Minutes Jan 2015
Minutes of Meeting of the Dunnet & Canisbay Community Council Held in St. Clare’s Village Hall, Aukengill On Wednesday 14th January 291
Those Present:
John Green, Chairman
Christopher Hobson, Treasurer
Bill Mowat
Ann Shearer
Eric Green
Barbara Hiddleston, Secretary
There was 1 member of the public, Frances Calder, in attendance. Two others had given their apologies, due to the adverse weather.
Apologies: Councillor Willie MacKay gave his apologies
1. Minutes of Previous Meeting
1.1. As there were no corrections, Bill Mowat proposed the Minutes for the previous meeting held on the 24th November 2014 be accepted, which was seconded by Ann Shearer.
2. Matters Arising.
2.1. Brough Bay Vandalism. Chris Hobson reported that the police did not turn up at the Brough Bay Association meeting and that there had recently been a number of incidents of theft. There was to be a meeting on Friday between the Brough Bay Association and the ASBO officer, which he has elected to attend and would report back. Action Chris
3.1. Proposed tidying up outside the Canisbay Doctor’s Surgery area – tarmacking. After discussion it was agreed to leave the issue of tarmacking for the time being, and see how long the tidying up carried out would last.
3.2. Canisbay Church Gate. Ann Shearer reported as yet no action had been taken but she would get in touch with the Planning Dept.
3.4. Dunnet Children’s Playpark. John Green reported that Patrine Harris had been concerned regarding insurance covering the volunteers who put up the lights and upon investigation found that the Highland Council provided cover and needed only to be informed when the lights were being put up and removed.
3.5. Highland Council Master Plan. Query regarding inclusion of tidal stream projects. Eric Green had felt that the reply dated 2nd December from the Highland Council Principal Planner’s, response to Councillor MacKay’s query on our behalf had missed the point. He agreed that e-mail he had written in response to this matter to those present on 8th December 2015 could be sent to David Cowie, Principal Planner at Highland Council. Action Barbara
3.6. Natural Retreats: Change of location of the turning circle at John O’Groats & Building on the Carpark. John Green reported that he had attended a Natural Retreats meeting of invited public members – not as indicated – a meeting with the wider public - and felt that the Natural Retreats people were not listening to the public as nothing in their plans seemed to have changed. They had said they would put in a revised plan, but as yet nothing had materialised. But he would continue to monitor their actions.
3.7. Damage to the Road at Upper Gills. Ann Shearer said the damage on the roads had been fixed, but only temporarily which she intended to report. Like other members she had tried using the recommended website http://ww.highland.gov.uk/info591/council and
http://www.government/548/report_a_problem to no avail.
3.8. John O’Groats Mill, Huna. Although Barbara Hiddleston reported that there had been no movement on this matter it was felt further investigation would be made. Action John
4. Chairman’s Report
4.1. The Chairman reported he had received a letter from BayWa.r.e.informing him that the Stroupster Wind Farm was due to be fully operational in April of this year.
5. Treasurer’s Report
5.1. Chris Hobson reported the balance stood at £3,247.
6. Planning.
6.2. Planning Lists. These were noted.
7. Stroupster Wind Farm Community Benefit Fund.
7.1. Eric Green reported that Sandy Anderson had been successfully selected as the Consultant and would send out the Terms and Conditions of his contract to those present. Action Eric
7.2.1 Through Eilidh Gunn, Foundation Scotland, Sandy Anderson had requested to set up a public meeting. After discussion it was agreed to hold the meeting on Wednesday 28th January, as suggested, in the Canisbay Hall at 7.30 p.m. with a pre-meeting with those present at 6.30 p.m. Barbara Hiddleston agreed to liaise with Eilidh. Action Barbara
7.2.2. Frances Calder suggested that the Notice for this meeting should be advertised in the Post Office Van.
7.3. The Acceptance Declaration of the CARES application was duly signed, as was the Bank Mandate, which would be passed onto Eilidh Action Barbara
7.4. Eric Green requested an e-copy of the Memorandum of Understanding which John Green had agreed to pass on Action John
8. A.O.B.
8.1. Fire on the School Bus. Frances Calder brought to the Member’s attention the recent incident of the fire that broke out in the School bus going to Wick. After discussion it was agreed that a letter of complaint should be sent to the school, and to Highland Council who employ the Stagecoach Company to supply the buses.
Action John & Eric
8.2. Polish Cargo Ship Disaster. Bill Mowat proposed that a letter of condolence should be written to the Polish and Philippines Embassy and that he would attend the Service in their memory to be held in Wick on Sunday Action Barbara & Bill
8.3. S.S.E. Outages. Much discussion arose on the failure of the electricity supply during the recent storms. The men had worked in atrocious weather conditions Whilst some houses had been re-connected fairly quickly, many had to wait some four days. This was considered not good enough as several of those without power were the elderly
It was agreed that S.S.E. should be written to asking if they had a long term maintenance plan to prevent such outages and the coming of the storms had been forecast well in time. Action John & Eric
8.4. Mis - use of the single track Seater road by HGV Trucks. Bill Mowat brought to the attention of those present that a JBT Holdings Truck use the shortcut of around 2 miles that links with the A99 on the lower slopes of the Warth Hill to the south of The Broo, John O’Groats, instead of going via the A836 to its junction with the A99 at the Seaview Hotel, John O’Groats. There was a particular incident at the end of December of a truck going off this road at Stemster, which inconveniently closed for a short period to recover the trailer. He felt that there should be a weight-restriction of around 8 tonnes be applied to the road, so that it becomes a road traffic offence for HGVs to use it as a through route.
8.5. Payment to Secretary. Chris Hobson brought to attention a note from the Ward Manager informing him that an allowance of £250 was made in their funding to our Community Council for payment to the Secretary. He proposed that this be accepted, which was seconded by John Green.
9. Date of Next Meeting.
The next meeting to be held later in the month of February 2015.