Agenda and minutes

Councillor Moffat chaired the meeting and welcomed everyone to the Berwickshire Area Partnership and thanked the Community Councils, Partners and local organisations for their attendance.  He outlined the programme for the evening and introduced the speakers.

Copy Minute from meeting on 6 December 2018.  (Copy attached).

The Minute of the meeting of the Berwickshire Area Partnership held on 6 December 2019 had been circulated along with a summary of the discussion attached as an appendix to the Minute.  The Locality Development Co-ordinator, Mr C Banks gave some highlights from the feedback received at that meeting.

DECISION

AGREED

A facilitated discussion on the subject in order to put forward a set of initial outcomes for Berwickshire.  Guest speakers include Police Scotland, Scottish Fire & Rescue Service, Live Borders and the Council’s Community Learning & Development team.

Further information on local data and statistics can be found at:

https://www.scotborders.gov.uk/info/20015/your_council/472/area_partnerships/2 

3.1       The Chairman welcomed representatives from Police Scotland, Scottish Fire & Rescue Service, Live Borders and the Council’s Community Learning and Development Team.  Further information on local data and statistics can be found at:Berwickshire Area Partnership.  The theme for the focus for debate for the remainder of the meeting was Quality of Life. The Chairman referred to the main item on the agenda – discussion around the theme ‘Our Quality of Life’ - and introduced the key speakers who each gave a brief summary of the work, relevant to the theme, being carried out by their organisation/section. 

3.2       Inspector McGuigan highlighted the commitment of Police Scotland as identified in the Local Police Plan 2017-20 for Scottish Borders.  Following a consultation process there were seven Local Police Priorities identified which linked to the themes within the Scottish Borders Community Plan: domestic abuse; road safety; violent crime; anti-social behaviour; drugs and alcohol misuse; protecting people (including child protection); and acquisitive crime (incorporating rural crime, doorstep crime, housebreakings and thefts).  Police had strong links to the Council’s Safer Communities team with proactive campaigns such as Drivewise Borders and Crucial Crew.  Inspector McGuigan stressed that all resources were clearly focussed on the priorities and also drew attention to the work undertaken over the past year by the Community Action Team (CAT) who provided a dedicated community resource which would specifically target issues such as anti-social behaviour and on-street parking.  Any matters to be resolved by CAT would be made through elected representatives.  A quarterly performance report on the activities of CAT was circulated.

3.3       Scottish Fire and Rescue Service Group Manager, Michael Jaffray, made reference to the Local Fire and Rescue Plan for the Scottish Borders which was included in the paperwork provided on the tables.  In particular, he drew attention to the focus on the key local priorities on helping people feel safer in their homes by giving access to appropriate assistance on broader safety in the home.  The service would work with local communities and the Eyemouth response team to promote community resilience to contribute to improved outcomes for people to be involved in non-fire emergencies such as extreme weather events.  He further went on to explain that work was being carried out with community partners on making roads safer and to challenge anti-social behaviour.  Mr Jaffray referred, in particular, to the aim to reduce unwanted fire alarm signals, where there was no fire but an automated fire alarm system was activated.  This currently accounted for over 65% of emergency response activity across the Scottish Borders.  Mr Jaffray explained that a full time Watch Manager had been employed in Eyemouth to reduce the non-fire emergencies and to support the local area partnership to take forward awareness aimed at high risk groups in the community.  Police Scotland were currently working closely with schools to improve existing preventative strategies as there was often a close link between deliberate fires and anti-social behaviour.  Mr Jaffray concluded by emphasising that the service  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.

It was reported that the action plan and timescales for Reston Station was April 2019 to 2024.  In response to a question on the locality plan, Mr Rowley responded that the budget priorities would be identified and a draft plan would be shared with the local area partnership in due course.

DECISION

NOTED

Thursday 2 May 2019 – time and venue to be discussed.

The next meeting of the Berwickshire Area Partnership was scheduled for Thursday 2 May 2019.  It was suggested that the venue for the next meeting could be Coldstream Community Centre.  Councillor Moffat thanked all those who had attended the meeting for their participation and input.