Minutes of meeting held at
Rhynie Community Centre
Monday 16th March 2015
Present: Paul Manning (Chairman) James Matthew (Vice Chairman) Colin Mumford, David Grant, Alistair Rennie, Peter Johnston, George McIntosh, Kate Hunter (Secretary)
Apologies: Neil Muiry, Lynne Staples Scott, John Drysdale, George Beverly, and Councillor John Latham
Minutes of Previous Meeting:
Approved by James Matthew
Seconded by George McIntosh
Police Report: Unfortunately there was no police present but the following report was submitted:
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Since the previous meeting there has only been one crime recorded in the area, one person was charged with Wasting Police Time. There have been 2 reported road traffic collisions on the A97 since the meeting in February. Both were very minor and did not result in any injury. Interviews for the front office post at Huntly Police Office will commence on 17 March 2015 Operation Collinsville is being run in the North Marr area with an aim to target inappropriate driving, anti-social driving and various road traffic offences, including vehicle maintenance. To date over 50 vehicles have been stopped resulting in drivers being educated and where appropriate offenders being reported. Crash Live will take place on Saturday 28 March at Huntly Fire Station; there will be a live demonstration of how Emergency Services deal with road traffic collisions as well as the opportunity to speak with Emergency Service personnel. The event is aimed at young drivers but is open for anybody to attend. |
Issues arising: The bridge and the trellis at Mosswood Rhynie have been vandalised.
Matters Arising
- Councillor Latham contacted Stuart McFarlane regarding the road maintenance issues and he is prepared to come along to a future meeting to discuss the issues
- Reply from Ralph Singleton regarding gritting in the area:
Priority 1 footways will be those in the central areas of urban communities where shopping, commercial facilities, and transport interchanges are concentrated, including accesses to public car parks, and those footways with gradients so steep as to be dangerous if covered in ice or hard packed snow. Footways in the vicinity of medical or community facilities providing an essential public service and where numbers of infirm, elderly, accompanied infants and young children are likely to congregate will also be considered as priority 1 footways.
The standard to be aimed at on priority 1 footways is that these footways should be kept in a safe condition for pedestrians during the whole of the business day other than in storm conditions. This is to be achieved within the normal working day.
A list of priority 1 footways should be drawn up to assist in developing operational plans which deliver the required level of service. The list should be reviewed annually in late summer or early autumn to take account of changes in the network.
Priority 2 footways are all footways not on the priority 1 list.
The standard to be aimed at on priority 2 footways is that these footways should be treated only after completion of treatment on priority 1 footways and when conditions are severe enough to prevent the safe passage of pedestrians and are likely to persist for some time.
Kennethmont School Car Park - my colleagues in Landscape Services should treat this. They have a contractor who should scrape any snow, and the Council's own personnel then salt the scraped surface. If there is no snow, only ice, the Charge hand makes a decision based on conditions in Huntly, so a treatment may be missed if there is a significant difference in conditions. A call by the school to the contact they will have been given should initiate a treatment. Do you have any specific dates when a treatment should have been carried out but wasn't?
Park Lane, Gartly - This is a Priority 3 road, even though it leads to the school. It is narrow and the lorry-based gritter is reluctant to treat it because of parked cars and the difficulty turning at the far end. There is a pick-up mounted gritter, but it has a lot of ground to cover, as it is needed in most of the towns and villages in north Marr
I acknowledge the inefficiency of the footway gritter driver having to make 2 journeys to get the tractor and its gritter trailer from its base to where it's working. The previous arrangement, which has been understood to be legal, was deemed to be illegal. To have continued would have risked the drivers' own licences, and the Council's Operators Licence. I have been trying to get trailers, which can carry both at the same time, and this is now being addressed
- Overgrown Hedge at 17 The Square Rhynie- The council have been informed and will contact the landlord
- Broadband Update Report from Colin Mumford
It was confirmed that Rhynie exchange has been updated for fibre and the phones in the area are mostly EO line’s (Exchange Only) meaning that your phone line goes direct to the exchange in Moss Road. It was further explained that there are some 10,000 EO lines in Aberdeenshire, and those phones served by a road side cabinet would be actioned first.
