Agenda and minutes

The Chairman welcomed those present to the first meeting of the new Eildon Locality Committee and invited everyone to introduce themselves.

            The Chairman advised that the Area Fora were now known as Locality Committees.  He gave a brief explanation of the role and responsibilities of the Locality Committees and advised that the detail of how they would operate would be developed over the coming months.  Further information would be presented in due course and updates provided when available.

            DECISION

            NOTED.

The Chairman invited nominations for the role of Vice-Chair.  Councillor Thornton-Nicol was proposed by Councillor Aitchison and seconded by Councillor Drum.  There were no other nominations and Councillor Thornton-Nicol was duly appointed as Vice-Chair.

            DECISION

AGREED that as there were no other nominations, Councillor E Thornton-Nicol was appointed as Vice-Chair.

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.

DECISION

NOTED.

(Copy of Scottish Fire & Rescue Service report and Plan 2014-2017 attached).

1.1         Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS)

There had been circulated copies of a report to inform the Eildon Locality Committee of the SFRS activity since 9 March 2017.  Stephen Mitchell, Station Manager at Galashiels was present at the meeting to provide clarification and answer questions.  Following a summary of Response and Resilience activity, the report went on to list and detail areas of partnership working and ongoing Prevention and Protection work in the Eildon area.  SFRS staff in all stations continued to provide free home fire safety visits all year round, focussing on identifying and reducing the risks of fire in the home and as part of this service, smoke detectors with a 10 year battery life were also provided as required.  Staff also continued to deliver road safety awareness training to students from Borders College and this year on year initiative delivered during the academic year targeted young drivers and prospective drivers from across the entire Scottish Borders.  SFRS staff were also supporting the Under 17s Borders Drivewise Project, which would be delivered over 14 days from April to October at Charterhall airfield near Duns.  All 9 secondary schools were participating and it was anticipated that around 700 students would receive driver awareness and road safety training as a result of the initiative.  All stations continued to participate in the British Heart Foundation initiative which delivered CPR training to the public on a request basis, building resilience and driving down the number of cardiac fatalities within the community.  SFRS was working in partnership with the TD1 Youth Hub in Galashiels and Community Learning Development in planning the delivery of a second programme of an award-winning diversionary initiative to a further eight students over the summer months.  Staff from SFRS also maintained their mentoring role of a young person from the TD1 project.  Primary 6 pupils were engaged in the Firesharp initiative which provided face to face education within local primary schools on matters of fire risk and prevention.  SFRS actively built on and developed partnerships and the report summarised work ongoing in these areas.  Moving into summer, the seasonal community safety calendar and thematic action plan would focus on:- deliberate fire setting and fire-related anti-social behaviour; summer safety; water safety; and wildlife and outdoor fire safety.  With regard to the SFRS retained duty system, the report advised that the service was currently seeking to recruit firefighters at the Galashiels Community Fire Station.  There had also been circulated the SFRS Scottish Borders Local Fire and Rescue Plan Review 2014 – 2017 which would inform the planning process for the 2017-20 plan due for publication in late 2017.  Station Manager Mitchell asked that any comments be directed to him as detailed in the document.  The Chairman thanked Station Manager Mitchell for his attendance.

5.2       Police Scotland

Inspector Tony Hodges was in attendance to give a presentation detailing the Community Policing structure within “J” Division, including maps of the areas for information.  The presentation summarised the geographical coverage of the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

Minute of the meeting of Eildon Area Forum held on 9 March 2017 to be noted (copy attached).

There had been circulated copies of the Minute of 9 March 2017. 

DECISION

NOTED for signature by the Chairman, subject to an amendment in the sederunt for the meeting.

Consider report by Neighbourhood Area Manager (copy attached).

There had been circulated copies of a report by the Service Director Assets and Infrastructure informing the Committee of small schemes which had been put forward for consideration by the Eildon Elected Members.  Mr Craig Blackie, Neighbourhood Area Manager, was in attendance and circulated a further document at the meeting entitled “How can we help you?”  This summarised the work of Neighbourhood Operations and highlighted the ways in which the team could assist Members.  The report advised that the current budget available for Small Schemes in the Eildon area was £48,200 and that £33,770 would remain should all the proposed schemes be approved.  In response to questions from Members, Mr Blackie summarised the Neighbourhood Small Schemes and Quality of Life Scheme and explained how requests from the budgets were raised and processed.  He further explained that some schemes were time critical and any projects previously approved would be carried forward and the budget ring-fenced as appropriate.

