September 2019
KILMUN COMMUNITY COUNCIL
Facebook - @shoresweepersandKCC Website - www.kilmuncc.co.uk
MINUTES OF MEETING
10th September 2019 held at Younger Hall, Kilmun 7.30PM.
PRESENT:) Brian Tester, (Convener), Diane Nicholson, (Vice Convenor), Janet Holm (Secretary) Russell Humphreys (Treasurer), Victor Sandall and Dale Mallin.
Also Present: Councillor A Reid, PC Ross Hardie, Bruce Marshall, Graham and Jean Thompson, Kirsty Manuel, Gordon Holm, Caroline Munro and Lorraine Hopkin-Munro.
APOLOGIES: Mandy Grout, Fraser Smith, Lachie Macquarie, Graham Revill, Bob Daracott (National Park), John Hair (FLS) Councillor Y McNeilly, Councillor G. Blair and Sue Rule (Blairmore Hall).
2. DECLARATION OF INTEREST: none
3. MINUTES OF LAST MEETING:
Proposed: Diane Nicholson
Seconded: Russell Humphreys Carried
4. MATTERS ARISING NOT ON THE AGENDA
None
5. TREASURER’S REPORT
Totals
General fund 930.81
Gardening 42.2
Shore Sweepers 34.18
Festive Lunch 199.53
SSE grant 1165.92
Directory donations 7.00
Overall total 2379.64
POLICE REPORT
PC Ross Hardie reported that there had been 15 incidents (6 in Blairmore and 9 in Kilmun). There had been 1 crime report involving a vehicle. There had been reports of suspicious vehicles in the area and residents are encouraged to be vigilant.
BT said that there had been further incidents of vandalism at Graham’s Point.
PC Ross Hardie said that in November it is planned that there will be changes to Police office hours and the main desk at the police office in Dunoon. It will only be manned from 8 am to 7pm. Further details of this will be given later.
7 Correspondence (Already circulated to committee members)
ABC – shared with our Community Councils to promote community participation in the VE 75 commemorations in May 2020
ABC - Crown Estate Scotland Draft 2020-23 Corporate Plan consultation
Kilmun Hall Open Day and Parkinson's Autumn Fair in aid of Parkinson's UK (Scotland) September 14th 12.00 – 15.00 Kilmun Younger Hall
Community Partnership AGM on Wednesday 18th September 2019, 6.30pm-7.00pm in the John Muir Suite, National Park HQ, Balloch G83 8EG.
Lynne Kerr – Ardentinny – bus connection to Argyll ferries
ABC - Resilient Communities Small Grant Scheme - Applications can be submitted at any point until 30th November 2019, however the Resilient Communities Small Grant Scheme may be closed at any time in 2019/20 if funds have been fully allocated.
Planning Applications
Construction of 425 metres of temporary harvesting access track Land West Of Meall Breac Glenbranter.
Installation of new and replacement windows; 1 no. door and internal alterations, Finnart Kilmun Dunoon
The Kilmun Pier application
See Bob Daracott’s report.
Email received from Marine Scotland appears to be co-incidental.
Ardtaraig Wind Farm
See Councillor Alan Reid’s report.
VS asked about land being cleared near Puck’s Glen. KCC has no information on this at present.
9. Community Matters
Invereck Care Home Closure
See Councillor Reid’s Report.
The Shore Sweepers
The Shore Sweepers are still waiting on the results from their ‘It’s Your Neighbourhood’ assessment.
Defibrillator at Younger Hall Kilmun
Trading on the use of the defibrillator is to be held on Saturday 21st September @ 9.30am @ Younger Hall Kilmun. The training will also include CPR.
More training can be considered if requested.
