HELMSDALE

AND DISTRICT COMMUNITY COUNCIL

Minutes of the meeting held on Thursday 7th March 2013 at 7.30pm in the Community Centre 1. Present: Stan Amey (Chairman),Edward Mackay, (Vice-Chair), Barbara Jappy, (Treasurer), Penny Kane (Secretary), Malcolm Bromley, Alison Cowie, Paul Harrington, Gerry Wood, Councillor Deirdre Mackay 2. Police report: Constables McLeod and Bremner reported on the last months events: 60 logged incidents calls received, mainly traffic/vehicle offences. Reports of one theft from a car and one car window broken with items taken. Reminder that there is a new call system in place for non emergency calls. Rather than ringing the number of the police station required you now dial 101. 3. Approval of Minutes of February meeting: Proposed by Malcolm, seconded by Gerry 4. Matters Arising: Regarding the Helmsdale improvements programme, drawings not yet available. EGM to be held on Tuesday 19th March 2013 at 7pm. St Johns Well Path. Letter from Matt Dent to explain the land is in private ownership and he has passed the concerns on to the landowner. He will check on progress in a few weeks The twinning proposal with Winnipeg: still under discussion. Any comments to Jacquie Aitken, Archivist Timespan Heritage Centre 5. Councillors Report: a. Helmsdale improvements project: Land purchase: From the EGM, the purchase of the land is moving forward according to the required protocols. The Highland Council has now written to Transport Scotland to express an interest in acquiring the land around the monument/car park area. There is now a contract between those 2 parties and there can be no other bidders. The land will be retained in public ownership of the Highland Council, which has to decide who maintains the land. Deirdre will continue to follow this up. Emigrant Statue: To qualify for brown tourist signage the statue requires accreditation Car park area improvements: There will be one disabled bay and one for electric car recharging. Toilets: It is possible there will be some money available so the toilets can be demolished. Deirdre has visited Garry McLeods parents to reassure them that money will still be available to preserve his hours and other work can be found for him Plans: Drawings to be available for EGM on 19th March (see above). Toilets may have to be done as a second phase Sign boards: 2 sign boards will go up on the exterior wall of the Community Centre for village notices etc

Recycling bins: These will be moved to Coupers Yard after the interior fence and outer fence removed so lorries can access the bins. Richard Clements dealing. b. Flood protection: Protective wall on the beach at Port Gower to protect from further damage by high tides being completed at present. Assessment of coastal damage has not yet been completed, divers required to inspect the harbour walls from Wick to southwards. Damage to Helmsdale estimated to be 100.00. Scottish National Heritage looking at existing barriers along the whole coast to prevent displacement of problems from one place to another. We must be prepared for these higher seas on a regional rather than district basis. c. Taxi fares: A member of the public had questioned the cost of a taxi to travel less than a mile in total being set at 8.00. This tariff is set by the Highland Council for licensed taxis.PK to speak to Garry to see if Community Bus could help with messages d. Memorial Clock: Deirdre has been pushing for this. A preliminary check was done before Christmas and engineers were supposed to return to do an in-depth costing. Deirdre will chase this up. e. Debris on road: Malcolm reported debris on the road in West Helmsdale due to blocked ditches. Barbara will take forward 6. Treasurers report: Current account: 1592. 77, including 550 for micro grants. There are 3 more applications: Helmsdale Traditional Knitting Group has been researching traditional Ganseys. The research is now being extended. They are also involved in a project with Winnipeg knitters where one sock is knitted here and sent to Canada for a matching sock to me made. This is part of the Highland Clearances Commemoration Project. The group of 15 welcomes all ages and ability. They asked for 100-150. Timespan Genealogy Group: They research family histories face to face by letter and on- line. A new research point is needed with internet connection, work surface,, binders shelves and books. They requested 250.00 Helmsdale Tennis Clubare looking to improve the tennis facilities. The formal request has not yet been received. Council agreed after discussion to allocated 150.00 to the Knitting Group 200.00 to Genealogy Group 200.00 to tennis Club (Penny and Gerry abstained from voting due to ties with Timespan) Accounts need to be audited in time for AGM by end June 7. Development Officers Report: HOUSING Tenders will be returned 5th April 2013 Transfer of landownership is still ongoing The interested parties regarding the plots have been notified of the receipt and replies sent out. FILLING STATION The telephone conference we had with the BLF last month, went very well. We have had further correspondence from the BLF, and this is on-going at the moment. HDDT are hosting a community petrol station seminar on Tue 19th March, in Community Centre, organisations from as far as Campbeltown, Islay, Western Isles will be attending.

