Printed minutes
Argyll and Bute Council · 19 September 2025
Back to Argyll and Bute Community Planning Partnership - Management Committee — 19 September 2025 and its agenda
Text extracted from the council's PDF. Layout and reading order may differ from the original.
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MINUTES of MEETING of ARGYLL AND BUTE COMMUNITY PLANNING PARTNERSHIP - MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE held in the THREE VILLAGES HALL, ARROCHAR on FRIDAY, 19 SEPTEMBER 2025 Present: Gary I’Anson, Police Scotland (Chair) Morag Goodfellow, Highland and Island Enterprise (HIE) Fergus Murray, Argyll and Bute Council (ABC) Colin Buchanan, Chair OLI ACPG Rona Gold, ABC Gill Simpson, Chair HL ACPG Morven Fancey, HIE Cllr Anne Horn, Chair MAKI ACPG David Moore, Scottish Fire and Rescue (SFRS) Liz Pryor, NatureScot Andy Macpherson, ACT Tom Warren Samantha Campbell, NHS Highland Paul Ashworth, LiveArgyll Douglas Whyte, Argyll and Bute Council Trish Robertson, Police Scotland Fiona Morrissey, SSEN John McLuckie, ABC Ronald MacRae, SSEN Roderick MacNeill, Police Scotland Christine Downie, SSEN Mo McKenna, University of the Highlands and Islands Ewan MacDonald, MacDonald and Cameron Charlie Cairns, ABC John Forbes, Communities Housing Trust Susan McRae, Skills Development Scotland (SDS) Michelle Mundie, Argyll Community Housing Association Bill Clark, Police Scotland Iona MacPhail, Fyne Homes Iona McMillan, ABC Beth Wiseman, HSCP Aileen Cameron, ABC Lee Page, Police Scotland Lyndsey Sutherland, Police Scotland Bart Simonis, Police Scotland Lynsey Innes, ABC Ailie Law, ABC David Hagerty, ABC Nicola Reaney, ABC (Secretary) Apologies: Cllr Jim Lynch, ABC Cllr Mark Irvine, ABC Kirsty Flanagan, ABC Mary Holt, ABC Paul McCafferty, Scottish Enterprise Patricia Dowd, DWP Evan Beswick, Argyll and Bute HSCP Alison McGrory, NHS Highland David Gibson, ABC Joe McKay, SFRS Cllr Julie McKenzie, Vice Chair OLI ACPG Reeni Kennedy-Boyle, Vice Chair BC ACPG Gillian Cay, Scottish Enterprise Elaine Ellis, SDS Iain MacInnes, ABC Jean Moffat, Chair BC ACPG Takki Sulaiman, Argyll and Bute TSI Pauline Craig, DWP Graham Bell, NHS Highland Pippa Milne, ABC Kelly Ferns, ABC Matt Mulderrig, ABC Ranald Robertson, HITRANS
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1. WELCOME BY ACTING CHAIR (GARY I'ANSON) Gary welcomed everyone to the meeting and thanked all attendees, from a wide cross section of community planning partners and including housing experts, for travelling to be at the meeting. (a) CPP Improvement Plan (Podcast, Welcome Pack, National Information) An update was provided on the progress of the nine actions contained in the improvement plan agreed by the CPP earlier this year. ACTION - All partners are invited to express interest in contributing to the monthly podcast series by contacting John McLuckie at john.mcluckie@argyll-bute.gov.uk Nicola gave an overview of the recent work to update the CPP Welcome Pack. ACTION - All partners are encouraged to share their views on the new Welcome Pack. Feedback or suggestions can be sent to cppadmin@argyll-bute.gov.uk (b) Communications (CPP Bulletin) The recent CPP Bulletins were provided in the pre-meeting pack and were made available in paper copy at the meeting. The bulletins can be accessed on the Community Planning webpages. Members can ask to be added to the distribution list by contacting cppadmin@argyll-bute.gov.uk (c) Approval of Last Minutes (June) The minutes from the June meeting were approved. (d) Review of previous actions (including Fair Funding Guidance, Climate Change Update and CWB Charter) ACTION – Partners are invited to consider the fair funding guidance within their own organisations. This will be reviewed at the December meeting. Rona added that the CPP can not sign up to this as a partnership unless all partner organisations agree with the principles and sign up to them. It is hoped that consensus would be achieved by the December meeting. ACTION – CPP team to send a follow up email to partners on Fair Funding Guidance. Andy provided an update on Climate Change. The CPP had asked Andy to investigate the future working arrangements for Climate Change in the CPP. He advised that the Scottish Government want to establish Regional
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Adaptation Partnerships across the country. They hope to achieve this through the existing funding structure of Climate Action Networks. Funds were obtained to develop a business case for an Argyll and Bute Regional Adaptation Partnership. Andy welcomed support from any partner with expertise in business case development. Rona asked if the existing Climate Change Steering Group Terms of Reference would need to be amended to support this work and Andy felt that was not required immediately, but any funded development work may need a change to the ToR. He expected a 6-month timescale would be required to complete the work on the business case. ACTION - Andy will work with John to draft wording for a communication inviting CPP