Skye &
Lochalsh Access Panel
Minutes of
meeting at Victoria Cottage, Portree
Tuesday 23rd
May 2006
10.30 am
Present:
Una MacLeod, Joan Turkington,
Julia Rudram, Mike Taylor, Colin Hutchings, Peter Kinloch, Alex Crockett,
John Holt, Nora Warby, Liz MacLeod.
- Apologies:
Hazel Godfrey, Chantal
MacLeod, Patsy MacDonald, Kathleen & Colin McCormack, Marjorie Jagger.
- Minutes:
The agreement
to pay the support worker for 3 hours per week had been omitted from
the minutes of 20th April; otherwise they were approved by
Alex Crockett and seconded by John Holt as being a true record.
- Matters Arising:
- Website – A
comment had been received from The Lochalsh and Glenelg Disability Fund
regarding the incorrect height of the disability toilet at Armadale
Castle. It was agreed that we would check the regulations and write
to Armadale Castle, if they were incorrect, and amend the information
on the website.
- Planning meeting
– Julia said that there were 5 or 6 plans to be discussed so a meeting
is to be arranged with the planning office. The dental surgery in Kyle
is undergoing major changes but the Panel had not seen any plans although
we had written to them in the past and sent guidelines.
- Portree Regeneration
Plan – Colin Hutchings had more details and new plans regarding the
Portree North Framework and number of new houses to be built but pathways
had not yet been discussed. There was some concern that existing services
would not be able to cope with the new influx of residents.
- Finance – Peter
is still waiting for details of the proposed joint insurance policy
but the Panel decided that we would have to renew independently if the
joint plan wasn’t through by the time our policy ran out in June.
- Royal Bank of
Scotland, Portree. The pot holes in the bank car park had been filled
in and we are very grateful to the Bank for responding to our request.
- Funding Fayre
in Kyleakin – Kathleen and Colin McCormack had been unable to attend
the meeting but sent along the information that they had gathered. They
said that Lloyds TSB was the funder that they thought most likely to
give us a grant. We need funding to re-print all our leaflets and guidelines.
- No further word
on the suggested meeting in The Western Isles.
- Talisker Distillery
– the report is now complete and will be handed to the Distillery
shortly. It is hoped to get some publicity for the Panel when we hand
it over. Julia has also completed all of the three other reports she
had to do for her assignment for Heriot Watt and her final exam is in
two weeks time. We still have to decide on charges for audits once Julia
has qualification. It was agreed that Julia could go ahead with the
purchase of the hand held computer which records all measurements taken
on an audit.
- Mike and Liz attended
the meeting of the Highlands and Islands Equalities Forum at the Cuillin
Hills on Tuesday 25th April but were disappointed by the
lack of networking opportunities although the information provided was
well received.
- Liz attended
the Forum on Discrimination Open Day at Aros on Friday 19th
May. She felt that it would have been better if more people from Skye
& Lochalsh had attended which might have resulted in more emphasis
on local discrimination issues.
- Sabhal Mòr Ostaig
has marked out designated disabled parking whether as a result of our
letter or not, the outcome is what we had hoped.
- New Business:
- The state of the
Portree toilets is disgusting and a letter will be sent from the Access
Panel to the attention of Mark Crowe of Highland Council.
- Highland Council
is to give us one of their refurbished computers and this will be collected
from Inverness by John MacDonald.
- Donald Kennedy
has agreed to come and talk to the Panel regarding wheelchair access
to pathways around Portree so we will agree upon a suitable date.
- There is a problem
in Kyle with the post box outside the new post office. The box is up
a flight of steps so Liz will look into this.
- Colin Hutchings
asked for ID badges for those on the committee that don’t have them.
Liz will make them for the next meeting.
- The door of the
chemist shop in Portree is very difficult for disabled people to open
so a letter will be sent requesting easier access.
- Sabhal Mòr Ostaig
has requested our presence at a ‘Diversity Day’ during the last
week in June. Julia and Liz will attend.
- Next Meeting:
