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The Chairman referred to the achievements of
the Committee within the term of the Comhairle and commented on the
challenges. He made specific reference
to notification from the Scottish Executive that it would reduce the revenue
support grant payable to reflect the provision made by the Comhairle in
relation to concessionary fares for ferry journeys.
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It
was agreed:
(1) that the Convener and the Chairman
be authorised to make representations to the Scottish Executive seeking to
achieve equity with Orkney and Shetland in relation to concessionary fares
for ferry journeys and that the £90k clawed back by the Scottish Executive in
this regard be reinstated in respect of 2006/07; and
(2) that the Director of Technical
Services would make all prospective Highlands and Islands Parliamentary
candidates aware of the position in relation to concessionary fares for ferry
journeys to and from the Western Isles.
The Committee unanimously agreed that, in accordance with the
provisions of paragraph 17 of the Scheme of Administration, the Committee
determine the above recommendations on behalf of the Comhairle, under
delegated powers, in light of the need to have the matter dealt with prior to
the next meeting of the Comhairle, on the basis that the recommendations were
not contentious and did not breach a major policy position of the Comhairle.
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MINUTES
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Minute of Meeting of 6 February 2007
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1
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The
Minute of Meeting of 6 February 2007 was approved.
Arising out of consideration of the Minute
it was noted that the Chief
Executive of Highlands and Islands Airports Limited had indicated that he
would not be able to attend the meeting of the Committee and it was agreed to
invite the Chairman to attend the meeting of the Committee on 27 March 2007
to be made aware of the situation and of the urgency of the Comhairle’s
concerns.
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Minute of Meeting of HITRANS of 23
February 2007
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2
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The Minute of Meeting of HITRANS of 23
February 2007 was noted.
With reference to item 6.3 of the Minute it
was agreed that the Chairman be authorised to put forward at the HITRANS
meeting of 23 March 2007 the Outer Hebrides Tourism Industry Association as
an alternative to VisitScotland in the event that VisitScotland did not take
up their opportunity to participate in the process.
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Minute of Meeting of the Taxi/Private
Hire Car Licensing Panel of 19 December 2006; and 28 February 2007
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3
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The Minutes of Meetings of the Taxi/Private
Hire Car Licensing Panels of December 2006 and 28 February 2007 were noted.
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Declaration of Interest
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4
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Mr Malcolm J Graham declared an interest in
item 3 of the Agenda and left the meeting during consideration of these items.
Mr Alex A MacDonald declared an interest in
items 11 and 12 of the Agenda and left the meeting during consideration of
these items.
Mr Donald Macdonald, Mr Ronald Mackinnon and
Mr John Mackay declared and interest in item 13 and Mr Archie Campbell
declared a non-pecuniary interest in item 13 and Mr Macdonald, Mr Mackinnon,
Mr Mackay and Mr Campbell all left the meeting during consideration of the
item.
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FINANCE
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Business Plans and Budget 2007/08
PR33.01.04
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5
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The Chief Executive submitted a Report
seeking approval of the Business Plans for 2007/2008 and the Budget for
2007/2008. It stated in the Report
that the Chartered Institute of Public Finance (CIPFA)/Society of Local
Authority Chief Executives (SOLACE) Corporate Governance Framework advised
that Local Authorities should maintain effective arrangements for explicit
accountability to stakeholders for an Authority’s performance and its
effectiveness in the delivery of services and the sustainable use of
resources. It was intimated in the Report
that the preparation of Departmental Business Plans and Budgets had been
brought together for 2007/08, with the result that the Budget now included
Business Plans alongside the planned expenditure for any given service. It was emphasised that possible targets and
action points relating to 2008/2009 and 2009/2010 had also been included in
the Plans.
It was agreed to recommend that:
(1)
the Service Committees consider
the terms of the draft Business Plans and propose any final amendments to the
separately circulates Business Plans; and
(2) the
Business Plans (as amended) be approved.
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ROADS
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Programme and Progress
PR33.01.12
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6
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The Director
of Technical Services submitted a programme and progress Report in respect of
road schemes.
It was agreed to
recommend that the Report be noted.
It was further
agreed to recommend that a Report on the outcome on trials currently taking
place at Manor Roundabout be added to the Reports Outstanding for the
Committee.
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Winter Maintenance Monitoring 2006/07
T08.05.04
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7
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The Director
of Technical Services submitted a Report giving information on the financial
position, as at 5 March 2007, in respect of expenditure on winter
maintenance. It was stated in the
Report the projected expenditure, if no more gritting was required prior to
31 March 2007 was £870,000 against a budgetary provision of £1,374,000 for
winter maintenance for the 2006/2007 financial year.
