Agendas, reports and minutes

A meeting of the Economy and Infrastructure Committee will take place REMOTELY on Wednesday 4 November 2020 at 10.30am.

 

Webcast Notice: This meeting will be filmed and broadcast over the Internet on the Highland Council website and will be archived and available for viewing for 12 months thereafter.

 

You are invited to attend the meeting and a note of the business to be considered is attached.

 

Yours faithfully

 

 

1. Apologies for Absence
Leisgeulan

 

 

Members are asked to consider whether they have an interest to declare in relation to any item on the agenda for this meeting. Any Member making a declaration of interest should indicate whether it is a financial or non-financial interest and include some information on the nature of the interest.   Advice may be sought from Officers prior to the meeting taking place.

 

 

 

There is circulated Report No. ECI/25/2020 dated 14 October 2020 by the Executive Chief Officer Infrastructure and Environment.

 

The Committee is invited to note:-

 

i.   the more detailed reporting of gross income and gross expenditure to improve scrutiny of net budgets as set out in the Appendices;
ii.  the Revenue Monitoring position for the period to 30 September 2020;
iii. net spend at the end of quarter 2, totaled £12.053m;
iv.  based on the best available information to date, a service budget gap of £11.847m is forecast to end 2020/21;
v.   many areas of the Service rely on income to pay for services and this was significantly disrupted this year because of covid impacts. A loss of income is the key driver of the Service’s budget gap;
vi.  the budget gap may change positively or negatively depending on:  applying expenditure and recruitment controls, aligning services to meet budget savings agreed;  income recovery in 2020/21; and
vii. further adjustments will be made in future quarterly reporting to reflect the updated apportionment of costs and savings across the new structure.

5. Town Centre Fund
Maoin Meadhan a’ Bhaile

 

There is circulated Report No. ECI/26/20 dated 20 October 2020 by the Executive Chief Officer Infrastructure and Environment.

 

The Committee is invited to agree that an area based approach is adopted to manage this additional Town Centre Fund grant offer with decision-making as detailed in section 6.2 and proposed area allocations as detailed in Appendix 1 of the report.

 

 

There is circulated Report No. ECI/27/20 dated 26 October 2020 by the Executive Chief Officer Infrastructure and Environment.

 

The Committee is invited to:-

 

i.  approve the Strategic Housing Investment Plan, and that this be submitted to the Scottish Government in draft form pending consideration by Area Committees, all as included within Appendix 1 of the report; and
ii. note the planned investment programme as included within Appendix 2 of the report.

 

 

There is circulated Report No. ECI/28/20 dated 5 October 2020 by the Executive Chief Officer Infrastructure and Environment.

 

The Committee is invited to agree to:-

 

i.   recommend that Council resolves to make a Compulsory Purchase Order (CPO) to acquire the Struan House Hotel, Carrbridge under Sections 9 and 10 of the Housing (Scotland) Act 1987;
ii.  authorise the Head of Development and Regeneration to continue to undertake negotiation to acquire the Struan House Hotel by agreement and, failing agreement, to undertake negotiation through the District Valuer of any claims for compensation; and
iii. require the Head of Development and Regeneration to report back to Council in the event that the compulsory purchase cannot proceed for any reason.

 

 

There is circulated Report No. ECI/29/20 dated 14 October 2020 by the Executive Chief Officer Infrastructure and Environment.

 

The Committee is invited to note progress with the Inverness and Highland City-Region Deal during 2020.

 

 

There is circulated Report No. ECI/30/20 dated 14 October 2020 by the Executive Chief Officer Infrastructure and Environment.

 

The Committee is invited to:-

 

i.   note the work being undertaken by the consortium in seeking to work together for businesses and communities in the area, and the potential Highland-wide benefits as outlined in the Council’s approved indicative Regional Spatial Strategy (irrespective of the Freeport element);
ii.  note the engagement that has been undertaken to date;
iii. agree for officers to continue to engage with the Opportunity Cromarty Firth project to help realise the ambitions for the area;
iv.  agree to continue to assess the merits or otherwise of seeking Freeport status subject to further dialogue with Scottish Government and consideration of the results from socio-economic analysis.

 

 

There is circulated Report No. ECI/31/20 dated 12 October 2020 by the Executive Chief Officer Infrastructure and Environment.

 

The Committee is invited to:-

 

i.  note the key proposals set out in the Proposed Changes to Pre-Application Consultation Requirements in Planning consultation document; and
ii. agree to homologate the submitted response, at Appendix 1 of the report.

11. Application for an Order to Exempt Access Rights during the construction of a Wind Turbine Development at Limekiln, Reay

 

There is circulated Report No. ECI/32/20 dated 10 October 2020 by the Executive Chief Officer Infrastructure and Environment.

