We Asked, You Said, We Will

We asked

Roads and Infrastructure Services is currently undertaking a review of its Winter Maintenance Policy and asked for your views on what should be considered as priorities for winter maintenance, along with any additional feedback.

You said

1831 people responded to the survey. The survey results have been included in a report to councillors, which you can read here (item 9 on the agenda): Agenda for Garioch Area Committee on Tuesday, 27th August, 2024, 9.30 am - Aberdeenshire Council (moderngov.co.uk)

We will

Based on the feedback received, Roads and Infrastructure Services are actively working on further improvements to the website and related processes.

Some examples of suggested improvements that we will be investigating further are:

• Live camera feeds of the road network
• Grit pile locations with a logging feature
• An informative piece on the gritting process
• Expected timelines for treatment completion
• Real-time weather condition updates
• Live updates on road closures due to severe weather

The feedback also highlighted a lack of awareness about existing information and resources we provide to the public, such as the Snow Warden Scheme, gritter tracking, treatment plans, and weather station data. In response to this, we will be raising awareness through social media and promoting through various community groups.

We asked

Aberdeenshire Council was asked to support the establishment of a new Peterhead Town Board as part of the Long-term Plan for Town programme from the UK Government. To enable this, Aberdeenshire Council was asked to appoint an independent Chairperson, to support the appointment of Board Members and to act as the Accountable Body for the programme. We asked:

1. For nominations to the role of Chairperson.
2. For nominations to join the Board as a Member.

You said

We received several nominations for the role of Chairperson. We also received more than twenty nominations for Board members.

We did

Appointment of Chairperson:

After a short-listing process involving representatives for the MP for Banff and Buchan, David Duguid, and taking into account the guidance from the UK Government, four candidates were considered by the Buchan Area Committee on 4^th June 2024.

James Buchan DL was appointed to the role of Independent Chair of Peterhead Town Board

Appointment of Interim Peterhead Town Board:

Aberdeenshire Council supported the new Chair to appoint Board members considering the UK Government Guidance and the nominations received.

Fifteen additional members have been invited to form the Interim Board.

• Seamus Logan, MP*
• Karen Adam, MSP
• Cllr Matthew James*
• Cllr Stephen Smith*
• Steven McDonald, Chief Inspector Police Scotland*
• Alan Sneddon
• Steven Donald
• Gary Addison
• Dianne Beagrie
• Karen Day
• Brian McCombie
• Terry Moran
• Linda Hendry
• Rev. James McMillan
• Scott Will

*Board members required by UK Government guidance

Aberdeenshire Council publishes information about the Peterhead Long-Term Plan and Town Board here: Peterhead Long Term Town Plan - Aberdeenshire Council

We asked

The charity Bairnecessities Baby Bank submitted an Asset Transfer request to take ownership of the former Area Office building and surrounding land in the village of Maud. The proposal was to refurbish the building as a base for the charity and a hub for other organisations offering services to families and children. The charity required better storage facilities for the donated equipment they provide, to enable them to help more families and reduce waste. The community were asked for their views on whether they supported or objected to the proposal.

You said

We received no representations in relation to the proposal. All of the documents relating to the Asset Transfer request can be viewed on the Council’s website by following this link Asset Transfer - Maud Area Office - Aberdeenshire Council

We will

The Asset Transfer request was considered by the Buchan Area Committee on 25 June 2024 and it unanimously agreed that this proposal should be supported. The Council will now formally transfer the former office building to Bairnecessities Baby Bank.

We Asked

We asked for your opinions on, and experiences with, booking certain activities and spaces through the Council’s current booking systems.

You Said

That overall the booking experience with the Council tended to be more negative than positive. You reported issues with completing bookings and difficulty in using our booking systems.

We will

We gathered your feedback and used this to help shape a business case for a new bookings system for the Council. We are currently reviewing the viability of this project. If approved, we will look to develop and implement a new booking system that is more streamlined and user friendly.

