Minutes of the meeting held on Monday 15th August 2011 at 7.00 pm at the Baltasound School, English Room
Present: Laurence Robertson, Gordon Thomson, John Peterson, Joan Ritch
Apologies: Pat Burns, Andrew Spence, Tim Holt
Laura Baisley and Josie Simpson, Isles Ward Councillors
Attending: Dr Naomi Reifenberg
Robert Henderson, Isles Ward Councillor
Laurence welcomed Dr Reifenberg to the meeting. He asked if she would like to be first on the agenda, she said she would.
Dr Naomi Reifenberg, Unst Health Centre
Dr Reifenberg explained that she had asked to come to the meeting to let the Community Council know about a problem which occurred with an ambulance call out which had happened after the Bluemull ferry had stopped running for the night. Dr Reifenberg had been told that there wasn’t a crew available to man the ferry. There isn’t a standby crew for Bluemull Sound so all late ambulance runs are crewed by ferrymen on a goodwill basis. Dr Reifenberg explained that this situation had only occurred a few times in the last year. Taking a patient to Lerwick by ferry is usually the preferred quicker option. When the Air ambulance is called out they are often unavailable and don’t always know when they will arrive. Helicopters crews also have to adhere to rules laid down by the Civil Aviation Authority, which affects when and in what weather conditions it is safe to fly in. The contract is held by Bond helicopters that are based at Sumburgh Airport. They hold this contract in addition to their other oil based work. The surgery staff would need more training and equipment if patients have to be held overnight in Unst. Robert will follow this up to find out if there is anything additional that can be done by the ferries. After a further discussion member agreed that when the current contract finishes in 2015 the specifications of the new contract would have to be very clear about what was acceptable for air ambulance response times.
Physiotherapist
These services are now centralised in Lerwick unless in special circumstances.
Dental Prescriptions
Dr Reifenberg was asked about the problem of having to collect dental prescriptions in Unst. She explained that the doctor’s practices can only dispense medicine to their own patients. Doctors from Unst and Yell have discussed this with the dentist. They have agreed that if a patient is seen by the dentist late in the day the dental receptionist can fax the prescription to the doctors in Unst so that the prescription can be made up for collection when the patient gets back to Unst.
Laurence thanked Dr Reifenberg for attending the meeting. She then left the meeting.
Minutes
The minutes of the meeting held on Monday 27th June 2011 were approved.
Matters Arising from last minutes
Coutts Mill Brig
This still hasn’t been tarred.
Unst Health Centre Carpark
NHS Shetland no longer has a budget to do this work.
Simon Yates – Defence Estates property
A letter was received from the Setters Hill Community Group outlining their two main concerns
1) the excess housing at Setters Hill Estate and
2) Hjaltland/SIC/Defence Estates - Moral and Ethical concerns
The Group is concerned with what will happen to the 24 vacant “old” houses at the back and the 8 newer houses at the front which are also vacant. Two of these houses have been on the market for a considerable time but have not been sold. Concerns are that if these properties are sold as a lot it could undermine the property market in Unst, making it nigh on impossible to sell or borrow money against property. People who bought their houses were “assured by all parties that future sales would revolve around a maximum of 2 [houses] every 6 months to mitigate flooding the market. More importantly was the assurance that the ex-military houses would be privately sold and would not be open to uncontrolled social housing project.”
What the Setters Hill Community Group need now is:
- A statement on what will happen to the remaining housing stock and a method of engaging any problems they see
- Revisit a play area of some sort or alternatively a method of engaging the youth element
- A statement on creating a Residents Association with legal rights, to vote and act on decisions affecting us all. Similar to neighbourhood watch for example.
Community Councillors discussed the letter. The Community Council wrote, several years ago, to Shetland Islands Council asking if they could take over the play area at Setters Hill Estate once the RAF had left. The Council was reviewing their play parks at that time and wrote back to the Community Council explaining that there wasn’t any budget to take on another play parks, especially as Unst had three existing play parks, one of which is very close to the park at Setters Hill. We were told that Unst had a lot better play park provision per population than most other areas in Shetland. It was agreed to forward this letter from the Setters Hill Community Group to Simon Yates, Defence Estates and to Hjaltland Housing Association.
