Kincorth/Leggart Community Council

Report from meeting on 12 August at Nigg Police Office

Item No

1 Chair

The few members in attendance were welcomed to the meeting. Chair expressed her frustration at the attendance when considering the work put into preparing for discussion of the model documents for community councils and which was set as an agenda item for this meeting.
Future members of the community council must be made aware of the commitment they take when seeking nomination to the council later this year. Regular meeting dates should always be kept free of other subsequent commitments unless these are really important
It was suggested that the meeting should be cancelled. However this is not an option available to us since our meetings are open to the public and any local resident could have attended the police office only to find we were not there.

2 Attendance


Members

Mary Wilson Chair, Roy Wilson Secretary, Catherine Cowie, Mary MacDonald, John Shaw, Councillors Cooney and Dean.

Others

Patricia Frazer ACC, Sergeant Stewart police.

3 Apologies

Lee Brown, Lynne Brown, Maureen Downie, Glyn Sangster, Robert Sangster and Shirley Watt.

4 Minutes of Previous Meeting

There were no corrections to the report from the July meeting

5 Business Arising

Item 4

Handbook for organising galas. Councillors Cooney and McCaig. Councillor Cooney received a response to his query regarding this.

Item 8.25

Mr Dorr of First Aberdeen will not be able to attend our September meeting

6 Police Report

Sergeant Stewart reported there have been 16 motorcycle calls, 11 youth disorder complaints. There have been 25 reported crimes, 15 of these being vandalism. The police have a main suspect for the house breaking in Leggart Avenue.

The police are aware that they do not have an obvious presence in our area. In order to address this it is their intention to have a mobile office that will be stationed in various areas once per month.

In reply to a question on pavement parking and when the City Wardens are to warn offenders for this, we were told that this parking is not a problem as long as 1.25 metres space is left for wheelchairs and baby push chairs to pass.

7 Correspondence

7.1 Councillor Cooney

Email with an attachment explaining why the pond at Loirston has not been cleaned. This is done each year around November.

7.2 Hammerson

This company who are developing Union Square are holding a briefing session on 30 July between 5.00 and 7.00 p.m. in the Union Square Offices Custom House Guild Street. This session is to give up to date information on the progress of the development focusing on the job opportunities and the support available to assist people in our community to apply for Union Square jobs.

The Chair and Secretary attended this meeting and the information was passed to the library for display there.

7.3 Aberdeen City Council

Email reply from Gordon McIntosh's PA.
The query regarding the steps at the supermarket was referred to Hugh Murdoch who is on annual leave. He should make contact with me on his return on 20 July.

There has been no contact from this man.

7.4 First

Mr Dorr is unable to be at our September meeting due to other engagements. He advises that there will be a succession of "Delight the Customer" days and he will ask the Marketing Manager, Paula Middleton to advise me of their next city centre dates.

7.5 Aberdeen City Council

Email from Michael Cheyne in response to our question regarding parking on Abbotswell Crescent. He has had different people drive past the area at various times and days. He has found nothing to suggest that the road is being used by the Funeral Parlour for parking.

7.6 Aberdeen City Council

Report on the application to erect flats at the Dutch School. The recommendation is to refuse.

7.7 Aberdeen City Council

Acknowledgement of my representation regarding the Leggart traffic assessment.

7.8 Association of Scottish Community Councils

Four copies of the newsletter "The Community Councillor" have been received. This publication contains some interesting articles on the work of this association. This was passed to members.

7.9 Association of Scottish Community Councils

An email with information about a consultation being run by the Scottish Ambulance Service. The discussion documents are available on www.scottishambulance.com/futurestrategy
Any feedback must be made by 11 September.

7.10 The Scottish Government

Choosing Scotland's Future: A National Conversation.

An Invitation to a public event with the First Minister and members of the Scottish Cabinet on Tuesday 18 August at 12.30 in Kings College Elphinstone Hall. We are asked to let them know by 10 August if a delegate or I can attend.

No one is available to attend.

7.11 Councillor Cooney

An email with the response to Councillor Cooney's questions regarding the withholding of our grant for this year. For your further information, this reply should be read in full at our meeting. Councillor Dean was surprised at apparent anomalies regarding money allocated for a particular purpose in this system and she is to look into it.

7.12 Aberdeen City Council

Application for erection of Residential Accommodation for use in conjunction with the existing school at Boyd Orr. This application has been approved.

7.13 Aberdeen City Council

Application for demolition of the school and construction of flats at Boyd Orr. This application has been refused. However the applicants have the right to appeal within six months of this decision.

7.14 Councillor Cooney

Reply from Dawn Shultz regarding the availability of guidance for organising a gala etc.

7.15 Aberdeen City Council

Invoice for £54.44 for the use of the sports field for the gala. This was put into the Treasurer's letterbox at the end of the meeting.

7.16 Easy English

The latest school leaflet from this body is available. We are asked to put these up in an appropriate place. Their website is www.easyenglishaberdeen.co.uk

The school is at
Unit 4 Deemouth Centre
South Esplanade East
Torry
Aberdeen
Ab11 9PB.

7.17 From Bucksburn Community Council

Notice of a Summer Flower and Vegetable Show at Hazlehead on 29 & 30 August.

7.18 Email from Councillor Cooney

Councillor Cooney has forwarded a reply he had to an enquiry regarding the closure of the basement area and the reason for this closure. There is some discrepancy regarding the information regarding the availability of volunteers for this area. Councillor Cooney is to contact Lee Brown regarding this.

