Westhill & Elrick Community Council



Community Council NamePositionPresentCharlie LoveChairpersonHeather BrockDeputy Chairperson(vacant)SecretaryXDavid RitchieTreasurer (vacant)Minutes SecretaryXRaymond SwaffieldMemberXBill LoudonMemberDawn AndersonMemberKate LumsdenMemberHeather CoullMemberAlan EastellMemberJohn Long MemberDiane PriestleyMember John ThorntonMemberClare DavidsonMember Ken StewartMemberJohn HunterMemberDaniel HayMemberXMandy DugganMemberXStuart BewsMemberXBrian ColvinMemberXChika EdehMemberXCllr David AitchisonWard 13 CouncillorXCllr Iris WalkerWard 13 CouncillorCllr Ron McKailWard 13 CouncillorCllr Alistair McKelvieWard 13 CouncillorXMembers of Public/Invited GuestsAudrey FindlayBecky FergusonPC Steve MiddletonJohn ImrieHeather CookGeorge AllanLinda LawsonMervyn BarrHeather AllanFreda ImrieColin DavidsonNorman SmithKen YoungEveline CrossanItemAction/Attention1Election of Community Councillors and appointment of Office BearersCouncillor Ron McKail opened the meeting as returning officer for the election of Community Councillors. He explained that every three years Community Councils are required to elect their community councillors. Every community council has a maximum number of members allowed, and ours is twenty. Twenty nomination forms have been received, therefore all twenty individuals who submitted nomination forms were elected as community councillors. These individuals are all named above in the members list. Following this, David Ritchie thanked the two office bearers who are standing down this evening – Audrey Findlay & Becky Ferguson – and expressed gratitude for all their contributions over many years. Gifts were presented to both on behalf of WECC. At this point in time nominations were taken for the Office Bearer positions.Charlie Love was nominated for Chairperson by Heather Brock and seconded by Clare Davidson.Heather Brock was nominated as Vice Chair by David Ritchie, and seconded by Charlie LoveDavid Ritchie was nominated as Treasurer by Heather Brock and seconded by Kate LumsdenThere were no nominations for the positions of Secretary or Minutes Secretary, therefore the appointment of these positions has been deferred to the November meeting.2Chairperson’s welcome and opening remarksCharlie Love opened the meeting as Chairperson, welcoming all to the meeting. 3ApologiesCllr David Aitchison, Cllr Alistair McKelvie, Raymond Swaffield, Brian Colvin4Review and Approval of the Draft Minutes of Meeting 14/09/17Proposed: Dawn AndersonSeconded: John LongThe minutes were approved by the meeting.5Matters ArisingAll will be addressed throughout the meeting. 6Police ReportThe report was circulated to members prior to the meeting. PC Steve Middleton presented the report. He also added that a speed survey has been conducted on Old Skene Road recently, which found over 21,000 vehicles travelling West with an average of 29.1mph, and the 85th percentile at 33.4mph. Dawn asked about the possibility of a barrier at the corner of Old Skene Road and Wellgrove Road, following the recent accident where a car ended up in a garden and close to a house. Steve clarified that this would be looked into, especially if there were any black spots. 7Update on Gateway Art ProjectInterviews for the 5 artists that were shortlisted were conducted on September 18th, all of which were of a very high quality. The artist has now been appointed, and is Holger Lonze, who resides in Ireland. He will regularly be over to conduct consultation and workshops, and we are now drawing up a contract to be signed and agreed. It was questioned what the budget for this project is. This was clarified as ?34,000 which has been allocated from a number of different sources. Further funding may be acquired from Landscape Services. 8Update on Kingsford Stadium Development It was expected that this application would go before Aberdeen City Council yesterday, however Aberdeen Football Club requested this to be deferred. Therefore it is now unknown as to when this will be. One individual requested that this hiatus be used to clarify with AFC what the benefits of this stadium would be for the local community. In addition to this, he asked if the Community Council could be involved in the discussions regarding roads and transport.It was clarified that the opportunity to comment on this application was earlier in the process, and WECC did comment on these concerns. If further consultation is conducted then we would hope that WECC would continue to hold the discretionary consultee status which has been awarded to us thus far. It was also noted that the old AECC site could potentially be large enough for a new development. This is something that we do not have control over and therefore can only deal with the application that has been submitted.9Planning WatchJohn Long explained that each week a list is received from Aberdeenshire Council with any planning applications that have gone live that week. A number of applications have been submitted however these are primarily domestic extensions and require no comments. 