RENEWABLES
ONSHORE

OFFSHORE

Balnacoil Wind Farm public consultation held in Helmsdale on Thu 21st Feb, there was not a great deal of interest. They will be submitting their Planning application in May/June 2013 - subject to EIA being There will be a further round of discussions involving the CC nominated representatives, in April 2013. The new owner(s) of West Garty Farm Estate have submitted a scoping plan to Highland Council, for a wind farm of approx. 19 turbines. Gordonbush advisory panel meeting for awards takes place in the Community Centre on Wed 20th March The feasibility for the harbour infrastructure and engineering survey has been authorised by Marine Scotland and is out to tender at the moment. We have a marketing meeting with Wick, Lybster, THC, HIE and consultants on 18th March to finalise the materials and content prior to submission to the offshore developers/operators.

HYDRO

The closing date for the tenders regarding the hydro schemes closes on Fri 8th March; to date approx. 7 sealed tenders have been received. Decision on awards will be next week. 8. Highland Council Challenge: Barbara and Paul attended the meeting. The Highland Concil habe money to give to communities which can prove that they can do things as well as the Highland Council, but more cheaply and to the benefit of the community. A detailed application would need to be put in. There will be a meeting with Phil Tomalin next week to discuss what services wouldbe feasible to take on. There are issues around e.g. liability which have not yet been answered 9. A.O.B.: a) Malcolm reported damage to the parapet of the bridge at Kilpheder. Barbara to deal b) Paul reported that the Area Committee meeting of Highland Councillors held recently at Timespan was very interesting. He recommends a visit if the opportunity rises again c) Barbara proposed that the meeting time is changed from 7.30pm to 7pm. Agreed for a trial period d) Penny reported that dog fouling had been reported to the dog warden by email and by telephone with no direct response. Barbara will take a note of all complaints if passed to her and send them through to dog warden. e) Transport Scotland is putting in a new conduit under the road where the land slippage occurred earlier in the year. (Where the traffic lights are between Helmsdale and Port Gower) this will take place in May. f) There is a conference on 30th April 2013 called Closing the Gap-Health Inequalities in the Highlands. Venue: Eden Court. Time: Registration 9.45am, close 3.45. Penny has an application form if anyone interested g) Penny has some booklets entitled: Coping with Emergencies-Building Community Resilience. h) Jean Sargent thanked the Council on behalf of Timespan for the granting of the 2 microgrants i) John Whitfield of Culgower House spoke about the planning request for 19 very tall turbines to be place in West Helmsdale on the west side of the A9. Historically permission was sought for much smaller and fewer turbines some years ago and this was rejected after a successful campaign to stop them. The SNH and RSPB are aware of the new application and surprised because of the earlier refusal. These turbines are twice the size of the ones rejected a few years ago and there will be far more of them. He stated that the loss to the community could not be made up by the small sums of money which we might

receive in exchange. After discussion the Council voted to seek the advice of the Ward Manager, Phil Tomalin and ask him to coordinate a public meeting where both sides could air their views and people could then make an informed decision. PK to contact Phil Fri am (post meeting note, email sent Fri am). There is very little time to manoeuvre.

Meeting closed at 9pm Date and time of next meeting: E.G.M. Tuesday 19th March 2013 at 7pm in the Community Centre Date and time of next ordinary Meeting: Thursday 4th April 2013 at 7pm Post meeting note: To discuss the Wind Farm issue at EGM on 19th