Agenda and minutes
Venue: via Microsoft Teams
Contact: William Mohieddeen Tel: 01835 826504; Email: william.mohieddeen@scotborders.gov.uk
Link: link to live event
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Consider Minute of Meeting held on 16 November 2021 to be noted for signature by the Chairman. (Copy attached.) Minutes: CHAIRMAN Councillor Rowley welcomed
members to the Meeting and noted thanks to outgoing Leader and
Chairman of the Executive Committee Councillor Haslam. 1. MINUTE There had been circulated copies of the Minute of the Meeting held on 16 November 2021.
DECISION AGREED to approve the Minute for signature by the Chairman.
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Scotland Loves Local Gift Card PDF 253 KB Consider Report by Director of Resilient Communities. (Copy attached.) Minutes: 2.1
There had been circulated copies of a report by
Director of Resilient Communities seeking approval to join the
Scotland Loves Local Gift Card scheme which was a national
initiative designed to encourage all Scottish Local Authorities
develop their local supply chains and to help support local
retailers and high streets. The Gift
Card was launched in July 2021 by Scotland’s Towns
Partnership with a view to providing opportunities for people to
help support local businesses by purchasing local produce and
keeping more spend within the Local Authority area. Holders of the gift card would only be able to
spend credit on participating businesses inside the Scottish
Borders. After initial support from
Scotland Loves Local, Scottish Borders Council would be responsible
for the marketing and promotion of the initiative and it was
estimated that there would be an annual cost of approximately
£10,000 to undertake this work along with the appropriate
officer time. It was the understanding
of Officers that Dumfries & Galloway and Midlothian councils
were already signed-up and that East Lothian Council also had a
gift card scheme in place which they believed to be
worthwhile. 2.2 In response to a question from Councillor Mountford, the Director of Resilient Communities advised that the scheme would likely be launched in early 2022 and that the Christmas period should be included as part of a full evaluation with a report likely to be presented in early 2023. Councillor Rowley requested that a six-month progress report was presented to understand uptake of the cards and effectiveness of communication.
DECISION AGREED to:
(a)
Approve the development of the gift card
proposal within the Scottish Borders and allow officers the
opportunity to engage with Scotland’s Towns Partnership with
a view to launching the scheme; and (b) Receive an interim progress report 6 months after the launch of the scheme with a further report in twelve months on the operation of the scheme.
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Request for Approval of the Road Construction Consent for Main Street, Chirnside PDF 1 MB Consider Report by Director – Infrastructure & Environment. (Copy attached.) Minutes: 3.1
There had been circulated copies of a report by
Director Infrastructure and Environment seeking approval of the
road construction consent, reference 21/00860/RCC, associated with
the housing development at Main Street, Chirnside. Planning permission for 57 affordable dwellings at
Main Street, Chirnside (application 18/00147/FUL) was granted by
the Planning & Building Standards Committee on 15 October 2019
to Springfield Properties Plc. The
subsequent application for road construction consent, dated 21 May
2021, generated 28 objections during the consultation period. A
further 3 objections had been received since the end of that
statutory 28 day period. 3.2 In response to Councillor Jardine, the Senior Roads Planning Officer advised that on completion, the site would have a footpath with dropped kerbs on opposite sides of Main Street resulting in less road to cross. The road had been designed for a 30 miles per hour (mph) speed limit and if this would be reduced to 20mph then this would not reduce visibility of the proposed junction which would remain as designed. The construction plan did not highlight major concerns for car parking and there were no parking restrictions proposed. Parking bays were proposed for the entrance of the development which would accommodate parking for Main Street and there was a considerable distance to drive from the junction to reach housing. The impact of construction vehicles on Main Street had been considered including mud on the road and movement of large vehicles. A roads planning inspector would raise issues associated with construction traffic. Councillor Rowley suggested that discussions take place with the developer to produce an agreed plan for access, egress, road management and mud management. Mr Scott agreed to add the suggestion to the recommendations.
DECISION AGREED to approve the road construction consent, reference 21/00860/RCC, for the development off Main Street, Chirnside, subject to a construction management plan being agreed with constructors ahead of construction taking place incorporating a plan for site access, egress, road management and mud management.
