Tel: 01463 790282 (Chair)

MINUTES OF MEETING ON16 MARCH 2016

1 / Members present:, C Darling, E Campbell, I Brill, L Williams, R Campbell, D McDonald
In attendance: Cllr R Balfour, PC D Elliot, Mr Alan Robertson
Apologies: I. Williams, G Spalding, Cllr K Stephens
2 / Meeting Chaired by D McDonald
Minutes of previous meeting:
Omitted from minutes: G Spalding and her son brought the plaque for Wellside to the meeting and explained the history of the well and the work the students had done to establish this.
Proposed:E Campbell Seconded:C Darling
3 / Matters arising:
A96: as agreed at the last meeting “awareness raising” posters had been put on the BCC notice board, web-site and facebook. DMcD and LW attended the consultation meeting for community councils and the BCC response was sent (see web-site and notice board for copy of this). A discussion was held with Alan Robertson regarding the proposed position of the Balloch junction – a previous option had apparently placed this further from the residential areas which would be much preferred. Whilst the next formal opportunity to object to the current proposal would be if or when it goes to a public enquiry, it would be preferable to influence any changes before it gets to that stage. It was agreed that BCC should keep a watching brief for further stages of the consultation and any other opportunities to input to the development of the plans.
Balloch Brownies: the agreed grant of £100 has been paid.
4 / Police Report.
PC D Elliot was in attendance and gave the reports for Feb. Incidents in Balloch remain very low.
5 / Matters for Discussion:
Inverness Castle: BCC has been approached by KIlmorck CC to support their proposals for the Castle to be used as an International Clans and Heritage Centre. After some discussion BCC decided this was not something they wished to take further action on.
River Ness Arts Projects – after some discussion BCC concluded that at a time when public funding was under considerable pressure for core services, this was not good use of such funds. It also felt that reaction to the elements of the project were very personal and subjective, and it was therefore not appropriate for the BCC to respond on behalf of the community. LW to respond to the consultation on behalf of the BCC to this effect. CD to put a link to the consultation on the BCC web-site.
6 / Report from Highland Councillors.
Highland Council budget for the forthcoming year is extremely tight with considerable redundancies being made and a likely knock on effect to local development.
The final payments have been made from the Ward Discretionary budget, with 4 to Balloch.
7 / Report from Chairman.
None
8 / Treasurer’s Report
None
9 / Secretary’s Correspondence
HM QE II 90thbirthday commemorative medal: invitation to buy thesereceived (minimum order 50). BCC declined offer.
Policing Questionnaire: received from Police Scotland asking community councils to identify top policing priorities in their community and satisfaction levels with the police to help set priorities and actions for the next year. Balloch has very low levels of crime and BCC considered traffic speeding and rogue trading to be the two main issues. Police contact and input to the BCC is high and extremely satisfactory. LW to respond to the consultation of behalf of BCC to this effect.
10 / AOB
Playpark: RC and GS have submitted 2 applications for funding – 1) Scottish and S Energy – answer awaited. 2) Lottery Small Communities – not approved as the lease and planning permission are outstanding (this is considered unusual as many funding bodies will approve an application subject to these being finalised). KS is to be asked to help progress the finalisation of the lease and no further applications will be made until this is in place.
Ian Reid has supplied plans and costings for the Playpark – all are between £30k - £40k total cost.
BVT:at the last BVT meeting there was a discussion as to whether the funds for tree carving could be diverted and used for tree felling. The latter has now gone ahead without diverting any monies, but BCC members did remind members that some tree trunks had been left from previous thinning with the intention that these would be carved at a later date, and the earmarked funds would be needed for this.
AGM: The May meeting of BCC has been designated for this year’s AGM.
11 / Next Meetings:
Wednesday20 April2016 at 7:30pm.
Meeting Dates for 2016: 18 May (AGM), 15 June, 21 Sept, 19 Oct, 16 Nov.