10. DISCUSSIONS A&BC LOCAL COUNCILLOR AND NATIONAL PARK REPRESENTATIVE
Alan Reid Councillor for ABC gave the following report:
Poor sight lines at the bend near the ‘tea caddy’ houses
Amenity Services have told me that the grass on the far side of the crash barrier has been cut back, the area received a number of runs with the tractor mounted flail head to ensure this area was cut back as much as possible, and the area at Graham’s Point was also cut.
Weeds and Sweeping on the A880 through Kilmun, Strone and Blairmore
They also say, “the mechanical sweeper has swept Kilmun/Strone and Blairmore, but as yet we have been unable to attend to the weeds as our sweeping team have been redirected to cover refuse duties to enable us to maintain the scheduled waste collection service routes. The service are currently attending to the weeds in Hunters Quay and when this has been concluded and resources permit, resource will be redirected to commence with works in the Kilmun area.”
White line outside Tyneshandon and the Strone Inn
Roads response, “Nigel Potts, Technical Officer has advised that he assumes you are referring to the access protection bar or 'I-bar' which is placed across vehicle accesses to dissuade vehicles from parking and blocking said access. It will have been installed by Argyll and Bute Council via a road marking contractor. If this is not what you are referring to, can you please provide a photo so we can investigate the situation.”
GH to take a photograph and send to Alan Reid.
Kilmun toilets water running
Amenity Services response, “This request will be passed to Property Services to action.”
Tree near old police station
Amenity Services response, “The appointed contractor has been instructed to treat the stump, we will check that this has been carried out.”
Ardtaraig Planning Application
The Reporter will go on an unaccompanied site visit before making a decision.
Invereck Care Home
I emailed Crossreach, the Health & Social Care Partnership and the Scottish Cabinet Secretary for Health.
The only reply so far has been from Viv Dickerson from Crossreach as follows,
“I appreciate your concern and taking the time to write to me.
I do understand that this is a blow to the whole community, and can assure you it is a decision which has not been taken lightly and which has been a really difficult one for us to make.
Before taking the final decision to close I did speak with colleagues in the Health and Social Care partnership to see if there was any resolution to the decline in occupancy which we have experienced and which is one of the main drives for closure, along with an increasing challenge to recruitment. I was given no comfort that there was anything which could be done to change the projections on either of these fronts as a result of the meeting.
What did become clear to me is that The Health and Social Care Partnership had taken two actions which have had an impact on occupancy and recruitment.
The first was to invest in care in the community allowing older people the choice to remain in their own homes for longer than was previously possible which is great for older people and their relatives, but which has understandably impacted on the numbers of people entering residential care.
The second was to keep Struan Lodge, which had been planned for closure, open. That has also had an impact in that that there are more available spaces than originally intended within the care homes portfolio. It also means that there are care staff needed to run more homes than originally intended, which may well have had an unintended consequence on our own ability to recruit.
There is, I understand, no material underspend in any budget in the HSCP or Council which would help recoup the £300K loss projected for Invereck this year, and next year. Nor is there any spare capacity in care staff on Cowal. Without those solutions in place there is sadly no sustainable future for the home.
We are working hard with the HSCP to ensure that all those who wish to remain in the Cowal area are able to do so, which is why I didn’t serve the statutory 13 weeks notice but will give enough time for local solutions to be found wherever possible. My understanding is that the HSCP believe that as long as the needs of any individual can be met in the local area, that there will be enough provision to fulfil demand over the coming weeks. They stated that in a meeting with relatives on the night we announced the closure. There is no need for 21 spaces to be found immediately.
We have had a number of resident’s relatives approach us to ask if they could move their relatives to a CrossReach home nearer their own location to make family contact easier and we will also try to accommodate that wherever possible, which will help reduce the numbers needing a place in Cowal.
I hope that helps to address some of the questions and concerns raised, but know that no matter what rationale is given it will be of cold comfort given the loss of a much loved part of Dunoon’s history and the valuable resource it has provided to older people over the past decades.”