 

The Committee is invited to consider the outstanding objections and representations and either:-

 

i. approve the Section 11 Order (with outstanding objections) to exclude public access rights for a period of 2 years and forward the application to Scottish Ministers who may confirm the order (with or without modifications) or refuse to confirm it;

or

ii. not approve the Section 11 Order to exclude public access rights for a period of 2 years and not forward the application to Scottish Ministers thereby requiring the developer to facilitate open public access on the core path whilst construction of the wind farm takes place.

 

 

There is circulated Report No. ECI/33/20 dated 9 October 2020 by the Executive Chief Officer Infrastructure and Environment.

 

The Committee is invited to:-

 

i.  note the position; and
ii. approve the change to the outage period from 2021/22 to 2022/23.

 

 

There is circulated Report No. ECI/34/20 dated 4 November 2020 by the Executive Chief Officer Infrastructure and Environment.

 

The Committee is invited to:-

 

i.    note that a letter was sent to the Cabinet Minister seeking approval to form a working group with officers from Transport Scotland, regarding the possibility of transferring over responsibility for the Corran ferry service in accordance with the principles set out in the Scottish Ferries Plan. The letter can be found in Appendix 1 of the report;
ii.   note that the Scottish government have advised that they will require confirmation regarding the Council’s plans to fund the capital replacement of the vessels and slipways prior to the setting up of a formal working group to discuss any potential future transfer of responsibility. The responding letter from the Cabinet Minister can be found in Appendix 2 of the report;
iii.  note that the Corran Ferry Project will be included as part of the Council’s Capital Programme Review;
iv.   agree to support the proposal for the new preferred Vessel and Infrastructure option - 2 x 25 car smaller hybrid vessels straight through (Ro-Ro) operation as detailed in Appendix 3 of the report;
v.    note the Vessel and Infrastructure general arrangements and analysis (including high-level capital costs) – Option A / Option B as detailed in Appendix 4 of the report;
vi.   note the requirement for the project managers secondment to be extended by 2 years (up to May 2023) to facilitate the ongoing discussions / negotiations with Transport Scotland / CMAL and other key stakeholders, and to ensure that links between the Local Community and Officers are maintained. Methods of delivery will be established, the necessary investment in the ferry service will be planned and a start date determined. The secondment will continue to be funded through the Corran Ferry trading account;
vii.  note that the project will be seeking funding to procure an external source to undertake a detailed report on the critical importance of the ferry to meeting the varied socio-economic needs of the fragile communities served by the Corran Ferry;
viii. note A draft terms of reference for the Corran narrows fixed link working group are with relevant ward members for their consideration; and
ix.   note the information in previous reports –

 

 

There is circulated Report No. ECI/35/20 dated 12 October 2020 by the Executive Chief Officer for Economy & Infrastructure.

The Committee is asked to agree that the 2019/20 report is submitted as part of the mandatory reporting process under the Public Bodies Climate Change Duties.

 

 

There is circulated Report No. ECI/36/20 dated 7 October 2020 by the Executive Chief Officer Infrastructure and Environment.

 

The Committee is invited to:-

 

i.  note the results of the Scottish Road Maintenance Condition Survey for 2019 and that our relative ranking has fallen from 25 to 26 position amongst Scottish Councils; and
ii. consider the report as a useful source of evidence for capital programming.

 

 

There is circulated Report No. ECI/37/20 dated 12 October 2020 by the Executive Chief Officer Infrastructure and Environment.

 

The Committee is invited to:-

 

i.  approve the Biodiversity Duty Report 2018-2020 for publication on the Council’s website by the end of December 2020; and
ii. note the content and breadth of work related to biodiversity undertaken across the organisation, accepting that the report still needs to incorporate the work of the High Life Highland Rangers (following return from furlough) and may be subject to a number of presentational and typographical changes prior to publication.

 

 

There is circulated Report No. ECI/38/20 dated 22 September 2020 by the Executive Chief Officer Infrastructure and Environment.

 

The Committee is invited to note:-

 

i.  the position of the Bridge Stock Condition Indicators in Highland; and
ii. the current position in Highland in relation to the number of structures inspections undertaken.

 

 

There is circulated Report No ECI/39/20 dated 12 October 2020 by the Executive Chief Officer Infrastructure and Environment.

 

The Committee is invited to:-

 

i.   consider the Annual report from the Northern Roads Collaboration Joint Committee as attached at Appendix 1 of the report;
ii.  note the continued role of Highland Council in providing the Finance Officer for the Joint Committee; and
iii. note that it is intended that the Economy and Infrastructure Committee will continue to receive an annual report on performance activities annual achievements of the Joint Committee.

 

 

There is circulated for noting Minutes of the Planning Applications Committees (PAC) for:-

i.   North PAC –   5 August 2020 ;
ii.  South PAC – 18 August 2020 ;
iii. North PAC – 15 September 2020 ;

and, for approval:-

iv. Harbours Management Board of 16 October 2020; and
v. City Region Deal Monitoring Group of 19 October 2020.