It was agreed to
recommend that the Report be noted.
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Roads Revenue Programme 2007/08
T08.01
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8
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The Director
of Technical Services submitted a Report detailing the proposed Roads Revenue
Programme for 2007/08. The Report
stated that the continuing maintenance programme in respect of the Western
Isles roads network was undertaken on an annual basis with maintenance works
including resurfacing, surface dressing and general repairs. It was stated in the Report that as a
result of unforeseen remedial works that could arise minor changes may have
to be made to the Programme as detailed in the Report during the 2007/08
financial year. It was further stated
in the Report that a number of road sections which had been identified as
requiring remedial works beyond that which would normally be classified as
maintenance. It was further stated
that additional capital funding in the sum of £2 million would allow a
programme of strengthening works to be carried out and that it was proposed
to submit a Report on this matter to the June meeting of the Committee.
It was agreed to
recommend that the Comhairle approve the Roads Revenue Programme detailed in
the Report for the 2007/08 financial year on the basis that minor changes may
be necessary at departmental level due to unforeseen remedial works and other
uncertainties in programming.
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TRANSPORTATION
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Regional Transport Strategy
T06.03
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9
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The Director
of Technical Services submitted a Report seeking approval for the Highlands and Islands Regional Transport Strategy. The Report gave background information in
relation to the Comhairle's consideration of the Regional Transport Strategy
and intimated that the Highlands and Island Transport Partnership (HITRANS) had
agreed to incorporate all of the points raised by the Comhairle in relation to
the Strategy and these were referred to in a letter dated 28 February 2007
from HITRANS to the Comhairle which was appended to the Report.
It was agreed to
recommend that the Comhairle, subject to the inclusion of the points as shown
in the attached letter from HITRANS dated 28 February 2007 appended to the
Report, confirm support for the Highlands and Islands Regional Transport
Strategy.
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SEA
TRANSPORT
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Ferry Discount Scheme Study
T06.03
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10
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The Director
of Technical Services submitted a Report giving information in relation to
the Ferry Discount Scheme Study. The
Report concluded that the Study which had been undertaken by Reference
Economic Consultants had been concluded and that a draft Report had outlined
both the costs and the benefits of a 40% reduction to residents in the
Western Isles on fares on all routes to and from the Outer
Hebrides. It was stated
in the Report that consultation was currently ongoing relating to the
preparation of the final draft of the Report with a view to Reference
Economic Consultants making a presentation to the Comhairle on the Report at
some future date.
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It was agreed to
recommend that the Comhairle:
(1) note the content of the Ferry
Discount Scheme Report;
(2) whilst
welcoming the recent announcement by the First Minister, seek a further
commitment to the 40% reduction across all fares for island residents;
(3) agree
to make representations to all political parties seeking their commitments to
the provision of a 40% Ferry Discount Scheme for island residents; and
(4) with
the assistance and support of HITRANS organise a briefing for all Highlands
and Islands MPs at Holyrood.
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Ferry Users Consultation Proposals
T06.03
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11
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The Director
of Technical Services submitted a Report outlining proposals for the
organisation of the successor bodies to the Caledonian MacBrayne Shipping
Services Advisory Committees. It was
intimated that the Highlands and Island
Transport Partnership had agreed that the following changes should be made to
the new consultation arrangements:
(a) Arran
and Clyde Tier 1 Groups should be combined;
(b) Colonsay
should be represented on both the Argyll and the Islay
and Kintyre Groups;
(c) The
Small Isles, Raasay, Skye, Ardnamurchan and Lochaline should become a
separate Group;
(d) Hebrides and Lewis should be combined into a Tier 1
Group;
(e) Those
attending, especially volunteers/community representatives should be reimbursed
travel costs;
(f) HITRANS/SPT
would undertake administration duties for both tiers;
(g) Each
group to agree community and tourism representatives to ensure appropriate
representation;
(h)
HITRANS would make
arrangements for an initial meeting of both tiers in April; and
(i)
Barra and Lochboisdale should
be represented on the Argyll Group as well as the combined Hebrides Group
because of the inter-linking of their vessels.
Appended to
the Report was a copy of a paper prepared by HITRANS setting out, in detail,
the arrangements to provide consultative mechanisms for the Ferry Network
serving the Clyde, the Hebrides and the
Northern Isles.
It was agreed to
recommend that the Comhairle note the new consultation process being
established for the Clyde and Hebrides ferry
services and agree to continue the appointment of the current SSAC
representatives for the initial Tier 1 and Tier 2 meetings to be convened by
HITRANS during April.