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Proposal to Introduce Empty Homes Grants PDF 394 KB Consider Report by Director Infrastructure and Environment. (Copy attached.) Additional documents: Minutes: 4.1
There had been circulated copies of a report by the
Director Infrastructure and Environment seeking approval to
allocate £500,000 from the second homes Council Tax
affordable housing investment budget to provide grant assistance to
owners of empty properties to help bring them back into use as
housing. The Housing (Scotland) Act
2001 placed a statutory requirement on Local Authorities to develop
a Local Housing Strategy (LHS). The
strategy set the strategic direction for housing investment and
service delivery and identified the need to bring empty properties
back into effective use. The most
common hurdle for empty home owners was the financial cost of
bringing property back into use. The
report proposed to contribute to strategic objectives for empty
homes highlighted in the Local Housing Strategy, as well as
objectives of the Strategic Housing Investment Plan and the Rapid
Re-housing Transition Plan. With
reference to paragraph 4 of the Minute of the Meeting held on 20
April 2021, 1,543 homes were registered as long-term empty,
accounting for 2.6% of total housing stock in the Scottish Borders,
compared to the national average of 1.8%. Grant Assistance was suggested to incentivise the
creation of new affordable homes. On
average, there were over 1,200 lets every year among the four
Scottish Borders Registered Social Landlords and collectively there
were 21,602 bids made for available properties, an average of 16
bids per property, in 2019-20. Costs
required by second home owners to bring properties back into use
typically ranged from £6,000 to £25,000. Amongst the conditions of grant, property must
have had significant equity as the grant sum would have been
secured against the property with conditions. 4.2
In response to questions from Members, Ms Bogdanovic
advised that the grant would be for residential
buildings. Ms Bogdanovic advised that
they would assess that the grant would follow the procurement
strategy adding that it is the responsibility of owners to secure
three quotes. Mr Robertson added that
they would encourage owners to follow procurement guidance but that
it would not be mandated. The grant
would be a Borders-wide grant and funded by Second Home Council
Tax. The grant was not proposed to be
means tested as assumption would be made that appropriate equity
would be associated with properties. 4.3 In response to a question from Councillor Mountford, Mr Robertson advised that properties being occupied would offset funding from Second Homes Council Tax to fund the grant and that a six-month progress report would be made available from when the grant was established and asked that a further recommendation be added to delegate powers to himself and the Director of Environment and Infrastructure to allow the allocation of more than £25K should exceptional circumstances arise. Members agreed to approve this request. Establishment of the grant was anticipated to be from March 2022.
DECISION AGREED:
(a) To allocate an initial £500k from the second homes council tax affordable housing investment budget to provide grant assistance to owners of empty properties to help bring them back into use ... view the full minutes text for item 4. |
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Economic Development Update PDF 268 KB Consider Report by Director of Resilient Communities. (Copy attached.) Minutes: 5.1
There had been circulated copies of a report by
Director Resilient Communities providing Members with an update on
a number of projects that had an economic development related
theme. A Borders Railway Prospectus had
recently been produced by the Borderlands Partnership. The prospectus identified and highlighted the
development of the Tweedbank to Carlisle railway as the best
solution to improve transport connectivity in the Scottish Borders.
In addition, a Borders Railway Reference Group had recently been
initiated to help progress the project and a meeting with the
Cabinet Secretary for Finance and the Economy was held in October
to specifically discuss the Borders Railway project. Within the Borderlands Inclusive Growth Deal, work
was ongoing in relation to the various business cases impacting on
the Scottish Borders. The programme was
overseen by the Borderlands Partnership and meetings were usually
held on a quarterly basis. Scottish
Borders Council and South of Scotland Enterprise (SOSE) agreed to
form a strategic partnership in relation to the delivery of the
Business Gateway Service in November 2020, with the service
transferring to SOSE in April 2022. A
Scottish Borders Local Employability Partnership had been
established to meet the requirements of the Scottish
Government’s No One Left Behind
(NOLB) policy agenda. This involved
local authorities being given a lead role in coordinating
employability services in partnership with other local bodies,
together with a new funding regime which was to start in the next
financial year 2022-23. The Partnership
had to produce a Delivery Plan setting out the plans for
employability services in the Scottish Borders over the three
financial years 2022-23 – 2023-24. The Partnership was planning to use 2022-23 as a
transitional year. The Community
Renewal Fund (CRF) was a one off revenue fund designed to support
public bodies, voluntary groups and communities to pilot new ideas
and approaches to better support economic development-related
activities. The UK Government intended
that the CRF will lead to the introduction of a UK Shared
Prosperity Fund which would replace Structural Funds that were
issued through the European Union.
Scottish Borders Council administered the application process with
a total of 29 applications received and reviewed by an independent
panel, with 14 applications having been approved for submission to
the UK Government by Scottish Borders Council at the end of June
2021. 5.2 In discussion of the paper, Members welcomed the work by officers and the Chairman in progressing the scheme to extend the Borders Railway.
AGREED to:
(a)
Welcome and endorse the Economic
Development updates; and, (b) Recommend nominating a Substitute Member for the Borderlands Partnership which would be considered at the next meeting of Scottish Borders Council.