10EventsChristmas Event – David Ritchie will send the checklist to Heather Brock & Clare Davidson who will take the lead on this on behalf of WECC with the additional help from Margaret Thornton and Heather Cook. Initially there needs to be contact with the Holiday Inn regarding supply of hot chocolate, local retailers for other goodies to be handed out, Granite City Brass to confirm the booking and also the local churches for other musical items. David Ritchie, Heather Brock & Clare Davidson11Ward 13 Councillors’ ReportsCllr Iris WalkerParking issues at Elrick PrimaryThis issue was raised at the last WECC meeting by a member of the public. I contacted Andrea Drummond the very recent new Head Teacher who has discussed this with Mrs Malcolm (retiring HT) and also looked at what is in place around the school. The issue of parking has been in recent school newsletters for all families. Last week the Police were at the school at the beginning of the day on two occasions and did speak to some drivers. The janitor, when available, has made himself visible at the drop off and collection times. Currently there is a “park and stride” option from Westdyke Leisure Centre as well as last week a focus on walk to school including “Strider” which is a costume supplied by the safe travel officer, being out and about when pupils walked to school last Monday.The HT is willing to meet with local councillors, the safe travel officer and any community-based police officers to look at any further options which could improve the situation around the school. I have left it to the HT to make contact if she thinks further measures are warranted.New Zebra Crossing Old Skene RoadStill awaiting more information after funding was agreed at Infrastructure Services Committee two weeks ago. Following the academy Parent Council meeting last night, I have asked Roads service that they consult with parents/Head Teacher before finalising the location.School Uniforms – Westhill AcademyFollowing a consultation, the new Head Teacher has today confirmed in writing that the school will go ahead with implementation of a uniform. From a very high response rate, 71% were for and 29% against.Group% Yes% NoNumber consultedNumber of RespondentsPupils6040753707Parents/carers8614671467Staff7327140112Councillor McKail added explanation regarding the possibility of a new zebra crossing on Old Skene Road, which could potentially be near to Crombie Acres. Funding has been secured for a crossing on this road although the location is to be confirmed. He also noted that the Community Safety Group has circulated over 1000 of the card holders which are safe for contactless cards. The group are also involved in the distribution of fire sticks which are to be used to test fire alarms. CSG will also be involved in purchasing banners to be placed near the schools to discourage some of the parking which has been prevalent lately. 12Website Report & Communications GroupNo report received. 13Treasurer’s Report and Bulletin UpdatesTreasurer’s Report:Got a nice letter and thank you certificate from SensationALL for the ?4000 we donated recently.I am awaiting receipt of ?10,000 from the Shire Council Top-up budget towards the Gateway Art project. This was granted for the 2016/17 Council year but we were allowed to delay claiming it till the project got started properly. The artist will send us stage-payment invoices and I will submit copies to Area Office to prove we are spending the ?10,000. – David RitchieBulletin Report: Deadline for winter issue is Friday 3rd November. This is a week later than normal due to person at printers who puts it together for me being on holiday in October. It will be out a week later than normal as well, so should be weekend of 24th November. – David Ritchie14Sub-group ReportsLitter: Our Litter Pick took place as planned in September despite heavy rain at the start. We were surprised at the number of volunteers that did turn up, as we were prepared for a “no show”! Our observation the previous month, that there was slightly less litter, was clearly just a blip, because if anything, the amount of litter lying was greater than usual this month. Within the woods we found large collections of food and drink debris left over from group picnic / party events. Even more annoying was the fact that these heaps were just a few meters from a bin! Our volunteers did well and we filled our skip.George Niblock, Convenor of Aberdeenshire Environmental Forum has been in contact with us, as we were set up originally as part of the Aberdeenshire Litter Initiative (ALI). The Group are intending to Legally Challenge Aberdeenshire Council’s Street Cleaning Service, as the standard has been reduced through budget cuts. He is requesting we publicise this initiative, as they are looking for small donations from the public, who may be interested in an improved service, by donating one to two pounds to fund the legal costs. Our next Litter Pick will take place on 