“Millie” has arrived at the Tolbooth Museum, Stonehaven, and is now on display there. “Millie” is a 10” model of the millipede Pneumodesmus Newmani. The fossil of the millipede was found by Mike Newman in 2003 in the sandstone rocks of the foreshore at Cowie, Stonehaven. It is around 428 million years old and the oldest known air-breathing animal in the world. The Model has been commissioned and paid for by Aberdeenshire Council Museum Service and donated to the Tolbooth Group, which now runs the Museum in partnership with the Council.

The Tolbooth Group is discussing with Aberdeenshire Council the continued operation of the Museum in the coming Spring and Autumn when it is hoped to be able to open six days a week. Meanwhile it is open on Saturday and Sunday afternoons up to the end of March.

The Tolbooth Group is considering changes to the layout of the museum and has identified some themes for the coming Spring/Summer season. The work will be carried out in the next couple of months in the leadup to the fuller opening times. This is being masterminded by George Strang who would be pleased to hear from anybody who can assist with this.

Further good news for the Tolbooth is that a local businessman has donated £500 to the Tolbooth Group.

Cllr Peter Bellarby, Chair of the Tolbooth Group, welcomed “Millie” to the Museum and said: “This fossil is hugely significant and now visitors to the Tolbooth will be able to see what the creature looked like. The Tolbooth continues to be a success story and that is due to all those who have helped, whether it is by manning the Museum, lending artefacts, carrying out practical tasks or making a donation”.

Anybody who would like to help can go to the Tolbooth Group’s website
Go to Tolbooth Group Website through which they can contact the Group.

The Scottish Liberal Democrats have announced that their candidates in the Aberdeenshire Council election for Stonehaven and Lower Deeside ward will be Peter Bellarby and David Fleming.

Peter Bellarby is currently one of the Stonehaven and Lower Deeside Councillors and chair of the Council’s Scrutiny and Audit Committee. He has been active in the local community having been chair of Stonehaven Town Partnership and active in the Tolbooth Group, keeping the Tolbooth Museum open.

Mr Bellarby said: “I am proud to have been a member of the Council’s administration, which has continued to do much in spite of difficult financial circumstances. I have pressed hard for the new primary school at Drumoak to be constructed and it is now in the capital plan and being designed. We have a new academy on course to replace Mearns Academy. In Stonehaven the Council is to provide £1M to go along with money from the Scottish Government for work to stabilise Bervie Braes. A new 60 bed care village costing £7m is under construction. This will be double the size, and replace Edenholme, where it is becoming difficult to meet today’s building standards. My vision for Stonehaven is that it is the best small town in Scotland.”

David Fleming has been Chairman of Stonehaven & District Community Council for almost 6 years. In this role he has promoted Stonehaven at three public planning inquiries (and been successful in 2), campaigned for many improvements in and around the Town and, on a wide range of issues, ensured the views of the people of Stonehaven are influential. David has been Company Secretary of Stonehaven Town Partnership since its inception in 2007, and has been very active in the setting up of Stonehaven Town Hall Trust, the development of the Queen Elizabeth Caravan Park, and the re-opening of the Tolbooth Museum.

David is also a member of Stonehaven Choral, the Royal Deeside Railway Preservation Society and St James’ Church, Stonehaven.

Mr Fleming said, “I feel very proud to have been asked to stand in this election to represent Stonehaven. That is my aim. I want Aberdeenshire Council policies to be seen to be fair and transparent, and represent the Council’s duty of care to all the residents of the shire, and of Stonehaven and Lower Deeside in particular. They are people to whom I wish to be accountable.”

Following a public meeting held in November last year the Stonehaven Fairtrade Steering Group has been set up. The Group is aiming to see if Stonehaven can become a Fairtrade Town. The Steering Group has representatives on it from a wide cross-section of the community, including schools, churches, the business community, Stonehaven and District Community Council, Stonehaven Town Partnership and local councillors.

The Steering Group is planning events during Fairtrade Fortnight, which will be from 27 February to 11 March 2012. During this Fortnight Masauko Khembo, a Fairtrade sugar cane producer from Malawi will be visiting the North East. He will be visiting Stonehaven on Tuesday 6th March. There will be a public event in the evening when Mr Khembo will talk about how Fairtrade has improved the lives of producers in Malawi. There will be a range of Fairtrade products on sale and Fairtrade refreshments will be served. It is hoped that there will be an event for schoolchildren and students during the day.

To achieve Fairtrade town status, five goals have to be met. The first is that the Local Council has to pass a resolution supporting Fairtrade and agrees to serve Fairtrade products at its meetings and offices. The Council’s Sustainability Sub-committee has already, in 2009, passed a resolution in support of Fairtrade. Once progress has been made in meeting the other goals, the Steering Group intends to ask the Council to put a proposal to the Kincardine and Mearns Area Committee asking it to support the move for Stonehaven to become a Fairtrade Town. Support will also be sought from Stonehaven and District Community Council, and Stonehaven Town Partnership.

