In the last year or so, there have been a few occasions when the topic of a Closed Circuit Television Camera system for Biggar has been mentioned, both on social media and at community council meetings. To try and progress this matter, Biggar Community Council has carried out a preliminary site survey to identify an indicative cost. The site survey was carried out by the company who designed the scheme planned and authorised for Selkirk town centre. The preliminary site survey suggests that the capital cost of a CCTV scheme for Biggar covering the High Street from the Broughton Road/North Back Road junctions to the Park Place/Station Road junctions would be between £25,000 and £35,000. The indicative running cost of the scheme would be approx. £2,400 a year. Please note that at this stage Biggar Community Council is only committed to finding out the views of local residents and businesses. Further steps would need support from members of the community. It is not yet known who might be responsible for running any system. Please help us to gauge the view of the Biggar Community on this matter, by taking part in a short survey which should only take a few moments to complete. If you know of someone who is not online, but would like to complete the survey please email [email protected] or phone 01899 229211 to arrange for a paper copy to be delivered. The survey will run until Monday 14 Dec 2020
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Do you know where your nearest grit bin is? The map below shows most of the grit bins in Biggar, although we know of some that are not on the map.
Do you need a grit bin for your area? Don't wait until it snows before raising an issue. You can ask for a grit bin by contacting SLC using their Road Faults form. Please note that grit from the grit bins should only be used on public roads and pavements and not on private paths or driveways. We have had a response from the West of Scotland Breast Screening Service regarding issues with the location of the screening van. This is what they have said:
We would like to thank you for taking the time to conduct the survey sent to us for information. We in the centre are also surveying clients from Biggar which will be ongoing until this screening round is complete. As you are aware clients attending for screening have been given a paper based survey and stamped addressed envelope to allow feedback return. To date good numbers have been received and results will be collated once screening for this GP practice is complete. We are also collecting information relating to those who cancel or do not attend their appointments and will collate results of all surveys for presentation to key stakeholders. The service is proposing that a lessons learned exercise is arranged for spring 2021 at which survey results can be shared and used to inform decision making. We plan that the views of the clients from Biggar are uppermost in the planning for future screening locations for this client group. Now that the breast screening service have contact for the Community Council in the Biggar area we will continue to include the group in relevant key stakeholder discussions. This sounds promising, and we look forward to working with the screening service, Biggar Medical Practice, the Patient Group and the community to find a suitable location to carry out screening locally in future. A big Thank You to all of the ladies who took the time to complete the survey. SLC are consulting on changes to the Scheme of Establishment for Community Councils. The Scheme governs how CCs operate. SLC's scheme has not been updated for many years, and therefore does not consider how technology such as email and online meetings should be used.
The changes that SLC propose aim to set out how and when CCs can hold online meetings. Biggar CC are concerned that the proposed changes may not have the effect which SLC intend. We feel that the wording of SLC's proposed amendments to the scheme are confused, and at times contradictory. The impression that they give is that online meetings would not be open to the public, but we have found that many members of the public find online meetings easier to attend than face to face ones. Furthermore the proposed changes would only allow online meetings to be held under specific circumstances such as COVID or bad weather, rather than allowing meetings to be held online, or in a "blended" format whenever CCs see fit. We also feel that there are a number of areas of the Scheme which need to be updated, and that SLC is missing an opportunity by not including these in their review. You can find out more about the proposed changes on the SLC website. Comments should be submitted to SLC by 1 Dec by emailing [email protected]. |
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