Campbeltown Community Council

Minutes of Meeting 9/4/24

held in Campbeltown Town Hall

Present: V Nimmo ( Chair) C Dobbie ( Minutes ), J Martin, A Baker, A Gallacher, I Mitchell, C McCulloch, Cllr J Kelly

Also in attendance: 2 members of the public

Apologies: E Glendinning, D Allen, K Gillies, Cllr T MacPherson

Welcome: V Nimmo welcomed everyone to the meeting, in particular members of the public. She also thanked C McCulloch for agreeing to be a co-opted member of CCC. D Allen has offered his resignation but this has not been accepted.

Declarations of Interest: None

1. Minutes of last meeting 12/3/24

The minutes were agreed as accurate and proposed by A Gallacher, seconded by J Martin.

2. Matters arising

• Event to support members of public to complete NHS Highland Campbeltown Pharmacy proposal not yet organized.
• CCTV camera – V Nimmo tried to contact A Hemming but not successful.

Action: A Baker to contact Police and Cllr J Kelly to contact Council.

• CGS – Ms Donnelly, Acting Headteacher, has now been appointed to permanent role. J Martin noted that CGS’s performance in national league table has improved.
• Climate Action Town addendum – E Glendinning had no knowledge of this.
• Correspondence – V Nimmo again requested that CCC members address any correspondence to her who will then decide if it should be circulated to all members.

3. Public Questions

Member of the public who attended last meeting gave update:

1. Street lights reported have been fixed.
2. Bus shelters – she had asked Cllr T MacPherson re reinstatement of shelter at Meadowpark and was disappointed by his response. An email sent by Cllr T MacPherson today to CCC states that shelter should be in place in June, but not clear of how many and their siting. Should be one in Meadowpark and Meadows Ave.
3. An articulated lorry has been parking on the cycle path in Meadows Ave.

V Nimmo thanked her for attending.

Another member of the public raised 2 issues:

1. Argyll and Bute Council Planning – he outlined the process he had undertaken over the past year re re-roofing a group of properties on Hall St. The planning dept has given him incorrect information, do not meet deadlines they are supposed to and are excessively slow to respond. Two other attendees expressed similar experiences with planning applications.

Action: V Nimmo to write to K Flanagan, Argyll and Bute Council to voice concerns.

1. Electric vehicle charging – since attending CCC as a member of the public a year ago, no progress has been made. In 2021 Argyll and Bute Council produced a strategy and have been trying to access Scottish Government funding. Meanwhile, there is not enough capacity for charging vehicles in Campbeltown and this situation will only worsen with visitors over the summer. In other areas private investment is being used – Tarbert is due to have a fast charger installed by SSE. There was general discussion about evehicles, perhaps whisky companies would be interested as they can make a profit.

2      Police Report None received.

3      Councillor’s Report

See attached.

Playparks update – C Dobbie to write to thank G Milloy and his team for works undertaken at Jock’s Boat.

6. Treasurer’s Report

The accounts are ready to go to external verifier before the AGM is held.

Main account          £12,991.19  (includes £6,000 for path, £1,700 for Town Centre Maintenance Officer’s materials)

Quesada                 £510

CCWF                     £55,021.63

7. Correspondence

• Thanks from British legion for donation of £350.
• MAKI meeting – any updates to be sent by email to V Nimmo by 18/4/24.
• Numerous emails received about road closures on A83, including complaint from AM Transport. It was agreed that there were too many, unco-ordinated closures which have a detrimental effect especially to local businesses. V Nimmo already wrote to Transport Scotland, reply circulated and also to BEAR – no reply.

Action: Cllr J Kelly agreed to follow this up.

• All other correspondence circulated to members.

8. Trench Point Path Update from A Baker

Bridge has been built and is to be galvanized. Railings already galvanized. Waiting for structural engineer to agree foundations and signs from Argyll Signs. Hopefully all complete by end of April. Maybe opening ceremony?! A short term loan from CCWF was turned down by trustees.

