Formartine Area Committee convened this morning at the Kirk Centre in Ellon.

(Mid Formartine specific points in BOLD)

We were greeted this morning on arrival by some Donald Trump Protestors, I cannot comment on what they were there for but I do thank them for their efforts to make their point.

The first item on the agenda was a Petition for consideration from the residents of Newburgh in support of a 20MPH Speed limit on the Main Street.
A well-put case was made, and Committee asked for a report back from the relevant service for further discussion.

We were then joined by regular atendee to our meetings Willie Chisholm from the Scottish Fire & Rescue Service to discuss the October-December Performance Report.
This was a largely positive report  – with highlights being a reported total of 53 Home Fire Safety Visits (exceeding set targets), a significant decrease in Non Domestic Secondary Fires – and a staggering 11 new recruits currently being trained following the recruitment drive in Oldmeldrum which will go some way to help ease the under-establishment of local crews.
The new LSO is to be Ian Findlay, who will meet Councillors soon.

We moved on to some Planning Application appeals.
The first one went to the Scottish Government – our August refusal for a Dwellinghouse erection at Orrock.
This one was following the then “new” Committee’s first site visit which determined that the site was Prime Agricultural Land and not in line with most neighbouring properties which were road-side, not along a road up a hill.
However, the Scottish Government reporter disagreed with us and allowed the appeal.
Much discussion was had on paragraphs 11 and 12 of the reporters report which claims looking at the land covered in snow (as the reporter did) was a way of determining whether or not it was Prime Agricultural land.

Two dismissed appeals from the Local Review Body were then discussed – the first for a Dwellinghouse erection at 10 Hillcrest Road in Turriff, and then one for the erection of three Dwellinghouses and Detached Garages at Hillhead of Teuchar, Cuminestown.

We were then joined by the Head Teachers of Ellon, Turriff and Meldrum Academies to discuss the Analysis of Attainment of Young People in their schools in year endind June 2017.
One thing that was stressed by all the teachers was the worrying decline in supply of teachers to the North East in specific subjects like H.E, Computing and Techincal.
It appears we are in worrying times!
In terms of the stats, Meldrum Academy showed improvement cross all of the measures at S4 in 2017 compared to the previous year.
The percentage of students achieving 5+ awards at SCQF now sits at 55%, some 12% up on 2015, although the school remains below the Virtual Comparitor on this measure.
There was a mixed picture of attainment at S5 across the measures, the middle ability students’ attainment improved whilst the least able students’ attainment fell and the attainment of the most able students stayed broadly the same.
Attainment at S6 was not as strong in 2017 as in the previous two years and was below the Virtual Comparitor across most measures.

There were a few applications for the Formartine Area Fund, which obtained funding as follows:
Blackdog Residents Association – Contribution towards the refurbishment of Community Park – £335.42  (1% of the project cost – 14% of the landfill tax contribution)
Blackdog Residents Association – Towable Grit Spreader – £1,294.20 (75% of the project cost)
Ellon & District Sports Development Trust – Refurbishment of Football Pitch Fencing – £5,000 (36% of the project cost)
Newburgh Indoor Bowling Club – Two sets of Indoor Bowls – £208.49 (75% of the project cost)
Friends of Turriff Cemetry – Creation of a new area to connect the cemetry with the Millennium Garden – £5,000 (47% of the project cost)