What all this means is that, the current phone lines are disconnected from the exchange machinery, pulled back and routed to the cabinets then the fibre is routed from the cabinets back to the exchange.
Where in the case, the phone lines go direct to a cabinet (Non EO Lines), the reconnection is made directly in the cabinet, and thus it is easier to effect a change to cabinet connections only. So with respect to Rhynie, fibre is possibly not that far away. This same action has to be effected outside both the Kennethmont and Gartly exchanges before fibre can be rolled out in those areas served by those exchanges.
The various sources of information still all repeat the same phrase “...we have very limited forward visibility of the programme – this is possibly because the programme managers don’t want to over promise and under deliver but it is frustrating” you can say that again. A very guarded non-committal response of one month was offered
When an area is goes “live”, individual subscribers have to contact their ISP (Internet Service Provider) and request to be moved from “standard broadband” to High Speed Fibre, which of course is now only slightly more expensive than “Standard”. Some providers, because of volume, will not provide “Fibre”; in this instance you will need to seek alternative ISP’s.
Finance Report:
Business Account: £3201.24
Mosswood Account: £4825.14
Investment Account: £7622.12
Correspondence:
- Invitation to Marr Area Bus Forum Thursday 26th March 7.30pm Stewarts Hall Huntly (noted)
- Ardmore Distillery- Proposed Conservation Area (noted)
- Aberdeenshire Draft Local Development Plan 2015 will be published in late March A drop in event will be held in The Stewart’s Hall 29th April 1pm –7pm
- Community Transport State of the Sector Report 2015 (noted)
- Natasha Pawlukewicz Various (noted)
- Superfast Broadband Connection Voucher Scheme for businesses in Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire Closing date 31st March 2015
- Draft Flood Risk Management Strategies and Plans (noted)
- Community Councils Role in planning - A power point presentation can be accessed on Our Aberdeenshire Website
- Community Council and Area Partnership Customer satisfaction Survey 2014 Secretary to complete
- Questionnaire on Community Council Funding Procedures - Discussed and completed
- Andy Farquhar Volunteer Development Coordinator- Kate will arrange to meet with him
- Liability Insurance 2015/2016 received
- Road and bridge closures (noted)
- Etape Royle Closed Road Cycle Event 27th September 2015 All households in the affected areas have received information detailing dates of meetings in their area
- Invitation to celebrate the first year of HDDT’s ownership of Greenmyres Farm (noted)
Planning Applications: No Comments
Hill of Flinder wind turbine application was discussed again but as no representative attended the meeting no further action was taken
Individual Area Reports
Clatt:
- Clatt village has no sign informing drivers that the C56S leads to Alford via the Suie Hill
Gartly:
- Cesspool at Collithie Mill overflowing onto the carriageway
Kennethmont:
- Update on compulsory purchase of land to form a walkway at Jubilee Cottages Kennethmont
- The question was asked if the transformer which sits behind Double Happiness could be moved as it is restricting further development. The committee advised that the owner should approach the Hydro Electric
- School 20mph signs still awaiting repair
Rhynie:
- Potholes at the junction of Sim’s Road West and Richmond Terrace
- Broom overhanging the carriageway between Mains of Lesmoir and Milton of Lesmoir
- Stones protruding from the dyke between Newseat Cottage and Longcroft road end
- Trees in the Square require trimming
- Playing Field Moss Road -Secretary to contact Sandy Grant regarding the draining of the field as a £4000 grant has been allocated to pay for the work
AOCB:
- Gordon Schools Health Hub; The committee agreed to donate £200 to this project
- Foundation Scotland Clashindarroch Windfarm Fund - The Memorandum of Understanding has been signed and applications are being invited for the first round of funding, which will be considered in May Two further panel members are required
- The community defibrillator has been installed outside Fourteen The Square Rhynie
- Long Service Certificates: David Grant and George Beverly will receive long service certificates at the Marr Area Forum Meeting at Keig on Wednesday 18th March
Next Meeting
Monday 27th April
7.30pm
Clatt Village Hall
