Agenda and minutes

Andrew Campbell welcomed everyone to the meeting, particularly those attending for the first time.

It was noted that Eileen Wilson has been appointed to the post of Community Planning Manager and will start on 24 July 2006.  Eileen is currently employed by the Council in Community Regeneration

CPP Management Committee 19 April 2006

The Minutes of the meeting of 19 April 2006 were accepted as an accurate record subject to the following amendments:

Page 1: In attendance: David Price – Chair of Argyll & Bute Volunteer Centre

                                     Isobel Strong (Chair of Argyll and Bute Against Domestic

                                     Abuse Partnership

The current situation with Scottish Water and development constraints within Argyll and Bute

The meeting noted the growing concern over water development constraints facing many areas of Argyll and Bute the Council, particularly in Coll, Gigha and Tiree.  The Management Committee stressed the need to ensure that the issues were addressed and that a satisfactory outcome was achieved.

The meeting noted that the evaluation of the Pilot highlighted a need for change if the original objectives were to be achieved.  A short discussion followed regarding the issues relating to the Partnership and the possible way forward.

It was agreed a meeting would be arranged with Brian Barker, Shirley MacLeod, Eileen Wilson and other relevant people to reflect on the issues surrounding the Partnership and bring  back proposals to the next Management Committee Meeting.  It was agreed that the Bute and Cowal Area Partnership should be fit for purpose, with the proviso that the community representatives were happy with the proposals put forward.

Andrew Campbell attended the Youth Participation Conference and reported that he found it very refreshing to talk to a cross-section of young people across Argyll and Bute.  The conference included workshops on Community Planning followed by a mock press conference.  It was agreed that we need to build on events of this kind and include young people’s views in the Community Planning process.

David  Dowie reported that at the Initiative at the Edge meeting held in Oban on 21 April 2006, the key issue flagged up was affordable housing.  He stated that to address this need we need to look at ways of:

a)      better identifying housing need on islands, including “hidden” needs

b)      meeting this need through grant mechanisms

c)      factoring in to our Investment Plan

d)      how to implement and draw down resources in Initiative at the Edge areas

It was noted that in the Initiative at the Edge areas an agreement had been reached with West Highland Housing Association.  This was progressing well and West Highland had met with the communities on the islands to take the matter forward.

Brian barker reported that the Council had received £200,000 from the Scottish Executive to spend on agreed projects.

It was noted that the CPP Annual Review would be available at the next Management Committee meeting.

Andrew Campbell  apologised that he had not yet sent a letter of thanks to James Fraser, but would ensure a  letter was sent  prior to his retrial.

The feasibility study was now complete and copies had been circulated to the Management Committee.

Brian Barker gave an overview of public sector reform and it was noted the consultation paper on Shared Services (related to organisations sharing back-office facilities) and the Transform Public Services paper could be downloaded from the Scottish Executive’s website.

This related to the proposal that local authorities merge with other councils.  Argyll and Bute Council has indicated a preference for an integrated model as merging with another council would result in too large a geographical area.  The initial “core” partners would be Argyll and Bute Council,  Argyll and the Islands Enterprise and NHS Highland.

The Council had secured MGF3 funding to develop a Customer Contact Centre as a means of improving its business processes and meeting the 46 electronic service delivery targets laid down by the Scottish Executive.

It was agreed that it would be of benefit for the Community Planning partners to shadow the development of the Contact Centre and that Brian Barker should contact Stephen Whiston, NHS and Murdina MacDonald, AIE, to ask if they would be willing to represent the CPP on the Project Board as both partners have experience to share and could be potential participants in the project.

Oban Property Options – Proposed Development Appraisal (James McLellan)

The meeting noted the report and partners were asked to contact Sandy MacTaggart, Head of Facilities Services at the Council (Tel. No. 01546 – 604663) if they wished to raise any questions.

·         Health and Wellbeing Group Annual Report 2006 – Note report

·         Argyll and the Islands Economic Forum – Report from Alan Milstead

·         Dunbartonshire Economic Forum (Aileen Edwards)

·         Sustaining & Developing our Communities, Culture & Environment (Donald MacVicar)

Health and Wellbeing Theme Group 1: The meeting noted the report and that Elaine Garman had taken over from Josephine Stojak as chair of the Theme Group.  Elaine agreed to confirm whether or not Josephine would continue to attend the Community Planning meetings as the Management Committee would  like to send her a letter of thanks for her contribution if she was no longer able to be involved.

Argyll and the Islands Local Economic Forum:  Alan Milstead reported that in view of the common membership and interest of the LEF and LEC boards, it had been agreed to hold both meetings on the same day.  The LEC board would look at the LEC only business, then all common business covered by the LEF.  This new grouping would meet five times per year.

Dunbartonshire Economic Forum:  Aileen Edwards, Scottish Enterprise Dunbartonshire Economic Forum gave a verbal report on the progress being made by Dunbartonshire Economic Forum and it was noted that their strategy would be formally launched in September 2006.  Aileen advised that due to budget restrictions they could not make a contribution towards the Community Planning Partnership in 2006/07.  The situation would be reviewed in 2007/08.

Sustaining and Developing our Communities, Culture and Environment Theme Group 3:  Donald MacVicar provided the Management Committee with the progress update of the Sustaining and Developing our Communities, Culture and Environment Theme Group, being minutes of a meeting held on  25 May 2006, copies having previously been circulated.

