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Present: Elected members: Betty Wright, Chair (BW), Silvia Muras, Vice Chair (SM), Marion Turner, Secretary (MT), John Denniston, Treasurer (JD), Andy Wright (AW), Bill Knott (BK)
Minutes Secretary: Mary Goulder (MG)
Apologies: Buster Crabb (BC), Rob Pope (RP)
Items 1/2. Welcome/Apologies (see above) The Chair opened the meeting the first AGM to be held on Zoom
Item 3. Minutes of last AGM. The Minutes of the last AGM held on Monday 10th June 2019 were accepted as a true and accurate record. Proposed: Marion Turner; seconded: Andy Wright.
Item 4. Chairperson’s report. (BW)This report is copied here:
This AGM report will be unlike any other so far, given that we are in the midst of a global pandemic and unable to
meet at present, so is being delivered via Zoom.
When lockdown first happened, the impact of it came as a real shock and presented lots of issues about how to care
for and contact those who may have become isolated and in need of practical help re shopping, medicines, lack of
company etc. KoSDT together with Bradbury Centre and local shops really delivered on this. Many thanks to David
Watson and all involved for the work they continue to do for our community.
Local issues that we have been dealing with during the last year include
Recycling in Highland Council – a talk from Waste management team
Proposed tree planting on Jubilee Hill – representation from Community council resulted in plan being
changed to a much-reduced area of regeneration and no actual planting. Discussions are still ongoing about
how FS engage with local communities re planning.
Final edition of Ardgay and District Community Council newsletter. Editor Silvia Muras has gone on to produce
a local magazine – Kyle Chronicle – and obtained funding for this to be delivered free to all households in
Ardgay and Creich cc areas.
Christmas lights – A band of volunteers put up lamppost lights and tree in village
Flower tubs – Jean Richardson has continued to maintain the tubs. Thanks to her and Steve. They also
renovated all the tubs.
Windfarm applications. It has been a busy year! We have been in negotiation re Community Benefit funds
with several developers. These funds are independent of planning process but if used wisely can bring huge
benefits to our area (as we have already seen).
Speed restriction on Ardgay – Bonar straight A836. It has continued to be difficult to engage Highland
council on this issue. There are indications that they might at last be considering this. It is unacceptable that
The Hub, which is a place for families and young people is sited outwith any speed restrictions when it is so
close to the village.
Community Benefit funds. The cc has continued to consider applications to the Beinn Tharsuinn and Beinn nan
Oighrean CB funds.
December 2019 was the first meeting of the newly formed cc following elections. We welcomed 2 new members,
Bill Knott and John Denniston together with the 6 members, Buster Crabb, Silvia Muras, Rob Pope, Marion Turner,
Andy Wright and Betty Wright, who had stood for re-election, taking us to our full complement of 8. BW was elected
chairperson, SM vice chairperson, MT secretary, JD treasurer. We are again joined by Mary Goulder as minutes
secretary. Thank you to all concerned for giving up their time to help their community.
As we have been unable to meet in person since our meeting in February, we have been conducting meetings via
Zoom and requesting that residents raise any matters with us for discussion.
Item 5. Treasurer’s report. (JD) This report is copied here:
Treasurer’s report for the financial year 2019-2020 For AGM 2020
The balance of A&D CC bank accounts, as of 5th April 2020 was: £21,047.68 of which £20,695.02 was in restricted accounts, as follows:
£18,212.11 in the Beinn nan Oighrean (BnO) account
£2,275.83 in the Beinn Tharsuinn Windfarm (BTWF) account
£170.40 in the E.ON Path account
£36.68 for the toilet account
£144.91 was in the admin account
?£207.75 was in the Wind Farm admin account
Admin. During the financial year, the Highland Council (THC) gave the community council a total of £815.03 for administrative work. This consisted of: ?£86.00 advance towards Insurance
?£399.03 annual admin grant to cover the cost of meetings
?£330.00 as a top-up admin grant
In addition, we received £400.00 towards administrative costs from Beinn Tharsuinn windfarm.
Total admin expenditure (hall hire, minutes secretary payments, insurance, postage etc.) for the period was £1,001.17 split as £723.88 from the admin fund and £277.29 from the windfarm fund.
