Agenda and minutes

Minute of Meeting of Tweeddale Area Forum of 25 May 2016 for noting.  (Copy attached).

1.1    There had been circulated copies of the Minute of the Meeting held on 25 May 2016. 

         DECISION                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    

         NOTED.

1.2    With reference to paragraph 1.2 of the Minute, the Democratic Services Officer advised that arrangements were in place for Community Councillors to visit Talla Reservoir at 10.30 a.m. on 4 October 2016. 

         DECISION

         NOTED.

Minute of Meeting of Tweeddale Area Forum A72 Action Sub-Committee of 16 May 2016 for noting.   (Copy attached.)

There had been circulated copies of the Minute of Meeting of the A72 Action Sub-Committee held on 16 May 2016.

DECISION

NOTED.

Consider briefing note by Philippa Gilhooly, Engineer.   (Copy attached.)

3.1     There had been circulated copies of a briefing paper by Ms P. Gilhooly, Engineer.   In presenting background information she advised that on  a number of occasions the Council’s traffic and road safety section had received requests to look at additional crossing points on the A72, and in particular in the area of Peebles Old Town and Young Street.  The existing waiting restrictions were detailed in the report. An assessment was carried out by Officers to identify the most suitable type of crossing for this location based on pedestrian volumes, desire lines, existing infrastructure, turning requirements and impact on businesses and residents and a pedestrian refuge island was deemed the most appropriate.  To allow large vehicles to safely negotiate a pedestrian refuge there would be a need to convert the existing single yellow lines to double yellow lines.  These new no waiting and no loading at any time restrictions on both sides of the A72 would result in the loss of parking, loading and waiting outside the Vets, Butchers and Red Cross Shop 24/7.   A traffic regulation order would be required to change the waiting restrictions in the area and the public would have the opportunity to object, and valid objections would come back to Area Forum for discussion.   The briefing note recommended that progress be made with advertising a Traffic Regulation Order for additional double yellow lines and any valid objections would be brought to a future meeting of the Area Forum.     Kate Jones and Alexander Finlayson, Castle Warehouse (Peebles) Limited advised that the implementation of such a traffic regulation order would affect customers parking and goods unloading would be severely affected.    Mandy Taylor, On a Shoe String was also present and advised she had similar concerns as would the British Red Cross.   The shopkeepers did appreciate the problems but hoped that some sort of compromise could be reached.   A suggestion was made that something could be done to encourage people taking children to school to take another route and the Engineer undertook to look at that suggestion.      Members discussed the Engineer’s report and agreed that before coming to any decision that informal consultations take place with local traders.  Councillors Bhatia and Cockburn agreed to take this forward, and it was noted that a representative from Tweeddale Access Panel and the Chairman of the Royal Burgh of Peebles and District Community Council would also be invited to take part in any consultations.

3.2     In referring to the traffic island at Eddleston, Community Councillor Tulloch advised on risks posed to cyclists when vehicles passed them at this area.   A suggestion was made that a build-out might have been better than a traffic island.  The Engineer advised that information had changed in April with the issue of a new traffic manual and she would explore the situation.

         DECISION

         AGREED that:-

         (a)           informal consultations take place with local traders, this would be taken forward by Councillors Bhatia and Cockburn and a representative from Tweeddale Access Panel and the Chairman of the Royal  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.

Consider briefing note by Depute Chief Executive Place. (Copy attached.)

There had been circulated copies of a briefing note by  the Network Manager, Roads advising that there had been a number of injury and non-injury accidents just outside Innerleithen at Caerlee Corner on the A72.    Mr Young advised that a number of minor engineering interventions (signs and road markings) had  been implemented in recent years to try and address the accident pattern.  Further signs and road markings improvements, to Trunk Road standards, had very recently been implemented.   Agreement had been reached with Police Scotland to promote the introduction of a 40 mph speed limit on the western approach to Innerleithen.  The process for introducing a Traffic Regulation Order (TRO) to amend the existing speed limit was a lengthy and legally protracted one that could typically take up to a year to be implemented on site.  Members were pleased to note the promotion of the introduction of a 40 mph speed limit on the western approach to Innerleithen and thanked Mr Young for his attendance.  

