Agenda and minutes

The Chairman advised that he had attended a public meeting on flood protection which had been held by Scottish Borders Council’s (SBC) Emergency Planning Officer; further public meetings would be held on 18 and 19 January and he encouraged attendance.     There would also be leaflets distributed to all properties at risk of flooding giving advice on the assistance available.  It was noted that Hawick Community Council, the Resilience Group, Hawick Flood Group and Ward Councillors would assist with the distribution of the leaflets.  The Emergency Planning Officer would facilitate.

DECISION

NOTED.

Minute of the meeting of the Teviot and Liddesdale Area Forum of 13 December 2016 to be approved. (Copy attached).

There had been circulated copies of the Minute of the meeting held on 13 December 2016.   

DECISION

AGREED to approve the Minute.

Consider report by Service Director Neighbourhood Services. (Copy attached).

With reference to paragraph 6 of the Minute of 13 December 2016, there had been circulated a report by Service Director Neighbourhood Services seeking approval for proposed new Neighbourhood Small Schemes and Quality of Life Schemes from the Area Forum.  The following Neighbourhood Small Schemes had been requested for consideration by Teviot and Liddesdale Members: Paint benches in bus shelter at Mart Street and Trinity Gardens, Hawick; Clean Lawson Bridge, Laurie Bridge and Langlands Bridge, Hawick.   The following Quality of Life Scheme had been requested for consideration by Members: Install handrail at steps leading to St Mary’s Kirkyard off Drumlanrig Square, Hawick; Install staggered wooden fences at Courses footpath, Chesters. 

Mr Dunlop informed that any unspent Small Schemes budget would not be carried forward to the following year.   The Chairman advised that the Hawick and Hermitage Ward Councillors had requested that the Langlands’ Bridge’s deck be painted and the deck surface improved and that Thomson Bridge be cleaned.  Members were also working with Amey, Transport Scotland and Officers to house a new bus shelter at Newmill, Teviot.  The remainder of the budget would be used for pothole repairs within Wellogate Cemetery, upgrading the CCTV system to ensure that it was fit for purpose, and pothole repairs within the Hawick and Hermitage Ward. Mr Dunlop advised that he would prepare costings for these additional schemes for the February meeting of the Forum.   Discussion followed on whether the Hawick and Denholm Councillors had been consulted regarding contributing towards the bridge cleaning and they believed that they had not been approached.

DECISION

(a)        AGREED the following new Neighbourhood Small Schemes for implementation:-

(i)         Paint benches in bus shelters at Mart Street and Trinity Gardens, Hawick.                                                                              £  218

            (ii)        Clean Lawson Bridge Laurie Bridge and Langlands Bridge,

Hawick; and                                                                            £  894

(b)       AGREED the following new a financial contribution from the Quality of Life Schemes for implementation:-

            (i)         Install handrail at entrance to St Mary’s Kirkyard, Hawick £ 425

            (ii)        Install staggered wooden fences at Courses footpath,      £  107

                        Chesters

(c)        NOTED:-

(i)         the updates on previously approved Neighbourhood Small Schemes as detailed in Appendix A to the report; and

            (ii)        the updates on previously approved Quality of Life Schemes as                      detailed in Appendix B to the report.

Update report by Police Inspector detailing ongoing work and initiatives in the Teviot and Liddesdale area – Copy attached.

Police Sergeant Tom Quinn, Police Scotland, was in attendance to update the Teviot and Liddesdale Area Forum on performance, activities and issues across the Ward.   A report, by Inspector Carol Wood, had been circulated prior to the meeting.  The Ward Plan Priorities for Teviot and Liddesdale were highlighted as Drug Dealing and Misuse, Road Safety, Violent Crime and Antisocial Behaviour.  In summary, with regard to the Drug Dealing and Misuse priority, PS Quinn advised that a 23 year old male had been charged twice after being found in possession of a class B drug and had been dealt with accordingly.  Following a house search in Burnfoot a man and woman had been charged with being concerned in the supply of drugs after substances were found within the home address. Police Scotland continued to receive intelligence from the public in relation to drug matters and encouraged this. 