DECISION

Consider report by Service Director, Assets and Infrastructure seeking approval to re-determine public right of passage over areas in and adjacent to Market Place, Kirk Wynd and the A7 in Selkirk Town Centre (copy attached).

There had been circulated copies of a report by the Service Director Assets and Infrastructure which sought approval for the redetermination of the public right of passage over areas of carriageway and footway in and adjacent to Market Place, Kirk Wynd and the A7 in Selkirk Town Centre all as contained in the draft Order and plan contained in Appendices A and B to the report.  The Selkirk Streetscape Scheme involved the removal of circulating buses from around the Walter Scott Monument in Market Place by providing linear bus stops adjacent to the main A7 carriageway.  The Scheme had been designed to remove conflict between buses and passengers at the bus stops, allowing greater, improved pedestrian areas whilst retaining a car parking area in Market Place.  Members were advised that the Scheme had been available for viewing during public exhibition and that draft Orders had been published in May 2017 with no objections noted. 

DECISION

APPROVED the making and confirming by the Chief Legal Officer of the Scottish Borders Council (Market Place, Selkirk) (Redetermination of Means of Exercise of Public Right of Passage) Order.

Consider report by Service Director, Assets and Infrastructure proposing amendments to the Traffic Regulation Order for Selkirk (copy attached).

With reference to paragraph 5 of the Minute of 9 March 2017, there had been circulated copies of a report by the Service Director Assets and Infrastructure proposing to amend the Traffic Regulation Order for Selkirk.  Mr Gary Haldane, Assistant Engineer was in attendance and explained that amendments to the Scottish Borders Council (The Burgh of Selkirk (Prohibition and Restriction of Waiting and One-Way Traffic Working) Order 1972 had been approved by the Eildon Area Forum on 9 March 2017, subject to no objections being received during the consultation period.  Comments had been received and the proposal for Hallywell Hill/Douglas Place had now been re-evaluated on that basis.  It was now proposed to retain 10 metres of No Waiting At Any Time near to the junction (as per the Highway Code) and change the remaining 13 metres to a single yellow line restricting parking between 8.30am and 5.30pm from Monday to Friday, as detailed in Appendix A to the report.  No changes were proposed to the Order with regard to comments received in relation to Glebe Terrace and Market Place.  Discussion followed and officers provided clarification on queries raised by Members.

DECISION

(a)       APPROVED the amendments to the Scottish Borders Council (The Burgh of Selkirk (Prohibition and Restriction of Waiting and One-way Traffic Working) Order 1972); and

(b)       AGREED to delegate authority to the Chief Legal Officer to implement the Traffic Regulation Orders.

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

There were no open questions.

DECISION

NOTED.

Consider matters of interest to Community Councils.

12.1     The representative from Stow Community Council advised that the speed warning signs on lamp posts in Stow, similar to those on wheelie bins, had been removed.  It was unclear why these signs had been removed and by whom.  The Chairman would investigate this matter and report back in due course.

DECISION

NOTED.

12.2     Newtown St Boswells Community Council raised concerns in relation to the development of the Health Centre and associated issues such as house building.  No response had been received following recent correspondence to the Associate Director for Primary and Community Services.  As the Health Board was not represented at tonight’s meeting, Councillor Ballantyne would follow this matter up and provide an update in due course.

DECISION

NOTED.

12.3     The representative from Heriot Community Council raised concern about the underpass at Heriot and how maintenance was managed, particularly during the winter months.    Discussion followed with regard to which organisations were responsible for maintenance and it was explained that Scottish Borders Council and/or Network Rail were likely to be part of the arrangement.  There was, however, a need for clarification to ensure consistency and Councillor Ballantyne and Cllr Edgar agreed to investigate this matter further.

DECISION

NOTED.

14 September 2017

  7 December 2017

  8 March 2018

10 May 2018

Discussion on venues

Discussion took place with regard to the location of future meetings of the Eildon Locality Committee and it was agreed that the location would alternate between the Transport Interchange in Galashiels and Council Headquarters in Newtown St Boswells.  The next meeting would therefore be held on 14 September 2017 at the Transport Interchange.  Further meetings were scheduled to take place on 7 December 2017 (Council HQ); 8 March 2018 (Transport Interchange); and 10 May 2018 (Council HQ).

DECISION

NOTED.