YELL COMMUNITY COUNCIL –  ANNUAL REPORT 2006/2007

1.   Chairman’s Introduction.

It has been a fairly routine year, still plenty of issues to be dealt with. No new candidates came forward for election to Yell Community Council, however we fortunately now have full membership.  As usual there has been a lot of discussion on our life-line ferry service which is good, but still occasionally inadequate – especially for the Sunday service. Ferry management are always prepared to listen and have visited several YCC meetings. Improvements have been made at Ulsta Terminal: the marshalling area has been resurfaced, new layout marked and cattle grid installed on the main road to stop livestock fouling in the Ulsta shorefront/marshalling area but work still required to bring this up to standard.

We have had many visitors to discuss various issues and are grateful for their attendance. These include Tavish Scott MSP; Scottish Water; F&I Fire Service; SIC Community Care Manager; Shetland Transport Strategy Consultants and NHS Dental Manager. YCC have continued to lobby to have a Dental Service restored in the North Isles after a period with no Dentist and fortunately a part-time service has now been restored. 

The proposed new school build for Mid Yell does not seem to have progressed much and remains a real concern as it has faced delays over a long period of time. Also, yet again, the issue of school closures has appeared very quickly causing worry for many parents. 

YCC are very pleased to still be able to help with small grants contributions to many different projects which is important in helping community groups who do not receive much funding from elsewhere. This also includes road repairs and resurfacing for local home owners.

There is much ongoing concern about possible closure of rural Post Offices and we support our MP in his efforts on this matter. YCC have, along with other local groups, raised the issue of poor coverage for mobile phones, not just for the general public but more so for our GP’s when out on call and will continue to press for improvements.

YCC have also met with North Isles Development Agencies who explained what funding that is available and how they can help secure this for local business/projects and YCC are very keen to help all the NI Development groups in any way they can.

 (Mr D Thompson, Chairman YCC)

2.  Administration Costs:           £5,793 budget set by SIC

3.  Environment Section -    £920 budget set by SIC

The only expenditure in this section was sponsorship of the annual Voar Redd Up. £700 was set aside for this and was claimed by 12 local groups who received sponsorship of £50 each. Our policy is to try and get all the roadsides in Yell cleaned up as well as some beaches. The remainder went into a budget for skips required over the SIC allocation. 

4.   Support of Local/District Groups - £5,349 budget set by SIC

 Yell Community Council has continued to support a variety of local groups providing towards an overall expenditure of £3,679.81 and £5,924 committed and c/f for payment in 2007/8.