Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were intimated from:-

June Graham, Road Safety Officer, Argyll and Bute Council

Kathleen Munro, Trading Standards Officer, Argyll and Bute Council

The Minute of the previous meeting held on 6 May, 2014 was approved as a true record, subject to the following amendments:-

Item 6 – First line of last paragraph should be amended to read “Cllr. Taylor noted that Regulatory Services have two members of staff who are in direct contact with farmers – and that they could provide a connection.”

Item 7 (iii) – The reference to Mr Cummings should be corrected to read Andrew Hemmings.

Item 7 (xii) – Mr Howland advised that the statement is inaccurate, he advised that what he had said was that the Council had not yet erected the safety signage which the forum had been lobbying for at Tayinloan, and elsewhere. 

The Chair, Councillor Horn requested that the Clerk make enquiries to establish when the safety signage at Tayinloan and elsewhere will be erected by the Council. 

Eva MacDonald advised that following the last meeting of the group, she had received the Home Safety Visit from Fire Scotland. 

Andrew Hemmings confirmed that he had been liaising with Stephen Doogan regarding the engagement of the Community Council with resilience planning. 

The Chair advised of her serious concerns over the response times of the Ambulance Service within the area and advised that she had written to Sharon Quinn of the Ambulance Service in this regard but to date had received no reply.  The Chair requested that the Clerk, on behalf of the forum, write to Sharon Quinn confirming that the response times should be in accordance with those in larger areas.  Mr Hemmings suggested that should no response be forthcoming a follow up letter be sent to the Chief Executive of NHS Highland.  The forum agreed with this action. 

Alex Purdie of Fire Scotland advised the group that in regards to wood burning stoves, investigations so far have shown that there is no competency level required for the installer of such appliances.  He advised that this matter was being progressed further through the Council’s Trading Standards.  

The forum noted that no new funding applications had been received for this period.

Mr Hemmings advised that the Kintyre Crime Prevention Panel may submit an application, should the application that has been made to the Robertson Trust in respect of the festive beer mat campaign, be unsuccessful.  Discussion in relation to the timescales for applications was had, with it being established that the application could be granted by delegated powers to the Chair and the Area Governance Officer, should Partners be in agreement beforehand that they approve of the campaign.  As all Partners were in agreement with this, the Clerk suggested that the Kintyre Crime Prevention Panel should send all Partners an example of the beer mat campaign for agreement, with Partners feeding back any comments to the Kintyre Crime Prevention Panel directly.   Peter Howland suggested that it may be an opportunity for the Community Safety Forum’s logo to be incorporated.  Mr Hemmings confirmed that he would have a look into whether that would be possible and notify the group accordingly. 

Mr Howland advised that this time of year is a particularly active time for the RNLI nationally, but spoke of initiatives that were being rolled out to local areas.  He advised that the programme was focusing on areas where the worst fatalities had occurred and suggested that the local area had not seen a lot of incidents therefore it would be some time before the initiative would be in the area. 

Ms MacDonald MBE advised that the Kintyre Crime Prevention Panel, had been in discussions with June Graham, Road Safety Officer, Argyll and Bute Council regarding the possibility of devising a Road Safety Project.

Mr Purdie of Fire Scotland addressed the group in regard to the success of the Bikers Breakfast that had been held in Inveraray Fire Station recently.  He advised that 225 people had attended with more than 170 motorbikes.  He advised that between 70 and 80 bikes were members of the Clyde Valley Harley Davidson Club with both Police Scotland and Fire Scotland Motorcycle Clubs attending.  Mr Purdie outlined the demonstrations offered on the day, with “How to remove a helmet” being one of many. 

Mr Purdie further advised of the push on Home Fire Safety Visits with the Community Action Teams working particularly with sheltered accommodation. 

Sgt Mark Wilson, Police Scotland updated the group with regard the Divisional Commander Barry McEwan, who will be leaving his present post in October with his replacement, Helen Swann, starting then.  He advised that he would be able to provide further information at the next meeting of the group. 

Sgt Wilson spoke of the “Designated Driver Scheme” which had been introduced on the island of Mull during the Mull Festival.  He advised that the scheme is where licensed premises offer initiatives for drivers, such as 2 soft drinks for the price of 1.  He advised that this year there had been no drink driving convictions during the festival, where in previous years there had been a number.  He advised that the next stage was to roll this scheme out to the Oban area, which was currently underway and then throughout Argyll and Bute as a whole. 