The second goal is that a range of Fairtrade products have to be readily available in the town’s shops and served in local cafés and catering establishments. The Steering Group will be carrying out a survey to find out exactly what the situation is, but it is already clear that quite a few establishments already deal with Fairtrade products.

Fairtrade products need to be used by an appropriate number of local work places, schools, churches and other community groups in order to satisfy the third goal. There are already Fairtrade Schools and Fairtrade Churches in Stonehaven so this goal should not be difficult to meet. Clare Clouston, a member of the Steering Group, already runs a Fairtrade Stall at South Church.

The fourth and fifth goals are about gaining publicity and organising events. The Steering Group intend to have further events following on after Fairtrade Fortnight.

Stonehaven Councillor, Peter Bellarby, has taken the initiative in organising the public meeting and setting up the Fairtrade Steering Group. Mr Bellarby said that he had been approached by the Scottish Fairtrade Forum, when he was Chair of Stonehaven Town Partnership, to see if something could be done about Stonehaven becoming a Fairtrade Town. Mr Bellarby said “I was pleased to respond myself to this because I strongly believe that we need to be fair with producers in developing countries. It’s not just about giving producers a fair price, it is also about stability of the price so that they can properly plan for the future, knowing what return they will get. If Stonehaven becomes a Fairtrade Town it will be a way saying that Stonehaven cares about other people. Personally I have made a New Year resolution to buy a certain amount of Fairtrade products each month. Fairtrade Town status is not about forcing people to use Fairtrade products – it’s about giving folk the opportunity to do so if they wish.”

Sir Robert Smith, MP for West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine maintained pressure on online and mail order companies who charge consumers in remote and rural excessive delivery charges. He recently tabled a motion in the House of Commons supporting Citizen Advice Scotland’s campaign to end the unfair practice.

Sir Robert was joined by fellow Liberal Democrat MPs, Malcolm Bruce, John Thurso, Charles Kennedy and Alan Reid.

Sir Robert went on to request that consumers who have experience of excessive delivery charges should take part in the Citizens Advice Scotland survey which runs until the 19th January. The survey can be found online here: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/FreeDelivery
link to survey here

Sir Robert said: “This is a growing problem for the North East”

He called on companies to consider offering delivery by Royal Mail when this is a cheaper alternative.

Sir Robert said: “Royal Mail offers same price delivery across the UK. When a company’s chosen courier is charging extra to deliver to parts of the country like the North East and Highlands , the company should consider whether sending the package with Royal Mail is cheaper.”

NOTES:

A recent Citizen Advice Scotland report revealed the extent of excessive charging. Due to increasing numbers of people contacting them, they are extending their survey into the practice until the 19th January 2012 and want as many consumers as possible to contact them with examples of bad practice.

Common complaints to the survey include websites that:

· state that they offer ‘FREE DELIVERY’ but then charge substantial fees for people in rural areas;

· refuse to deliver at all to certain areas;

· use expensive couriers for all their deliveries – even though Royal Mail delivers to all UK postcodes for the same low price.

The Royal Mail offers a universal flat-rate service for the whole UK for parcels up to 20kg, so there is very often a fair alternative even if companies seek to blame charges on their chosen courier.

The Early Day Motion tabled by Sir Robert Smith states:

DELIVERY CHARGES FOR CONSUMERS IN RURAL AREAS

That this house welcomes the campaign by Citizens Advice Scotland and Citizens Advice Bureaux across Scotland to tackle unfair delivery practices for consumers in remote and rural areas; notes the publication of Free Delivery*, the report from Citizens Advice Scotland which shows that consumers in rural and remote parts of Scotland are often refused delivery or charged more than people in urban areas when ordering goods online; supports Citizens Advice Scotland in urging online retailers to ensure that they comply with the law on distance selling by clearly stating delivery costs before customers enter the purchasing process, reform their delivery policies so that any charges are kept to a minimum and are based on actual costs incurred and offer delivery via Royal Mail wherever possible; and believes that the Royal Mail’s Universal Service Obligation must be maintained in order to protect rural and remote consumers from high costs for delivery.

As the year draws to a close, it is a time to reflect on what happened in the past and to look ahead to 2012 to see what needs to be done.

Since I became a councillor, Stonehaven has been affected by two significant happenings. Firstly there have been the landslips on Bervie Braes. Secondly there was the awful flood of 2009 that swept into the town centre and down High Street rendering many houses and businesses uninhabitable for a time. It is good that Aberdeenshire Council has now agreed on a scheme for Bervie Braes that involves soil nailing and drainage, and that work will start on this in 2012. I look forward to the completion of this scheme so that residents staying under the Braes can sleep more easily at night without facing the worry of possible landslips. Action has been taken on the flooding issue too. Options have been developed for how to reduce the possibility of flooding and these will be presented to public meetings early in the new year.

