Men’s Shed milestone
I was delighted to see the great progress made by the Portlethen & District Men’s Shed today. Quite remarkable result of four years’ hard work. They will be having an official opening when the weather gets warmer.
There is more at https://www.facebook.com/PortlethenMS
Bettridge’s birthday party
The birthday cake about to be cut, marking the 15 years since the Bettridge Centre in Newtonhill was opened.
Manager Louise Shepherd-Burnett was doing the honours at the coffee morning.
The original part of the Bettridge was called the Newtonhill Community Hall. A huge campaign was launched at the turn of the century to expand into what you see today, and it was then renamed the Bettridge Centre, after the inlet which bites into the Coastal Park. The official opening of the Bettridge Centre took place on 1 March 2003.
You can find out more about the Bettridge including what’s on offer at https://www.facebook.com/Bettridge.Centre/
Council services and the winter blast
Broadband pledge welcomed
Keep in touch as blizzards continue
Nearly 4000 respond to recycling survey
A survey aimed at improving recycling and waste services in Aberdeenshire has now closed.
It ran throughout February, gathering 3,923 responses which will now feed into future decisions on the approach to recycling and waste.
Six focus groups were also held across the region which allowed residents to give more detailed feedback on the proposals.
Residents gave their views on how Aberdeenshire Council services could be improved to boost the region’s recycling rate – currently 43.5% – and how to send less materials to landfill.
A recent waste analysis showed around 30,000 tonnes of materials that could be recycled using existing services are currently sent to landfill at the cost of around £3.5 million per year.
Possible changes put to residents to encourage the use of existing recycling services included introducing smaller kerbside landfill bins, less frequent collections of the current landfill bin, or both.
In addition, a new-look service could include opt-in garden waste collections from householders – either made possible by less frequent uplifts of landfill waste or as a paid-for service for those opting in.
The council’s recycling and waste team will now analyse the results from the survey and focus groups. These results and other considerations, including cost and operational viability, will feed into a future recycling and waste strategy.
A formal public consultation will be then held on that draft strategy to seek residents’ opinions, as well as those of councillors on the council’s six area committees in the autumn.
Any changes required as a result of the formal consultation will be made to the draft strategy, which will then go to the council’s Infrastructure Services Committee and Full Council for further discussion and decision.
Bad news over credit union
North East Scotland Credit Union (Nescu) has gone into administration. The administrator has confirmed that the credit union had ceased trading and is not expected to re-open. Nescu had some 2600 members.
Anyone who has savings with Nescu is guaranteed to have their funds returned. All of the credit union’s savers will have their balances returned by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS). Savers should look out for a letter in the post from the FSCS in the next few days.
Pitch to be replaced
The synthetic pitch surface at Portlethen Academy is to be replaced this summer as it is coming to the end of its life.
Portlethen and District Community Council heard tonight that Aberdeenshire Council officers have taken the decision to replace the existing surface with a new multi-use one, one that can accommodate hockey. The meeting was told that it became clear that losing the ability to host hockey would lead to a significant under-provision of hockey pitches in Aberdeenshire as a whole.
If it were replaced with an all-weather football pitch, there would be nowhere in the south of Aberdeenshire to play competitive hockey.
Replacing like-for-like means that nothing will change. This decision has been taken in the interests of the clubs that exist in the academy network.
The alternative was an all-weather football pitch, however officers are confident that the community wanting to play football have existing facilities available to them, and this keeps hockey on the list of opportunities as well. This surface can be used for recreational football.
The meeting heard that the academy offers a range of sports to pupils including hockey.
- The community council also awarded £600 to the ATC for new tents, and £500 to Hillside Baby and Toddler group, to help them with start-up costs.
Concerns over masterplan
The masterplan for housing to the south of Newtonhill came before the Kincardine and Mearns Area Committee this afternoon.
A decision was deferred so that the developers could address continuing concerns about the proposals impinging on the green belt and about how farm vehicles would safely pass through the development to access the farm to the south.
The deferral was won on an seven to three vote, with the minority happy with the proposals as they stand. All four North Kincardine ward councillors supported the deferral.