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CULTER COURIER

ISSUE No.79 MAY 2000

PUBLISHED BY THE COMMUNITY COUNCIL

Community Council News

During the past three months, the Community Council has been busy with its normal responsibilities with nothing much out of the ordinary taking place.

 

The new Gala Committee was established with Dorothy Anderson as Chairperson. Dorothy was my predecessor on the Community Council and she has Culter's interests very much at heart. With her experience, it is certain that the Gala Committee will be successful. Thanks for answering the call, Dorothy. More information about the Gala can be found elsewhere in this Courier.

 

At the March meeting of CCC, I introduced our new Community Police Officer, Kevin McKenzie. By way of an introduction, PC McKenzie briefly outlined his career to date and his objectives for his present position in Culter. He hoped the team would be complete when PC Paul Brown was free to join the staff at Culter office.

 

It doesn't seem long since the present Community Council took office - time marches on - this Council ends in October when a new Community Council is elected. More about that, and all the community news, in the next issue of the Courier.

 

"Seeing is Believing"

 In the last issue, when writing about the crossing on North Deeside Road, I ended with the words, 'Let's wait and see.' Well, seeing is believing! Work on the crossing is in progress and maybe, before you read this, the crossing will have been completed.

 

Jim Ritchie Chairman

 

Planning

Hamilton Builders Yard, Brighton Place

A planning application was made at the end of November 1999 by Castlehill Housing Association to amend the planning application they had already been granted in 1998 for this site. to build two blocks of eight single-bedroomed flats, mainly for people with special needs. There also would be parking for sixteen cars - one space per flat.

 

In replying, I repeated the objections, comments and concerns expressed by Culter Community Council (CCC) not only to the 1997/1998 planning application, but also to the first application made in 1995 (and granted in 1996) for two blocks of six flats with eighteen parking spaces. These covered the CCC's objections to yet another business site being turned into housing, and great concern for safety with the increased traffic on this narrow, often congested, steep road with narrow pavements which also is used by a high number of pedestrians.

 

In mid-December, I received a telephone call from Mrs Liz Sergeant of the Social Work Department of Aberdeen City Council asking if she could talk to CCC on this present application and a related matter, namely the Pop-in which is owned by Social Services. As a result, she and a colleague attended CCC's meeting on 19 January 2000. Mrs Pam MacDonald, our local City Councillor, and Mr Bill Booth, chairman of the Pop-in Management Committee, were also present.

 

Mrs Sergeant explained that the Castlehill Housing Association wanted one block of eight single- bedroomed flats to remain as designed for mainstream letting but to restructure the other block internally to have one very large flat plus one, two or three single- bedroomed flats. These would provide accommodation for seven people with physical and/ or learning difficulties, some severely disabled who would require nursing and social care on a 24-hour basis. These people were presently living in hospitals. Apparently one or two come from Culter originally and want to return to live in the community and this type of accommodation would make that possible.

 

Regarding the Pop-in, Mrs Sergeant said that her department intended to upgrade the kitchen and toilet facilities so that the disabled could use them also. It was intended that the group would use the place for a limited number of sessions per week (two or three at most) but, even better, she hoped that some of them could participate with the groups already using the Pop-in, if that was appropriate. Mr Booth was concerned that there would be a gradual 'take-over' to the detriment of the groups and clubs presently using the Pop-in but Mrs Sergeant assured us all that no lets would be lost. The idea was to help these people to integrate and participate in community activities.

 

The CCC members informed Mrs Sergeant of their objections and concerns which I, as Planning Liaison Officer, had passed on to the Planning Department. While appreciating the whole idea, CCC questioned whether or not the site was appropriate for the physically impaired and those with special needs. On member suggested that there was more need for sheltered housing in Culter.

 

On March 10, the Planning Department sent a letter confirming the redesigned block was for use as Mrs Sergeant described and that, of the thirteen parking spaces intended, eight would be allocated to the block of eight flats which left only five for the redesigned block.

 

At their meeting on March 20, CCC again discussed this planning application and concluded that the redesign of the interior of the block virtually constituted a' change of use' from 'housing' to the provision of a 'mini hospital ward' entailing the need for nurses, care workers, therapists, cooks, cleaners, etc. It was considered unlikely that all of these 'attendants' would live locally and that most would likely come by car. Their relatives also would visit the residents/patients regularly. All in all, the parking for the site was considered to be very inadequate for the intended changes and, if allowed to go ahead, would exacerbate the already congested parking situation around Brighton Place and possibly into Brighton Grange. These concerns were passed on to the Planning Department in writing.

 

At the time of writing this article, the Planning Committee had made no decision but I will let you know the outcome in a future edition of the Courier.

 

 Lavina C Massie Planning Liaison Officer

DISTRICT NEWS

It is good to see the zebra crossing at the Coronation Road junction at last. But the sadness about the cuts to the number 24 bus service overshadows all. I am investigating the possibility of getting another operator to run a service. I hope all users have signed the petition.

