Westhill and Elrick Community Council Covid 19 Grant Scheme

Administrator

Westhill and Elrick Community Council (WECC) has established a small grant scheme to assist community organisations that have been providing support to the Westhill and Elrick community but have incurred unplanned and potentially unsustainable expenditure in providing support to individuals and the community as a whole during the Covid19 crisis.

To be eligible a ‘group’ must be:

  1. Based and/or operating in the distribution area of the Westhill Bulletin magazine
  2. Undertaking work beyond the normal scope or scale in order to assist individuals and the community as a whole to deal with Covid-19 within the area.
  3. Unlikely to be able to recoup additional costs and, as a result, foresee financial challenges in resuming normal activities in due course.
  4. A community group or social enterprise, but not a profit making business.
  5. Not eligible to apply to the Aberdeenshire Council Community Resilience Fund or got a grant but still require further assistance.

WECC has set aside a sum of £5000 with a maximum grant award of £1000.

If a group operates more widely than the area then a grant may be proportioned commensurately.

Applications should be made by email to treasurerwecc@gmail.com and must be brief but provide evidence to satisfy the 5 points above. If operating more widely than the area, applicants should provide information on the proportion of activity within the area. WECC will endeavour to process the applications as quickly as possible after they are received

Reporting Crime

Administrator

PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT:

Following the Police Report at the recent meeting of Westhill and Elrick Community Council on 14th May, WECC would like to use this opportunity to remind members of the public to first call the Police if they witness a criminal act, rather than post such incidents on social media at the first instance. The police have stated that it is much easier for them to deal with crime if it is reported direct to them at the time of occurrence. Emergencies aside, which should be reported via calling 999, if you would like to report anything else to the Police please use either their non-emergency number 101 or via www.scotland.police.uk or if you wish to remain anonymous, then use Crimestoppers on 0800 555111.

Westhill Strategic Needs Assessment (SNA)

Administrator
The Westhill Strategic Needs Assessment (SNA)  is the first one in Aberdeenshire to be developed and formally adopted and is the pilot project leading the way for another 16 SNA’s to be developed in the shire. The SNA’s geography is based on the 17 children service networks, so each place that has an academy in Aberdeenshire will have an SNA by the end of 2022 .

The Westhill SNA is now in the public domain, and will be used as an evidence base to develop an action plan for the Westhill Community Place Plan, through which  Aberdeenshire  Council services, community planning partners and the local community will work collaboratively to target their resources more effectively and efficiently.

The action plan is being developed through Aberdeenshire Council , who are hoping to have a draft plan in place over the coming months, and this will be shared within the Westhill community for comment and feedback.

An electronic copy of the SNA has been posted on the Community Planning website and can be accessed through this link: https://www.ouraberdeenshire.org.uk/your-area/garioch/.  

Gardening works in Public Areas controlled by the Council

Administrator

Message from Aberdeenshire Council Covid 19 Communication team

Community Groups
It has been brought to our attention that some community groups are continuing to undertake some gardening works in public areas controlled by the council, attending to flower beds, planters and hanging baskets etc.
 
Whilst we appreciate your commitment to your own community in undertaking various tasks during this difficult time, we do however ask that you do not undertake any gardening/landscape tasks at present in council parks, open spaces and other publicly accessible areas.  
We all have a duty to follow the Government’s guidance regarding the Covid-19 restrictions, particularly on social distancing and the message to ‘stay at home’.  As a Council this means we can only undertake critical works at present e.g. health and social care, waste collection and burial services.  It is for this reason we are unable to attend to flowerbeds, grass cutting (burial areas excluded) and general maintenance of public spaces during the lockdown.
We will have the enormous task of recovering from lockdown, once restrictions are lifted sufficiently to allow us to once again undertake our works in a safe manner.  This will have to be done in a prioritised and phased manner and it is then, at that point, that we may encourage and welcome community participation.
If you still wish to contribute to your community by assisting in some way when the restrictions have been lifted, then please do get in touch by calling our Landscape Team on 03456 08 12 05.