A year ago I said that 2011would be dominated by the effects of budget cuts and reduced funding, and that the Council would not be able to do everything that it has done in the past. This has, indeed, been the case. The Council has had to make some very difficult decisions. We have done very well in finding savings by new ways of working that are more efficient and save money but inevitably there has been some reduction in service. None of us like the reduction in service but I believe that the Council has acted in a responsible manner. The reduction in funds that we have is not of our making.

There has been a very positive response from the community of Stonehaven in keeping the Tolbooth Museum open. This success is really down to all those who have volunteered to help with the Tolbooth. I am pleased to have played a part in this myself. There is a challenge here ahead, though, if the community is to take on the asset of the Tolbooth and run it independently of the Council. We have to keep up the effort and find ways of raising money.

Another project that has made a good deal of progress is the Queen Elizabeth Caravan Park. It is all set to be operated by a partnership between Stonehaven Town Partnership and the Council in the 2012 season. Then, if all goes well, the Caravan Club will be involved and we will see a greatly enhanced caravan park for 2013 with some income coming to the town that can be used in other projects.

There are a huge range of other activities going on in Stonehaven which I am not involved in. So there is a tremendous effort being put in by the people of Stonehaven to keep the town beautiful, to ensure that older folk are well looked after and have the opportunity of friendship when they are alone, to give our young people activities that they enjoy and benefit from and to have events in the town that both visitors and locals can enjoy. Just look at the calendar of events in Stonehaven! Thanks are due to all those who have helped to make Stonehaven the strong and vibrant community it is today. Let’s keep up the good work.

I wish everybody a happy and successful 2012.

Cllr Peter Bellarby
Stonehaven and Lower Deeside Ward

Commenting as the Scottish Government release the consultation responses to the proposed reform of the Police and Fire Services in Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrat Justice spokesperson Alison McInnes MSP said:

“Scottish Liberal Democrats have consistently been against the Scottish Government’s proposals for a single national police force.

“Grabbing all the power to the centre could jeopardise the good, solid, local policing work taking place in many areas in Scotland; a fear outlined in a number of these responses.

“The threat to jobs as a result of this reorganisation has been kept under wraps by Ministers. They have been entirely reluctant, even in the face of evidence, to admit there could be any threat to jobs.

“We said it was ridiculous to imagine this sort of reorganisation without any threat to jobs. ACPOS agrees with us. The Justice Secretary needs to own up to what he knows about what will happen to police numbers.

“COSLA is right to point out that the police force could be at risk of greater political interference as the force is nationalised.

“As the Justice Secretary steamrolls his plans for a single national police force, he must clarify how his reforms will keep local accountability of our Police and Fire Service at the core. This must be his priority now.”

Peter Bellarby, commenting, said “I entirely agree with Alison. There are two big issues. The first is the possibility of political interference if there is a single police force. The second the need for local accountability and having a police force that meets the need of the North East.”

The new chairman of the Board of NHS Grampian is Bill Howatson, Provost of Aberdeenshire.

Bill is councillor for the Mearns ward of Aberdeenshire Council. He said “I very much welcome this opportunity to contribute towards the development of health and healthcare in the north-east.

“These are exciting times for the NHS in Grampian and my focus will be on delivering the ambitious plans we have for the service.

“Traditionally in Grampian, the NHS and our partners, including the local authorities, have enjoyed very close working relationships and I intend to continue to forge links with colleagues in all partner agencies.”

Peter Bellarby offers his congratluations to Provost Howatson on his appointment.

Sir Robert Smith MP recently presented local schools with their awards after saving up Tesco School and Club vouchers at the Tesco Store in Newtonhill along with Nicola Roach, Service Manager at the Newtonhill store.

In the Picture from left to right Nicola Roach (Service Manager for Tesco’s Newtonhill), Heidi Wards (Arduthie Primary School), Aspen Maitland (Newtonhill Primary School), Lucy Buchan (Portlethen Academy), Erin McLaughlin (Carronhill School) and Sir Robert Smith MP for West Aberdeenshire & Kincardine.

There are some changes to the railway timetable from December 12th with more trains (5 in one direction and 4 in the other) stopping at Broughty Ferry on a trial basis. It means that there will be direct trains from Stonehaven to Broughty Ferry on weekdays at 06.52, 09.53, 14.20, 1620, 22.46 (Mondays to Thursdays) and 23.41 (Fridays) with return trains at 06.31, 09.45, 11.07, 17.47 and 23.10.

There are improvements further south with more Glasgow – Dundee trains, for example.

Stonehaven and Lower Deeside Councillor, Peter Bellarby, said “The present service at Broughty Ferry is woeful so I welcome the improvements. However, nothing has been done to address the very real problems at Stonehaven. These include the large gap in service to Aberdeen between 08.22 and 09.34 on weekdays, the overcrowding on peak time services and the less than ideal service provided for commuters coming back from Dyce. There is also the call for a later train back from Aberdeen in the evening. I have therefore written to both Transport Scotland and Nestrans urging action at the earliest opportunity. Stonehaven needs and deserves a better train service.”