Donald reported that there had been unanimous agreement at the meeting of 25 May that it would be beneficial to merge Theme Group 3 with the Local Housing Strategy Forum, which met four times per year.  It was suggested that the name of the group could be amended to “Housing and Communities”.  ACHA would be a significant player in this new group and that an input from Scottish Water would be valuable.  The new group could also deal with additional items such as community safety.  This, however would leave some items from the Action Plan floating, such as cultural and environmental issues, but this was not considered to be a major concern and would be reviewed by Eileen Wilson when she started at the end of July.

It was agreed that Donald MacVicar, Brian Barker, Eileen Wilson and David Dowie would look at the detail early in October 2006 to plan a way forward to ensure that the group had a meaningful thrust for the future.  It was agreed that Donald MacVicar would come back to the Management Committee with a proposal.

It was agreed that the Health and Wellbeing Group should carry out a similar exercise in light of the Health Partnership Group.  Elaine Garman would progress this and bring a proposal back to the Management Committee.

Muriel Kupris felt  it would be helpful if all Theme Groups could include a list of attendees to enable partners to know who to contact for particular issues.

(detailed island accounts available on request to grace.leitch@argyll-bute.gov.uk)

Chris Nisbet reported the following concerns concerning the islands:

i)                    Reduced ferry service during the winter months and the cost of transporting freight

ii)                   Lack of nursing provision

iii)                 Lack of affordable housing

Chris reported that the partnership was working well in Colonsay and that there were a lot of success stories.

The meeting noted the Joint Health Improvement Plan Update.

Muriel Kupris reported that the draft of the first Annual Report would be submitted to Communities Scotland on 30 June 2006 and would come back to the Management Committee at its next meeting in its final form.  Andrew Campbell had agreed to write a foreward to the Annual Report and welcomed any comments from partners.  The next annual report for 2006/07 would be a combined report with Neighbourhood Regeneration.

It was noted that the templates were not attached to the draft report, but copies could be obtained by contacting Muriel Kupris (Tel. No. 01631 572181).

Muriel reported that outcomes were very good.    Area Development Groups were working well and community representation remained high.  A lot of training had been given to the community reps, which had helped the process.  Main difficulty for community reps was that they found their inability to shape the process frustrating. 

The main concern was that there would be no money after 2008.  Patricia McCrossan, Service Officer – Community Work, had asked if a representative from CPP could attend Spending Review Group meetings to look at what happens post 2008.  It was agreed that the representatives on the group would be Brian Barker and Muriel Kupris and they would keep the Management Committee informed of progress.

Report by Brian Barker

The meeting noted the report and made the following comments.

i)                    Further to Raymond Park’s comment that a “safe point of view” was missing from the report, Brian Barker agreed to amend the report to include statements regarding safety.

ii)                   Donald MacVicar raised the issue concerning the statement “high quality public services and leisure/community facilities that attract people to settle in Argyll and Bute”.  He advised that there was no money available in the four year Capital Plan for any major leisure improvements or developments.

Brian Barker reported that the Community Planning Action Plan was now five years old and required to be updated.  It was agreed that CPP need to focus on things that required attention rather than trying to look at all issues.

It was agreed that any partners who wished to give feedback on themes and topics for the Citizens Panel should contact Andy MacKay-Hubbard direct (tel. no. 01546 604472)

The meeting noted the very interesting and positive report on the Choose Life project.

The meeting noted the very comprehensive analysis of “Meet the Funders” Road Show and wished to pass on their thanks to Arlene Cullum, Corporate Funding Officer, who was the main driving force behind this very successful event.

The Big Lottery Fund is hosting an event in Argyll and Bute on 17 July 2006 at Kilmory, Lochgilphead called “Big Day Out”.  The aim of the  event is to build capacity of officers working with community and voluntary groups so that they are able to support funding applications; hold one to one surgeries for potential applicants to discuss projects and present an overview of Investing in Communities.  All partners were asked to note this date.

Report by Jane Connon Fowler

Jane Fowler provided an overview of the opportunities presented by the Scottish Rural Development Programme (SRDP) to develop an integrated approach to rural development funding in Argyll and Bute, using the Community Planning Partnership.

The Management Committee welcomed the opportunity to respond to the consultation document and agreed that the best mechanism for the delivery of the SRDP in Argyll and Bute would be through the existing Community Planning Partnership in conjunction with the LEADER Group and the Agricultural Forum as opposed to the creation of an independent Regional  Project Assessment Committee.

Concern was noted at the meeting that the predominant policy tool discussed in the consultation document ie land management contracts, would be detrimental to integrated rural development.

It was agreed that Jane Fowler would draft a letter on CPP headed paper to the Scottish Executive officers and Tom McCabe MSP to highlight the issues in the consultation document and suggest that Argyll and Bute CPP takes a leading role in the management of rural development funding.

It was agreed that a decision regarding the review of chairmanship would be deferred until the next meeting.  Andrew Campbell would be happy to discuss what was involved with any partner who was interested in taking on this role.

Audit Scotland: Brian Barker reported that an electronic copy of the Initial Review of Community Planning could be downloaded from Audit Scotland’s website.

The next meeting will be held on Wednesday 16 August 2006 at 10.30.a.m. in Scottish Natural Heritage offices, Kilmory Industrial Estate, Lochgilphead.

[NOTE: Subsequent to the meeting, the Chair agreed that the meeting scheduled for 16 August be postponed until Wednesday 23 August]