Baltasound Play park
There has still been no word about this.
Mobile Phone Reception
Tavish Scott, MSP has written to the Chief Executive of the Mobile Operators Association passing on the Community Council’s concerns about poor mobile phone reception in Unst. He will pass on their reply when he receives it.
Unst Water Treatment Works
Steve Scott, Regional Community Manager, Scottish Water is going to attend the next meeting on Monday 26th September 2011.
SIC – Biodiversity Officer
There has been no reply to the letter sent to Alistair Buchan, Chief Executive about this. The Clerk is to write again about this.
North Isles Ranger
There has been no reply to the letter sent to Paul Harvey, Shetland Amenity Trust about the moving of the Ranger’s post to Lerwick. Laurence is to bring this up at the next Shetland Amenity Trust meeting in Lerwick.
Alistair Buchan, SIC Chief Executive
Laurence spoke to Mr Buchan and he intends to accept the Community Council’s invitation to come to Unst in the near future.
Unst Partnership Update
It was agreed to ask Hannah Eynon, UP Development Officer, to the next meeting. Gordon explained that there had been two directors meeting since the last Community Council meeting. Ms Eynon had been to look at the hangar at the airport and she doesn’t believe it is suitable for a recycling centre. She is interested in speaking to the folk who worked at the “White Hall” in Haroldswick for Care for Unst. A bigger fence is being erected about the polytunnels. There is still a problem with the water supply for the polytunnels. The Partnership is also looking at a renewable energy project, possibly for the School and Leisure Centre. Up is investigating what has to be done before a scoping application can be put in to Community Energy Scotland. Robert explained that it has taken the North Yell Development Group seven years to get to the stage the project is at now. UP is also looking at “Walkers are Welcome” status for Unst.
Laurence asked Robert, before he left to catch the ferry, if there was anything he would like brought up. Robert said that the Fetlar breakwater is progressing well and that once it is finished this should improve the ferry service on Bluemull Sound. Members asked if Robert could look into crewing levels on the first run across the sound in the morning so that existing crew men don’t have to move to Yell. The winter ferry timetable was discussed. One of the early runs on Yell sound would need to be changed so that vehicles don’t have to race through Yell to catch it. The Bigga is going for a refit, there are concerns that the replacement ferry won’t be able to cope with the volume of traffic.
Robert left the meeting.
Blueprint for Education in Shetland
There has been no further word on the Scottish Government’s decision to call in the closure of the Uyeasound School.
Application for Planning
There were no applications.
Application for Unadopted Roads
There were six applications for unadopted roads approved.
Aaron Foord, Easter House, Quoys; Jon Fordyce, Annsbrae; Frances Gazey, Houston and North Gardie; A R Priest, North Booth and Robert Thomson, Creek.
Community Council Finances
There has been no expenditure this past month.
A.O.C.B.
SIC Roads – Neil Hutcheson
Neil Hutcheson, SIC Roads, visited Unst and was taken to all the roads that the Community Council have written about. He has looked again at the turning place at the Westing beach and has spoken to someone from P & T Coaches about this as well. The road past Skibhoul, on the way to Millburn Park, will be widened on the corner next year. The Baliasta brig will need to be replaced; this will just be realigned so that it doesn’t have to involve input from other agencies, e.g. SEPA.
EDP Renewables
Lyla Smith, EDP Renewables has invited representatives of the Community Council to a meeting at Sellafirth on Tuesday 6th September.
Gadderin wirsels taigether for da morn
There is a meeting in Lerwick on Monday 3rd October. Laurence will attend the meeting as he is in Lerwick that day.
Queen’s Diamond Jubilee
This will take place on Monday 4th June 2012. Unst Community Council has been asked to organize a bonfire. Everyone was in agreement with this. There will be more details nearer the time.
Replacing the Policeman
There has been no word of a new policeman/woman to replace PC Garry Ross.
The next meeting will be held on Monday 26th September 2011 at 7pm in the Baltasound School
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