Sgt Wilson advised the group of various initiatives such as Suicide Prevention and Autism and Dementia Scotland awareness, which Police Scotland are involved in to raise awareness of the issues and provide additional training to Police officers, which in turn would assist the community as a whole.

The Clerk, advised of the “Cash back for Communities Youth Work”, which is funding managed by Youth Link Scotland, which can be accessed by local youth groups to assist them undertaking youth activities to develop young persons within the community.  Mr Cowper advised that £12,404 had been made available by Youth Link Scotland for Argyll and Bute this year.  Seven organisations which provide youth services in Argyll and Bute were successful including organisations within MAKI area.

i)                    Hate Crime

ii)                   Regulatory Services

iii)                 CCTV update & BIDS for Camera Usage

iv)                 Domestic Abuse

v)                  Child Protection/Youth Projects

vi)                 Older Persons

vii)               Home Safety

viii)              Health

ix)                 Health Activities

x)                  Police Scotland

xi)                 Fire Scotland

xii)               Road Safety

xiii)              Proposed Referred Partnership

xiv)             Water Safety

Updates were received on the following:-

i)                    Sgt Mark Wilson advised that there had been 1 incident of hate crime in the Campbeltown area.  He advised that this was a form of racial abuse which had occurred as the result of a man being arrested for a Breach of the Peace.  Sgt Wilson advised of the campaigns which are currently being run to raise awareness of hate crime across Argyll and Bute and in particular, focusing on disability crime.  Sgt Wilson outlined the “Keep Safe” initiative which will link in with local businesses and shops, providing people with a safe place to go, where they can feel safe in a protected environment. 

ii)                   There was no update in regard to Regulatory Services.

iii)                 Andrew Hemmings advised the group that he had received an update from the Head of Governance and Law, advising that a planning application had been submitted to site the CCTV camera on the Christian Institution building in Campbeltown.  He advised that this would provide the widest view of the esplanade.  Mr Hemmings confirmed that he would provide further information at the next meeting of the Forum.

iv)                 The Chair, Councillor Horn advised that the “Against Domestic Abuse” group were due to meet in the near future and that she would be in a position to provide further information to the next meeting of the forum.  She further advised that groups had been identified to work on all outcomes of the SOA.

v)                  There was no update in regards to Child Protection/Youth Projects.

vi)                 There was no update in regards to Older Persons.  The Chair requested that Councillor Philand, in his capacity of Policy Lead for Adult Care be invited to the next meeting of the Forum to provide information with regard to the integration of Health and Social Care. 

vii)               Alex Purdie, Fire Scotland, advised the Forum that work was ongoing regarding Home Safety Visits, with good results.

viii)              There was no update from Health.

ix)                 The Chair advised that she was aware that the Health and Well-being Grants had recently been agreed and that successful applicants would be advised in the near future.

x)                  Sgt Wilson advised that there had been 2 serious assaults in this period in the MAKI area.  He advised that one, in Islay had been as a result of a family dispute, and the other, in Campbeltown had been two 14 year old boys fighting which had resulted in one boy losing his two front teeth.  He further advised that anti-social behaviour incidents had seen a considerable drop with only 177 incidents over the whole of Argyll and Bute for the last year.  Sgt Wilson advised that domestic abuse incidents were generally the same, however in the Mid Argyll area there had been a slight decrease, which he believed was as a result of a particular family leaving town. 

xi)                 Alex Purdie advised that he suspected there may be an increase in the number of grass fire incidents over the summer months, however to date there had only been a slight change and that there were no spikes showing in the trends for the summer. 

xii)               There was no update in regard to Road Safety. The Chair requested that the Road Safety Officer be invited to attend the next meet to report on current road safety activities or to submit a written report.

xiii)              It was noted that the Area Governance Officer, Stephen Doogan, would report on Proposed Referred Partnership at the next meeting of the Forum. 

xiv)             Peter Howland, RNLI, advised the Forum that his task at present was to be in attendance at events to promote the safe use of equipment, especially lifejackets.  He advised that this year alone, he had already carried out the inspection of over 300 lifejackets.

The Chair respectfully requested that for future meetings, where officers have submitted apologies, a written update be provided.

The Clerk, Robert Cowper advised that work has been ongoing by the Community Planning Partnership regarding the SOA.  He advised that there would be a further update at the next meeting. 

Sgt Mark Wilson advised that Police Scotland had recently run a water safety campaign following the death of a 10 year old boy who had drowned while on a family holiday in the Bridge of Orchy.  

The date of the next meeting was confirmed as:-

Tuesday 4^th November 2014 at 2.00pm, in Lochgilphead with VC link to Campbeltown and Helensburgh.