www.ballochcc.btck.co.uk

Tel: 01463 790282 (Chair)

MINUTES OF MEETING ON 17 FEBRUARY 2016

1 / Members present:, C Darling, E Campbell, G Spalding, L Williams, R Campbell, D McDonald
In attendance: Cllr R Balfour, Cllr K Stephens, Cllr J Crawford, PC D Elliot, Gaenor Rodgers
Apologies: I. Williams, I Brill, Cllr C Caddick
2 / Meeting Chaired by D McDonald
Minutes of previous meeting:
Proposed: R Campbell Seconded: D McDonald
3 / Matters arising:
BVT: £9,000 funding for paths in the woodland has been granted through the Ward Discretionary Budget
4 / Police Report.
PC D Elliot was in attendance and gave the reports for Jan. Incidents in Balloch remain very low.
5 / Financial Contributions to Local Groups
Following a request for funding from 2nd Balloch Brownies for a financial contribution. Ms G Rodgers was invited to present her case to the meeting. Although this request was for a specific outing for the 2 Balloch Brownie groups, it raised the wider question of the principal of using BCC funds for supporting local groups – to what extent and if specific criteria should be applied.
After much discussion it was decided to give £100 to the Brownies as the ethos and principals of the guiding movement (and their contribution to the community) were ones which should be supported. Any further similar requests would be dealt with on a case by case basis. LW to liaise with GR to organise payment of this.
6 / BCC Meeting Dates
As the small meeting room which the BCC has previously used for meeting is no longer available and we have been meeting in the big hall, the Balloch Village Hall Convenor has contacted the BCC asking if we could change our meeting dates to the 4th Wed of the month, so we could use the smaller hall. Unfortunately some of the BCC members have other commitments for these dates and the decision was made to continue meetings on the 3rd Wed of the month in the large hall.
7 / A96 Dualling – Inverness to Nairn
After a series of previous consultations regarding options for the dualling of the A96, the “preferred option” has been decided and the next series of more detailed consultations regarding this are currently under way.
The section relevant to Balloch is to run between the current A96 and Barn Church Road, and looks to be set up an embankment, going over Barn Church Road at the junction near Lower Cullernie. This has raised some concern as to the visual and noise impact that will result. Whilst it is unlikely that the route can be changed at this stage, BCC feel strongly that a sunken road and junction would be preferable, with a lower overall negative impact. This latter option was originally proposed in Oct 2014.
The options for access at Milton of Culloden were also considered with Option 2 being the preferred one.
BCC will be feeding back to the consultants at a meeting on 2 March, but also wishes to raise awareness of these points in the local community. LW to prepare wording for BCC web-site and facebook.
Further information and feed-back forms available at www.transportscotland.gov.uk/project/a96-inverness-nairn-including-nairn-bypass
8 / Report from Highland Councillors.
Little to report pending the setting of the Highland Council budget for the forthcoming year.
9 / Report from Chairman.
None
10 / Treasurer’s Report
None
11 / Secretary’s Correspondence
Covered under items 5,6,7 above
12 / AOB
Playpark: one application for funding has been completed and LW is to review this prior to submission. RC and GS continue to look for potential sources of funding.
13 / Next Meetings:
Wednesday 16 March 2016 at 7:30pm.
Meeting Dates for 2016: 20 April, 18 May, 15 June, 21 Sept, 19 Oct, 16 Nov.