DECISION

NOTED.

Presentation by Ian Tunnah and Michael Wynne, Licensing Standards and Enforcement Officers.

Mr Ian Tunnah, Licensing Standards and Enforcement Officer and Chairman of the Scottish Borders Local Licensing Forum was in attendance to give a presentation on behalf of the Scottish Borders Licensing Forum.   Copies of a Toolkit Resource for communities were made available at the meeting.  The Toolkit was designed to help anyone who would like to have a say on how alcohol impacted on their community.     It explained how the licensing process worked in Scotland and provided some practical tips to help people who wanted to get involved.   Mr Tunnah explained alcohol was licensed because it was not an ordinary product but one of high risk, alcohol played a part in many health and social problems, there was evidence to show that the easier it was to buy alcohol the more people would drink, licensing existed to regulate sale of alcohol to minimise harm.  There were three types of alcohol licence:- permanent (premises), temporary (occasional), and personal for managers/supervisors who managed the sale of alcohol.   The Licensing Board comprised of 10 elected Councillors and others involved were the Licensing Standards Officer, Police,  Health Board, Community Councils, Local Licensing Forum and Members of the Community.   Mr Tunnah gave information on the licensing process and how Community Councils could raise concerns about alcohol in the community.   Community Councils could report problems to the Police and the Licensing Standards Officer, input to the planning process, get involved with the Local Licensing Forum, comment on alcohol licence applications or licensed premises, and speak to their local Councillor.   Any party lodging an objection or representation in respect of an application would be invited by the Licensing Board to attend the hearing at which the application was being considered.   Copies of the Alcohol Profile 2014/15 were available at the meeting.    The Alcohol Profile had been prepared by the Local Licensing Forum and provided information relating to evidence of alcohol related harm in the Scottish Borders based on national research as well as local data from Police Scotland, NHS Borders, Scottish Borders Council and Scottish Fire and Rescue Service.   Mr Tunnah concluded his presentation by answering questions from those present.   The Chairman thanked Mr Tunnah for his attendance and informative presentation.

DECISION

NOTED the presentation.

Opportunity for members of the public to raise any issues not included on the agenda.

(a)           Mr   Tommy Davidson advised that approaches had been made to Springfield Properties to ascertain if they could open the access path to the school through their development.   Owing to safety issues Springfield Properties were unwilling to accede to this request.   It was noted there was no requirement for access to be made through the development to the school until after the development had been completed.   Another way forward would be to invest in a temporary footpath between St Andrews Close and the school.    The Neighbourhood Area Manager (Tweeddale Area) advised that if there was a need for funding for such a path he would be willing to assist. West Linton Community Council were remitted to take forward enquiries about the path on behalf of the community.

               DECISION

               NOTED.

(b)           Mr Robert Balfour advised that the Dawyck area would/could hold the Council liable to any future flooding of houses etc. downstream from the extensive works that had and were taking place at Merlindale Bridge on the B712.    He asked if it would be possible for Council Officers to speak to residents downstream as they were very concerned.   Flooding had become far worse and more frequent since the bund was built.   He commented that Peebles should be aware because huge amounts of gravel were washed downstream closer to Peebles and enormous new banks of gravel had formed.   He advised that many people were very grateful to the Council for the financial grants awarded following Storm Frank.    The Neighbourhood Area Manager (Tweeddale Area) advised that he would make enquiries relating to the exact nature of the work at Merlindale Bridge.   He would seek advice from the Council’s Flood Officer in relation to the statement made regarding dredging and report back to a future meeting.

               DECISION

               NOTED.

Opportunity for members of the public to raise any issues not included on the agenda.

