Scottish Borders Council

Agenda and minutes

Venue: West Linton Primary School

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

Items
No. Item

1.

Welcome and Introductions

Minutes:

The Chairman welcomed everyone to the meeting of the Tweeddale Area Partnership and explained the purpose of the meeting.

 

2.

Feedback from Meeting on 6 February 2019 pdf icon PDF 60 KB

Copy Minute from meeting on 6 February 2019 . (Copy attached.)

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Minute of the meeting of the Tweeddale Area Partnership held on 6 February 2019 had been circulated along with a summary of the discussion attached as an appendix to the Minute and this was noted.  With reference to paragraph 2, the Chairman confirmed that the small schemes and quality of life projects had been approved.

 

3.

Consumption of Alcohol in Public Places

Consultation to help inform the Council in considering if there are areas in the Scottish Borders where drinking alcohol in a public place should not be allowed.

 

Minutes:

3.1       The Chairman welcomed Mr. Brian Frater, Service Director Regulatory Services to the meeting.  Mr. Frater explained that consideration had been given to the introduction of bye-laws prohibiting the consumption of alcohol in public places in certain communities back in 2013.  It was considered that the responses to the consultation at that time, of which there had been very few, were no longer relevant so it would not be appropriate to proceed to implement the draft bye-laws and a new consultation process was to be undertaken.  The consultation document was going live on the Council’s website that evening and he encouraged everyone to take part.  It was important that a wide range of groups and communities gave their views so that the responses were representative of the views of everyone across the Borders.  He asked communities to consider whether there was a problem in their area which could be helped by bye-laws and emphasised that they were not designed to impact on local festivals or “café culture” but to help prevent anti-social behaviour.  The first part of the consultation would close on 1 June and if there was a desire for bye-laws then a second consultation would be held to ascertain exactly where they should be implemented.  He noted that under the previous proposal there had been no Tweeddale Communities included.  A final report would be taken to Scottish Borders Council in November.

 

3.2       Dr Tim Patterson, Joint Director of Public Health was also in attendance at the meeting and highlighted that both the Police and NHS strongly supported the introduction of bye-laws.  Scottish Borders was the only area without bye-laws and while they would were not the answer to alcohol abuse problems they were a useful tool to help reduce the normalisation of alcohol consumption in vulnerable communities. 

 

4.

Plans for Wider Public Engagement

Consider proposals for wider public engagement on the contents of the Locality Plan.

Minutes:

The Chairman highlighted the difficulty in capturing the views of the wider Tweeddale Community.  He offered the services of himself and his fellow Councillors to come along to Community Council meetings to explain the plans and gather feedback.  Community Councils were asked to provide details of all groups in their areas so that contact could be made. The development of a package for involving schools was also discussed. Shona Smith advised that the Council had acquired a new on-line debating tool (Consul) and it was proposed to use the Tweeddale Locality Plan as the pilot for this software.

 

5.

Tweeddale Locality Plan - Health, Care and Wellbeing

A facilitated discussion on the next steps of the Health, Care and Wellbeing aspect of the Locality Plan.

Minutes:

5.1       The Chairman welcomed Tim Patterson, Robert McCulloch-Graham and Fiona Doig to the meeting.  Tim Patterson advised that the Scottish Government had issued a new set of health priorities which included action to tackle drugs and alcohol abuse, obesity, mental health problems and the impact of adverse childhood experiences.  Dr Patterson would be taking his annual report on public health to Council in May.  Robert McCulloch- Graham outlined his role with the Integrated Joint Board.  One of the biggest challenges was the expected 50% increase in over 65’s and 100% increase in those 84 by 2036.  This required a fundamentally different approach to healthcare as there was a big gap in current funding.

 

5.2       Shona Smith explained the documents which were on each table which included blank templates to identify the vision for the future of health, care and wellbeing in Tweeddale.  Each table had a facilitator and a period of 30 minutes was given for discussion.

 

5.3       At the conclusion of the discussion each table fed back their key points which included:-

 

·         The need for intergenerational provision with creative ways to keep people well within their communities and using the community spaces which were already there

·         With regard to alcohol problems look at what other countries did differently and encourage licence holders to stock a better range of alcohol free products

·         Isolation and what could be done to identify people and use assets in the local area

·         Use more NHS funding for prevention and valuing caring as a career

·         The use of new technology e.g. video consultations with Doctors

·         More information on current groups – What Matters Hubs, Churches, golf clubs, Men’s Sheds etc.

 

There then followed a general question and answer session with the officers present with the management and recruitment of carers being a major issue.

 

 

6.

Locality Bid Fund Update

Minutes:

Shona Smith reported that the Assessment Panel had now met twice.  There was a number of queries to be sent out to applicants and once these had been answered a definitive list of projects would be issued.  The aim was to have voting at the end of May/early June.

7.

Other Business

Minutes:

7.1       Small Schemes

            It was agreed that the remaining money within the small schemes budget be spent on the replacement of a sign at Innerleithen which was located at an important entrance to the town.

 

7.2       Speed Watch

            Councillor Anderson highlighted the nationally supported Community Speed Watch Scheme and advised that 8-12 volunteers were needed to be trained to operate the camera.  The equipment was quite expensive so it was suggested that Community Councils might wish to get together to share the equipment.  It was agreed that Councillor Anderson would circulated the details to all Community Council Chairs.

 

8.

Open Forum

Opportunity to raise local matters.

Minutes:

8.1       Mr Parker from Tweedsmuir Community Council was pleased to report that Tweedsmuir had obtained £214k funding to provide fibre broadband for the Community.

 

8.2       Mr Lewin from Upper Tweed Community Council advised that he had written to the Chief Executive of Scottish Borders Council recommending that they develop a new rural transport policy.  This could look at innovative solutions used elsewhere and the use of pilot schemes.  Councillor Tatler advised that a transport seminar was currently being planned.

 

8.3       The Mental Health LAC reported on a “curry and chat” initiative that was working well in Eyemouth which they would like to try in Tweeddale.

 

9.

Date of Next Meeting - 12 June 2019

Minutes:

The next meeting of the Tweeddale Area Partnership was scheduled for Wednesday, 12 June 2019.  The venue would be confirmed in due course.  The Chairman thanked everyone for attending.

 

 

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