Issue - meetings

Tracey Grant informed the group that the legal process of the Asset Transfer of the Town Hall had commenced and it was proposed to submit the bid next month.  She further advised that a Cost Plan had been adopted and  that an Open Day was being held in the Town Hall  on Tuesday 30 April between 11a.m.-6p.m..  This presented an opportunity for the local community to see the plans and meet with the architect.

The Chair encouraged the group to review the plans and highlighted some of the proposed works.  He stated the need to identify more users for the building and reported on the 2 new Directors to the SKDT.

Ishabel Bremner advised that a report was being brought to the Strategic Management Team meeting scheduled for May.    

Kintyre & Gigha Marketing Group – public launch

Fully inclusive of all businesses throughout Kintyre and Gigha

·         Brand - ‘Explore Kintyre’ – new website and logo launched 4^th March

o       www.explorekintyre.co.uk and www.explorekintyre.com

o        Very successful launch – 80+ attendees

§         Speakers including Councillor Louise Glen-Lee, VisitScotland Regional Director David Adams McGilp, Iain Johnstone – JIG Events, John Bakes – Kintyre Way, Carron Tobin – AITC Ltd.

§         Opportunity for food producers and crafters to showcase products including lunch provided by local food producers

Benefits of membership to businesses include:

·         Stronger Together – greater exposure for businesses e.g at trade fairs, greater strength as a group, support line for businesses, collaboration throughout Argyll

·         Equal representation of each business on the website et al

·         Business to Business  networking; collaborative working

·         The group will organise and host events e.g journalist familiarisation trips, wedding fair, food festival, etc

·         Favourable Membership fees:

·          

o        £25 non-vat registered business

o        £45 vat-registered

o        Free – charity/voluntary organisations e.g attractors like MOKfest, MOKrun, Heritage Centre, etc

o        Support from AISTP including provision of development workshops, tackling the bigger issues e.g signage, roads, etc.

THI

·         13-15 Kirk Street – under construction

·         50-52 Main Street – negotiations with developer continuing

·         2 shopfront events held in February

·         Full programme of contractors training events for 2013 being tendered

Deirdre Henderson reported that the Campbeltown town hall project is currently undertaking a Community Engagement exercise – There is considerable activity re determining the future of the town hall and who its future users will be.   The project has appointed Eric Spence (Business consultant) to conduct and coordinate the users survey.  This will be pulled together and analysed by the end of January. However, to obtain Big Lottery funding the project needs to be able to demonstrate that it is sustainable as well.

The group are invited to participate in, and to distribute as widely as possible,  the online survey which is located at:-

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/9DF2CYQ

They are also invited to review the plans for the town which are online at:-

http://campbeltowntownhall.org/design.html

James Lafferty (Campbeltown THI) provided an  update regarding the physical and essential maintenance works for Campbeltown town hall:

·        South Kintyre Development Trust and the Town Hall Project Group continue to progress the development of the Town Hall Project.

·        Coltart Earley Architects were appointed to lead the Design Team and are making good progress.

·        Eric Spence Consultancy has been appointed to carry out the business consultancy.

·        Community engagement works for the Big Lottery Fund Stage 2 bid are underway and have included press releases, website updates, a Town Hall Facebook and Twitter account, survey form and an open evening where members of the public met the Design Team.

James Lafferty noted that the essential  repointing of the tower has taken place and the gutters have been fixed (all urgent, essential works have been undertaken )

The Chair noted that there is some attractive stonework underneath the paintwork which can be seen when the paint is removed however some of the works which have been done are temporary in nature and the chair was concerned to ensure that this was realised so that people were not disappointed with the interim results or restoration. The object at this stage is to  maintain the options open for the major works to be undertaken once these are determined by the appropriate team members which will include  Design Scotland, ,Planning and Historic Scotland

The Chair reported on the physical works being undertaken at the Town Hall.  This included proposed remedial work on the spire - a meeting was being held later that day to determine the works and agree on a cost solution.