In terms of the Road Safety priority, Community officers continued to give attention to areas where they had received complaints of speeding and inconsiderate driving. Police Scotland continued to link with SBC in obtaining data for areas of complaint, and, where appropriate, had discussions on road improvements. The camera safety vehicle continued to make an appearance in the Teviot and Liddesdale area.  To find out where the camera safety vehicle would be located go to www.lbsafetycameras.co.uk.  Officers patrolled in identified locations and carried out periodic road checks to positively influence driver behaviour. Officers would continue to educate drivers at every opportunity and communicate with young drivers who travelled to meeting points to meet with friends and other car enthusiasts.  Officers paid particular attention to these drivers and the vehicles and thorough examinations were conducted of their vehicles to ensure compliance with road vehicle construction and use regulations.  In certain circumstances, vehicles could be seized by Police where there was evidence that the vehicle was being driven carelessly, or off road.   It was essential that complaints about driving behaviour were notified to the police via 101 at the time.  

Vehicles continued to receive parking tickets and drivers were warned for parking longer then they should or for breaching yellow line restrictions throughout the town.  The police would continue to give illegal parking attention whenever possible.  Incidents included two vehicles being seized for having no insurance. A male had also been charged with a number of driving offences including disqualified driving.  There were also two fixed penalty tickets for speeding, both on the A7 at Colterscleugh. 

In respect of the Violent Crime priority there was one robbery reported in Hawick during December but no serious assaults.  One of the males had been arrested at the scene and a positive line of enquiry was been followed to apprehend the other male.

With regard to Antisocial Behaviour, high visibility patrols had been carried out, with the aim of reducing disorder and delivering high levels of public reassurance.  Throughout December there were six official police warnings given for antisocial behaviour.  

The report also highlighted that during the festive  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

Update report by Russell Bell, Station Commander, detailing ongoing work and initiatives in the Teviot and Liddesdale Area. – To Follow.

There had been circulated a report from Station Manager Russell Bell, Hawick Fire Station, presenting information on response and resilience activities for the month of December 2016.  In summary, the report detailed that during the period of the report there had been four house fires (one small fire in living room, one small fire in bedroom and two chimney fires); seven Special Service occurrences and 13 Unwanted Fire Alarm Signals. 

Hawick Retained crew had received flood first responder training. This skill set equipped staff to be effective during flooding incidents such as assessing flooded premises and assisting with rescues during low level flooding. 

The out of hospital cardiac arrest trial period had now ended.  A report had been passed to the Strategic Leadership Team with recommendations that trial stations continued to offer the service and that it be rolled out to all stations in Scotland via a three year delivery plan. 

The report also detailed fire prevention and protection activity ongoing within the Teviot and Liddesdale area including: Road safety awareness training, a classroom based consequence lecture which gave a demonstration of a road traffic collision scene detailing the crew’s responsibilities, actions and techniques; Driving Into the Future which was an initiative at educating new/potential drivers, the initiative had been running at Hawick High School and had received encouraging feedback from both students and staff;  Firesharp which was for Primary 6 pupils, providing face to face education on fire risk and prevention;  Fire Safety Audits which provided a targeted examination of business premises and their relevant documents to ascertain how the premises were being managed regarding fire safety.

The report also highlighted that the Winter season thematic period had now commenced and the Fire and Rescue Service had to report their level of success against a range of indicators including: reduction of the overall number and severity of accidental fires in the home, reduction of the overall and severity of accidental fire casualties and fatalities and minimising the number of accidental fires and fire casualties in the home involving persons over 60 years of age.

Members discussed the report and it was agreed to request that the Station Manager update the Forum on the impact the reduction of three firefighters and the changes to shift patterns would have at Hawick Fire Station.

DECISON

AGREED to request the Station Manager provide an update at the next meeting on the impact of the reduction of three firefighters and changes to shift patterns at Hawick Fire Station.

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

(a)        Dog Fouling

Councillor Paterson, Executive Member for Environmental Services, responded to the recent Hawick Community Council meeting where concerns had been expressed about dog fouling.  Councillor Paterson advised that he was as frustrated as anyone about the impact that dog fouling had on communities.  Dog fouling was caused by a small minority of irresponsible dog owners who took little pride in the appearance of their town and villages and how their lack of action impacted on their neighbours’ lives.  SBC’s Responsible Dog Ownership Strategy outlined a range of measures which aimed to change behaviour and included engaging with communities and volunteers.   Enforcement was only part of the Strategy and an ongoing pilot was in place which focused on this.  Extensive intelligence held by the SBC was used to deploy enforcement officers.  However, with only two enforcement officers assigned to cover the whole of the Borders this was challenging.   With decreasing and finite resources the solution to the problem could not solely lie with SBC and enforcement.  Councillor Paterson advised that he was happy to meet with community councils to discuss the issue, share what was been done elsewhere and the role they could play.   He encouraged the public to continue to report instances of dog fouling and provide as much information as possible to allow the appropriate action to be taken.  This could be done via telephone or through SBC’s website.  Exact locations, times of day, descriptions of dogs and owners would assist to target enforcement activity to deliver results.  Mrs Short, Chairman of Hawick Community Council thanked Councillor Paterson for his response and advised that Hawick Community Council would take up his offer to work together to eradicate the problem.

