COMHAIRLE NAN EILEAN SIAR

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE

Minute of Meeting held in the Council Offices, Stornoway, on Wednesday 11 April 2006 at 1.45pm.

PRESENT	Mr Archie Campbell (Chairman)
	Mrs Annie MacDonald (Vice-Chair)	Mr Angus McCormack
	Mr John Mackay	Mr Donald Maclean
	Mr Alex A MacDonald	Mr Peter Carlin
	Mr Norman L Macdonald	Mr Ronald J Mackinnon
	Mr Angus Campbell	Mr Donald Manford
APOLOGIES	Miss Samantha E L Hawkins	Mr Alexander A Mackintosh
	Mr Neil Campbell	Mr Donald Macdonald

Declaration of Interest	1	No declarations of interest were intimated.
		GRANT ASSISTANCE
Allocation of Community Initiated Projects Grants to Service Improvements within Rural Service Priority Areas DS02.57	2	The Director for Sustainable Communities submitted a Report detailing proposals for the allocation of funds from the Community Initiated Projects budget to community led service improvement projects that had been prioritised for Rural Service Priority Area Assistance.  The Scottish Executive had designated particularly fragile areas of rural Scotland as RSPAs and within the Western Isles Uig and Bernera, South Harris, the Southend of South Uist, Eriskay and two areas in Barra and Vatersay had been identified.  The Report further stated that the Executive had announced funding for each RSPA in December 2005 which was being channelled through the local Community Planning Partnership in consultation with RSPA communities in order to agree service improvements to benefit from the available resources. It was agreed to recommend that, subject to production of satisfactory evidence of match funding and obtaining all necessary statutory consents, where appropriate, the Comhairle approve the following grants from the Community Initiated Projects budget: (1) £15k to S.H.A.R.E for the refurbishment of the Daliburgh Thrift Shop; (2) £20k to Leverburgh Enhancement Group for the creation of Leverburgh Sports Field; and (3) £20K to Uig Development Trust for Improvements to Uig Community Shop.
		It was further agreed to recommend that: (1) a detailed Report be submitted to the next meeting of the appropriate Committees explaining the background to Rural Services Priority Areas, how the areas had been identified (including the research and consultation undertaken), the procedures which had been followed since the initial announcement in January 2005 and detailing the criteria applied to the selection of projects; and (2) a Report be submitted to the next meeting of the Policy and Resources Committee in relation to the Community Planning Framework in general, detailing the processes in place for consultation in the Community Planning Process with particular reference to the workshops referred to in the Report to the OHCPP in December 2005 and the recording of such meetings.