Campbeltown Community Council
Minutes of Meeting 10/12/24
held in Campbeltown Town Hall
Present: V Nimmo (Chair),C Dobbie ( Minutes ), A Baker, A Gallacher, C McCulloch,
E Grabowska, J Martin, I Mitchell.
In attendance: Cllr J Armour, Argyll and Bute Council
Cllr T MacPherson, Argyll and Bute Council
G Neal, NHS Local Area Manager
Syed Ali Kazam, Idreece Khan & Zain Younis, Campbeltown Pharmacy,
7 members of the public
- Welcome: V Nimmo welcomed everyone to the meeting.
- Apologies: D Allen, K Gillies, E Glendinning
- Minutes of last meeting 12/11/24
The minutes were agreed as accurate and proposed by J Martin, seconded by C McCulloch.
Matters arising
- White lining roads – email received and circulated from Cllr J Kean today giving update
- Southworth Development request for meeting in January re consultation on possible investment in Campbeltown airport and runway. V Nimmo and C Dobbie to attend.
- Change of CCC meetings to Mondays – this has been rejected and meetings will continue on 2nd Tuesday of the month
- G Neal, NHS Local Area Manager
The X ray dept at Ctown hospital is to be relocated with new equipment. This will cause some disruption between Jan and March 2025. New radiographer post has been advertised and G Neal is optimistic this will be filled.
The local dialysis service has been paused due to staff shortage. At present 2 patients who are not local are receiving dialysis. HSCP are going to review the provision of dialysis treatment early in the New Year.
The recruitment of Band 5 staff continues to be very difficult – at present there are 7 vacancies in a cohort of 12, putting the very committed staff under a lot of pressure.
A Baker asked if the dialysis equipment supplied via local fundraising could be moved? Yes.
Cllr MacPherson asked about hospital’s ability to cope. Tonight there are 14 patients – 12 beds plus 2 contingency beds are all occupied. Ongoing problem with delayed discharges due to shortage of homecare and availability in Care Home. End of life care has not been affected by staffing problems.
- Campbeltown Pharmacy
Messrs Khazam, Khan and Younis have been given the go ahead by NHS Highland to open Campbeltown Pharmacy. They thanked everyone in the local community for their support and in particular, Cllr Armour and V Nimmo who attended the hearing in November.
They hope to have the pharmacy open in February/March 2025 and will be employing local staff. They also expressed thanks to the Boots staff in attendance who have been under huge stress to provide pharmacy service in the past year.
Cllr Armour and V Nimmo congratulated them on their success and we all look forward to their new service opening.
- Councillors’ Reports
Cllr Armour gave the following information:
Carradale road closed at Saddell Bridge due to storm damage at weekend and Torrisdale Bridge has a 3 tonne limit. Plans are in hand re school buses.
Active Travel – works on the Cutting and Quarry Green have commenced, bollards will be installed at the top of the Cutting and signage has been procured for existing cycle path.
MAKI Traffic Warden – post has been advertised, now closed, and will hopefully start soon.
MAKI Amenities Warden – already in post. Concerns raised re ongoing dog fouling
Festive bins collection – 25 Dec uplifts delayed to 28 Dec, 1 Jan to 4 Jan. Recycling site closed 25/26 Dec and 1/2 Jan.
Playparks – tenders are out for 4 playparks refurbishment
Council Budget for 25/26 due to be set Feb 25. There will be cuts eg Capital Budget for Argyll and Bute Roads could be cut from £8milion to £2million. Council Tax set to rise.
Customer access to Council Services – being reviewed at present, closing 20 December. Can be accessed online or paper copies available in the Burnett Building which is currently open 9am-12noon Mon-Fri.
Mobile phone network survey to measure connectivity is being launched.
Jim Smith, Head of Roads and Infrastructure Services is retiring this month.
J Martin asked views on visitor levy. If Councillors vote for a full consultation later this month, a 12 week consultation will start in Jan 25. Emails expressing concerns have been received from J Richardson.
C McCulloch asked about roads funding – strategic timber pay but windfarm construction companies don’t.
A Gallacher asked about harbor fees for timber boats – tugs used are very expensive so logs being transported by road instead.
Alison asked will Traffic Warden have role re parking on pavements especially in housing areas.
I Mitchell commented that £4million allocated for Active Travel would be better spent on roads budget. Active Travel budget comes directly from Scottish Government and is ring fenced so not possible.
- Treasurer’s Report
Main account £16,727.72 includes £1152 for Quesada Plaque, but £692.27 to be repaid to CCWF due to underspend on Town Centre Maintenance Officer’s materials.
Quesada Fund £1,985 includes £1,475 from W McCallum
CCWF £65,479. In latest disbursement, approx. £65,000 distributed to approx. 20 different organsiations.
£610.50 for new bench at entrance to Campbeltown Hospital. G Neal approved.
- Police Report
Received by email. Again noted not informative, waste of time.
- Correspondence
All circulated
Visitor Levy – support consultation
Community Resilience Funding – £550 available – V Nimmo to pass on info to E Spence SKDT – could be used to distribute Resilience leaflet to every household?
South Killellan Forestry received today – 7 Jan deadline
10.AOCB
Speed warning signs at entrance to town – to be investigated again in 2025.
DATE OF NEXT MEETING: TUESDAY! 4TH JANUARY 7:30PM in CAMPBELTOWN TOWN HALL COUNCIL CHAMBERS