20 May 2019

Infrastructure Services Committee round-up 16.5.19

The latest meeting of Aberdeenshire Council’s Infrastructure Services Committee (ISC) began with a presentation by Jo Robinson, Regional Director of VisitScotland, who outlined some of the work done by the tourism body, as well as its £45million budget, which she said was significantly smaller than other similar bodies around the world, who she said “are fast overtaking us”.

She spoke about the increasing reliance on digital content, and the content-led approach to marketing being taken to highlight what Scotland has to offer the world, while also describing VisitScotland’s recent approach of collaborating with the tourism industry to attract visitors.

Mrs Robinson outlined the organisation’s current campaign, timed to attract Europeans amid Brexit uncertainty by showing that Scotland is “still open for business” and keen to continue the relationship between this country and its European neighbours, “Brexit or no Brexit”. “Europe is still a really important market for us,” she said, telling the committee that VisitScotland wants to tell Scotland’s story to the world, with the support of people across the country.  “This is a crowded marketplace and we need to stand out,” she added.

She finished her presentation telling councillors there are some excellent tourism opportunities on the way in the north east of Scotland, and VisitScotland will work closely with the tourism industry, other tourism organisations, local authorities and local destination management organisations to continue to attract visitors to the area, driving its growing tourism offering.

ISC chair Peter Argyle thanked her for her presentation and the work being done to promote tourism in the area, emphasising the need for groups with a common interest at local, regional and national level to work together, particularly given dwindling public sector budgets.

Councillor Argyle also highlighted the Scottish Government’s recent declaration of a “Climate Emergency” and told members a report is currently being prepared by officers to consider the implications for Aberdeenshire Council and any action which requires to be taken as a result. ISC will consider the report in due course, he said.

He also paid tribute to two retiring members of the council’s Economic Development team – Roddy Matheson and Morna Harper – who have worked to support businesses and communities for many years between them.

Partnership Reviews - Dee Catchment Partnership, NESBiP and Outdoor Access Trust for Scotland

The committee agreed to approve continued support for the Dee Catchment Partnership (DCP), which brings together bodies with a common interest in the River Dee.

The vision for DCP is “to return the River Dee (and its catchment) to good order throughout, with sufficient high quality water, habitat and amenity to allow its inhabitants, flora and fauna to flourish”. The DCP plays a key role in co-ordinating partnership working, which has proven to be an efficient mechanism for delivering shared action utilising available resources, councillors heard.

Head of Planning Robert Gray spoke in support of the partnership and highlighted some of the work being done on natural flood management, telling councillors this would be the wrong time to withdraw funding from DCP while it continues that work.

A number of councillors spoke in support of the partnership, emphasising the importance of the River Dee to the area, not least because the majority of local drinking water comes from it and given its draw for tourists.

ISC received information on a range of projects and initiatives delivered by the partnership and agreed to continue its financial support of £9,000 a year. See the related report, which includes information on other supporting agencies.

Councillors also agreed to continue support for the North East Scotland Biodiversity Partnership NESBiP), which brings together three Local Authorities along with a range of conservation, farming, forestry and land agencies. Its role is to provide the framework for local action on national priority species and habitats. The Partnership’s work also includes the conservation of habitats and species of importance to local communities, whether or not they are national priorities.

Through its involvement with NESBiP, Aberdeenshire Council promotes nature conservation both within the organisation and the wider community, which contributes to the delivery of the Biodiversity Duty outlined in the Nature Conservation (Scotland) Act 2004. Involvement in NESBiP also supports the commitment in the Aberdeenshire Environmental and Climate Change Policy to ‘Conserve the natural and historic environment by protecting and enhancing landscape, biodiversity and historic assets’.

Aberdeenshire Council’s financial support of £8,500 a year will continue.

The next partnership review related to the Outdoor Access Trust for Scotland (OATS), which the committee heard was formed in 1998, originally as Upper Deeside Access Trust (UDAT) and then more recently as Cairngorms Outdoor Access Trust (COAT). The recent name change to OATS reflects a new, Scotland-wide remit which replaces their former Deeside and Cairngorms focus.

Its aims are to conserve and protect our natural heritage and environment by encouraging, developing and implementing access management projects which promote public access, advance education about natural heritage and promote associated health benefits and enjoyment of the outdoors.

ISC heard Aberdeenshire Council currently makes an annual contribution of £10,000 towards OATS core costs, which in turn, facilitates the delivery of access projects throughout Aberdeenshire. The committee agreed the importance of continuing that funding in 2019/20 for the continued development and delivery of a number of local projects, including development of the Gordon Way and Deeside Way west of Ballater and continued maintenance obligations in Deeside.