14th October. - Aileen & Raymond SwaffieldChristmas Lights:I emailed Craig Sutherland of FES this week re help with the Christmas lights that he had offered when speaking to us at May meeting. He replied quickly saying ‘FES will look at the provision, installation, taking down, testing & storage of the Westhill festive lights over the Christmas period’.This is far more than we would like or need help with so I will be speaking to him soon about it. – David RitchieBulbs & Baskets: The hanging baskets were removed during September with the assistance of Westhill Rotary, in particular Grant Williamson and John Fraser.? The baskets have been emptied and are in storage at Grant’s farm.? They will be checked and repaired as necessary by myself during the winter months.The order for plants has been submitted to Aberdeenshire Council Landscape Services for next year.? This includes plants for Sheila Gray for Trinity Church. – John ImrieArt Project: There will be activities organised in the run up to Christmas, which may require additional help from WECC due to the group now only having two members. - Kate Lumsden15Place Standard ExerciseAilsa Anderson, Senior Policy Planner, summarised the purpose of tonight’s exercise. This exercise is to look at planning and development, and more so where development should and should not take place. This is the beginning of engagement with community councils and local communities, which will regularly take place over the next 12 months. All of this is working towards the next Local Development Plan. Next November a Main Issues Report will be published incorporating all information gathered, and a number of other activities will take place before the next Local Development Plan is drafted, published and then adopted in around 2021. The exercise this evening is an opportunity for all present to note any comments or concerns with planning, primarily in land use however also in terms of community use. Those present were given the opportunity to score a number of topics out of 7 as to how strongly it was felt these issues are achieved. A number of comments were made about many different aspects of Westhill, which was noted by the planners and will all contribute to a report produced from this exercise. It was questioned whether WECC would agree that Westhill is a thriving town?The feeling in the room was that Westhill is certainly thriving compared to some other areas, however it does have its own area of need, especially more so in recent years. This is probably not fully recognised as many believe Westhill to be ‘well off’ whereas this is less of a reality now. Eveline Crossan from CAB added to this point, explaining the nature of financial issues in Westhill. The national average debt per client is around ?10,000 however in our area is ?53,000.It was noted that the only area allocated for housing is at Strawberryfield Road, and we would not be expecting to see any large allocations in the next LDP. All of the notes taken from tonight will be split into Land Use Planning & also the Community side of things and will be shared back with us at WECC in the near future. The policy reviews will be shared early next year, followed by the opportunity to discuss any bids received in around autumn time. It was also noted that this exercise could be conducted with a number of other community groups in Westhill, which may bring further information to the forefront.16CorrespondenceAberdeenshire Town Centres Parking Survey – this has already been circulated but will be sent out again. To be completed by October 31st. 17AOCBCllr Walker noted that the Ashdale Hall is struggling for committee members and would appreciate new members if anyone was able/knew anyone else who would be interested.ATMs – following the closure of RBS and the inaccessibility to one ATM we are currently down to one at the shopping centre which has been out of order. This leaves no access to an ATM in the town centre. It is believed that Group 4 will be taking over the management of the ATMs. The future of these ATMs is unknown, however the potential may be for the placement of an ATM in another shopping unit. WECC may wish to write to these shops and express these concerns.???Date of next meetingThursday 9th November 2017, Holiday Inn, Westhill DriveBecky FergusonSecretary?GENERAL FUNDSADVERTISING PRE-PAID FOR WINTER 2017 ISSUELITTER CAMPAIGN FUNDTOTAL?????FUNDS IN BANK AT 14/9/1718431.625173.00751.2424355.86?????Receipts in period 15/9/17 to 12/10/17????Bulletin advertisers-Autumn issue3478.00`3478.00Bank interest 2.04?2.04?????Payments in period 15/9/17 to 12/10/17????Honorarium to website manager for 3Q 2017-225.00??-225.00Honorarium to secretary for 3Q 2017-300.00??-300.00Gateway Art Project- Artists interviews expenses & meeting room hire-428.45??-428.45FUNDS IN BANK AT 12/10/1720958.215173.00751.2426882.45?????Funds in bank include ?18,493.3 in Santander Business bond at 0.50% interest ................
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