Westhill & Elrick Community Council



Community Council NamePositionPresent(vacant)ChairpersonXAudrey FindlayDeputy ChairpersonJohn ImrieSecretaryDavid RitchieTreasurerXBecky FergusonMinutes SecretaryMervyn BarrMemberXAndy DugganMemberAlan EastellMemberDavid EwenMemberStuart KaneMemberXBill LoudonMemberRosemary MurrayMemberKieran RorieMemberXKen SewardMemberXRaymond SwaffieldMemberXKate LumsdenMemberCllr David AitchisonWard 13 CouncillorXCllr Amanda AllanWard 13 CouncillorCllr Ron McKailWard 13 CouncillorXCllr Iris WalkerWard 13 CouncillorMembers of Public/Invited GuestsFreda ImrieAmanda AllanHeather CookAlison CummingItemAction/Attention1Chairperson’s welcome and opening remarksAudrey Findlay, vice chairperson, opened the meeting and welcomed everyone including Alison Cumming from Aberdeenshire Council Garioch Area Office, and Kate Lumsden who is attending her first meeting as a member of Westhill & Elrick Community Council.Audrey advised that Dave Fisher has resigned as a member of WECC due to his commitments with Inverurie Speakers Club. She sent an email of thanks to Dave?and it was agreed that he?will be added to the Residents email distribution list.2ApologiesKen Seward, David Ritchie, Raymond Swaffield, Mervyn Barr, Cllr Ron McKail, Cllr David Aitchison,3Review and Approval of the Draft Minutes of Meeting 10/09/2015Proposed: Rosemary MurraySeconded: David EwenThe minutes were approved by the meeting.4Matters ArisingShopping Centre: Marc Mills advised that Ashlea had spent 2 days, 17th & 18th Sept completing the weeding of the Shopping Centre site. Marc is waiting for confirmation from the site owners regarding the WECC Christmas Event but has not provided any further feedback from the notes that he took away with him last month. WECC will continue planning and organising the Christmas event. Lloyds Pharmacy is moving to the new unit adjacent to Costa.An email from Marc Mills was received yesterday, asking for more information regarding the details of our Christmas event. The secretary has replied with the details requested and also asked if the shopping centre would assist in the provision of Christmas lighting. The response from MJ Mapp was that they face a tight service budget and would not be likely to be able to help with any contribution.Garioch Bus Forum: Awaiting feedback from the meeting on 1st October.School Safety Signs (Westhill Primary): The 2 signs on Westhill Drive are operational as well as the new signs on Kinmundy Drive and Avenue.Kinmundy Drive Street Lights and Trees: There has been further email communication between the secretary, Cllr Aitchison and Landscape Services but we have not moved forward. The secretary has asked Doug Milne to arrange a face to face meeting with the appropriate AC officers and WECC to properly answer comments raised by WECC and hopefully resolve the issues. It appears that this piece of work has not been managed properly from the start and there is still no sign of effective tree pruning being carried out. John was asked by AC Roads to provide comments on the proposed tree removal and pruning and has done so. There has been no response to these comments by AC, and the work went ahead. Subsequent comments from the head of Landscape Services had been incorrect and not at all helpful. Communication will be continued, and a meeting will be arranged to hopefully resolve the situation. Closure of Footpath between Eastside Drive and Hillside Road: see item 13Art Feature at the ‘Gateway to Westhill’: see item 145Police ReportPolice Scotland representatives were unable to attend the meeting due to operational activities.Report attached as PDF.6Time slot for resident’s questions and commentsFreda Imrie wrote to Cllr Iris Walker to note her concern over the potential loss of the cluster of trees between the 'old' vet's building and Kinmundy Drive when this site is redeveloped. Cllr Walker has been in contact with Montagu Evans and Environmental Planners and has been assured that the situation will be monitored. Rosemary Murray stated that although a number of trees were removed during the new development, many new ones have been planted as part of the shopping centre landscaping. It is believed that the development of the area between the service yard and the Aldi site will include a car park for staff working in the shopping centre. There is however no current planning application for this part of the site. It was agreed that the trees should be retained. Cllr Iris Walker will monitor the situation and report back with any updates. Cllr Iris Walker7Planning and Related IssuesAPP/2014/1065 - Earth works have been completed on the south side of the A944. Knight Property Group will start planting the trees and associated landscaping during October. It was also noted that a large number of bulbs which had been previously planted have been covered