 

The Council is assessing demand for sheltered housing in various parts of the city. Those in rented or owner- occupied housing are equally eligible for this, according to need. I am convinced that there is a hidden demand in Culter, which is not taken into account because few people apply for accommodation that does not yet exist. I am trying to assess this hidden demand and hope you can help. If you, or any of your relatives, are likely to need sheltered housing in Culter in the next few years, please fill in the form below and send it in to Cllr. Pam MacDonald at 26 Station Road West.

 

 

All information will be kept confidential. Also please put your name down on the Council's list, with Culter as one area of choice. When we do get sheltered housing, it will be available to people from any area m. the city and will be in demand from all parts of Lower Deeside.

 

 

 

Peterculter Health Centre

 

Building continues apace at the health centre, and it is now heartening to see some real progress with the extension at the back of the building (new consulting rooms, administration / management space and staff room). The new main entrance is being worked on at present, and there will also be a phased renovation of the rest of the building's interior following shortly. We expect work to be complete by late summer, and we are all looking forward to this with great enthusiasm.

 

Unfortunately our annual rooftop visitors, the oystercatchers who have nested and indeed expanded their species on top of the health centre for the past few years, have not been able to join us this year, presumably on account of the building work. However we hope that the renovated roof will be to their liking in the future!

 

To turn to seasonal medical matters, can I remind those of you planning travel abroad this summer to make contact with us early regarding appropriate immunisation and other advice. It is not advisable to be caught out by a late booking to an exotic location with no time available for appropriate protection -a recent medical study showed that there was a wide variability in the quality of basic medical/ immunisation advice given by travel agents at the point of booking.

 

Our Meningitis C immunisation programme is well under way. It is hoped that the developers of vaccines will manage to find a way of combining this component

 

with the other vaccine ingredients for babies to avoid the double injection, as happened with the HiB vaccine several years ago.

 

With best wishes for a healthy summer.

 

Dr DCM Harris

 

 

47th Aberdeen (Culter) Boys' Brigade

 

The 47th Aberdeen (Culter) Company Boys' Brigade held their annual End of Session Parade and Prize-giving Service at Peterculter Parish Church on the afternoon of14th May.

 

The Anchor Boys, Junior Section and Company Section were led in the parade from the Gordon Arms by the company's pipe band. The service was the first End of Session service conducted by our new Chaplain Rev John Ferguson, and it was well attended by families and friends of the company:

 

The Major Company Section Awards were presented to the following Boys:

 

David Thomson Cup for Best Recruit: Pte James Dron

Mr & Mrs Gordon Steadfast Trophy for Endeavour: Pte Calum Robertson

Officers Challenge Shield for Best Junior: Pte Ryan Moore

Rev JB Montgomery Salver for Endeavour: Cpl John Grant

Officers Challenge Shield for Best Senior: Cpl Andrew Groundwater

James Brown Drill Cup: Cpl Andrew Groundwater

 

Three boys in the Company Section were presented with The President’s Badge (the 2nd highest award available to boys in the BB) at the service. The boys presented were Ross Bisset, John Grant and Andrew Groundwater.

 

Staff Sergeant Darren Mann was presented with the Brigade's highest award -The Queen's Badge. Darren is the first member of our company to complete this in the last three years. It is hoped now that, over the next year or two, Ross, John and Andrew will go on to gain The Queen's Badge

 

Craig Sim  Company Captain

 

 

 

Camphill News

For us in Camphill, we experienced for the first time Easter without our pupils as we attempted to link ourselves with the local school holiday dates.

 

One of the highlights was the possibility to go to our Cairnlee Estate in Bieldside and see the 'living pictures' presented by David Newbatt and his colleagues.

 

These 'living pictures' are human reproductions of the great artistic masterpieces that represent the different days of Holy Week. Every day a new picture was presented on stage which created, in the audience, a sense of awe and wonder at the magnitude of the events of that special week.

 

On a more personal note, no article written at this time should omit to mention the passing away of lain Smith MBE on Palm Sunday; For many years, lain was the Chairman of the Camphill Schools and more recently the Honorary President of the School.

 

As a local man, he presided over the Camphill Schools during a time of expansion and change. His love and devotion to the whole school community and, most especially to the pupils, will be missed enormously.

 

Laurence Alfred.

 

 

Please note the date for our Open Day will be on Saturday 23rd September 2pm -5 pm.

 

 

 

Culter BoPeep Club needs your help!

 

Thank you to everyone who participated in our Disney word search and the sponsored Kindergym morning which the children so much enjoyed.

 

We are trying now to collect as many of the Children 2000 vouchers (published each day in the Evening Express) as we possibly can, so we can qualify for a community grant.

 

If you can help us, please drop vouchers into our collection envelopes in the Village Hall and at Culter School  Nursery.

 

BoPeep Club offers a friendly and stimulating environment for ch