Action: A Baker to contact farmer about bin lorry accessing road to pick up rubbish from bin.

9. AOCB

• Hedges in Smith Dr encroaching on pavement.

Action: Cllr J Kelly to progress

• 30mph speed limit warning lights – no progress
• Town Centre Maintenance Officer – CCC has worked in partnership with keeping it Local for past 3 years to keep town centre tidy. As J McCallum has moved to smaller premises and has less capacity it was agreed that E Spence at Town Hall should be asked.

Action– C Dobbie to progress.

DATE OF NEXT MEETING: TUESDAY 14/5/24 AT 7:30PM IN CAMPBELTOWN TOWN HALL COUNCIL CHAMBERS

Councillor Kelly’s Report

Campbeltown Community Council – Councillor’s Report 

Councillor Jennifer Kelly – 9^th April 2024  

Email: Jennifer.kelly2@argyll-bute.gov.uk

Mobile: 07788519857

1. Concerns re Council contact/action 2. Change in Leadership – Argyll and Bute Council
2. Playpark repairs – Jock’s Adventure Playland and Meadows Play Park

4. Glass/Recycle Bins  5. Roads/Pathways/Lighting

1. Concerns re council departments/officers contact with Councillors

I have now been in post as a Councillor for just over 5 months and during this time I have become increasingly frustrated and concerned about the lack/delay in response and action from some council officers and departments. I therefore sent a Councillor wide email out to all of my colleagues as well as the senior management team within the council to express my concerns and ask if anyone was also facing the same issues. I received a number of interesting responses from colleagues – please attached document at end of report with the responses I received. I also received a number of calls from other colleagues citing the same issues. This is something I will be taking further to push for change along with my colleagues.  I would highlight that number 8 of the responses was from a member of the previous administration and I found it to be an interesting comment in regards to how things were being done.

2. Change in leadership in Argyll and Bute Council

As I am sure you will all be aware by now, a special council meeting was held on Thursday 4^th April following the Strategic Opposition Group requesting same.

The outcome of this meeting was that Cllr Dougie Philand, Independent, Argyll First was elected as the new Provost and Cllr Jim Lynch, SNP, was elected as the new Leader of Argyll & Bute Council.

The political management positions within the council will now be decided upon at the full council meeting of 25^th April 2024.

As an independent councillor, I want to make it clear that every decision I make has absolutely nothing to do with any political party and is solely about what I believe is best for my constituents. Prior to the meeting, I received correspondence from not only ward 1 constituents but also from people across Argyll in Oban, Helenburgh and Dunoon who all expressed their extreme exasperation with the current system and as said by one of the constituents the “petty party political games” being played in Kilmory.  The public have had enough of this behaviour at every level of government and are crying out for us as elected representatives to work collaboratively across the chamber in their best interests. I personally would love to see the talent and skills across the chamber put to good use and the right people elected into relevant roles based on their skillset and not their political agenda.  We need a group of likeminded councillors who are willing to set their party persuasions aside and put all of their focus on the people of Argyll and Bute. No one should ever feel like they have to vote a certain way simply because they represent a particular party – first and foremost we, as local councillors, all represent our constituents and should be able to make decisions based on what we each genuinely feel is in their best interests at all time. This is why I voted in support of a change in the leadership for Argyll & Bute Council as, after being in position for 5 months now, I felt that the previous administration were not working with our communities, and specifically South Kintyre’s, best interests in mind.  I plan to stay completely independent, work with all colleagues and continue to vote on each issue for the benefit of South Kintyre.

Whilst I voted for and therefore agree with outcome of the special meeting, I do not agree with the tie breaking procedure which made the final decision. I wholly believe that in this day and age we shouldn’t be relying on a deck of cards to make pertinent decisions but rather should be looking at ways and means to obtain the council tax payers’ opinions in situations of a hung council.

