Community Council election to be held for Midmar

A Cluny, Midmar and Monymusk Community Council election will take place for three positions in the Midmar Parish this month.

The local community has nominated four prospective Midmar community councillors but there are only three places available.

For Cluny and Monymusk the number of nominations are equal to, or less than, the positions available, therefore an election is not required.

The election for Midmar will take place in Midmar Hall between 6-8pm on Thursday, January 22.

Community councils represent the views, and act on behalf, of local communities and are a crucial element in the democratic process. They can campaign for local issues at both a regional and national level. 

At a local level, responsibilities can include responding to planning applications, organising local galas, setting up lunch clubs for elderly residents, and printing and distributing local newsletters.

Garioch Area Manager, Doug Milne, said: “Community councillors can be your first point of contact when it comes to issues that matter in your area and provide another route for local views to feed in to the work of Aberdeenshire Council.

“I would urge people who live in the Midmar area and who are interested in what happens in their area to engage with the democratic process, and to come along to the community council election and vote.”
 
For more information about Cluny, Midmar and Monymusk Community Council, including meeting minutes, see its website.

For more information on community councils, see the website.

Parents voice concerns over road closure

W&ECC held their AGM last night in the Holiday Inn. Paul Gray and Matt Davis from Aberdeenshire Council’s Waste team gave a presentation on the new kerbside recycling service. The roll-out is going well. An advantage of the new system is that the same crew will be servicing the same area each week and most households should get their waste collected on the same day of the week. Because all the vehicles will be of the same type, breakdowns etc should not result in loss of service as any vehicle can now cover any area. Chairman, Mervyn Barr, gave a flavour of the community projects and issues the Community Council have been involved in over the past year. He congratulated longstanding member, Bill Louden, on his stalwart service over many years with the annual hanging baskets in the town being one of Bill’s pet projects. The group are now looking for a new green-fingered volunteer. Please get in touch with the CC if you can help out. The monthly meeting followed the AGM. The subject which generated most discussion was the 8 week road closure on Westhill Drive (mentioned in my previous post). Parents were concerned about road safety for children attending Westhill Primary and also about the suitability of buses using Kinmundy for re-routing. Residents voiced their concerns about parents parking dangerously near the school and asked if the Head Teacher could influence parent behaviour. Head of Roads at Aberdeenshire Council are aware of some of the issues and are working with Stagecoach and others which we would hope to include Education and Police Scotland.  I will update when I get a response from them.