partners to nominate representatives to join a Short-Life Working Group (SLWG) tasked with developing the business case. This will report to the December meeting. Susan updated on behalf of the Community Wealth Building (CWB) Steering Group (which also includes Takki, Morag, Alison McGrory and Ishabel Bremner). The Steering Group has put together a CWB charter and partners are asked to review this within their organisations and confirm if they are willing to sign up to this. She noted that Skills Development Scotland are one of the first anchor institutions to sign the charter, adding that all organisations represented in the room are likely to be anchor organisations (those present in a place, large scale employers, purchasers of local goods and services, etc). ACTION - Partners are asked to review the Community Wealth Building Charter within their organisations and confirm whether they are willing to sign up prior to “sign up” at the December meeting. (e) Area Community Planning Groups report John provided an update on the last round of ACPGs meetings held in August. John highlighted the appointment of Gill Simpson as Chair of the Helensburgh and Lomond ACPG. Nominations for Vice Chairs are being sought for HL and MAKI ACPGs (the latter following the departure of Ian Brodie). John also highlighted a paper in the agenda pack which contained a series of comments on housing topics from the last round of ACPGs which can be used to shape discussions during the breakout sessions. Gary pointed to the Chairs and Vice Chairs who have recently finished their terms and asked if they could be formally thanked for their time, expertise and long-standing commitment to their roles in the ACPGs. ACTION – CPP team to arrange a formal expression of appreciation for those Chairs and Vice Chairs who are stepping down from their roles. Gary thanked everyone for their updates.
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2. OUTCOME FROM TRANSPORT SESSION IN JUNE (RONA GOLD AND JOHN MCLUCKIE) Rona advised that a summary of the actions agreed at the Transport Infrastructure session in June will be circulated to those who attended. Partners will have time to raise any concerns or disagreements on the actions, and a follow-up session will be scheduled to provide an opportunity for attendees to amend or add to the content already gathered. She added that the actions were created from discussions with partners and communities, looking at what was already being done and what the CPP could add value to. It is hoped the final set of actions will be agreed by January 2026, following which a governance structure can be built to support delivery. 3. ICEBREAKER (JOHN MCLUCKIE) An icebreaker exercise was conducted with housing-themed questions giving attendees the opportunity to discuss each question with a new partner. 4. PRIORITY - HOUSING (a) 1.1 Housing as an ABOIP Priority (Rona Gold and John McLuckie) Rona noted that the ABOIP sets out long term objectives under each of the three priority outcomes that can be achieved over the 10-year period of the plan. The actions relating to each objective will look at what the CPP can deliver collaboratively and within individual partner organisations. The six actions under the Housing priority that have still to be developed will be considered in detail during the breakout sessions, so that the CPP can explore where collective value can be added. Work on the other five actions under the Housing priority is ongoing and these include actions placed on the CPP by the Argyll and Bute Housing Emergency Summit. These actions include communities looking at Local Place Plans – information pages on the council webpage on this link to housing information, and a big part of the CPP work is engaging with communities via the ACPGs – where there are excellent and passionate members that have provided thoughts on actions from a community perspective. Rona advised the next steps would be to feedback actions from today’s session to the ACPGs, and attendees today will be able to comment on that in due course. Then, consideration will be given to looking at any local actions that can be included in local level plans, and where the CPP can focus on wider area actions. There will also be engagement with Community Councils. (b) 1.2 Housing Actions in the Pipeline (Presentations) Attendees heard a series of presentations on Housing Actions in the Pipeline across Argyll and Bute. Douglas Whyte, Argyll and Bute Council