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Stornoway to Ullapool Ferry Services –
Performance Statistics
T06.01
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12
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The Director
of Technical Services submitted a Report giving details of the performance of
the two vessels providing the ferry service between Stornoway and
Ullapool. Details relating to the
reason for cancelled sailings were given in the Report for the four calendar
years 2003 to 2006. It was also
pointed out in the Report that cancelled services were fairly evenly
distributed throughout the week during both 2005 and 2006.
It was agreed to
recommend that the Comhairle note the details of the ferry services cancelled
by Caledonian MacBrayne over the past four years and that the views on the
reliability of this service be included within the Ferry Vessel Study Report.
It was further
agreed to recommend that, in light of the levels of cancellations highlighted
in the Report, the Comhairle agree in principle to engage the services of
marine experts to look at the reasons for the difficulties on the Stornoway –
Ullapool route and that the Director of Technical Services seek to identify
the approximate costs of such an engagement and report back to the meeting of
the Committee on 27 March 2007 identifying, if possible, potential funding
sources.
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ROAD
TRANSPORT
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Deployment of HITRANS Funded Low Floor
Bus
T01.08.22
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13
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The Director of Technical Services submitted
a Report giving information on the progress made in relation to the tendering
procedure for the low floor bus which had been bought by the Comhairle with
funding from HITRANS. It was stated in
the Report that a total of seven contractors had been identified with
services which met the criteria, detailed in the Report, relating to the use
of a low floor bus and gave background information in relation to the
tendering process. The Report further
referred to the preparation of a Report detailing the feasibility of
introducing a grant scheme to assist operators to purchase accessible buses
and how any income from the deployment of the Comhairle's vehicle together
with funding or other assistance from the Scottish Executive and/or HITRANS
could fund such a grant scheme. It was
stated that this further Report would be submitted in a time frame which
would allow advantage to be taken of any available funding in 2007/08.
There was submitted a supplementary Report
by the Director of Technical Services concerning the deployment of the
HITRANS funded low floor bus. The
Report gave further information in relation to the tendering process
associated with the deployment of the low floor bus.
It was agreed to
recommend that:
(1) the Comhairle note the contents of
the Report; and
(2) the
Comhairle approve the allocation of the HITRANS funded low floor bus for use
as part of the Bus na Comhairle contract PB1 and 2 serving the Point and Back
area on the terms detailed in the Report and agree to the required alteration
to the contract conditions reducing the vehicle specification for services
provided by this vehicle only from fifty three to forty five seats.
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Roads and Planning: Standards for Development
DS21.01
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14
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There was
submitted joint Report by the Director for Sustainable Communities and the
Director of Technical Services giving information on the work undertaken by
the Roads and Planning Members/Officer Working Group. The Report gave background information in
relation to the formation of the Member/Officer Working Group and indicated
that the Group had undertaken a range of visits to sites where particular
issues relating to the development of houses adjacent and taking access from
adopted roads, unadopted roads and private roads had arisen. The Report gave further background
information in relation to:
Scottish
Planning Policy 3 “Planning and Policy”;
The
Comhairle's Development Plan’
Other
Comhairle Policy and Related matters concerning the remit of the
Member/Officer Working Group;
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The Report
further suggested that the guidance for developers be as follows;
(a) developments
should be required to comply with the Comhairle's statutory development plan
guidance and other related road standards unless material consideration
dictated otherwise. In the later
context the circumstances would be considered and agreed by the Comhairle as
planning authority;
(b) developers
should initially budget for the cost of the provision of such Comhairle standards;
(c) in
line with Scottish Planning Policy 7, developers, or indeed the Comhairle
through planning briefs, could put forward a case for the relaxation of or
deviation from the standards for particular sites. Each case would be different and should be
treated on its own merits. In terms of
car parking relaxation should be based on the criteria laid out in Appendix 3
of the finalised Western Isles Local Plan e.g. in conjunction with affordable
housing provision;
(d) footway
provision along the frontage of a single house plot or larger housing
development would be dealt with on a case by case basis and based on the
planning related merits and circumstances of the site in each case; and
(e) for
larger scale developments a developer could be required to contribute fully
or in part to roads infrastructure (e.g. mini roundabouts, lighting or
pavements) outwith the application site by means of a Section 75 Planning
Agreement in order that the overall development was acceptable. That would depend upon the individual
circumstances and implications of each development.
The Report
concluded that as a result of the work undertaken by the Roads and Planning
Member/Officer Working Group the Comhairle was now in a much stronger
position with regard to the approach applied to new developments in the
planning process in respect of roads, access and parking. It was however further emphasised that
individual sites were different and that the “one size fits all” approach was
not appropriate and that a degree of flexibility was indeed encouraged by
Scottish Planning Policy. It was
further emphasised that developers must be made aware of the current guidance
on road infrastructure standards and that the Comhairle as roads and planning
authority should review its adoptable standards in light of changes at both
the local and national levels.
