condensing modulating unit and associated drainage to such and fit out first floor cupboard to form en suite shower room at Ardeonaig, Settrington Street
• Building Warrant to cut down wall below window to install French doors at 19 Forest Way
• Listed Building Consent for erection of signage at 1 Gordon Street
• Advertisement Consent for erection of signage at 1 Gordon Street
• Full Planning Permission for Alterations and Extension to Dwelling house at 1A King Street

Hilda referred to Letter received from Margaret Blackwood Housing Association re new Affordable Housing for Deveron Street and George Street.

Other Correspondence:

• Scottish Water Open Board Meeting 26th March 2008
• Information Seminar on SEPA’s Thermal Treatment Criteria 1st April 2008
• Invitation from ASDA – Sunday Fun Walk 13th April 2008
• Aberdeenshire Community Safety Groups Annual Seminar 12 April 2008
• Planning Modernisation – Consultation and Electronic Publication Strategy
• Consultation on Forestry Commission Scotland’s Draft Climate change Action Plan 2008 – 2010
• RAF Community Relations – Presentation on the need for low flying training exercises
• Cooper Park Pavillion / Huntly Youth Café progress update
• Out of date – Street Doctor
• Out of Date - Ford of Clatt

6.   A.O.C.B

• Hilda advised that the Stages Head Restoration was planned to commence today weather permitting.
• Hilda reported widespread appreciation of the new Fence at the Cemetery. Cllr Strathdee said that she had received similar good reports
• Freda raised concerns about the poor state of the Path at Riverside. It is understood that repairs are to be include in the Huntly Woodland Management Plan for the enhancements to the Meadows area.
• Post of Secretary – various suggestions were made including; an article in the Huntly Express, advertising at the Learning Centre, Linden Centre etc., approaching past secretaries of other organizations and Hilda assured members that all options will be explored and she encouraged them to promote the position as well and ask any contacts they may have to get in touch.  

The Meeting closed at 9.40pm.  The next Meeting arranged for 17th April 2008, in The Council Chambers, The Stewart’s Hall at 7.30pm.

« back