(a)           Community Councillor Tatler referred to recently publicity regarding the Royal Burgh of Peebles and District Community Council’s new minute Secretary Ben Durkin.   He was delighted as this might encourage younger people to become members of the Community Council.

               DECISION

               NOTED.

(b)           Community Councillor Tatler referred to the allocation of housing for the Scottish Borders and wondered if this could be considered as an item of business for the next area forum meeting.

               DECISION

               AGREED that Council Officers be asked to attend the next meeting of the Area Forum to give a presentation on the allocation  of housing in the Scottish Borders and in particular what this meant for the Tweeddale Area.

Update by Inspector M. Bennett.

Inspector Bennett advised that a newDivisional Commander had been appointed for the Lothians and Scottish Borders area since the last meeting of the Tweeddale Area Forum.    Chief Superintendent Ivor Marshall took up his role on 18 May and said: “It is a pleasure and a privilege to have been appointed as the Police Commander for the Lothians and Scottish Borders – my local division. Building upon all the good work of my predecessors and drawing upon the ongoing commitment and hard work of all officers and staff, I am confident that the Division will deliver positive outcomes in keeping with agreed local plans. We will be relentless in our prevention and detection of crime, we will be resolute in protecting citizens from harm, and we will be proactive in promoting the wellbeing of everyone who lives in or visits the Lothians and Scottish Borders.  Having the support of local communities is vitally important to our work so we will ensure that our values of integrity, fairness and respect sit at the heart of all that we do so that we maintain the trust and confidence of the people we serve.”

In relation to bicycle thefts, Inspector Bennett advised that the Community Safety Team had secured funding from Scottish Borders Council to buy products from Bike Register which could be used to mark bikes with a “tamper-proof” sticker, and record details of owners on a national database.   Events were being planned to deliver a crime prevention method to bike owners within the area.   A dedicated team of Officers within the Division was investigating a number of thefts and a number of bikes had been recovered, which would assist enquiries into tracing the perpetrators.   Those unable to attend the Farm Fire Safety and Crime Prevention Event on 9 June at Haswellsykes Farm, Peebles could access an excellent guide to farmers and wider community at the following link - http://www.scotland.police.uk/keep-safe/home-and-personal-property/rural-crime     Alternatively, further information was available from the Scottish Borders Safer Communities Team by calling 01835 823204. Police Officers were aware that there had been frequent gatherings of young people at the Sware and Meldons during evenings at the weekends. There were concerns that teenagers were meeting and consuming alcohol and drugs while socialising with friends.    Direct action had been taken against the youths, including searching them for drugs and alcohol. It was essential that all complaints about driving behaviour were notified to the police via 101 at the time.  Every call was graded by call takers and allocated accordingly, so while Officers might be unavailable to attend at the time if they were committed to a higher priority incident, they would be able to note statements to pursue offences.   There had been an increase in the number of detections for drink driving in the Scottish Borders, with people being caught in rural locations, having been drinking at a village pub and then choosing to drive home.  The message from Police Scotland was very simple - if you are intending driving, do not  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.

Update report by  Keith Langley.  

Station Manager Keith Langley advised that there had been two road traffic fatalities, one involved a motorcyclist.  He gave information on a four hour course entitled “Biker Down” designed by bikers for bikers, the course focussed on three key areas:  accident scene management, first aid for motorcyclists and the science of being seen.   Community Councillor Taylor referred to the European Global Satellite-based navigation whereby an App could be downloaded to a mobile phone and 999 would be dialled if a person was involved in an accident.   Councillor Bell expressed concern relating to the recent fatalities at Clovenfords and Horsburgh Ford.   Innerleithen Community Fire Station held a road safety event on the 20 August, in partnership with the local CO-OP, to highlight the work they did within the community and road safety. West Linton Community Fire Station would  hold an open day on Saturday 3 September with representation from Police, SAS and Mountain Rescue. Peebles were currently planning their event.    It was noted that Fire Fighter Raymond Nicol had retired in July from the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service after serving at West Linton Fire Station for 37 years.

DECSION

NOTED.