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Annual Complaints Performance Reports 2019-20 and 2020-21 PDF 197 KB Consider Report by Director Resilient Communities. (Copy attached.)
a) Report 2019-20 b) Report 2020-21 Additional documents:
Minutes: 6.1
There had been circulated copies of a report by
Director Resilient Communities presenting a summary of Scottish
Borders Council’s “Complaints Annual Performance Report
for 2019/20 and 2020/21”. This set out how many complaints
had been received, how effectively complaints had been dealt with,
trends over time and how Scottish Borders Council (SBC) compared to
other similar rural Local Authorities and the national
average. The Director Resilient
Communities advised that the reports had been delayed due to the
impact of the pandemic. The Annual
Report was a requirement of all Local Authorities and allowed the
Scottish Public Services Ombudsman (SPSO) to assess the
effectiveness of Councils’ Complaint Handling Procedures
(CHP). It also ensured an ongoing focus on learning from complaints
received to inform continuous improvement. During 2019/20, SBC received 1034 complaints, of
which 725 were defined as valid and during 2020/21, SBC received
1076 complaints, of which 780 were defined as valid. Live Borders complaints performance for 2019-20
were included in the report. There was no 2020-21 performance
information to report due to the service interruptions Live Borders
experienced as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. The Complaints Annual Performance Report 2019-20
contained benchmarking information, comparing Scottish Borders
Council to the performance for Scotland and its Family Group of
similar Scottish Local Authorities which included Aberdeenshire,
Argyll & Bute, Dumfries & Galloway, Na h-Eileanan an Iar,
Highland, Orkney Islands, Scottish Borders, and Shetland
Islands. In 2019-20, Scottish Borders
Council received slightly more complaints per 1,000 citizens, at
6.3, than the Family Group average of 6.0, which was also fewer
than the Scottish average of 10.34.
Scottish Borders Council’s average response time for Stages 1
and 2 was quicker compared to both the Family Group and Scotland
overall, but slower than both at Escalated from Stage 1. Notably at
Stage 1, the average time for Scottish Borders Council to respond
was significantly quicker at 5.3 days (Family Group – 8.1
days, Scotland – 10.2 days).
Scottish Borders Council’s proportion of Stage 1 complaints
closed within timescales was 77% which was quicker than the average
for the Family Group and Scotland however for Stage 2, this was
lower than both Scotland and the Family Group. The Director Resilient Communities advised that
complaints in this stage tended to cover complex areas which
affected performance. Compliments were
recorded as part of the reporting process. 50 complaints had been escalated to the SPSO with
one being fully investigated and resulted in the complaint not
being upheld. 6.2 Members discussed the report. In response to a question from Councillor Jardine, Director Resilient Communities advised that work was being undertaken to support Members receiving complaints. In response to Councillor Hamilton, the Director Resilient Communities further advised that work was being undertaken to make the complaints process as efficient as possible.
DECISION AGREED to note the performance of handling complaints for the periods 1 April 2019 to 31 March 2020 and 1 April 2020 to 31 March 2021.
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Events Strategy Report PDF 195 KB To follow. Minutes: 7.1
There had been circulated copies of a report by
Director of Resilient Communitiesproviding Members with an update
on a proposed new Scottish Borders Strategic Events Plan following
a recent review by industry experts and made interim
recommendations on a suggested direction of travel. Strategic events were recognised as an important
part of the social and economic fabric of communities in the
Scottish Borders and had the potential to enrich the lives of local
residents, attract visitors and improve the economic viability of
an area. It had previously been
estimated that events could generate and contribute over £7
million per year to the local economy in the Scottish
Borders. Scottish Borders Council had
traditionally helped support a number of strategic events
throughout the region such as the Melrose 7s, the Tour of Britain
cycling event, the Borders Book Festival and the Jim Clark
Rally. These events were considered to
be very important for the local economy and could provide worldwide
exposure on a regular basis. The
Scottish Borders Strategic Events Plan was produced in 2014 and
covered the period from 2014 to 2020. A
refresh of the current document was recommended, primarily to take
account of changes since 2014 which had an impact on the events
industry, including the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic and
placing more emphasis on environmental sustainability and
collaborative working across the South of Scotland. Mr Johnstone highlighted key recommendations of
considering additional resources to support the part-time events
Officer and to nominate an events champion from the
Members. 7.2 In response to questions from Members, the Director Resilient Communities advised that the Events Strategy was for major events and that community events were treated differently. Councillor Edgar raised that the report did not reference Border town festivals of historical and economic importance that would require significant organisation to arrange road closures and work of partner agencies to deliver. The Director Resilient Communities advised that reference to Border town festivals may be made in the strategy and that a separate policy existed covering their funding. Councillor Rowley advised that a calendar may be useful for coordinating events with festivals in the Borders.
DECISION AGREED:
(a)
Noted the proposals contained within the
report; and (b) That additional work to further develop the new Strategic Events Plan in collaboration with Elected Members and key stakeholders should be undertaken, with the results of this work brought back to Committee at an appropriate date.
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