CARRBRIDGE & VICINITY COMMUNITY COUNCIL

MINUTES OF MEETING HELD IN THE VILLAGE HALL ON

Thursday 30th May, 2019 In the Village Hall at 7.30p.m.

Present:

Andrew Kirk (Chairman), Alice Buttress, Robert McInnes, Charles Miller, Bill Lobban (Councillor) and David Ritchie.

In attendance:

John Kirk(Cnpa), Jan Carlyle, Iain Campbell, Denise Stott, Fiona Angella, Jacqueline Rice, Lorraine Anderson, Mairi Brown, Katrina Stirling, Caroline Robertson, Colin Watt and Heather Davidson (Minutes).

APOLOGIES:   George Dyer and Kate Adamson.

MINUTES:  The minutes of the meeting held on Thursday, 25th April 2019 were approved by Robert McInnes and seconded by David Ritchie

MATTERS ARISING:

Update Report from Louise Anderson, Community Liaison Manager SSE relating to Boat of Garten to Tomatin Re-conductoring Works:

14th August – 20th September 2019 – Overhead Line (OHL) Works.  These works will entail preparation of the wiring sites, replacing the wires and insulators and adding additional steel members to reinforce the tower.   ~One tower that requires to be replaces;  tower 70 is accessed by Slochd.

1st June – 24th June 2019, 9th July – 10th August 2019 and 13th September to 10th October 2019 – Foundation Works.   These works are to reinforce the existing tower foundation as well as installing new foundations in 5 locations, one of the new foundations was accessed by Slochd but this work is complete.  

We have also instructed our Principal Contractor to put up additional signage in Slochd along the road from the turn off from the A9 advising of construction works, construction traffic and installing a 15mph speed limit for the lorries which now are in place following Liz Bishops comments at the Community Council Meeting.

I have today issued a second letter to the Slochd residents to advise that our Principal Contractor and sub-contractor undertaking the overhead line works and foundation works will now also be working every second weekend between the hours of 08.00 to 19.00.

For the works being carried out off of AP13-AP16 which is along Station Road I have detailed below the programme dates.

14th August – 20th September 2019 – Overhead Line (OHL) Works.  These works will entail preparation of the wiring sites, replacing the wires and insulators and adding additional steel members to reinforce the tower.   One tower that requires to be replaced;  tower 70 is accessed by Slochd.

20th June – 2nd August 2019, 8th August – 25th September 2019 – Foundation Works.   These works are to reinforce the existing tower foundation as well as installing new foundations in 5 locations, one of the new foundations was accessed by Slochd but this work is complete.

A9 DUALLING NMU ROUTE: Nothing further to report presently. CvCC , neighbouring Ccs ,Cnpa and THC objections primarily with regard to the lack of NMU provision stand.

SPEEDING:  Denise Stott reported that she is totally scunnered regarding the response from HC; it’s the same story – no price for installation and all other issues inbetween.  – countdown signs on Grantown on Spey road to go ahead but when. Bill Lobban will take this matter forward privately.   Denise Stott added it’s nearly 3 years waiting to get a solution.   Iain Campbell added that the South road is just as busy, Katrina Stirling also commented on speeding Lorries and the 20mph sign are being ignored especially at school times. Police cars have been seen in the village. Iain Campbell is concerned by the sight lines where the new houses are going opposite Landmark but Charlie Miller said he and George Dyer had checked and that you will see 100’s metres both ways.

WASTE BINS:   Andrew Kirk reported that here is still no extra waste bin in the car park, Bill Lobban informed the meeting there will not be a recycle bin provided, but a big galvanized metal bin will be provided. He will chase up. Several members of the public are concerned about the dog poo in the Playing fields and Playpark – several ideas were suggested .Andrew Kirk is concerned that if a sign stating “No Dogs” it will not go down well with the public.

Bill Lobban stated it was a Playing field and there should be no dog mess.  Alice Buttress suggested a sign “Remove Dog Poo”, Iain Campbell is also concerned with the poo bags left hanging on branches on trees in the woods which are never collected. It was agreed to asking Dougie Edwards to do a sign along the lines of ‘pick up after your dog’

PLANNING:  Planning Application 2019/0120/DET CARR ROAD.   The following is the CvCC response to the planning application.

Carrbridge & Vicinity Community Council have concerns about the proposed construction of 47 houses on site H1 on Carr Road, Carrbridge.