We asked

Stonehaven Tolbooth Association (STA) submitted an Asset Transfer request to take ownership of the whole of the Tolbooth Building in Stonehaven. The proposal was to continue to run the museum on the ground floor with the Tolbooth restaurant continuing to operate on the upper floor. In taking responsibility for the whole of the building, STA would also have become the restaurant owner’s landlord. The community were asked for their views on whether they supported or objected to the proposal.

You said

We received 7 representations in support of the proposal with no objections being received. All documents relating to the Asset Transfer request and public comments can be viewed on the Council’s website – Asset Transfer - Tolbooth Building, Stonehaven - Aberdeenshire Council.

We will

In determining all Asset Transfer requests the Council must take into consideration all current Policies and Procedures. The Asset Transfer request was for the entire building which included the restaurant business which provides an annual income to the Council. The Council’s Asset Disposal Policy in general has a presumption against disposal of assets capable of producing an income unless a substantial capital receipt could be generated. Therefore Officers were only able to recommend the transfer of the ground floor with the upper floor being retained by the Council as a commercial income generating asset. On 26 March 2024 the Kincardine & Mearns Area Committee voted to approve the transfer of the whole building to STA for £1. As the decision was contrary to Officer recommendation, in line with the Council’s Governance structure, it at that point required the Asset Transfer request to be referred to the Business Services Committee for final determination. A report was presented to Business Services Committee on 13 June 2024 where Councillors voted to uphold the Officer recommendation taking into consideration the Asset Disposal Policy and therefore the decision was for the Council to retain the upper floor with only the ground floor transferring to STA. The Council will now work with STA to formally transfer the museum on the ground floor.

We asked

If you are a regular user of the Aberdeenshire Community Planning Partnership (CPP) website, or have used it in the past, we wanted to know what your experience was.

You said

31 responses were received, 40% of responses noted that they did not know about the website. From the comments that where received it highlighted that information is current and that external links work. Improvements are required around site searching and the use of keywords on the website.

We will

The feedback received will be used to improve the service, and it will allow content editors to focus on sections of the website that require attention and improvement.

These are some of the areas we are focusing on:

• Improving site search
• Making navigation easier
• Improving presentation
• Improving quality of information
• Making sure contact details are available and easier to find

We asked

The Council Plan is a strategic document setting out how we will meet our communities needs and expectations over the next few years. It is based on outcomes that we want to achieve for Aberdeenshire, focusing on improving the wellbeing of residents and making our region a more sustainable place to live, work and visit. We asked communities for their views on the priorities included in the plan. Participants were asked to what extent they agreed with the Council Plan, how clear and relatable it was, and to let us know about anything they thought was missing from the plan.

You said

285 responses were received. 53% of respondents agreed or strongly agreed with the Council Plan. Participants suggested that the plan was high level and lacking in detail, however were pleased to see the inclusion of travel as a priority and asked that rural communities should feature in the plan.

We will

Feedback from communities was shared with councillors at a meeting of the full council on 27 June 2024. The full report can be found here. Following discussion, Councillors approved the new Council Plan. Further details on how the Council Plan will be delivered will be provided within Service Business Plans and performance indicators will be established to monitor council activity towards delivering the plan. The Council Plan is now available to read on our website.

We asked

In March and April this year, we engaged with the local community for feedback on our proposed route connecting Montgarrie and Alford. Initial engagement towards the end of 2023 found that the majority of respondents supported the route being developed. Following this support, our designer continued to work on the proposed route through Haughton Country Park. This time we asked the community if the more detailed design fitted their needs and if there were any barriers to accessing the route that hadn’t been identified by the design. We also asked for suggestions to enable people to access and enjoy the route.

You said

Most respondents did not identify any barriers to using the route which hadn’t been addressed by the design. The most common suggestion for improvements that would enable people to use the path was to install clear signage. Some comments received were outwith the limitations and boundaries of the project such as comments on surfacing and lighting. These limitations were outlined in the project information that accompanied the survey.

