The awards represent a thank you to those who have contributed much to the community, sometimes with great personal difficulties to contend with.

The Hannah Dyson Award went to Sarah-Louise Milne.

The Stonehaven Community Award went to
Sam Dickinson
Margaret Edmond
Carol Humphreys

with a collective award to the Tolbooth Group volunteers.

Cllr Peter Bellarby has welcomed the landscaping work and the provision of picnic benches that has been provided where the old paddling pool used to be before a new one was constructed within the Open Air Pool site. He said: “This enhancement improves the actractiveness of this part of the town for both tourists and locals alike. It is also an additional measure that goes along with the bordering fence that was put up to prevent unauthorised traveller encampments there.”

The Local Community Planning Group is organising Local Community Forums to give more people the chance to influence what is happening and to provide more support to those who would like to be or are already active in their community. Invitations are going out to Community Groups, Community Councils and Community Members. The first Forums are being held on 23rd February 2012 at 7pm. If you would like to attend please come along to your closest Forum. Three separate Forums are being held in each of the following locations:

• Bettridge Centre, Newtonhill, (Ward 17)
• Drumoak Church Hall (Ward 18), and
• Mearns Community Centre, Laurencekirk (Ward 19).

The purpose of these Forums is to gain a better understanding of local needs and aspirations. They are also an opportunity to share information about what is already going on and the kinds of support available to communities and individuals.

The first Forum will be an opportunity to learn how public and voluntary agencies understand current local issues; to help decide what the current priorities should be in your area at the moment and to offer any suggestions for addressing them. For example, if social care is to continue becoming increasingly community-based, how do we make sure we have enough activities and that people can get to them? What is happening to support local people access learning, training, voluntary placements or employment? Do you have any ideas? How can our communities benefit from anticipated revisions to legislation around land reform and community ownership of renewable energy? With the European Fisheries Fund becoming available in 2012 to help former fishing communities develop and diversify, can we identify and support eligible local ventures?

If you’d like to join the conversation and help to set the direction for the Kincardine and Mearns Community Plan, please contact Karen McWilliam at karen.mcwilliam@aberdeenshire.gov.uk or Emma Kidd at e.kidd@aberdeenshire.gov.uk or telephone 01569 768202 and come along to your nearest Forum.

Cllr Peter Bellarby, who will be attending the Ward Forum at Drumoak, said “I hope that there will be a good representation from community groups and community council at the ward fora. It will allow us to concentrate on issues that affect each ward. It is a trial so it will be interesting to see if people find them useful.”

There will be a public consultation on plans by the Caravan Club to upgrade Queen Elizabeth Caravan Park at Stonehaven Upper Town Hall on Saturday 24th March 2012. This is prior to the submission of the formal planning application to Aberdeenshire Council.

There will be a display operating from 11am until 4pm. Tony Barnett of the Caravan Club will be on hand to answer questions on any aspect of the plans. All interested parties will be able to see exactly what is planned in the £1.7 million upgrade of the Caravan Park’s facilities.

At approximately 3pm, Tony Barnett will give a presentation and publicly answer any further questions. The meeting will finish by 4pm.

North Kincardine councillor Ian Mollison said: “People have the opportunity to play their part in shaping Scotland ‘s rail services. In 2014, the contract for ScotRail passenger services and funding arrangements for Network Rail in Scotland come to an end. The consultation by Transport Scotland is a crucial part of the government’s considerations.

“I have already responded and made the case – again – for the re-opening of local stations such as Newtonhill. It is folly that the Aberdeen area does not have its own commuter services. This would take some of the pressure of our roads.”

Councillor Paul Melling said: “Although passenger numbers have been increasing at Portlethen, we need more trains to stop, and a strong marketing campaign so that people know what services are available.”

Stonehaven has seen more and more people use its station, but again not all trains stop there. Councillor Peter Bellarby commented: “The extra car parking has been a great success. We need to build on that and encourage people to travel by train rather than by car.”

Mearns councillor Provost Bill Howatson said: “I am heartened by the re-opening of Laurencekirk station, which has exceeded all expectations. The crucial decision to re-open the station was made by the then Liberal Democrat Transport Minister Nicol Stephen. We need more investment like that in our local rail services.”

Councillor Mollison added: “This is the chance for people to have their say, rather than just mutter into their coffees!”

The consultation ends on Monday 20 February. Further details can be found at the www.transportscotland.gov.uk website.
Access Transport Scotland Website and take part in the Consuktation

•Lower income tax – Nearly 900,000 of the lowest earners were lifted out of paying tax altogether and a further 23 million people received a £200 tax cut. This will happen again next April, and again the April after that, until no one pays any tax on the first £10,000 they earn.

•Pupil premium – This year also saw the Pupil Premium take effect, giving schools extra money for the most disadvantaged children. The Pupil Premium will double to £1.25bn next year and rise every year until by 2015 when it will be worth £2.5bn.