The community has consistently opposed the large scale development of this site, being of the opinion that even a total of 36 houses was probably still in excess of the actual requirement.   The suggestion in the draft LDP 2020-25 that the number of units be reduced to 36, but on half the site has also been opposed by ourselves, believing that this opens up the possibility of an additional 36 being built subsequently on the other half of the site.   We remain unconvinced of the requirement for this number of units, having never seen the methodology nor statistics to justify the figures.   Whilst we accept that a single development incorporating the whole of H1 site is preferable, we would favour a lower number of units from what is proposed, say 24 – 30.

We are of the firm belief that Carr Road is not fit to accommodate the increase in traffic which will result during and subsequent to construction on this scale.   Any traffic calming measurers incorporated would have to take on board the physical characteristics of Carr Road and the wide mix of road users, from children en route to school to heavy and large agricultural equipment and animal floats.   We would contend that a prerequisite of planning consent would be the enforced construction and maintenance of a well-lit and surfaced walkway from the development to the public car park and school.   We would urge that if permission is ever granted, irrespective of the number of units, then consideration be given to enforcing a planning condition that ensures that construction traffic over 3 ton in weight arrive and depart from the construction site from the east.

Planning Application 19/01592/FUL BADENGORM WOODS.  The following is the CvCC response to the planning application.

Carrbridge & Vicinity Community Council wish to register our objection to the above application on two counts.

1. We are concerned about the proposed site being in close proximity to known Capercaillie activity, including a lek.

2. The proposed site is less than 200 metres from another recently erected structure which is allegedly being used for purposes other than that for which approval was given by The Highland Council.   With the delineation of this woodland into separate blocks, we would not wish to see any proliferation of these forest “hideaways”.

We would ask that due consideration be given to our concerns in respect of this application when your officers and members deliberate on the matter.

TREASURERS REPORT:  Charles Miller stated that Bank Balance is £5,029.93.

GOLDEN SPURTLE:  Report given by Charles Miller.

Publicity:  Thanks to the good offices of a previous contestant (Aaron Leung) 2 videos have been prepared and placed on YOU TUBE.   The Shorter of the two is intended for press consumption and the other for general use.

Aaron worked with Fergus Thom to produce the film and Pete Carson kindly did the voice over.   They are both worth looking at.

Venue:  Ruth Walker and Tony Burley are working on a plan to ease congestion in the hall by creating a one-way system.   The idea is to take away all of the activities from the front door and make it easier for people to get in and out and back in if they want to.

Sponsorship:  Both Hamlyn and Centurion oils have confirmed their sponsorship but we still have a lot of work to do on local sponsorship arrangements (Landmark, Walkers etc).   Similarly the Friday night reception still needs to be worked on.

Merchandise:  All we intend to buy has been bought and goods are on sale in both the SPAR and ARTISAN shops.

Marquees:  We intend to have a large marquee at the bottom of the slope and a smaller tent at the front to the left of the door.   The food tent co-operative has disbanded and we are looking at possible alternatives e.g. an exhibition.

Programme:  Little work has been done on this.   We will look at it in more detail after entries close.

Contestants:  Entries close on 10th June.   We are low on junior numbers but should be able to recruit locally via the schools.

Banners:  The wooded “Home of” sign has gone up on the Village hall notice board (needs to be finished off) and a similar sign for the railway station.   The design for the 4 gateway signs is with THC waiting permission to place them.   We intend to use last year’s fabric banners at the normal locations. These are perfectly serviceable and will easily last another year.

DUCK RACE:  This will be held on 4th August 2019 and generates income for about half the cost of the Senior Citizens Christmas Dinner.

NEW ITEMS:

VILLAGE HALL SCULPTURE:  Report given by Andrew Kirk.

As we know we have a new carving in the village. It isn’t quite finished yet – due to the rain the staining still has to be completed.  

We did receive a critical e-mail from a resident regarding the sculpture so just to clarify:-

This sculpture is on the remains of the tree outside the Village hall that had to be felled due to disease around 18 months ago.  The CC paid for that. It was done at a greatly reduced rate. The Village hall, Carve, CBA and others agreed with the suggestion of the tree surgeon, that a stump could be left so a carve might be done. The fall back position was it would be completely removed if not possible.

The Carve discussed this further and the idea of the carving being dedicated to the late Tom Jones, one of the founders of Carve Carrbridge evolved with the full support of the Village hall. Regular Carve Carrbridge sculptors were approached and they volunteered to do it at a greatly reduced commercial rate.  CBA directors were formally asked if they would agree to fund the subsidised cost of the sculpture which was £1,600, they agreed.

The Carve has generated many thousands of pounds, around £160k plus an estimated £15k to linked charities like the School PTC etc over the last 17 years and £1,600 is a tiny percentage of that – less that 1%.

Allyson Jones and family collaborated with the carvers and others from the Carve Community on the choice of carving.

