Formartine Area Committee convened at the Kirk Centre, Ellon for the first meeting of 2018 today.

The first main item on the agenda was a discussion on the Aberdeen Health & Social Care Partnership Performance & Outcomes Framework Quarter 2 Report (July-September 2017).
A largely positive report for this period, although I did ask a question on the subject of current low percentage scores on Carers.
Currently only 39% of carers feel supported to continue in their caring role, and 46% of unpaid carers feel well informed about the services provided to the person they care for.
I was reassured that work would be done – particularly as the government bring in the Carers Act so the situation should improve.

We then had a planning application:
APP/2017/2430 – Full Planning Permission for Erection of 1.8m High Fence (Retrospective) at Cross of Jackston, Rothienorman.
This was refused unanimously on safety grounds.

An appeal decision was noted for application APP/2017/0270 – Erection of three houses at Site at Former East Aberdeenshire Golf Centre, Millden, Balmedie.
The Scottish Government reporter dismissed the appeal, meaning the Planning Permission in Principle remains refused.

We moved on to discuss the Infrastructure Services Quarter 2 2017-18 Performance Report.  Another pretty good picture here, the only real concern was an “amber” score of 81.8% for percentage of household planning applications dealt with within two months, which the officer explained was due to staff absences in the department.

We were presented with an excellent pair of reports from Infrastructure Services – the Archaeology Strategy Review 2014-17, and Archaeology Service Strategy 2017-20.
Some excellent work went into these, very detailed reports.
The 2014-17 review saw the number of local projects supported increased by 20%, greater clarity for Council Officers and the public through revised planning conditions, improved management of the historic environment, better promotion of the region to a broader audience and thanks to the cross-local authority apporach to archaeology services a consistency of service across the North East.
Interestingly, the first report states that the Earliest Human Activity in Aberdeenshire was circa 12,000 years ago.
There was also a brief resume of the recent work at Aden in Central Buchan which saw 79 new volunteers involved and trained and sx schools involved in the Archaeological excavation.
There is also mention of the launched Pictish Stone Trail and Stone Circle Trail, which of course includes sites here in Mid Formartine.

We then commented on the Formartine Community Plan 2016-2019 summary for monitoring report.
There was specific mention on the success of participatory budgeting this year.
Community engagement has reached the priority setting phase – at Oldmeldrum, Tarves, Udny, Daviot and Fyvie.
Aberdeenshire Voluntary Action has provided support to Daviot Village Hall and Udny Community Trust.
There is current engagement currently on better connectivity for bus users – sessions have happened at Oldmeldrum, Bourtie & Daviot, Tarves and Udny to date.

Following on from that we discussed two items from the education service.
Firstly, School Roll Forecasts – with four Mid Formartine Schools highlighted as ones to be concerned about.
*  Balmedie School is currently expected to exceed the working capacity of 479 pupils during the 2020 session.  The report states “Work continues to determine the most appropriate long term solution”.  All Ward Councillors have preivously shown support for keeping a close eye on this issue – particuarly with the Blackdog Community keen to see a community facility/school as housing expands.
*  Tarves School is forecast to exceed capacity by two pupils in 2022 – “This will be monitored” is the quote from the report.  With the news the figures incorporate all sites on the Local Plan, I asked for this to be a close monitor given the likelyhood of the site south of Tarves to be taken up very soon.
*  Cultercullen School has seen it’s capacity reduced due to a team being relocated into a spare classroom – this space can be returned if required.
* Meldrum Academy will be over capacity by 2022.  Placing requests will be carefully managed to minimise impact on the roll.  Options will be explored for increasing capacity in the long term.

The second education report was the Quarterly Performance Exception Reporting July-September 2017.
There were no Formartine measures performing below target or expectations during this quarter which is excellent.
As this is a transition year for the Council Priorities, this year’s service plan is a holding one – I do hope when the new service plan comes out it contains similar key objectives – to reduce equalities, to support sustainable communities and to deliver high quality, efficient and responsive services.

Two applications for the Area Committee Fund were then determined, as follows:

Ellon Parish Church – £5,000 for new seating and multi-media for the Kirk Centre.
Fyvie Indoor Bowling Club – £1,779.60 for replacement bowling carpets.

The Area Committee have now allocated £51,039.32 grant funding of the £80,500 (63%).
There is £29,460.68 remaining in the pot for any local groups who have projects requiring funding.  If you are one of these groups, please do get in touch with me, another Councillor or Area Office.

The final report of the day was on the Fraserburgh, Peterhead and Ellon to Aberdeen Strategic Transport Study.
Much discussion was had around the proposals for rail links to Ellon, and the improvements to the Toll of Birness Junction.
Councillors agreed there was merit in all the proposals on the table and made comments to forward to Infrastructure Services Committee accordingly.

Finally, and in private session, we discussed the A947 Route Improvement Strategy – with one particular action coming forward in the renewal of a Member/Officer Working Group to ensure it is being delivered.

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