February

KEMNAY COMMUNITY COUNCIL Minute of THE SPECIAL MEETING HELD IN KEMNAY VILLAGE HALL

ON THE 22nd FEBRUARY 2007 AT 7.30PM

PRESENT:
Chris Hunneyball, Hazel Al-Kowarri, Bill Blackwood, Mavis Wainman, David Evans, Paul Smart, Janet Newberry, Annie Ferries, Jim Piggins, Neil Johnson.

ATTENDING:
PC Alec Allen and members of the public as per the register of attendees.

1) Welcome
a) Chris welcomed the large numbers of people in attendance at this special meeting to address issues relevant to young people. Attendees were present both as individuals and as representatives of young-people's groups in the village.

b) Each member of the Community Council introduced themselves and explained their reasons for becoming members of the Community Council

2) Apologies for absence:
Pat Findlater, Cllrs Saluja & Leitch, Susan Milton, Alex Burnett.

3) Minute of Meeting held on 25th January 2007:
a) Previously circulated.

4) Adoption of minutes:
a) Proposed Annie Seconded Bill

5) Police Matters:
a) PC Allen outlined the work he had been doing on raising awareness of the fact that it is illegal to purchase alcohol on behalf of persons who are under age. Purchase of alcohol on behalf of someone under 18 carries a potential fine of £1000.00 and the Police would be expected to prosecute in such cases.

b) An appeal was made for information relating to the assault and robbery of A 1st year pupil near the Academy earlier in the week.

6) Question Time - Opportunity for the younger generation to speak.
a) What are the chances of the youth clubs being able to run discos in the Village Hall again? These were no longer allowed at the Academy. Although damage was done to the Village Hall last time the youth club organised a disco there, it was felt that the actions of a very small minority should not prevent the majority form making use of the Village Hall. Representatives of the Hall Committee on KCC agreed with this view. Senior Youth Club would look at running Discos again - anyone interested in being involved in organising one should see Janet, Donna or Naida.

b) Would it be possible to find somewhere legal for the use of mini-motos? PC Allen explained that use of mini-motos would be restricted to private land; any use on ‘public' land or highways was an offence. Several suggestions were made:

b-i) An appeal for the informal use of set-aside land from a local landowner. Bill agreed that he would be happy to publish this through the Newsletter if those interested would get together and produce the text

b-ii) A request from the current owners (The John Martin Group) of the rough ground adjacent to the Old Lawrence of Kemnay which although suggested for development, was unlikely to be changed in the immediate future.

b-iii) Neil suggested that any request would be more likely to be met with success if the request made it clear how the landowner might benefit - e.g. through positive publicity, and what precautions users would make to prevent damage to property.

c) What can be done to improve the bus service, which is essential to enable young people (who are less likely to have access to cars) to access leisure, sports and education facilities across the City and Shire? The poor reliability of the service, the frequency of the service to Inverurie (to access the Pool and Leisure Centre) and the negative manner in which young people are treated on buses wee all discussed and the following actions proposed:

c-i) Everyone (including the young) should complain to Stagecoach in writing whenever a service fails to arrive or arrives very late. These may also be copied to Neil Stewart at the Public Transport Unit of Aberdeenshire Council. It was pointed out that the advantage of complaining in writing was that Stagecoach had no idea of the age of the complainer! Verbal complaints were rarely acted upon!

c-ii) Young people should attend Bus Users Forum where they can suggest changes to routes or new routes (and these suggestions are often take up). Next meeting would be in Kemnay, in March.

d) Could more bins be provided at the Skatepark? No reason why not - Neil or Chris will write to Bob Rose at Aberdeenshire Council.

e) The shelter on the Green is poorly used - would it be possible to provide a more ‘sheltering' one? The current metal structure was agreed to be more suitable for a warm Mediterranean evening rather than a North Easterly in March. The youth shelter in Banchory was suggested as a much better model. A letter would be written to Aberdeenshire Council proposing a new structure for the Green, with the old one perhaps being moved to the Pleasure Park. The site on the green was agreed to have the greatest effect of removing folk from hanging around outside Costcutter.

f) The Goal posts on the Green are unsuitable (too tall and narrow) and there are no posts on the Pleasure Park. The use of the Pleasure Park for matches and Cricket was discussed and may be unsuitable for permanent posts. The installation of full-sized posts on the Green and an all weather surface in the goal-mouths would be discussed with Bob Rose. The multi-purpose posts currently on the Green may be suitable for installation elsewhere.

g) Is there any possibility of Lighting at the Skatepark?
Unlikely. As street lighting did not extend this far this would be a huge expense. Also how would they be controlled to prevent them from being on all the time? May be worth looking at again if the development beside the Glebe takes place.

h) The lack of (many) Christmas lights was letting the village down compared with Kintore, Westhill etc. What could be done?
Chris outlined the history behind the lack of lights and last year's attempt to set the process going with Christmas Trees. The major stumbling block has always been lack of practical support from anyone in the village. Every request for help had come to nothing. A number of people at the meeting volunteered support and a sub-group of the Community Councils will be re-established to look at this for next year. Anyone else interested in supporting this should contact us!

i) Would Kemnay ever get a Swimming Pool?
The work of the swimming Pool group over the years was recounted by Jim and the fact that the major problem was showing sufficient custom to keep the pool going once it was built. The best bet would probably be to add a pool/gym to any expansion of the Academy. Given the fact that this was an election year - now would be a good time to lobby MSP's and Councillors/Candidates about this!

j) The work being done by the Youth Café was outlined. Chris asked that the full list of what activities were available, and when, be passed n to Bill, so that they could be publicised further through the Newsletter. Bill suggested that it might be time to produce another Youth Supplement to include this.

k) Further Expansion of the Youth Café would require a local group to be the Lead Agency in any funding applications. The Community Council may be able to act as such, and if so, would set up a sub-group to look at this. The Community Association was also suggested as being a possible Lead Agency. GAP may be able to act in support of this, Youth café should contact either Chris or Neil with more details.

l) Attendance at Community Council Meetings. - Chris asked for volunteers from an of the organisations present to ensure young peoples views were represented regularly at Council meetings.

The next meeting with a specific youth focus will be the first half of the meeting on 28th June (where feedback on the action points will be given).

The next full meeting will be - Thursday 29th March 2007.

Members of the public (of all ages) are welcome.