3. Playpark repairs – Jock’s Adventure Playland and Meadows Playpark – update

The council officer dealing with Jock’s Boat repairs/replacements sent further update at end of March to advise that the require equipment has been ordered and should be here imminently.  Some parts are bespoke and take slightly longer to arrive.

They have confirmed that once the parts have arrived they will programme the works required immediately in order to equipment functional again.

4. Glass/ Recycle Bins

Bengullion Road

Following on from previous report re Bengullion Road recycling bins – we still await their removal.  There has been an issue with re-siting back to Kintyre Park area as the school have objected to this. The council are currently looking at other sites to move the bins too as it has been agreed they cannot remain at their current site.

5. Roads /Pathways /Lighting

Street Lighting – Sound of Kintyre

Works have started at Sound of Kintyre to finish installing replacement columns and this was scheduled to finish on Friday 5^th April. Following this the council will be arranging an external contractor to paint the columns to match the original colour

Big Kiln/Witchburn/Castlehill

The Roads department confirmed that following an inspection the contractor Hillhouse has programmed the repair work on the above for the week of the 14^th -19^th April. They will be carrying out defect corrections across all of the areas they have been working.

It may be that short road closures may be required at Witchburn Road and Dell Road.

MAKI CAPITAL ROADS PROGRAMME 24/25

Below is a table showing the capital roads programme for the MAKI area for 24/25 released at the end of last week following agreement at the Environmental, Development and Infrastructure Committee.

Councillor’s comments/responses re lack of contact & action from council departments

1-    I have been a cllr since the last elections in May 2022 and I would say my experience is very similar to yours.

Some departments are very good and give very detailed response that really address the issues at hand and explain the problems and what will be done about them, some are less responsive, and some whether they mean to or not, don’t seem that interested in addressing problems or concerns.

How you go about fixing this is a more complicated issue as it is technically “procedural” and not political. There are undoubtedly things that can be done but if is possible to do them I am not so sure. 

2. My own experience is that that there are significant differences between the council departments and that some departments and officers are much better at getting back to councillors that others. As you may have experienced, the roads and infrastructure department is particularly bad at getting back to councillors, and they expect all queries to be raised via MemberZone, and that many of the staff within roads and infrastructure department have been instructed not to respond to councillors as all queries must be raised via MemberZone. Other departments are however very different.

3. I have read the various replies you have received from some of our colleagues and there is most definitely a common theme. Please be assured it’s not just you that feels this!

4. I think we have all had this problem with some officers more than others but having attended a Member Zone Sounding Board yesterday I now know that there is a determined campaign to stop members emailing direct to officers. Some are now not responding and the content of the emails is being put into MZ direct.

Am mulling that over. I can see both sides and have been aware that certain councillors have a tendency to get preferential treatment which is unfair and I have also become aware that the public using the portal get faster responses than we do using MZ.It all needs some thought and untangling and some sort of workable compromise developed.

5. I have brought this problem up constantly with Jim Smith at EDI meetings, and I will again at tomorrow’s EDI meeting.

I do not understand why they get up to 5 weeks to answer our reports in Members Zone, and if we add something as urgent they seem to make their own mind up if it is urgent. It really infuriates me.

6. Thank you for your email. I have been experiencing similar issues to you with a number of my cases and I am becoming increasingly concerned and frustrated by this. More than happy to chat further if you think that might be helpful.

7. Hi jennifer thanks for copying me into your e mail and can offer that this is a problem that I have brought up with Pippa on a number of occasions and in fact just last week I had to make representation to council officers when the Lochgilphead Community Council had no response to a query that they raised. It will be interesting to see what response you get back and will catch up with you when you hear back.

8. I am so sorry you are having these problems. To be honest I had exactly the same when I joined,  It was a by election.  I am independent and felt as if I was on my own and not sure what was the best thing to do

After 8 months I joined the Administration and since then it has been absolutely fine. I feel part of a team and us girls all have group chat where we can vent lol.  I hope you are getting support from the opposition group.