DECISION

NOTED.

(b)        Great Tapestry of Scotland

a member of the public asked for Members and Hawick Community Council’s view on the Great Tapestry of Scotland?  With an increase to the council tax and Council savings to be made, the Tapestry model and business case appeared flawed and he asked that the project should not proceed.  All Members and the Chairman of Hawick Community Council advised that they were against the project.  Members explained the rationale for their decision which included the requirement for each Council department to make cuts to their budgets and this could be cuts to staffing; the cost of servicing the debt for the tapestry would be £260k per annum and they were not convinced that the business case was workable; and, the lack of Heritage Lottery funding towards the project. However, the decision to proceed with the project had been made by Council.   It was clarified that the removal of the trees at Tweedbank had been carried out as the trees had required maintenance; this had not cost £300k, this amount had been for the whole project.

DECISION

NOTED the objection of Members to the Great Tapestry of Scotland Project.

(b)        Bridge at Sunderland Hall

A member of the public enquired at the cost of works to the Sunderland Hall Bridge which had  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

Consider matters of interest to Community Councils.

Denholm Community Councillor, Ms Gwen Crew, advised that there had been no meeting in December.   They was one vacancy on the Community Council which would hopefully be filled at their next meeting.   Ms Crew thanked Police Scotland for carrying out speed checks in the village; several motorists driving over the speed limit had been detected.  However, there was still an issue with speeding along Jedburgh Terrace and the Community Council considered that the 30 mph sign should be located further out of the village. A police report might assist with the request for the sign to be moved.  Ms Crew further advised that Main Street, Denholm was to be closed for resurfacing on 23 and 24 January, the alternative route was of concern as the grass verges had not been repaired for a considerable length of time, larger vehicles would be re-routed through a major diversion. Mrs Crew expressed concern at the size of the documents they were receiving for windfarm applications, the last application relating to Pine Burn had been over 600 pages, which did not encourage accessibility by community councils or the public.

Hawick Community Councillor, Mrs Marion Short, advised that they had also received the application for Pine Burn windfarm; they were arranging a sub-group meeting to discuss the application and to coordinate a response.    Mrs Short had also attended the flood protection meeting that afternoon and advised that SBC were also promoting, via a leaflet, flood protection products such as door guards and flood sacks for use of residents in flood prone premises.  Mrs Short had also been invited to the commissioning service for Hawick Street Pastors on 28 January. PS Quinn advised that the scheme worked extremely well in Galashiels.  The Street Pastors’ targeted alcohol issues and would assist the Police and make the streets safer in the evening.  Mrs Short further advised that a meeting would take place next week with representative from Amey to discuss Dovemount Place and roundabout.

Upper Liddesdale and Hermitage Community Councillor, Mr Robert Scott advised that the Community Council’s first meeting of 2017 would be held on Monday 23 January.  Items on the agenda included co-option of a member and Energiekontor presentation on Pine Burn windfarm.

Hobkirk Community Councillor, Mr John Curtis advised that at their last meeting the principal discussion had been on the Pine Burn windfarm application.  There had also been an enthusiastic discussion about the possibility of taking over the former Hobkirk Primary School building and the possible formation of a Community Trust.  The Chairman of the Village Hall Committee would be circulating a questionnaire to residents for their views on the proposal.  Mr Curtis also referred to the continual closure of the A7 by Amey which meant diversions around unsuitable roads.  There were also three areas of the route between Hawick and Langholm which were on the verge of collapse; with a similar problem at The Dunk.  The road condition was affecting tourism and industry.   

Upper Teviot and Borthwick Water Community Councillor,  Mr Ian  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

Tuesday, 21 February 2017 at 6.30 pm in the Lesser Hall., Town Hall,  Hawick.

The next meeting of the Teviot and Liddesdale Area Forum was scheduled for Tuesday, 21 February 2017 at 6.30 pm in the Lesser Hall.

DECISION

NOTED.