Kincardine and Mearns Area Committee met this morning, via Skype. Here is a flavour of the meeting.

• STORM: The area chair opened the meeting by recognising what communities, public bodies and utilities have experienced over the last 10 days in the aftermath of Storm Arwen.

• GRANTS: A balance of £19,868.99 remains in the area budget for grants to community bodies in this financial year. Stonehaven Fireballs Association was awarded £4000 to help pay for insurance, and Auchenblae School was awarded £2610 to support a community digital literacy project to enable them to buy 18 iPads.

• POLICY: Proposals for four new policy papers were scrutinised. They cover street naming, signs for tourist attractions, enforcement of roads, and traffic authority powers, and electric vehicle charges. Regarding the last policy, on-street charging which involves a cable crossing the pavement would not be permissible. Footways are for pedestrians. The final decisions will be made by the infrastructure committee in the New Year.

• EARLY YEARS: Proposals for changes to pre-school early learning policies were discussed. It is proposed to formally introduce a fourth term, at the October break. This would mean children born between 1 September and the start of the October term would be eligible from the October term rather than the January term, as is the case at present. Officers also propose to greatly simplify the process for parents reapplying for a second year at the same setting. The education and children’s services committee will make the final decision in January.

• WANT MORE?: All the reports – and a recording of the meeting – can be found here: https://committees.aberdeenshire.gov.uk/committees.aspx?commid=8&meetid=19923