Scottish Borders Council

Agenda and draft minutes

Venue: Community Wing, St. Ronan's Primary School, Innerleithen

Contact: Louise McGeoch Tel: 01835 825005  Email:  lmcgeoch@scotborders.gov.uk

Items
No. Item

1.

Open Forum

Minutes:

The Chairman invited those present to raise any matters not already included on the agenda.  Mr Winter from Eddleston commented on the speed indicator signs at the entry to Clovenfords and enquired how they might be obtained for Eddleston.

 

DECISION

AGREED to check with relevant officers if there was a criteria to obtain such signs.

2.

Order of Business

Minutes:

The Chairman varied the order of business as shown on the agenda and the Minute reflects the order in which the items were considered at the meeting.

 

3.

Minutes pdf icon PDF 83 KB

Consider Minutes of the following meetings:-

 

30 August 2017

4 October 2017

 

(Copies attached.)

 

Additional documents:

Minutes:

There had been circulated copies of the Minutes of the meetings held on 30 August and 4 October 2017.

 

DECISION

AGREED to approve the Minutes for signature by the Chairman.

4.

Small Schemes and Quality of Life

Consider schemes to be funded from the Small Schemes and Quality of Life Budgets.

Minutes:

The Neighbourhood Area Manager reported that there was one small scheme for consideration.  The proposal was to create and install a pedestrian dropped kerb access at 22 Kingsland Square, Peebles. The proposal had been received from a resident with specific mobility issues, the creation of the dropped kerb would significantly improve their ability to get to and from their car with much greater ease. Asset Management staff had approved the proposal but due to limited budgets were unable to pay for the creation of the access directly. Costs were estimated at £726.80 and if this proposal was funded a balance of £17,637 would be left in the small schemes budget.  Members agreed to support the proposal.  In response to a question regarding how residents with similar issues should approach the Council, Mr Hedley advised that people should contact him first and he would then ask for an assessment by roads staff and, if appropriate, bring the request to the Committee for consideration.  In response to a query from a Community Council representative on budget availability Mr Hedley advised that budget was available until end of March but any unspent would transfer over into the next financial year.

 

DECISION

AGREED to approve from the Small Schemes budget the sum of £726.80 to provide a dropped kerb at 22 Kingsland Square, Peebles.

 

MEMBER

Councillor Bell joined the meeting during consideration of the above item.

5.

Police Scotland - Update by Inspector Hodges

Minutes:

Inspector Tony Hodges was present at the meeting and provided an update on Police activity in the area.  He commented on the ATM which was stolen from a shop in Caddon Court, Innerleithen.  With the assistance of the community and detection throughout Scotland a report was with the Procurator Fiscal and one man was in custody.  With regard to housebreaking in Tweeddale it was noted that while numbers were decreasing work on detection and prevention continued.  Regarding concerns around youth related anti-social behaviour in Peebles, Operation Walrus had seen a number of additional officers on patrol in the town and as a result a number of young people had been reported to the Children’s Panel.  A Safer Communities campaign to address the supply of alcohol to youths would be carried out over the coming weeks.  There would be increased officer presence in towns over the festive period.  With regard to road safety the tragic death of a Walkerburn resident on the A72 was highlighted.  In terms of community policing PC Nicky Craig was now back at work on a restricted basis and would hopefully be able to attend community council meetings in Tweeddale West very soon.  In response to a question on the “dog worrying” campaign Inspector Hodges advised that this was based on work which had been undertaken in Tweeddale over the last 2 years.  The Chairman commented on the future involvement of both Police and Fire and Rescue Representatives in the new Area Partnerships and advised that he would meet with them to discuss this.

 

DECISION

NOTED the report.

6.

Scottish Fire and Rescue Service - Update by S. Mitchell, Station Manager

Minutes:

Station Manager Stephen Mitchell was present at the meeting.  He had hoped to give Members a presentation on the proposed transformation of the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service but it was agreed that this would be provided at a later date.  He commented on the work of the Fire and Rescue Service in Tweeddale.  The Drivewise Scheme with Clellands was now completed.  Work on the development of a mentoring scheme was being undertaken with Peebles High School.  Prevention work continued and the service was entering into its winter plan starting with bonfire night.  A resilient communities event dealing with flooding had been held on Tweed Green on Sunday. Members were reminded that consultation on the Fire and Rescue Service Local Plan ended in December

 

DECISION

NOTED the report.