VILLAGE LITTER PICK:  

Emma the CCP Carrbridge Community Ranger took on the job of organizing the Clean Up Carrbridge spring litter pick this year, in collaboration with Roy Brown.   When asked she gave this report.

“On Fridge 10th May we spent the afternoon making sure the village was looking its best and 26 wonderful people turned out to help!   It was especially great to see so many of our youngest residents getting involved – thanks kids.   Amazingly for such a tidy village we collected l0 large bags of waste and a further 2 of recyclables.

Everyone enjoyed the refreshments provided, including some kindly donated by Ashers Bakery in Grantown on Spey, and the lucky prize draw of a £20.00 Blacks Outdoors voucher was won by Mairi Brown.   The ranger would like to say a big thanks to everyone who helped out”.

On behalf of the community grateful thanks to Emma for co-ordinating this very worthwhile community litter pick and tidying up the village.

SKATE PARK: An e-mail has been received from Karen Archer regarding a skate park. Charles Miller stated he had no objections in principle but at what cost? Other agreed with him. John Kirk felt the insurance for this would be prohibitive.  It would appear that many local villages are requesting a skate park. Bill Lobban stated that Aviemore had been given a piece of land many years ago for a skate park, but this has never been used. The general thought was ‘was there room in the village’ and also at what cost, Mairi Brown added there is a swell of children in the Strath that are asking for this and thought the cost would be about £80,000 but Bill Lobban felt it would be nearer £1000.00. One skate park for the whole of the Strath probably in Aviemore was thought to be the option.  Andrew Kirk will discuss the matter further with Karen Archer.

TREE:  The Woodland Trust is holding a Tree competition collecting acorns and propagating them, this is being led by Ross of the Woodland Trust.  

AGM:  This will be held on Thursday 27th June 2019 at 7.00pm. Accounts will be certified by VABS and printed off.

BUNTING:  It is proposed to put bunting up around the village at the end of July/beginning of Aug before the Harley Davidson weekend, Carve and Porridge.

A.O.C.B.:

GRASS CUTTING AT BRIDGE:  David Ritchie reported that he had heard that Andrew McInnes who does the grass as a community gesture at no cost to HC or CC had received a lot of loud adverse comment from a neighbour. He was worried that this could escalate violently and didn’t want this to happen The CC feels that there would definitely be a lot of village complaints if this area was not kept tidy.

Bill Lobban stated this was HC owned land and they welcomed what Andrew McInnes did and were grateful.

PICNIC TABLE AND BENCHES:   Robert McInnes stated that there were four of these in need of attention andsuggested that Victor Sandilands be asked to give a quote. This was unanimously agreed.

WALKWAY TO BRIDGE:  This along with the viewing platform stairs needs attention and as HC are doing an inspection of the Bridge and area they will be asked if they are examining at the same time and if not ,if they could.

CNPA CAPERCAILLIE PROJECT:  Report by Alice Buttress>

The following is a brief report from the Carrbridge Working Group as some members felt an update to the CC appropriate.

‘The project has worked through various problems and is making positive steps forward.   A Newsletter will be hand delivered to all Carrbridge homes next week (beginning of June) with updates on progress, plus details of a dedicated website for the Capercaillie Project. Our Group Meeting Notes have also been put up on the Carrbridge Wildlife Notice Board for anyone requiring more detail. As always if anyone has any queries or are interested in joining the Working Group, they will find contact details for Carolyn and Emma in the Newsletter on the Notice Board.

CHRISTMAS LIGHTS:  

Bill Lobban reported that HC will now be charging for erecting the Christmas Lights or the village could do them themselves.  Andrew Kirk asked what the cost would be and Bill Lobban is to find out. This matter will be discussed further once the cost is known.

FLOODING – LANDMARK CAR PARK:

Iain Campbell informed the meeting that he had severe flooding in his back garden. He met with Danny Fullerton to discuss this and his conclusion is that there should be more water in the pond.  He went on to say that the Estate removed a lot of trees but did not reinstate the ditches; hence this bog has appeared at the back of his house.   Also when buildings opposite were erected the drains were blocked off.  A culvert under the Railway is also blocked, there are pipes on the Fire Road that go nowhere and his vegetable garden is unusable and he hopes that Bill Lobban will help as HC have also caused some of this blockage. Andrew Kirk suggested that Alastair Stewart, HC , be contacted, along with the Estate. Bill Lobban is to contact Alastair Stewart and Andrew Kirk will do Estate.

John Kirk thanked all for voting him onto the National Park which he was quite critical of.

Any queries do not hesitate to contact him.

Meeting closed at 8.46p.m.​Date of next meeting Thursday 27th June 2019 at 7.30p.m.