Minutes
Minutes of the Annual General Meeting held on Monday 18 June 2001 at 8.00pm in Maryculter Community Hall.
Present
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Maryculter |
Netherley |
Banchory Devenick |
Aberdeenshire Councillors |
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2 members of the public
Apologies
- Bill Fraser
- Raymond Cowan (Treasurer)
Absent
Minutes
- Minute of the meeting of 19 June 2000 was approved by
Mike Birch
- FINANCE
The Secretary on behalf of the Treasurer presented audited accounts for the past year. They had been audited by Tom Boyle.
The bank balance stands at £1,073.22
TREASURER'S REPORT
For the first time in three years the council has managed to distribute more funds than it has taken in. This is as a result of attracting more local community groups to apply for funding from the council. The deficit for the year at £326.41 reduced the funds in hand to £1,073.22 although it should be noted that £330 of prizes still have to be paid out re the 200 Club between June and December 2001.
For the second year running the payment by the Aberdeenshire Council of the Project Grant is made to community councils on a basis of electorate and not to meet specific projects as was the case previously.
The council organised a plant sale in April which raised £205.00. These funds were donated to the South Deeside View. The council was also pleased to make donation to Maryculter Driving for the Disabled (to help with running costs), Maryculter Senior Citizens (contribution towards Xmas party), Maryculter Community Hall (towards a line painting machine), MCWAG (towards legal fees), Netherley Toddlers (towards costs of matting) Maryculter Playgroup (funds to help with costs of move of premises), Netherley School Parents Association, Maryculter Parent & Toddlers and Maryculter West School Nursery (towards PC equipment).
The grant we gave to Maryculter East PTA (funds for decorating playground shed) was paid back to the council due to the closure of the school.
- CHAIRMAN'S REPORT
Community councillors representing the area from June 2000:-
Netherley/Cookney - Robert Keeler, Philip Smart, Rob Winmill and Alan Glennie (co-opted) Maryculter - Raymond Cowan, Bill Fraser, Carol Masson, Avril Tulloch and Hazel Witte Banchory-Devenick - Mike Birch, Janine Cargill and Kate Kleppang
Kincardine and Mearns Councillors who were elected as ex-officio members:-
Sandy Wallace - Lower Deeside and Alan Bisset, Stonehaven North and Fetteresso
Office bearers elected - chairwoman - Hazel Witte; vice-chairman - Rob Winmill; secretary - Robert Keeler and treasurer - Raymond Cowan.
Responsibilities were devolved as follows:- Planning, Roads and Traffic - Rob Winmill and Philip Smart Local Authority liaison- Kate Kleppang and Janine Cargill plus an office bearer Environment and Rights of Way- Bill Fraser and Mike Birch Health and Social Services - Avril Tulloch and Hazel Witte Education and Training - Avril Tulloch Water and Waste Management - Mike Birch Maryculter Hall representative - Carol Masson Media liaison - Hazel Witte and Carol Masson Minutes - Avril Tulloch Website co-ordinator - Derek Tait (co-opted)
Resignations - Janine Cargill resigned in December and Carol Masson in February.
Meetings - These were held monthly in Maryculter Community Hall apart from the summer break in July. Public attendance ranged from 5 to 29. External speakers were :-
September - Dennis Freeman, strategy manager from Aberdeenshire Council presented the questions on the Local Transport Strategy.
November - Ray Hunter who has responsibility for Scottish Wind Farm development with Renewable Energy Systems (RES), described possible scenarios for community funding, should planning permission be granted for wind turbine development on Meikle Carewe.
December - Constable Bev McKinnon spoke on crime prevention.
One of three community police officers have attended each meeting or supplied reports of police involvement in our area during the previous month.
Planning
Draft Development Plan for Aberdeenshire - We ran three consultation meetings - at Banchory-Devenick School on June 27, Cookney Hall on August 1 and as part of our monthly meeting on August 21. This enabled almost a hundred people to make written comments on a variety of subjects including housing allocation, development in rural areas, settlement designations, the green belt, transport, roads and renewable energy. These were forwarded to the Planning Department who acknowledged ours as one of the most successful consultation exercises. The finalised Plan came out in May 2001.
Proposed wind generator site on Meikle Carewe - Netherley community councillors and the Meikle Carewe Wind Action Group continued to liaise on this and a further three newsletters were produced and distributed. The massive opposition indicated by letters to the council led to a public hearing in Stonehaven on March 6. We co-ordinated the presentations of twelve speakers to ensure that the full range of reasons for opposition were presented, and to avoid repetition. A decision has been delayed since the developer has implied that opposition by National Air Traffic Services could be overcome. There are also unresolved objections from Scottish Natural Heritage and Cable and Wireless. The possibility of the developer, RES changing the application to fewer but larger turbines means that this application may not be decided until the autumn.
Housing at Stobhall / Stoneyhill, Maryculter - Planning permission was sought for seven new houses, which was opposed by the Community Council and residents. Three of these have since been approved with further applications for up to six houses are anticipated now that the settlement envelope has been enlarged.
