Agenda and minutes

Andrew Campbell welcomed everyone to the meeting.  Lolita Lavery’s progress was noted and the Management Committee wished her a speedy recovery.

The minutes of the meeting of 17 August 2005 were accepted as an accurate record.

(a)   Initiative at the Edge: Andrew Campbell reported that he found the Initiative at the Edge Conference in Caithness to be a very good event and it gave him the opportunity to have a number of interesting discussions with rural communities.  Andrew would make available the conference papers to anyone who was interested.

 

Hughie Donaldson would give an update on the Initiative at the Edge Conference at the next Steering Group meeting in October.

 

(b)   Argyll and Bute Housing Stock Transfer: The Management Committee noted that Ministerial approval had been received for the Argyll and Bute housing stock transfer to ACHA.  Although the public have still to vote on this issue, the results of recent surveys indicated that there was overwhelming public support for the stock transfer to go ahead.

 

(c)   Purchase of land for housing: It was noted that North Ayrshire had started a compulsory land purchase option on Arran in an effort to meet local housing needs.

Brian Barker reported that the Council’s Policy Development Group (PDG) had met to consider a draft response to the Scottish Executive’s consultation on NHS boundaries in Argyll and Bute.  A copy of the draft submission report tabled at the PDG meeting had been circulated to the Management Committee.  Brian Barker stated that one of the key issues was the impact in terms of governance for the different options.

 

Gavin Brown felt that both Options 1 and 5 would accord with the CPP perspective, but that the other options would fracture existing relationships and boundaries.

 

Andy Law stated that there was a good case to be made for local decision making and that we need to prove that the Argyll and Bute Single Health Board option was a better administrative model than being joined up through Glasgow or Inverness.  He felt it was the only option that provided coterminosity.

 

Following a general discussion to explore the issues and the positive and negative effects of the various options, it was agreed that there was a role for the Community Planning Partnership to consider the impact of the options on the community and respond as an entity to the consultation document.

 

The Management Committee agreed the following action:

 

(a)   Gavin Brown, as Chair of the Health and Wellbeing Group, and Brian Barker would prepare a draft response on behalf of the Community Planning Partnership and circulate to the Management Committee for their comments.

 

(b)   The results of the recent Citizen’s Panel survey would be taken into account when preparing the draft response.

 

(c)   The report would be submitted to the Community Planning Partnership meeting on 11 November 2005 for ratification.

 

It was noted that although the deadline for the consultation was 4 November 2005, the Scottish Health Department had advised that they would be happy to accept a response from the Community Planning Partnership on 11 November, which they in turn would feedback to the Executive.

Brian Barker gave a verbal progress report on the following opportunities where there may be scope for joint partnership development.

 

Four Waterfront areas in Argyll and Bute:

 

1. Campbeltown – very little change.
2. Oban: - consultants had been appointed to carry out a study.
3. Helensburgh: - on the verge of creating a partnership to focus on Helensburgh Waterfront.  This was the most advanced of the waterfront projects.
4. Dunoon: - the consultation brief has been put out to tender and looking to have a similar partnership as Helensburgh.  The Council would be submitting a bid to the Living Landmarks Lottery Fund by 6 January 2006 and if successful £250,000 would be awarded to carry out a feasibility study with a final decision in 2007.  This bid would have a good fit with the Dunoon Waterfront proposals.

 

Voluntary Services: It was noted that CVS had received funding to provide shared office facilities for voluntary services.

 

Scottish Agricultural Council (SAC): It was noted that SAC had been commissioned to carry out research on costs and benefits of co-locating services in rural Scotland.  The research was due to be completed by the end of 2005.

 

Scottish Executive: Andy Law reported that the Executive was looking at integrated services delivery and that James McLellan had already expressed an interest in common public service functions.

It was agreed to delay the discussion on future action plans until the Council had received their Best Value Audit report from Audit Scotland.

The Management Committee noted that there was a projected surplus of £12,762 in the CPP budget for this financial year.