•More apprenticeships – More than 440,000 new apprenticeships started in 2010/11, a 50% increase on the previous year.

•Better pensions – Thanks to the ‘triple lock’ Liberal Democrats have restored the link between pensions and earnings and the Basic State Pension was raised by £4.50 and will rise again by £5.30 next year.

•Reforming the banks – The £2.5bn bank levy was introduced and the Coalition has accepted in full proposals championed by the Lib Dems to separate high street and casino banking.

•A new youth contract – Nick Clegg announced a £1bn scheme to help get young people into work or training, including 410,000 new work places for 18-24 year-olds over three years.

•Clamping down on tax evasion – Everyone should pay their fair share of taxes and we’re clamping down on tax dodgers, bringing in an extra £7bn every year.

•Ending child detention – Liberal Democrats will end the disgraceful practice of locking up children for extended periods for immigration purposes this year.

•Building a greener economy – Announced the most ambitious home insulation programme the UK has ever seen. The Green Deal will help people save money on energy bills, reduce carbon emissions and create thousands of green jobs.

•Investing in the early years – Liberal Democrats extended free early years education to the 140,000 poorest two-year-olds and announced the doubling of provision for nursery places.

Sir Robert Smith MP for West Aberdeenshire & Kincardine and a member of the Energy and Climate Change Committee visited the Subsea Exhibition during last week’s Subsea UK Conference. During his tour he took time to speak with local businesses including Tritech a subsea engineering company based in Westhill.

THE BENEFITS of recycling will be highlighted as part of a national campaign which will visit Montrose on Wednesday and I will be attending to see the roadshow as I am keen to see what more I can recycle.

Supported by Angus Council, a series of roadshows is being held across the county this week to support the Scottish Government’s drive to increase recycling rates.

Experts from the council and government campaign team members will be present to share recycling knowledge and answer questions.

The Montrose road show will be held at Tesco, on Western Road, between 11am and 5pm on Wednesday and the events mark the start of a two-month campaign to encourage the public to recycle more recyclable items more often. Scottish households already help save councils more than £20 million each year in landfill costs by putting recyclable items in their kerbside recycling collections, rather than in their bins.

Council environment spokesman Councillor Jim Millar said: “Angus residents have a great record when it comes to recycling, but to meet challenging recycling targets we need to encourage people to recycle more.”

I back the Alliance budget proposed by Cllr Salmond as it has a considerable amount to offer Montrose as well as across the whole of Angus

As convener of Infrastructure Services, among the recurring issues for many of us as we travel across Angus, and from what we hear from the public are complaints about the continuing pot holes and the need for patching, some of which is related to last years very severe winter. It is also clear from the Angus residents survey that this is a key issue for many Montrose and Angus people and they have identified the need to minimise temporary, responsive patching for more permanent solutions. The award of an extra £1.5 million to this in the budget will I am sure be welcomed by all Angus residents. As the finance convener has also stated the bulk of the R and R monies to go to roads is I am sure also good news.

Furthermore, with the changes that have occurred in recent years in the weather with more intense and prolonged rain having a hugely bad affect on our roads, I also support the extra £100,000 for additional cleaning of drains and gullies in the wider Montrose area as well as across the county. This will make a difference and reduce the dangers to motorists and help to protect the road.

Another roads initiative and one I have directly lobbied for and I am particularly glad to hear about today is the introduction of 8 additional speed actuation signs. This week I have attended 3 meetings in the Montrose area and the issue of speeding has been raised at each of them so the additional signs will I believe help to affect change in attitudes of some motorists and help to make our roads safer.

As a Montrose councillor I am pleased to see extra new money of £40,000 being allocated to assist in the ongoing development of the Montrose Town Regeneration plan. The town regeneration group have spent many many months working up a draft plan which has been out for comments from the Montrose public. However, we have only had the funds for phase 1 and this extra sum will mean we can make much more progress in helping to enhance our historic High Street and this will we hope be a boost not only to the appearance of our main shopping area but also be a boost to shopping and tourism.

Lastly I am also delighted to comment on the new £200,000 fund to support volunteer run heritage tourism attractions. Tourism is vital for the Montrose and Angus economy, and this allocation will, as we have found with other highly successful though limited community grant scheme, make a difference. I was delighted to hear of the groups that might benefit. The award winning Montrose Air Heritage Centre celebrates a key 100 year anniversary next year and to tie in with this they hope to purchase a replica spitfire. This new tourism fund might enable to make the group to make considerable progress in their fund raising campaign for this and at the same time be a huge attraction to what is a key tourist attraction run by volunteers.

I took part in the regular monthly meeting tonight of the Tenants and Residents Association of Charleton and Condor ( TRACC)  in the Black Abbott with the new community policeman. Discussed the launch of the Neighbourhood Watch Scheme and how it operates, as well as plans for the community day, the new sign on Charleton Road and a fence round the play area.