Toilet. THC gave a grant towards the running of the Ardgay toilet. Nominally, this was for £600.00, but £77.74 was immediately clawed back for supplies supplied by THC, meaning the net grant received was actually £522.26 for the toilet fund. User donations in the toilet “honesty-box” amounted to a further £193.17 towards the costs of running the toilet. Total expenditure on the toilet for the period was £1523.45.
Newsletter. The Ardgay and District Community Council newsletter has now been superseded by the Kyle Chronicle. Consequently the newsletter account was deliberately run down to zero. At the start of the year, the newsletter account carried forward a sum of £1457.17 from 18-19. Income for the year was £644.96 which included a small grant of £203.76 from the Beinn Tharsuinn fund.
Beinn Tharsuinn Windfarm (BTWF) account.
The BTWF account is intended for grants to community projects of up to £2,000. Total income this year to the fund was £2,035.00. The total for grants disbursed during the period was £1,186.82 which included: a new defibrillator; Christmas lights; the Armistice wreath; and contributions to the newsletter.
Beinn nan Oighrean Windfarm account
The BnO account is intended for grants to community projects of up to £250. Total income this year was £6198.13 (including a backdated amount for inflation), whilst expenditure was £750, being grants for: the Ardgay Christmas party, Apple trees and Culrain Christmas lights.
E.ON Path account. There were no transactions on this account during the period.
The accounts were adopted, proposed: Marion Turner; seconded: Silvia Muras.
Item 6. Report re Beinn Tharsuinn and Beinn nan Oighrean Community Benefit Funds. Owing to the absence of RP there was no report concerning the Beinn Tharsuinn Community Benefit Fund. Beinn Tharsuinn gave nine awards totalling £9,435 leaving a balance of £15,500. Subsequent income £10,000 bringing the balance to £24,000. It was agreed to transfer a further £10,000 into the Endowment Fund which will bring it to a total of £25,000. Phil Tomalin will be asked to make the transfer. MG Action. Information regarding possible investment options to be sought.
Beinn nan Oighrean Community Benefit Annual Report 2019-2020 For AGM 2020
Beinn nan Oighrean community benefit was set at £2500+CPI annually in 2010. The CPI element had not been added for a number of years and so there was an additional payment this year to take this into account, leading to a one-off payment of £3698.13. The fund is disbursed to community groups through the CC’s Small Grants Applications. The maximum award from this fund is £250. Details of the fund and how to apply can be found on the A&D CC website and in the Kyle Chronicle (previously in the Ardgay & District Community Council Newsletter).
During the year 2019-2020, three awards, totalling £750.00, were awarded and disbursed. In addition two further awards, totalling £310.00 were agreed but had not been disbursed by the end of the financial year.
The disbursed awards were:
? £250.00 for the Ardgay Christmas party
? £250.00 to Planet Sutherland for the Apple trees to be distributed to the community
? £250.00 to the Culrain Hall committee for Christmas lights.
The balance of the account, as at 5th April, was £18,212.11
Item 7. Election of Office Bearers. All members of the Community Council stood down and in the absence of a Highland Councillor, Mary Goulder took the chair for the purpose of electing the Chair.
Betty Wright was proposed to continue as Chair; proposed: Marion Turner; seconded: Bill Knott.
Silvia Muras was proposed to continue as Vice Chair; proposed: Andy Wright; seconded: John Denniston.
John Denniston was proposed to continue as Treasurer; proposed: Silvia Muras; seconded: Betty Wright.
Marion Turner was proposed to continue as Secretary; proposed: Betty Wright; seconded: Andy Wright.
Mary Goulder was proposed to continue as Minutes Secretary; proposed: Betty Wright and agreed by all.
Two representatives to the SSE/E.ON Achany Panel will be Silvia Muras and Rob Pope. All office bearers accepted the posts.
One representative to KOSDT will be Andy Wright.
One representative to Beinn Tharsuinn Windfarm Company will be Rob Pope. Proposed in his absence.
SM will continue to maintain the Facebook page. Phil Olsen has maintained the CC website for many years, with the grateful thanks for his many years of service both on and after standing down from the CC. It was suggested that this could be passed to someone else. KOSDT is to be asked about the possibility of taking over website maintenance. BW Action.
Item 8. Any other business. None raised.
Item 9/10. Dates of meeting and AGM. The next meeting will be held on December 14th with next AGM on 14th June 2021. Until further notice meetings will be held on Zoom.
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Meeting closed at 7.36pm.