Bob Daracott (Loch Lomond Representative)
was not in attendance but sent the following report
- the Park has been focussing a lot of effort on managing the West Riverside, Balloch application - which is due to be determined on the 24th Sept, following a full Board site visit on the 23rd. All the relevant papers have been released now and are publicly available. The recommendation is to refuse.
- as I've mentioned to Brian Tester, I'm awaiting an update on the Kilmun Pier application. I suspect that little progress has been made. If I get anything I'll let you both know.
- no change from last month on the Ardentinny fish farm proposal.
- a listed building application has been made relating to the property - 'Finnart' in Kilmun - new windows and internal alterations.
- a 'prior notification' application has been made relating to around 2.4km of forestry track upgrade etc. east of Loch Tarsan.
John Hair (FLS)
1. Phytophthera – the link to the Scottish Forestry (the regulators of the forest industry in Scotland) website –
https://forestry.gov.scot/sustainable-forestry/tree-health/phytophthora-ramorum
contains a map of current and previous infections across Scotland, and is updated on a regular basis.
2. Enforcement of felling - Non-compliance can result in both criminal and civil action – this is a conversation that the landowner should have with Scottish Forestry. There are two possible outcomes
1. Failure to comply with an SPHN is a criminal offence and yes, someone could definitely be prosecuted for this, which would give them a criminal record.
2. Scottish Forestry also have the power to carry out the work ourselves, in which case we can recover the costs of this from the landowner – this could involve civil action.
I couldn’t get any information on prosecutions that have been made so far.
3. SF do monitor compliance, both by ground based visual inspections and also using the twice-yearly helicopter surveillance flights designed to monitor progress of the disease.
4. Spore viability – difficult one, with no straightforward answer. The best I could get was “a long time”, based on the ability of spores to lie dormant in the soil until environmental conditions were right.
5. Commitment to continuing to spray areas of cut rhododendron – we are keen to ensure this continues to take place, given the money spent cutting and burning the original plants. However, this will depend on resources being made available but for the moment we have a programme in place to continue with this as well as removing rhododendron included in Statutory Plant Health Notices
6. I noted concern about motor homes using car parks, and am aware that Ardentinny Community Council are in the process of setting up a meeting with the National Park and FLS to discuss the issue and look for solutions.
7. I also noted an issue with poo bags at Pucks Glen car park – I still have to chase this one up.
Benmore & Kilmun Community Development Trust (BKCDT)
The trust’s AGM will be held on Wednesday 18th September in Younger Hall Kilmun.
Blairmore Village Trust
On Sunday BVT and Blairmore hall are to hold a joint meeting.
Blairmore Hall
No report.
Younger Hall
An open day for clubs and groups in conjunction with a fundraiser for Parkinson UK is to be held in the Younger Hall on Saturday 14th September
Strone Primary
The children and working on their local project at the moment in working towards helping our local environment.
11. Community Action Plan 2018 - 2023
To be removed from the agenda.
12. CURRENT ISSUES
Argyll Community Planning Group (ACPG)
NTR
Caucus of Community Councils
There has been some concern that the caucus has been working with a narrow focus and at present KCC has not attended recent meetings.
Bird Hide at Kilmun
At present the group are working with the lawyer to transfer the property to the charity. The lawyer has waived charges apart from the actual cost of the transfer. Funding has been received from ABC £500, ACHA £500, Argyll Bird Club £500 and 2 private donations. The group are ready to start groundwork.
A880 Walkway & Safety Barrier, Pavement Invereck to Cot House
The remaining work is due to be completed in September 2019
Cemetery Toilet
NTR
Highgate Hall
NTR
BT Broadband
NTR
13. Any other competent business
Next Meeting
Place: Blairmore Hall, Blairmore
Date: Tuesday 8th October at 7.30pm.
Meetings held Second Tuesday each month alternating between Younger & Blairmore Halls.
Kilmun Hall – January, March, May, July (Recess) September, November
Blairmore Hall – February, April, June, August, October, December
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