7.

Working Groups

Consider the possibility of setting up Working Groups for the A72 and A701 roads.

Minutes:

With reference to paragraph 1 of the Minute of 30 August 2017 regarding the possibility of setting up one or more working groups to deal with the A701 and the A72, Councillor Bell advised that he had discussed this with officers and that the change from the Locality Committee to an Area Partnership would mean that an associated working group looking at a particular road would no longer be appropriate.  This did not remove the need for such a group and it was suggested the Tweeddale Members and Community Council representatives meet with the Service Director Assets and Infrastructure and other appropriate officers to examine the safety issues on the roads.  Community Councillor Lewin welcomed this suggestion and asked what the mechanism was for getting works carried out.  Councillors Chapman and Bell explained their role in this and Councillor Chapman advised that he was already working on taking this forward.

 

DECISION

AGREED to the way forward proposed above.

 

MEMBER

Councillor Haslam joined the meeting during discussion of the above item.

8.

Locality Bid Fund

Minutes:

Ms Shona Smith, Communities and Partnership Manager outline how the new Locality Bid Fund would operate.  Bids could be made under the themes contained in the Community Plan which would be considered by Council the following day.  She outlined the criteria for bids and advised that these would then be checked by an assessment panel before going forward to a public vote.  The Chairman advised that given this was such a new concept only part of the fund had been released for the first round of applications.  An assessment of the first round would inform any changes needed for the second round.  In response to a question on how smaller community projects would receive sufficient votes, Ms Smith advised that work with the Democratic Society had shown that voting patterns did not always turn out as expected but any issues could be addressed as part of the second round of bids.  She further highlighted the various methods of voting which would be available to try and make it accessible to as many people as possible.  In response to a question on guidance on how to structure projects Ms Smith advised that her team could give advice to help shape applications.  She had visited Ayrshire where a Bids Fund was in operation and had seen good examples of projects to deal with social isolation which might be of interest.  The Chairman advised that some of the funding from Phase 2 could be used to go out and look for projects.  Ms Smith was also working with the 3rd Sector and Community Learning and Development and the first round would be a learning experience and would help identify “hot” and “cold” spots.  Jez Hall from the national organisation PB Partners was coming to address Council the following day and this might help identify further ideas.  It was confirmed that there was no timescale for successful bids spending the funds received.

 

DECISION

NOTED.

9.

Note of informal meeting held on 4 October 2017 pdf icon PDF 62 KB

Minutes:

There had been circulated copies of the note of the Informal meeting of the Locality Committee held on 4 October 2017 to consider the operation of the Locality Bid Fund in Tweeddale. 

 

DECISION

AGREED to ratify the following:-

 

(a)     a budget of £30,000 be set for the first round;

 

(b)     the funds not be split by theme at this stage;

 

(c)     that no additional publicity be undertaken for the first round but this be  reviewed before round 2;

 

(d)     a public presentation and voting event be held in January 2018; and

 

(e)     that future meetings be held on 10 January 2018 in Peebles and 7 March 2018 in West Linton.

 

 

10.

Tweeddale Area Partnership

Minutes:

The Chairman advised that a report would be considered by Council the following day on the setting up of the new Area Partnerships.  They would meet 5 times per year and would be tasked with putting together Locality Plans under the themes contained in the Community Plan.  Each meeting would have a theme and there would be facilitated debate to enable conclusions to be drawn.  Members agreed that they would take the themes in order so the first meeting in January would look at Economy, Skills and Learning and the March meeting would deal with Health, Care and Wellbeing.  Representatives from the following would be invited for the January meeting:-

 

Scottish Enterprise

Skills Development Scotland

Community Development Trusts

Social Enterprise Chamber

Council Officers dealing with Transport, Economic Development and Developing the Young Workforce

 

It was noted that once the Locality Plan had been developed it would continue to be monitored and reviewed to ensure it was always up-to-date.

 

DECISION

AGREED the themes for the January and March meeting of the Tweeddale Area Partnership.

 

POLICE AND FIRE & RESCUE REPRESENTATIVES

11.       Councillor Haslam on behalf of the Committee thanked Inspector Hodges and Station Manager Mitchell for their attendance and input at the Locality/Area Committee over the years.

 

 

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