Agenda and minutes

Minute of the meeting of 24 November 2016 to be approved and signed by the Chairman. (Copy attached).

There had been circulated copies of the Minute of 24 November 2016

DECISION

AGREED the Minute.

Presentation by Asset Manager, Network Manager,

Lead Roads Planning Officer and South of Scotland Timber Transport Officer.

With reference to paragraph 5 of the Minute of 24 November 2016, the Chairman welcomed Mr James England, South of Scotland Timber Transport Officer; Mr Brian Young, Network Manager, Scottish Borders Council (SBC); Mr David Richardson, Asset Manager (SBC); and Mr Derek Inglis, Lead Roads Planning Officer (SBC), who were present to give a presentation to Members on the impact of third party use on the road network.  Mr England began the presentation by advising that his role was to enable timber to reach markets with the minimum impact on communities, public roads and the environment.  He provided an independent point of contact between the forestry industry, local authorities and communities to improve communication and support conflict resolution.  Mr England advised that commercial forestry covered 14% of Scotland and 18.5% of the Scottish Borders, which was the highest concentration in the UK.  The forestry industry contributed significantly to the rural economy employing 25,000 people in Scotland, of which 3,000 were employed in the South of Scotland.  Forests planted in the 1970s were now maturing and therefore timber production had increased; 7.4 m tonnes had been produced in 2014 which meant a substantial increase in timber traffic on the road network.  Consequently, this brought challenges for harvesting and moving loads to the timber processing facilities which were located out with the Scottish Borders.  

The majority of planting was in remote areas with poor access through narrow, rural roads which were inherently weak and not suitable for heavy timber vehicles.  Mr England referred to the Scottish Borders Woodland Strategy (2005), the objective of which was to address the issues associated with regional timber transport infrastructure.  One of the key actions contained in the Strategy was to work with the forestry industry and partners to develop internal haul roads in order to remove timber traffic from the most unsuitable minor roads.   There was also a National Timber Transport Forum.  Its Partnering Charter was to support the many benefits of forestry by ensuring that timber industries could access and market the UK’s timber resource in a sustainable way.  At the same time the Forum sought to minimise the impact of timber transport on the public road network, on local communities and the environment.  There were also 11 Regional Transport Groups – one of which was the Scottish Borders Timber Transport Group, which included SBC officers, Councillors, Police and hauliers.  Mr England did attend Community Council meetings to make presentations and discuss any local issues.

Mr England went on to explain the route classification for timber transportation.  A/B routes were classified as Agreed Routes which could be used for timber transportation without restriction e.g. A7 trunk road. Consultation Routes were B roads and minor roads, which had been recognised as being key to timber extraction but which were not up to Agreed Route standard.  Consultation with the Local Authority was required before these routes could be used.  Roads classified as Severely Restricted Routes would not normally be used and consultation with the Local Authority was  ...  view the full minutes text for item 2.

Presentation by Communities and Partnership Manager.

With reference to paragraph 5 of the Minute of 24 November 2016, the Chairman welcomed Ms Shona Smith, SBC’s Communities and Partnership Manager, to the meeting to give a presentation to Members on the implications of the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015 on the Council. In her introduction, Ms Smith advised that the Act focused on a local approach to allow communities to improve services and was rooted in tackling inequalities.  Although the Act received Royal Assent on 24 July 2015, it was recognised that further regulations and guidance were required for most parts of the legislation with a timescale for operational completion of October 2016.  There were 11 sections of the Act: National Outcomes, Community Planning and Asset Transfer Requests were already in force; Participation Requests would become active in March 2017.  Ms Smith discussed the Community Planning part of the Act which was about the delivery of local outcomes and the involvement of community bodies at all stages of community planning.  Community Planning Partners who had a statutory duty in this regard were Scottish Fire and Rescue Service, Police Scotland, NHS Borders, Scottish Enterprise and Scottish Borders Council.  Tackling inequalities was a specific focus of this part of the Act.  The Local Outcome Improvement Plan (LOIP), which would replace the Single Outcome Agreement, would contain improvement outcomes across the Scottish Borders, and this was linked to Locality Plans which focussed on smaller areas.  The LOIP and Locality Plans required to be published by October 2017.

Ms Smith then went on to discuss the Asset Transfer part of the Act which was introduced on 23 January 2017.  Assets were land and buildings owned by public authorities, and these required to be published; the Council’s Asset register had been published on the website and would be updated quarterly.  If community bodies considered they could make better use of land and buildings currently owned by public authorities and other public bodies, the Act allowed community bodies to request to purchase, lease, manage or use such land and buildings.  Such requests had to be agreed unless there were reasonable grounds for refusal.  There was a short time scale for the process – from receipt of the formal request to decision - and it was highlighted that interested communities should contact the Communities Partnership Team for a discussion prior to submitting a request.  The Clerk to the Council added that the request process was still to be decided but it was likely to be initially considered by officers in consultation with local Members.  There was also the requirement for an appeals process to be established. 

Ms Smith then went on to explain the Community Participation Requests part of the Act, which would likely be introduced in March 2017.  Communities had the right to request to participate in improving outcomes of service delivery.  For example, the community could offer volunteers to support a service or take over a service or facility.  The Participation Request would need to provide an explanation of the improvement in  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.

Update on subjects include in the future Scrutiny Review Programme. (Copy attached).

With reference to paragraph 5 of the Minute of 24 November 2016, there had been circulated copies of the updated list of subjects which the Scrutiny Committee had been asked to review and which included the source of the request, the stage the process had reached and the date, if identified, of the Scrutiny meeting at which the information would be presented.  The Clerk to the Council advised that for the February meeting there would be a presentation on the Police, Fire & Rescue and Safer Communities Board; a briefing on Artificial Sports Pitches and a private briefing on Home Schooling.   For the March meeting there was scheduled a presentation on the Health and Social Care Integrated Joint Board.  There would also be an item on the Agenda to consider the Scrutiny Action Tracker, which would detail outcomes of actions from the Committee and also if any items required to be forwarded to 2017/2018 Committee year. 

DECISION

AGREED the list of subject for review by Scrutiny Committee as amended and appended to this Minute at Appendix 1.    

The next meeting is scheduled to be held on 16 February 2016.

The next meeting of the Scrutiny Committee would take place on Thursday, 16 February 2017.

            DECISION

            NOTED.