up. If these do not reappear next Spring, then we will request for them to be replaced.APP/2015/0759 - New dwelling house at the rear of 5 Cairnie View. This application was refused as the majority of the land falls outside the Local Development Plan boundary, and would have a prominent and adverse visual impact on the existing landscape setting and character of the area.APP/2014/3211 - 7 houses at Westhill Golf Club. This application has now been granted.8Ward 13 Councillors’ Reports/UpdatesCllr Iris Walker Aberdeenshire Council CEO visit to Westhill – The new chief executive has been visiting individual wards getting to know the area and councillors. On Friday it was Ward 13’s turn. Cllr McKail and I accompanied Jim Savege round a few of Westhill’s “hot spots” visiting the Men Shed, Lawsondale/SensationALL premises, Wheelers’ preferred site for skate park, the Library and the Police Station. We took the chance to highlight various other projects as well as items of concern around Westhill. He said he left “inspired, educated and slightly sun-tanned”. He will be back on November 7th to revisit SensationALL due to a previous mix up. Audrey Findlay asked if he could find the time to visit the Citizens Advice Bureau to see the work which is carried out by the CAB. Community Empowerment Bill Conference – This was a very well-attended conference held in Kintore Arms Inverurie on Thursday 1st October. Marco Biagi, Minister for Local Government and Community Empowerment made the keynote speech after which we went in to groups for various workshop type discussions. The presentation material is to be circulated. I attended the workshop on Allotments and Community Asset Transfers. Both very interesting but we won’t know exactly how the Bill will impact on communities or local authorities until the guidance papers are issued from Scottish Government over the next few months – there are different parts to the Act and guidance papers will come out at different times on each one. It will be late summer 2016 before the full Act comes in to force. (The SCDC briefing which John Imrie circulated last week ties in very timely with this). Quite a few community councils were represented at the conference with a few comments to the panel about the lack of consideration in the Bill of CCs. Factoring in Garioch – Community Planning Partnership along with Garioch Area Partnership and Aberdeenshire Voluntary Action held a meeting last week on Factoring. Local councillors and affected residents were invited to attend. Again a very well attended meeting with residents from Echt, Westhill, Kintore, Kemnay, Newmachar and Insch. The purpose of the meeting was to explore and share common issues encountered when developers hand over maintenance of green and shared spaces to factors. Issues included factors trying to increase annual fees by extortionate amounts, contractors not carrying out the work, solicitors not advising fully at point of sale. Although this piece of work by CPP is aimed to make improvements for future estates, one of the outcomes of the meeting was that some residents have agreed to set up a Residents Association in their neighbourhood in order to have a voice to tackle bad practice.Arnhall Moss – There was a meeting on Monday with Alison Sutherland and other members of the Arnhall Moss Group, who have won some money and plan to clean and carry out restoration work on the ponds. This will mean there will be a digger around for about a week. There had also been an issue with where to deposit the silt which is taken from the pond, although a site has now been chosen. There will be an article in the bulletin to explain this to residents.Hotel Development in Elrick – John Glover has been in contact to explain that the entrance to the site will be created shortly, and the details of this will be circulated through the Roads department. It was questioned whether the residents closest to this site had been notified yet.9Website Strategy Group ReportWebsite traffic has increased steadily since March, almost doubling to 2,000 page views in August (there was a dip in July, possibly because of hols). We’ve had almost 300 visitors (some of whom are obviously viewing multiple pages) to the site. This is a very small number compared to other website but the trend overall is upwards.The response to the appeal for businesses to get in touch (through the bulletin and on the website itself) has been very poor – a solitary (IT) company asked to have its details posted. Kieran and David R have spoken about building that page of contacts using material from the old website, and through contacting people (including bulletin advertisers) directly.David E is considering ways to add value to the website, including encouraging members to post blogs. They could range to reflections on local wildlife to comments on roads issues. A