7.19 PPCA Town Planners

Copy of a letter sent to the City planning department in response to our letter regarding the traffic assessment for the Leggart development.

7.20 First

The programme for Delight the Customers has been sent. The events will be held as follows:

19 August Asda at Dyce
23 September Mastrick Shops
21 October Kingswells Shops
18 November North Donside Road Bridge of Don
15 December City Centre

They will continue their programme of meeting their customers into 2010.

7.21 Aberdeeen City Council

Good Apple Homes. There is to be a Tenants Open Day on Saturday 5 September from 10.00 to 1.00 at the Beach Ballroom. This is an opportunity for council tenants to meet staff on an informal basis and chat about any aspect of their tenancy. There will be several other organisations represented at this event and posters are available to advertise it.

7.22 Aberdeen City Council Patricia Frazer

Steven Shaw, Environmental Manager, was in touch this morning to advise that, because of a staff shortage, the Walk About planned for Thursday 13 August has been postponed. Sincere apologies for the very short notice. Steven indicated that he has pencilled in a revised date, 1st October 2009 and he will send confirmation of this revised date nearer the time.

8 Treasurer's Report

Due to the Treasurer's absence there was no report.

9 Reports

9.1 Civic Forum

There was no report.

9.2 Planning

Due to Lynne Brown's absence there was no report.

9.3 Community Council Forum

Chair

Andy Finlayson, chairman, informed members that Bill McGhee, the recently retired Vice chairman, died last week. A one-minute silence was held in memory of Bill.

Speaker

The chairman introduced Alastair Stark who was to speak to us about Planning Matters.

The new planning acts will influence many people since there will be a big change from the previous legislation with a big responsibility on community councils. He warned us to "keep our eyes peeled" for the times when we could make representations regarding strategic and development plans.
The new system is much more plan lead with more attention to the Development Plan. We were given an explanation of the need for change. Circular 1/2009 from the Scottish Government explains the new system. The Strategic Development Plan replaces the old Structure Plan and is the first stage in local authority planning. The Local Development Plan replaces the Local Plan. There is also a Statutory Supplementary Guidance that is used rather than including much detail in the Strategic Development Plan or the Local Development Plan.

The Strategic Development Plan should tell within a month when each stage of the procedure should be published. We were given a handout showing the "Normal Strategic Development Plan Process" that shows the various stages in the procedure.

These are:

1. The Strategic Development Plan

2. Publication of the Main Issues Report and Monitoring Statement.

3. Participation. We were warned that this is the stage when representations can be made and we must not miss this opportunity if we wish to comment on the proposals.

4. Publication of the proposed plan.

5. Representations. This is our second "bite at the cherry" and the final opportunity to make any representations regarding the proposals The plans are then submitted to the Scottish Parliament and examined by Reporters who will either recommend accepting or rejecting the plans. Rejection means they go back to the beginning ofthe process for any changes to be made. In closing Mr Stark emphasised again that we must 'get our word in' at the Main Issues Report. This stage will have the preferred options and one or more reasonable alternatives.
As stated earlier much information is available on Circular 1/2009. Further information is available in Planning Advice Note 81 and on two websites, www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/builtenvironment/planning and on Mr Starks website at www.sppan.co.uk. An annual subscription can be made for access to the last site at a cost of £30. During a short question session we were told that the responsibility for consultation lies firmly with the local authority and the law came into force on the day of our meeting i.e. 3rd August.

Minutes

The secretary is to circulate letters sent to the City Council and the Chief Executive.

Treasurer

The current balance is £1038.57. This sum was causing some concern and future fees will be looked at. There are great many of the community councils that are not paid members of the Forum.

Charles Lowe

Mr Lowe spoke to us about the funding of community councils. This has not changed for seven years. The treasurer is advised to write to the City Council and advise them of money that has been allocated for a particular purpose but has not yet been paid out. A note should be attached to the accounts with this information and it must be shown as allocated in the accounts.
Expenses for the AGM could be allocated and he gave an example of anything from £2 or £3 up to £50. However alcohol should not be purchased with public money.
The election procedure was again explained and the urgency of putting in nominations early to allow for any errors to be corrected before the deadline.
Community Councillors will receive individual invitations to the Civic Reception to be held on 24 September.
City Council Protocol for Community Councils
A sub committee will meet to review this document on the 17th August.

AOCB

Community Council boundary maps are now shown on the City Council website
The Forum constitution is to be reviewed since it is evidently about ten years old. This will be done with some regard given to the ?model? sent out by the Scottish Government.
The Planning Seminar run by the City Council was criticised for the short notice given and also for the quality of the presentation. The City Council is to be asked to hold an additional seminar with an improved content and presentation.

Future Speakers

Suggestions for speakers at future meetings included John Stuart, leader of the Council, someone to provide information on the proposals for Union Terrace Gardens and also a talk on the integration and provision of public transport

9.4 Gala Day

Since there was no representative of the Gala Day sub committee present there was no report. The Secretary questioned whether it was prudent to continue with a gala since we are now expected to conform with the same regulation as any person organising such an event for profit

10 A.O.C.B

Due to the lack of a quorum for the second month in succession it was not possible to discuss the National "model" documents for the future of community councils. This will be discussed in some detail at the September meeting and members are asked to take time to read and digest the papers in order to provide informed comments.