However, the change in remit to focus on the whole of Scotland will reduce local involvement, councillors heard, leading to a recommendation to remove core financial support in future years, to allow that to be reallocated to local community-led organisations interested in improving access provision in their area.

The committee agreed to continue funding of £10,000 in the current year, removing it after 2020 for reallocation to local groups. ISC heard OATS would still have the potential for an income stream in Aberdeenshire through the provision of services on a contractual basis for community and council access projects.

Head of Planning Robert Gray praised the standard of work done by OATS in Aberdeenshire to date and said he’d be happy to receive tenders from them in future on that basis, as well as continuing ongoing partnership projects. “We’re not raiding their funds, we’re supporting them in a different way,” explained Mr Gray.

Recycling and waste kerbside service changes

Changes to kerbside collection of recycling and waste in Aberdeenshire to push up recycling rates and send less to landfill will happen next year, ISC agreed.

As part of a new overarching waste strategy for the area, Aberdeenshire Council sought £3.2million funding from Zero Waste Scotland (ZWS) to help roll out a new collection system.

That was thrown into doubt when ZWS confirmed it would not provide the money required, in light of the emerging Deposit Return Scheme and the effect this will have on recyclates collected from homes.

The committee decided to introduce alternative arrangements to push up recycling rates and reduce materials sent to landfill in the interim.

They approved an option to use households’ existing bins in a three-weekly collection cycle while officers continue to work to explore funding opportunities for further changes.

One bin and a food waste caddy will continue to be collected every week. This means:

Week 1 – General waste bins (landfill) and food waste collected
Week 2 – Recycling bin (blue lid) and food waste collected
Week 3 – Recycling bin (blue lid) and food waste collected

The materials that can be recycled on the kerbside remain the same - the only difference is that the blue-lidded recycling bin is emptied more often (twice in every three weeks).

The new service will be piloted in some areas in 2019 and rolled out to the rest of Aberdeenshire in 2020. Households will be contacted in advance by post.

As over 70% of the waste produced in Aberdeenshire is recyclable using the existing recycling services, this change should allow an increased recycling rate, while work continues to seek other ways to push that up even further using kerbside services.

For further information and links to useful resources, please see: http://bit.ly/2WME1yT

Funds distributed by Economic Development schemes and Business Gateway Activity 2018-19

The committee endorsed information presented on the distribution of funds from the Support for Aberdeenshire Business Scheme; the First Employee Grant Scheme; the Social Enterprise Support Fund; and the Business Gateway contract.

It also noted the outcome of discussions on the possible introduction of a new grant to encourage the development of new digital technologies, which was outlined to members in a report.

The committee also agreed that it will receive more meaningful information in future reports on outcomes, activities and benefits.

More information, including details of funds distributed, is available in the report to committee.

Economic Development Action Plan Update

The committee noted progress made in 2018-19 on the Council's Economic Development Action Plan 2017-21.

The Action Plan sets out to deliver the Regional Economic Strategy agreed by the Council in June 2016 and a progress report is received by councillors annually.

The committee also approved a new format for reporting on the Action plan, set out in the officers’ report.

You can see the report to committee on the council's website.

Town Centre Fund

£2.7million of town centre improvement projects in Aberdeenshire have been given the go ahead, the committee heard.

The first grants from a multimillion pound fund for town centre improvement projects in Aberdeenshire were recently approved.

The Scottish Government announced a £50million Town Centre Fund in December to drive local economic activity and to stimulate and support economic improvements.

Aberdeenshire Council’s share is £3.28million and ISC was given details of successful funding bids to date.

Cash from the fund has to be legally committed by March 2020, so given the time constraint, consultation with councillors, business associations, community groups and services within Aberdeenshire Council identified several projects ready to be delivered.

The criteria set for the fund included the deliverability of the project, sustainability and transformation to the key town centres of Aberdeenshire.

A specially constituted panel considered projects which would stimulate and support a wide range of investments, encouraging town centres to diversify and flourish.

At its first meeting, which took place in recent weeks, the panel granted funding to ten projects worth £2.7mllion, the majority worked up by groups independent of the council.

The panel will meet to decide the second round of funding awards in June, and with the fund over-subscribed with eligible projects, competition will be high.

For more information, including details of each project approved, please see the news section of our website.
 
You can also see the related report to committee on the Aberdeenshire Council website.