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Douglas gave a presentation in which he spoke of the effectiveness of partners working together to deliver housing, including the housing strategy team and addressing the housing emergency. In June 2023, Argyll and Bute were the first Scottish Council to declare a housing emergency, informed by the large number of factors that affect the local housing market, such as the current figure of 3,290 on the homeless list, that 11% of all homes are second or empty homes and that 92% of residents felt housing shortages were affecting their communities. He added the Council hold no housing stock but do deliver statutory housing functions including the Local Housing Strategy, Housing Needs and Demand Assessments, homeless services and housing support. A Housing Emergency Summit was held in November 2023 with over 90 stakeholders attending to address the issues and establish a Housing Emergency Action Plan to deliver more market homes, more affordable homes, delivery of homes for our workforce and to make the best use of existing homes in Argyll and Bute. The Local Housing Strategy 2022 – 2027 links the emergency actions back to statutory duties and provides the monitoring framework to report to government on progress made. Douglas spoke about the progress on the housing emergency actions including planning consents granted, a Housing Delivery Group looking at how council assets could be used, a range of projects looking at HSCP workers’ accommodation supported from the Strategic Housing Fund and looking to extend that fund to provide support to feasibility studies for Community Housing. Research is about to start on depopulation, enabled by the Scottish Government’s Addressing Depopulation Fund. The research specifically wants to hear from employers in the area, young adults (16 – 44) who are living in or have left the area, and households (16 – 44) interested in moving to, or already living in, the area. ACTION – Partners to share the link to the Depopulation Research widely within their organisations, and to any other relevant organisations. Ronnie MacRae, Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN) Ronnie, the Housing Delivery Manager at SSEN, thanked the CPP for inviting him to attend and present today. He noted that SSEN faces workforce housing pressures due to an unprecedented number of ongoing projects (6000 workers needed by 2027). This, and the rising cost of temporary accommodation, has been a driver for how SSEN look to do things differently. The SSEN Housing Strategy looks to ensure lasting benefits from accommodation delivery, working with existing housing providers and with communities to establish what they need to provide legacy housing, but not displacing public funding or tourism accommodation. SSEN are keen to share knowledge and work with partners to deliver this.
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Morven Fancey, Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) Morven, from the Housing, Skills and Population team at HIE, welcomed being part of the deep dive into housing at today’s meeting. She advised that although HIE do not have a housing remit, the changing economy and population challenges on housing over the last 5 years is at the back of many other challenges faced in the area. Morven has been looking more widely to identify what the issues are and how partners can address those. HIE look proactively at community-led housing projects – the current number of 110 such projects highlight the scale of the issues being faced in communities. HIE takes projects forward with environmental NGOs to see what land they have, while also looking at recruitment challenges and interim housing solutions, talking to construction companies to see offsite construction opportunities, trying to get housing into rural areas quickly, supporting community development projects and raising issues to government to ask for flexibility in policy to deliver housing in the HIE area. HIE are happy to support work on housing. Michelle Mundie, Argyll Community Housing Association (ACHA) Michelle, Chief Executive at ACHA gave a presentation on what they are doing to tackle the housing emergency including using Scottish Government funding to develop properties for Ukrainian refugees in Helensburgh and the refurbishment of three closes of flats, including internal and external reconfiguration and insulation improvements. Eight of these flats in Bute will be provided for people from the HSCP special needs client group. ACHA are also working with the Argyll and Bute Council Strategy team to facilitate the buy back of 22 properties, with another four in the pipeline. ACHA have purchased two police houses in Lochgoilhead and Tarbert, using Scottish Government funding to convert them for housing needs and are looking at providing key worker housing for the HSCP by converting Dunallan House in Connel to an HMO (House in Multiple Occupation). ACHA have acquired a number of sites to develop and are considering 23 sites for new builds and mixed tenure development. In the longer term, ACHA are refinancing and are looking to borrow an additional £25 million to help address the housing emergency, deliver 300 units and develop existing stock. Michelle noted challenges such as the availability of grant funding, challenges with getting construction workers – especially on the islands or over the Rest and Be Thankful. She also noted that costs of construction have doubled since 2018. John Forbes, Communities Housing Trust John, the Community-Led Housing Coordinator at the Communities Housing Trust, was delighted to be at the event and gave a presentation on the work done by the Trust. The Trust is based in Inverness, with offices on Skye and in Aviemore, and was established 25 years ago to support and advocate for community-led housing issues in rural Scotland,
