Draft Minutes of Meeting held on Wednesday 30th September 2020

 

Draft Minutes of Meeting held on Wednesday 30th September 2020

 

1. Present and Apologies for Absence:-

Community Councillors:- Mr. Douglas Ballantyne (Treasurer) Mr. Paul Carrigan, Mr. Richard McElrea, Mr. Jock McMaster, Mrs. Sheila Smellie (Secretary), Mr. Peter Smellie (Chairman)
Members of the public:- Mrs. Jacqueline Crowther, Mx. Jen Hendry
Apologies for absence:- Mr. Steve and Ms. Barbara Mellor, Mrs. Katie Hagmann, Mr. David Inglis, Mrs. Jacky McCammon

2. Declarations of Interest:- Item 12 Peter and Douglas expressed an interest.
3. No Police Report
4. The Minutes of the last meeting were accepted and signed.
5. Matters Arising:-
Jaqueline asked for news on the Marine Plan for Offshore Energy. Peter said the project has moved on to the next stage, but no further news.
Due to pressure of work Jaqueline has withdrawn from the single plastics campaign.

Street lighting:- Douglas reported eight street light failures in Port William – 5 by the harbour, 2 in the square and 1 outside Maxwell Hall.

6. Treasurer’s Report:- Douglas reported £1612.77 in the bank, being £909.97 village improvements and £702.80 treasurer’s fund. £493.90 was received from Dumfries and Galloway Council from the COVID resilience fund, passed on to the Community Association Resilience Group for administration. 46 households benefitted and 25 volunteers covered 2982 miles.

7. Review of online AGM of 23/09/20:- All councillors present attempted to attend the meeting, but Paul and Jock were unable to access it. As no quorum was achieved it had to be aborted, and due to COVID restrictions it will not be possible to visit the homes to attempt to assist with configuration issues. The Community Council is not in favour of continuing with online meetings. It is necessary to hold five meetings plus the AGM per annum to avoid the potential to be ‘deemed to be dissolved’ .
For the record Peter had recorded the events of the evening

Time – Event
19:20 – Jock contacted Peter stating unable to connect. Peter logged on successfully.
19:25 – Douglas joined the meeting
19:30 – Jen Hendry joined the meeting
19:30 – Douglas contacted Richard by phone. Richard attempting to connect
19:30 – Sheila joined the meeting on a separate connection to Peter
19.30 – Meeting not quorate, so Peter Jen and Douglas engaged in conversation
20:00 – Jim McColm joined the meeting; situation explained to him and he logged off
20:10 – Richard joined the meeting having sorted out his technical issues
Thursday 24/09/20- Paul confirmed to Peter that he had not been able to connect.

8. Correspondence:- There has been a large reduction in unnecessary emails, maybe due to COVID.
The scheme for establishment of community councils has been amended for the second time in two months. Formal sign off will be required at the next meeting of the October 1 version.
Road reports are advised by D & G on a weekly basis.

An email was received from Corsock and Kirkpatrick Durham Community Council regarding forestry development in the area, where no planning permission is required. The Council supports notification of planned replanting but was concerned about its lack of knowledge of the remainder of the proposals. An e-mail confirming the limited support will be sent to Corsock and Kirkpatrick.

9. There are no bookings for Harbour Green.
10. Website/social media is being run by Andy Lund in Stranraer who has sent through various enquiries that have been dealt with.
11. Planning applications:-
The removal of the telephone box in Elrig – Jen has organised a survey in Elrig, feedback from which is due 2nd October. There is no mobile signal in Elrig.
Elrig Eggs received retrospective planning permission for a Biomass heating system.

12. Carscreugh Renewable Energy Plan (Wind Farm) grant applications.
After 6 years this is the firsts year the fund has not been oversubscribed. Interest is declared by Douglas and Peter on behalf of the Maxwell Hall and Jock and Richard on behalf of the Community Association. The Community Association applied for £500 – £850 has been granted. The Community Council has been granted £250 for seating at the Kings Green playpark, The Gardeners’ Group applied for £90 – £200 has been granted for replacement planters. Maxwell Hall Management applied for £700 – £1000 has been granted for curtains and sound insulation. About £400 is unallocated but will be retained by the Community Council to fund the maintenance of Garnets Walk, a Core Path.

13. Any other business:-
Jaqueline introduced the subject of polystyrene fish boxes and other equipment in the harbour. Planning permission has been approved for a compound to store these items but has not been actioned. A letter will be written to the Harbourmaster in Kirkcudbright on this account and enquiring about painting the harbour wall.

Co-options:- Jen Hendy from Elrig was proposed by Douglas and seconded by Paul and accepted by the Community Councillors present She will be co-opted at the next meeting following the statutory notification in the Agenda.
Garnets Walk:- In the summer, some contributions to social media commented on the difficulty of access to the path. Volunteers were requested and 8 people attended with strimmers and secateurs, followed by Jock with his ‘Jungle Buster’. Jock will check its current condition.
Climate Emergency:- Peter is undertaking a course. Jaqueline expressed an interest.

The meeting ended at 21:00.

The next meeting is 25th November 2020