We will

Our designer is finalising the details of the design following the feedback received. We will start construction of the route during 2024/25. Once construction starts, we will be in a better position to confirm when the route will open to the public.

We Asked

Getting active outdoors is good for us all; coastal paths help visitors enjoy our amazing coastline, and that supports our local businesses, too. Working with Community Councils and various clubs, groups and businesses, Aberdeenshire Council has begun work to look at path improvements between Whitehills and Banff, and Macduff to Tarlair, and we needed the ideas and suggestions from the public to help shape the plans for the project and to then apply for external funding.

For both sections of path, a local stakeholder group was established to oversee this work. We are grateful to the members of these groups for their helpful contributions to the ongoing discussions and preparations. The Consultation was hosted on EngageHQ and supported with hard copy fliers and posters. Participation was driven by a 15-point marketing action plan.

You Said

The results highlight that there were 481 participants, 188 of which provided their contact information in order to receive updates on the project. Both these numbers are encouraging and clearly reflect the strong level of interest in the subject matter.

• The top three uses of the coastal paths are leisure walking (85%), walking dogs (46%) and cycling (24%).
• The top three interests of coastal path users are dolphin spotting (44%), photography (39%) and bird watching (26%).
• 39% of respondents walk daily, 22% walk several times a week and 17% walk once a week.
• 58% walk with one other person, 49% walk with friends and family group and 47% walk with their dog.
• 7% use a walking aid, 7% use a stroller and 3% use a wheelchair.
• 23.5% of respondents use the Whitehills to Banff coast path 1 or 2 times a month, 22.5% use it several times per week and 21% use it approximately weekly.
• 45% of respondents never use the Macduff to Tarlair route and 25% only use it in a good weather, and 14% use it 1 or 2 times per month.
• There was unanimous support for the proposal to create a “spur” path from the marina area, up the hill adjacent to the Castle, through the Town, turning left by St Marys Church and re-connecting to the main path via Low Street and Carmelite Street.
• When looking at preference for refreshments, 76% look for coffee and cake, 30% look for some form of take away refreshments and 17% look for a place for a meal.
• When asked to rank what facilities do you feel coast path users would most benefit from, respondents ranked in order high to low, Information boards (heritage, wildlife etc), signposting to local places of interest and more benches.
• 32% of respondents live in Banff, 22% live in Macduff and 19% live in Whitehills.
• 27% of respondents are in the 55-64 years of age bracket, 26% are in the 45-54 years of age bracket and 18% are in the 35-44 age bracket.
• Favourite walks are between Whitehills – Links – Banff (21%), Duff House & Wrack Woods (5%) and Bridge of Alvah (4%).
• Lastly, the subjects the respondents shared on topics we did not specifically address in the main questions were provision of publicly accessible toilets (4%), provision of dog poo bins and litter bins (4%), coastal erosion (4%) and signposting, waymarking and interpretation (information boards) (3%).

We Will

Work is now underway on a detailed specification and a route map for both sections of coast path. Once this available and costed, the stakeholder groups will review this in conjunction with the full consultation results. Following this, funding applications would be prepared to fund the coast path development in a phased approach. This will be based on the work which can be enabled as a result of the decisions/permissions secured from external bodies.

During the intervening period we will provide project updates to keep all stakeholders and interested parties up to date.

We asked

We asked for views on our Local Heat and Energy Efficiency Strategy (LHEES). The strategy aims to guide heat delivery across all building types in Aberdeenshire, setting out a vision for the heat transition and improving building energy efficiency.

You said

You can read about the consultation response here: Documents | Aberdeenshire Local Heat and Energy Efficiency Strategy (Draft) | Engage Aberdeenshire

We will

Following the consultation, comments were considered and the draft strategy amended as appropriate. The Local Heat and Energy Efficiency Strategy is being presented to Full Council Committee on the 27th June 2024. We will update in due course following the committee decision.