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tackle social inequalities, repopulation and rural regeneration. They bring together public and private stakeholders to provide community-led, affordable housing and accompanying facilities, and pioneer a range of housing tenures, financial and technical solutions to create sustainable futures for rural communities all over Scotland. The Trust supports and works with communities at early stages - reviewing procurement and tender processes to ensure aspirations are deliverable, as well as supporting business planning, managing development activities, liaising with landowners – and helping to identify funding streams to provide affordable homes (working with partners to deliver sustainable communities). The Trust is very active in Argyll and Bute, with community- led housing developments in 15 areas. John noted there are no simple solutions to the housing emergency, but improvements such as new builds, refurbishments, repurposing, modular homes and joint development across a range of partners will help address these challenges. Gary gave thanks to the presenters, noting there was some interesting content for attendees to be mindful of when they are thinking about how the CPP can best work together on housing actions. 5. BREAKOUT SESSIONS Before the attendees split into breakout groups, Rona asked partners to bring their knowledge and resources to help shape the actions. The breakout groups rotated around 6 actions: - Establish a construction skills development working group - Establish a partner land and assets working group; Identify and map public sector land and buildings which could provide workforce and affordable housing via repurposing and change of use. - Communication plan on financial interventions to prevent homelessness - Freedom to use Scottish Government housing funding more flexibly and as an allocation with local administrative control - Develop a strategic approach to evidencing the need for workforce housing in the public sector - Incorporate energy discussion points within CPP Climate Change Before the attendees split into breakout groups, Rona asked partners to bring their knowledge and resources to help shape the actions. The breakout groups rotated around 6 actions: - Establish a construction skills development working group - Establish a partner land and assets working group; Identify and map public sector land and buildings which could provide workforce and affordable housing via repurposing and change of use. - Communication plan on financial interventions to prevent homelessness - Freedom to use Scottish Government housing funding more flexibly and as an allocation with local administrative control
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- Develop a strategic approach to evidencing the need for workforce housing in the public sector - Incorporate energy discussion points within CPP Climate Change At the end of the breakout sessions Gary thanked everyone for their input to the actions. The CPP team will share the combined outputs from the sessions, and an online follow up session will be arranged for attendees to make any further comments on the actions. The team will begin contact with partners in December for commitment of resources to deliver the actions. Regular updates will also be provided to the ACPGs to ensure ongoing transparency around the agreed actions outcome of discussions. ACTION - Comments and feedback from each session will be compiled by the CPP team into actions to drive outcomes. ACTION - Online session to be set up for attendees to make any further comments on the actions. ACTION - CPP Team to contact partners in December for commitment of resources to deliver the actions. 6. INTRODUCTION TO PRIORITY SESSION: COMMUNITY WELLBEING AND CLOSING REMARKS Rona introduced Community Wellbeing which will be the topic of the December CPP Management Committee meeting. The long-term objectives on Community Wellbeing from the ABOIP are: - Broadening equality of access to Community Leadership opportunities - Furthering equality of access to services, facilities and community assets - Working with partners to maximise sustainability of community facilities and services - Enabling a voice in collective decision making - Enhancing communication within communities - Better understanding how communities achieve a sense of connection and belonging Rona also noted the December meeting will include some fun teambuilding activities. 7. CLOSE Gary closed the meeting by thanking everyone for their contributions in this complex area, noting it had been a good opportunity to meet and build relationships for the work that we need to do together. He also thanked the CPP team for putting the day together and the facilitators for their support on the day.