Apex Tubulars, Netherley - Rob spoke at the Planning meeting in October, when they requested permission to extend their premises. Our concern was to ensure adequate screening from the B979.
Consultation with Kincardine and Mearns and Aberdeenshire Councils and the Scottish Executive
Local Authority Finance - Robert attended a briefing meeting for community councillors at Crathes on December 7. Since then some suggestions for reducing expenditure have been sent to the council.
Local Transport Strategy - Philip sent comments on the draft, some of which have been included in the final strategy document.
Waste Management Strategy - Mike's response included giving priority to means of reducing domestic waste.
A Power of Community Initiative, Community Planning - Hazel replied to the Scottish Exzecutive.
The Land Reform Draft Bill and Draft Scottish Outdoor Access Code were discussed at our April meeting and comments sent on to the Scottish Executive and Aberdeenshire Council.
Aberdeenshire Council are required to set up a footpaths database which in time will establish 'core pathways'. We volunteered assistance in providing information on local footpaths, but have been delayed by the Foot and Mouth disease restrictions.
Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000 - We will be bound by this legislation but foresee no real difficulties.
Scheme for Establishment of Community Councils - This standardising system came into operation in April after years of consultations, and will result in minor changes to our constitution being considered today. We have lost the Badentoy Industrial Estate, most of Bridge of Muchalls and other small areas on our eastern edge, in agreement with neighbouring councils. Anomalies in our southern and eastern borders on the new boundary map are being followed up.
Local Community Care Workshop - Hazel attended this on March 22, but it was mainly to establish some role changes for health care professionals.
Community Council Forum - Kate, Robert and Hazel have each attended one or more meetings on September 28, February 22 and May 31.They included presentations/discussion on the Local Transport Strategy, the Johnshaven Community Survey, training for community councillors and the census.
Area Bus Forum - Sylvia Pike attended the first meeting on 20.6.2000 on our behalf at which the council confirmed it would seek to provide a minimum of core subsided services, dependant upon uptake and resources. The only meeting since on 12.6.2001 was to agree cuts on poorly used routes, none in our area.
Police - Robert attended a public meeting on October 26 where the police presented their priorities and suggestions for action were discussed.
Events
Just Bin It - This was part of the national April spring clean effort, co-ordinated locally by Mike Birch. Fifteen people collected enough rubbish around Banchory-Devenick to nearly fill a three tonne cage beside the school.
Plant Sale - Our third annual sale was held before the May meeting and raised over £200 for South Deeside View. Thanks to Rob Winmill who organised, Bob Simpson and Dionne McMorran who provided gardening advice and willing hands and all those who supplied and bought plants.
Red Moss of Netherley - The Scottish Wildlife Trust requested our assistance in publicising a meeting which was held on January 30 in Cookney Hall. Graeme Morrison, Reserves Manager described the work of the Trust before outlining plans for this site of special scientific interest (SSSI). This was well attended and since then work parties have built new bridges to enable visitors and wildlife recorders to visit the raised bog in safety.
200 Club
246 £5 tickets were sold this year enabling an increase in the number of prizes awarded,as well as having more cash to distribute locally. The treasurer's report gives further details.
Publicity
Minutes and agendas are displayed on the notice boards outside each primary school, Maryculter church, Maryculter Community Hall and the Lairhillock. A new notice board has been erected at ASDA, Portlethen
Reports of meetings are sent to the Leader and Deeside Piper, and more recently to the Stonehaven office of the Press and Journal and the new Stonehaven Gazette.
Our meetings continue to be advertised on both Northsound channels on the day of the event.
The website provider crashed so Philip has taken over and is setting up a new one at NKRCC.com
Trish Peck and Carolyn Morrison produce the South Deeside View twice yearly and include a section on our behalf. This is a much appreciated source of local information.
Membership
Scottish Association of Community Councils and the Scottish Rights of Way Association.
In conclusion
I am conscious of the considerable time and effort given by community councillors and others for the good of our area. Thanks to all and to Sandy Wallace and Alan Bisset, Kincardine and Mearns councillors for their active participation and advice.
- Elections
Robert Keeler was re-elected for Netherley/Cookney, there is still one vacancy
Four nominations were received for three vacancies at Maryculter, the following were duly elected :-
Avril Tulloch, Raymond Cowan and Fiona Culbert. Kevin Park was co-opted, for his Information Technology skills
Sandy Wallace and Alan Bisset were both co-opted as our local councillors.
- Office Bearers
The Office Bearers for the next term of office are :-
Chairwoman - Hazel Witte Vice-chairman - Robin Winmill Treasurer - Raymond Cowan Secretary - Robert Keeler Auditor - Tom Boyle
- AOCB
The new Constitution was approved subject to the inclusion of a clause enabling office bearers to be dismissed.
This will be discussed with the Councils Legal department and ratified at the next ordinary meeting on August 20.
There being no further business, the meeting then closed.