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It was agreed to
recommend that the Comhairle:
(1) note
the Comhairle’s existing policy and standards for roads contained in the
Report;
(2) approve
the guidance for developers of paragraph 8.1 and that key housing developers
and agencies are made aware of the guidance;
(3) agree
to a full review of the Comhairle's standards for road infrastructure; and
(4) note
that the work of the Roads and Planning Member/Officer
Working Group had been concluded.
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STREET
LIGHTING
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Public Lighting and Road Safety Projects
– Supply Connection Issues
T08.05.01
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15
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The Director of Technical Services submitted
a Report giving information in respect of procedures concerning street
lighting connections. The Report referred to the carriageway Amenity Lighting
Programme 2004 -2008 which had a budget of £300,000 allocated across some 60
projects and it was intimated that in most cases a connection with the
electricity supply system had to be provided and that in many cases lengthy
delays arose as a result of the power supply company having to submit
quotations for the supply request, pursue wayleaves for entry to the property
where the supply pole was located and programming the necessary work to fit
in with the resources available to undertake such work. It was intimated that the provision of
power supply connections over the last 12 – 18 months had had an unacceptable
impact on the delivery of public lighting and road safety projects. The
Report further referred to meetings that had taken place between Officers of
the Comhairle and representatives of the electricity supply company and it
was further intimated that representatives of the power supply company had
agreed to work more closely with Officers of the Comhairle to deliver a
better service for the community.
It was agreed to
recommend that the Comhairle authorise the Director of Technical Services to
continue to make representations, at the highest level, to the relevant
service provider to ensure connection works and the completion of public
lighting and road safety projects were not unduly delayed in future.
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CAR
PARKING
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Disabled Parking, Stornoway
T09.01.01
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16
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The Director of Technical Services submitted
a Report concerning the implementation of the Disabled Parking bays in the
Stornoway. The Report gave background
information and intimated that in December 2004 as part of the experimental
Town Centre “Precinct” Order a total of 12 disabled parking bays were
identified within the Traffic Order and that the introduction of the
aforementioned bays enabled traffic wardens to issue parking fines to any
user not displaying a valid “Blue Badge”.
It was further stated in the Report that a number of meetings had been
held with those objecting to the introduction of 12 disabled parking bays, on
a permanent basis, with a view to resolving their objections. It was intimated in the Report that as a
consequence of the survey work emerging from the Stornoway Transportation
Study revisions to the Traffic Orders in Stornoway were being proposed and
that revised arrangements for parking spaces for “Blue Badge holders” would
be submitted to the Comhairle as part of the new Traffic Order.
It was agreed to
recommend that the Report be noted and that the Director of Technical
Services be authorised to approach Stornoway
Port Authority in
relation to the availability of the site of the Maritime Buildings, Stornoway
for car parking following demolition of the buildings on the site.
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Request to Use Fishermen’s Car Park
T09.01.01
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17
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The Director of Technical Services submitted
a Report concerning a request from the Stornoway Amenity Trust to locate a
fair in the Fisherman’s Car Park, Stornoway during Wednesday, Thursday,
Friday and Saturday 11 – 14 July the week of the Hebridean Celtic
Festival. It was stated in the Report
that if the request were to be granted it would involve the removal of 30 car
parking spaces from the Town Centre at an exceptionally busy time. It was, however, pointed out that the Stornoway
Amenity Trust had indicated that they would explore options to provide
additional off street parking with the Stornoway Port Authority.
It was agreed to
recommend that the Comhairle approve the request in principle subject to the
Stornoway Amenity Trust identifying alternative off-street parking which would
be made available to the public.
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RELATED
MATTERS
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Road Safety – 20mph Speed Limits at
Schools
T08.05.06
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18
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The Director
of Technical Services submitted a Report detailing progress with the
introduction of 20mph speed limits at Schools. It was stated in the Report that as at 31
March 2007 there would only be nine schools within the Western Isles without
20mph speed limits and that these remaining nine schools would have 20mph
speed limits introduced during the 2007/2008 financial year when the next
tranche of Scottish Executive funding for this purpose was received.
It was agreed to
recommend that the Report be noted.
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PERFORMANCE
MONITORING
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Reports Outstanding – Progress
PR33.01.12
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19
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The Director
of Corporate Services submitted a Report detailing the Reports outstanding
arising from decisions of the Committee.
It was agreed to
recommend that the Report be noted.
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