balance needs to be struck between a blog having something to say, and not being too controversial. I think it would be good practice to send a blog to Kieran, David and an officer bearer before publishing. [It must be made clear views expressed are not necessarily those of the WECC as a body.]No material yet has been posted about Westhill’s history to tie in with the 50th anniversary but this is still some way off (2018).We were also contacted by Bibby Offshore, expressing an interest in supporting an art project. Their events’ organiser had seen an item in the Press and Journal and used the webmaster address on the website to get in touch. The secretary has followed this up and contacted Bibby Offshore, but WECC's problem is how to manage a project for them to do. David EwenJohn Imrie10Treasurer’s Report & Bulletin UpdateTreasurer - The retrospective new honorariums for the year to Sept 2015 as agreed at the August meeting have been paid - ?1200 to John Imrie for Secretarial and associated work and ?450 to David Ewen for setting up and maintaining the new website. WECC has purchased a mono laser printer for ?130, suitable for high volume printing and cheaper to run than an inkjet printer. It is at my house as I have to do quite a lot of printing for Bulletin and I used to do most of that on my office printer. Any member can request me to print a large document. It can do double-sided printing.David RitchieBulletin - Official deadline for the winter issue is Monday 26th October, but later that week will be fine for regular articles. Planned date for delivery by printer is Friday 20th November. - David Ritchie11Sub-group ReportsLitter Report:The Litter Pick on 19th September took place in exceptionally good weather for a change. As Raymond was unable to attend, one of our volunteers, Neville Brown, kindly offered to help out Aileen by collecting the kit and returning it to our locker at the end. We had only a small turnout of volunteers but managed to collect a surprisingly large amount of litter. Next Organised Litter Pick is on Saturday October 17thAileen & Raymond Swaffield - 01224 740669 - swaffies@Bulbs and Baskets:The hanging baskets and tubs were removed on 30th September by Rotary club members. They were emptied and are now stored at Broomfold. I think that we need to find out from some of the other CCs in Aberdeenshire, how they manage to produce such wonderful displays in their hanging baskets, e.g. Inverurie and Old Meldrum. Westhill's baskets this year were again quite poor. We need to contact them and find out where they get their plants and what they do to get such good results.John ImrieArt Project:The Art group will undertake involving the schools and various groups in making laminated decorations for the shopping centre for the festive season. Would like to supplement them with decorations from Costco. Christmas Craft workshop is being held on Saturday 28th November in the Old School, free to all. Will advertise on the website and with posters in the usual places.Rosemary Murray12WECC EventsChristmas Event - John met with Rev Stella Campbell and Rev Canon Ian Ferguson on 28th September. The two churches will organise the music and the Christmas songs and carols, and provide song sheets. WECC will need to arrange to copy these for the event. The Community Church may be able to provide a PA system. If not WECC will have to hire or borrow a system. Task list to be completed and circulated by Rosemary and John.It is proposed that WECC purchase outdoor, unbreakable Christmas bauble decorations to supplement what will be made by the children in the community. Costco has suitable decorations in boxes of 50 for ?17. They can be stored with the Christmas tree and street lights at the end of the festive season and used annually.We also need to agree the date when the tree is supplied and erected, so that volunteers can be organised at the same time to put up the Christmas decorations.Rosemary and John13Westhill Paths incl Closure of Footpath between Eastside Drive & Hillside RoadThe secretary has asked Doug Milne to arrange a face to face meeting with the appropriate Aberdeenshire Council officers and WECC to resolve the issues with the path that has been closed. New barriers have now been implemented so the path is now inaccessible. We have also carried out a survey of the condition of most of the paths on the east side of Westhill Drive. The survey has been circulated to members. There are issues with the condition of many of the paths. We remain of the opinion that we do not want to see any paths in Westhill closed or removed for reasons already stated. John has been elected as a community representative of Aberdeenshire Local Outdoor Access Forum (ALOAF). Paths were a topic at the last meeting and although the discussions were particularly to do with rural paths and rights-of-way, it