Held on Thursday 19th August 2004 in Castletown Drill Hall at 7:30pm Present J. Crowden [JC], I. Moodie (Village Officer) [IM], A. Swanson, W. Swanson, M. Cormack, D. Swanson [DS], A. MacDonald (Highland Councillor) [AM] Apologies G. Calder, I. Calder, A. Hill, G. Firth, E Geddes. Visitors J. MacMillan, J. Little (Durran Windfarm Action Group) Minutes of the Last Meeting & Matters Arising The minutes of the last meeting were not available. Two special meetings have been held since the last normal meeting Meeting with Scottish Water Scottish Water is proposing a new sewage plant to meet regulatory requirements. There will be an information day after the design is complete. They hope to start work by November and have it ready by June 2005. Meeting with Scottish & Southern Energy Representatives of S&SE and their developer, DP Energy, visited. DP Energy will produce photos with turbines superimposed. These pictures will show the visual intrusion from points at Olrig Hill, Weydale, Dunnet (where the picture in the local paper was taken) and Castletown School. We have received an information pack from DP Energy answering questions raised at an earlier meeting in Bower. Durran Windfarm Action Group Durran Windfarm Action Group [DWAG] are concerned about
DWAG had hoped the planning application for the anemometer mast would have been refused. DWAG have counterpoints for the opinions in the information pack received. DWAG are looking for the support of the community council. The community council must represent both points of view of residents in the area, but have heard of none in favour of the development. The Scottish Executive say developments should be sympathetic. Write to SE about guidelines on view/location/cumulative effect. Action JC Susan Munro is organising a website to co-ordinate all the groups in Caithness. The community council has received a letter from S&SE about community benefit, but that will not be considered until there is no possibility of avoiding the proposed development. Other Business Maternity Service NHS Highland are holding a public consultation. There is an e-survey linked from Caithness.org AM was at a meeting with Gary Coutts, Chairman of NHS Highland:
Castletown Medical Practice From 1st September, Castletown and Canisbay Medical Practices will merge From December 2004, they have been left with no option but to opt out of out-of-hours work, in favour of NHS 24 Village Officer Street name signs in Castletown are in poor condition. This causes problems for strangers. Walls at the car park and at Castlehill Avenue have been damaged. The council have been informed and taken some action. There is no money available in the council budget to increase funding for the village officer. Bus services A letter from Rapson’s in response to the removal of bus services. They asked what would be suitable times. The timetable changes on 23/10 so suggestions would need to be in by mid September if they were to be implemented then. Action JC A9 Berriedale traffic lights Reply to letter says they won’t be installed until the proposed operation sequence is fully investigated. There has been a lot of interest in this. New Correspondence
Next Meeting Being no further business, the meeting closed at 22:00hrs. The date for the next meeting is Tuesday 21st September 2004 at 7:30pm in the Castletown Drill Hall. |
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