03 12 01

Crathes, Drumoak & Durris Community Council (CDDCC)

Minutes of Meeting

1 December 2003 at Kirkton Hall, Durris from 19.45 hours

 

Sederunt

Community Councillors - Don Keith (Acting Chairman), David Hirst, Ron Stark, John Hopkins, Jean Downie, Molly Atkinson (co-opted)

Ward Councillors - none

Members of the Public – one dozen

Apologies – Cllr. Jenny Watson, Rev. Jim Scott, Jill Gow

 

  1. Minutes of Meeting of 4 November 2003

    2. The minutes were proposed as a faithful record by David Hirst and seconded by Ron Stark. There was no demur.

     

  2. Matters Arising from Minutes of Meeting of 4 November 2003
    3.

    In response to a question from the floor, Don Keith responded that his most recent understanding was that the Report of the Public Inquiry into the Brodie Countryfare planning application would still not be available for a number of weeks because of "pressure of other work" on the Reporter in question.

    It was also confirmed that regular CDDCC meetings for the year 2004 would be held on the first Tuesday of each month at 19.30 hours in the Irvine Arms, Drumoak.

     

  3. Drumoak Youth Project

Don Keith presented a status report on the Drumoak Youth Project. The text of the report is as follows:-

Summary

Since August there has been no progress on either the Multi-sport court or the youth shelters. Key fundraising personnel have had to withdraw and hence the fundraising has not progressed to a level where other action can be actively pursued.

Clearly there needs to be a rethink on funding, priorities, resources, and current actions.

Funding

Currently stands at over £2000 of which some £500 is still to be banked (Duncan Wight and Patrick Frimpel.)

£15000 Aberdeenshire Council funding is available to the end of this financial year thereafter it is lost.

A list of potential sources of grants has been made

Aberdeenshire Council budget for youth shelters has been identified

Grampian Housing have been approached for other funding and reply is awaited

Priorities

There is little likelihood of sufficient funds to make viable the multi-sport court with an all weather surface. However, it should be possible to make a tarmac playing surface within the funding. Question is it acceptable, and within an acceptable time scale.

There is a need to be seen to provide some youth shelter facility, as this was the original priority for the young people. Provision of the shelter will regenerate more enthusiasm for the longer term.

Resources

Currently there is no focussed effort to drive this project forward. A project manager is sorely needed to pull a variety of activities together and make it happen. The key activities will be the securing of funds; the re-instatement of fund raising activities; liaison with local sponsors and the securing of their services; provision of publicity; and the financial management of the project.

Clearly other assistance will be required for some of these tasks, bur the key element is their planning and co-ordination.

 

Current Actions

 

Don Keith opined that DYP was at a watershed. Since the resignation for personal reasons of Teresa and Patrick Frimpel, there had been no focal point to the Project. The young people of Drumoak – the inspiration of the Project – had continued with some fundraising but other progress had not been substantial – principally through lack of a project manager. After some discussion, Sarah Hopkins volunteered her services to act in this capacity. The offer was gratefully accepted.

Since completing his report, Don Keith had learned from Willie Munro that there was an Aberdeenshire Council fund, which could contribute towards the cost of youth shelters.

 

  1. Deeside Way

    2. Beyond the information in the CDDCC website (www.durris.net) - which was that work by Aberdeenshire Council was expected to start this year on the section Drumoak to Dalmaik Cross – no further information was to hand.

     

  2. Co-option of Members

    3. Julia Mackay expressed her willingness to serve as a co-opted member of CDDCC. Molly Atkinson signified her preparedness to continue to serve as a co-opted member of CDDCC. Both offers were gratefully accepted and the co-options declared.

     

  3. Publicity

    4. It was suggested that better information about the activities of CDDCC would make it more likely that more volunteers might be found. To produce an article for the Parish Newsletter, based on relevant material existing in the website (Action: John Hopkins).

    Philip Dean considered that more editorial material could be published in the Deeside Piper. Sarah Hopkins volunteered to generate and place some material of this sort. Her offer was gratefully accepted. (Action: Sarah Hopkins).

    Morag Keith suggested that useful publicity could be achieved by networking via the Schools, Schools Parents Committees, Bowling Clubs, Shooting Club, Public Hall Committees and Beaver parents.

     

  4. Correspondence

    5. David Hirst referred to a letter from the Crossroads Nursery Parents Committee, seeking funds towards a target of £3,000 to build a new playcentre within the wooded garden of Crossroads. This letter had unfortunately arrived just after CDDCC had donated the preponderance of its available funds to other charitable causes. Noting that Crossroads Nursery served all three communities (Crathes, Drumoak & Durris), CDDCC agreed that it would be pleased to assist when funds so permitted.

    An email had been received from George & Alison Philip, seeking CDDCC’s support for a planning application to build a house in the area. As there had been insufficient time to research the merits of the application, consideration was necessarily deferred.

     

  5. Citizens’ Forums

    6. Philip Dean asked what was the opinion of CDDCC of the recent initiative by Aberdeenshire Council to consult a group of up to 14,000 selected residents on future developments.

    CDDCC felt that failure to inform the Community Councils was, at the least, discourteous and might be seen as an attempt to sideline the statutory role of Community Councils. To write via local Ward Councillors to discover who authorised this work, what was its cost and what would be done with the results (Action: Don Keith)

     

  6. New Drumoak Houses

    7. It was understood to be likely that detailed planning permission for the 60 houses would be sought by Stewart Milne.

     

  7. Any Other Competent Business

There being no other competent business, the meeting was declared closed.

 

JFH

2 December 2003

MOM 03 12 01.doc

 

Distribution

CDDCC Councillors (by email)

Councillor Jenny Watson (by post)

Councillor Sandy Wallace (by email)

Mr W Munro, Area Manager, Kincardine & Mearns (by email)

Mr L Allen, Area Manager, Marr (by email)

Crathes Hall Notice board (by post)

Banchory Public Library (by post)

Durris Hall Notice board (delivered by Sarah Hopkins)

Drumoak PO (delivered by Don Keith)

Park Shop (delivered by Don Keith)

Rev Jim Scott, Durris Manse, Durris, Banchory AB31 6BU (by email)

Community Police Officer (Drumoak) - PC Allan Tennant c/o Banchory Police Office (by post)

Community Police Officer (Durris) - PC Kevin Skivington c/o Banchory Police Office (by post)

Neighbourhood Watch Co-ordinator - Mrs Lesley Moore, "Patchways" Drumoak AB31 5HA (by post)

Website www.durris.net (also for past minutes)