was noted that other urban locations have similar problems with deteriorating paths and steps as we are finding in Westhill. David Ewen questioned whether Sustrans would be able to support this, on the basis of encouraging people to walk more, both in terms of Green Travel and healthy living. He also asked whether we could mention the repair of this as a ‘50th birthday present’ seeing as Westhill is coming up to this significant milestone.Alison Cumming also noted that contacting Anne at the Garioch Partnership would be beneficial in helping to look at a solution to this problem.14Art Feature at the ‘Gateway to Westhill’ updateThis refers to the proposed Art Feature at the 'Gateway to Westhill'. At the monthly market at the Ashdale Hall on October 3rd, Rosemary, Kate and John manned the charity stall to gather feedback from residents. The market was very poorly attended but was not a complete waste of time as we have collected some feedback. Rosemary suggests that we have a WECC / WAP presence at the shopping centre for a couple of hours over the next few Saturdays might be more effective. She is willing to set up a table with the info. We will need to get permission from MJ Mapp.The secretary has written to Westhill Business Network and is awaiting a response, and has a meeting arranged with Stewart Milne at the end of OctoberWe need volunteers to create a list of all the organisations and their contacts in Westhill and then send them information on the Art Feature and ask for their support and comments.We need to follow up on support from Aberdeenshire Council through the Area Manager office regarding possible financial support by the Area Committee, and to confirm that potential sites owned by Aberdeenshire Council would be available in principle.All CC members15Stewart Milne Group RUBY award nominationRosemary Murray and David Ewen both made suggestions of projects which could be nominated for this award. We are aware that a nomination has been made for the Walled Garden at Pitcairn Lodge. David Ewen has volunteered to complete the form and agreed a project for nomination. It was agreed that the Skate Park/Westhill Wheelers would be our choice, and we will aim to meet with them next week to ensure we complete the form with all the appropriate communication. Audrey will sign off and send the nomination form on behalf of WECC.David Ewen, Audrey Findlay16CorrespondenceGACCF meeting 21st October – This is an extra meeting for the Scheme of Establishment, and will be held in the Council Chamber. Audrey is planning on attending, and it would be helpful if some others could also attend. Community Council training 7th November – only 7 spaces left – sign up if you hope to attend. Alison Cumming also added that the topics which will be covered at the event on November 7th will be turned into e-modules and made available on-line.17AOCBGreen Dog Walkers Campaign – Andy Duggan is willing to work with Iris and Mervyn on this Campaign. Iris is already planning to meet with a member of the Elrick Parent Council on Saturday, hoping to progress the campaign. The campaign can also be advertised on the website. John noted that the bins around the shopping centre are regularly full up and in some cases overflowing. This concern has previously been notified to MJ Mapp. The turnpike stone which was relocated at the junction between the A944/B9119 has now been cleaned and repainted. Raymond & Aileen Swaffield have done an excellent job in carrying out the work.We are continually struggling to maintain membership of WECC, and all need to look out for people who are interested in their community to join and work with us to benefit this community. Alison suggested the possibility of a single election day, which may also be an option for us.Bill Loudon mentioned the problem of parking at the shopping centre again, with people parking in either disabled or parent/child spaces unnecessarily. This appears to be a continuing problem and we need to remind MJ Mapp that they agreed to install additional signs for the disabled spaces.Andy, Iris & MervynDavid EwenJohn Imrie18Date of next meetingThursday November 12th 2015, 7pm, Holiday Inn, Westhill Drive Becky Ferguson Minutes SecretaryTREASURER'S REPORT FOR W&ECC MEETING 8/10/15??????GENERAL FUNDSADVERTISING PRE-PAID FOR Autumn & Winter issuesMAKING IT REAL FUNDLITTER CAMPAIGN FUNDTOTAL??????FUNDS IN BANK AT 10/9/1516723.244693.003972.62781.1726170.03??????Receipts in period 11/9/15 to 8/10/15?????Bulletin advertisers-autumn issue3331.00?`3331.00Bank interest 1.36??1.36??????Payments in period 11/9/15 to 8/10/15?????No cheque payments this month??????????FUNDS IN BANK AT 8/10/1520055.604693.003972.62781.1729502.39??????Funds in bank include ?18,196.53 in Santander Business bond at 0.9% interest ................
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