 

Confirmation had been received from Pat Flynn, Communities Scotland, that they would provide a grant of £10,000 to the Community Planning Partnership for 2005/06, subject to certain conditions.  It was noted that the conditions were quite wide-ranging and therefore should not cause concern regarding meeting the core costs of the CPP budget.

·                     Health and Wellbeing Theme Group (Gavin Brown)

·                     Argyll and the Islands Local Economic Forum (Alan Milstead)

·                     Scottish Enterprise Dubartonshire (Verbal Report – Aileen Edwards)

·                     Sustaining and Developing our Communities, Culture and Environment Theme Group (Donald MacVicar)

Health and Wellbeing Theme Group 1: At their next meeting on 31 October 2005 the Group would discuss the programme and process for reviewing and updating the JHIP for presentation to the Community Planning Partnership for approval.

 

Argyll and the Islands Local Economic Forum: Ken Abernethy was pleased to report that European monies from Argyll Air Services was secured at the end of September 2005.

 

Funding for the new Construction Training Centre was now in place, except for European monies element.  Decision on European monies expected at the beginning of December 2005.

 

Dunbartonshire Economic Forum – Updates by Secretariat (SE Dunbartonshire) on behalf of DEF Board: Aileen Edwards reported that in consultation with key stakeholders and the private sector, the DEF was going forward with a new sharper strategy.

 

Sustaining & Development our Communities, Culture & Environment Theme Group 3: The Group would discuss priority 4 and 5 of their Action Plan related to environment issues at their next meeting on 27 October 2005.

Blair Fletcher, the Council’s Transportation Manager, gave a presentation on the development of a Local Transport Strategy (LTS) for Argyll and Bute.  It was noted that the Scottish Executive had issued guidance on the preparation of Local Transport Strategies and wished to see the strategy fit within the overarching Community Plan and ensure that the Community Planning Partners were involved in the process.

 

The Management Committee noted the requirement to prepare the LTS over the coming months and agreed to:

 

(a)   Sign up to the production of the local transport strategy

(b)   Engage in its development

(c)   Take ownership of the final strategy document

 

The Management Committee also noted the proposed use of the Citizens Panel to gauge public opinion on transportation issues.

 

Ken Abernethy reported that the Scottish Executive were keen to see ambitious and radical solutions to transport problems.  Although the strategy was only for a three year period he felt we should be taking the long term view.

 

Andrew Campbell agreed to issue a letter to all CPP Partners asking them to engage in the development of the strategy and invite them to participate in workshops taking place in the Council Offices at Kilmory during November and December this year.

 

In response to Aileen Edwards’ concerns regarding the level of commitment required by Partners, Ken Abernethy offered to attend LTS workshops on behalf of the Dunbartonshire Economic Forum.  This was gratefully accepted and Ken would approach DEF with this offer of support.

The Management Committee noted the agenda items for the next meeting of the Community Planning Partnership to be held on Friday 11 November 2005.

(a)   Dates for Management Committee Meetings 2006: It was agreed that the following suggested meeting dates for 2006 would be circulated to the Management Committee.

 

Wednesday 8 February

Wednesday 19 April

Wednesay 14 June

Wednesday 16 August

Wednesday 4 October

Wednesday 6 December

 

(b)   Update on Research Projects Commissioned by Scottish Executive

 

i)            Research Project commissioned by Scottish Executive: “Service Priority,Accessibilty and Quality in Rural: Brian Barker reported that focus groups would be set up on Islay, Jura and Colonsay.  There had been delays due to Scottish Executive having to issue research as a separate piece of work and also difficulties with ferry timetables.

 

ii)            Scottish Council Foundation: “Financial inclusion and capacity” research project: Work was now timetabled.

 

(c)   Highland Deprivation Research Meeting: Brian Barker and Muriel Kupris attended a meeting in Inverness to discuss Scottish Executive Multiple Deprivation statistics.  The meeting focused on the Inverness area, which highlighted the difficulties of other areas and the islands participating in this type of forum.  Brian Barker felt that the only way forward was to try and influence the Executive on how they work out their formula for multiple deprivation.

The next meeting would be held on Wednesday 7 December 2005 at 10.30 am in the Scottish Natural Heritage Offices, Kilmory Industrial Estate.