WEST OF SCOTLAND ARCHAEOLOGY SERVICE JOINT COMMITTEE'SMINUTES.
By video conference, 19th November 2020.
West of Scotland Archaeology Service Joint Committee.
Present:

Rhiannon Spear (Convener)
Gordon Jenkins
Rosie O’Neil
Stewart Miller
Ian Clarkson
Mary Donnelly
Lawrence Fitzpatrick

Glasgow City Council
East Ayrshire Council
East Dunbartonshire Council
East Renfrewshire Council
North Ayrshire Council
South Lanarkshire Council
West Lothian Council

Apologies:

Alastair Redman
Natalie Don
Brian McGinley
Alistair Fulton
Iain McLaren

Argyll and Bute Council
Renfrewshire Council
Renfrewshire CouncilSouth Lanarkshire Council
West Dunbartonshire Council

Also present:

Hugh McBrien

West of Scotland Archaeology
ServiceWest Lothian Council
South Ayrshire Council
North Ayrshire Council

Chris Alcorn
David Hearton
James Miller
Rachel Hall
Laura McLetchie
Gwen McCracken
Karl Doroszenko
Margaret Small
Kevin McCormack
James Hall
Matt Greenen
Maureen Hughes (Clerk)

East Dunbartonshire Council
South Lanarkshire Council
East Ayrshire Council
East Dunbartonshire Council
Glasgow City Council
West Dunbartonshire Council
East Renfrewshire Council
Glasgow City Council

Appointment of Councillor Rhiannon Spear as Convener approvedunanimously.
1The Clerk advised the Joint Committee that in terms of its Minute ofAgreement it required to appoint a Convener. Councillor Fitzpatrick, seconded byCouncillor Donnelly moved that Councillor Rhiannon Spear be appointed Convener.
There being no other nominations, the joint committee agreed unanimously toappoint Councillor Spear as Convener.

Appointment of Councillor Lawrence Fitzpatrick as Vice-convener approved
unanimously.

Glasgow City Council, City Chambers, Glasgow G2 1DU

2
The Clerk advised the Joint Committee that in terms of its Minute ofAgreement it required to appoint a Vice-convener. Councillor Miller, seconded byCouncillor Donnelly, moved that Councillor Lawrence Fitzpatrick be appointed Viceconvener. There being no other nominations, the joint committee agreed
unanimously to appoint Councillor Fitzpatrick as Vice-convener.

Minutes approved.
3
The minutes of the Joint Committee of 19th September 2019 were submitted
and approved.

Annual Report of West of Scotland Archaeology Service 2019/20, approved.
4
There was submitted a report by the Manager of the West of Scotland
Archaeology Service detailing the activities of the service for the year from 1st April
2019 to 31st March 2020, confirming that(1)

the Service had dealt with 1,978 new casework items, 60 more than theprevious year which represented an increase of 3% in casework;(2)

the monitoring of the weekly lists, along with direct referrals from planning
officers had identified 1,014 new planning applications which required further
detailed assessment, a 9% rise on the previous year, while a further 370 newcasework items in other categories also arose in the reporting period;(3)

spatial data from the Historic Environment Record (HER) was provided to thelocal government Improvement Service’s Spatial Hub website on 2 occasions,allowing authorities to meet the historic environment element of their statutory
responsibilities under the EU INSPIRE Directive without the need for
additional resources;(4)

332 new site records had been added to the HER database, and amendments
or additions were made to a further 115 existing site records, in addition 269
cross referenced archive records were created within the HER following thereceipt of reports on completed archaeological projects and 228
archaeological event records had been created;(5)278 archaeological events records were added and the HER was informed ofthe commencement of 123 new fieldwork events;(6)

the Service provided public engagement, training and research assistance,
which included 2 training seminars to West Lothian Council, the first toDevelopment Management Planning Officers and the second to ElectedMembers; and(7)the casework response of the Service during the final part of the reporting
period had been affected by COVID-19 and lockdown’s interruption to theGlasgow City Council, City Chambers, Glasgow G2 1DU

work of the Service had a small but significant adverse impact on theperformance statistics for the year.
After consideration, the Joint Committee approved the report, which gave details
regarding(a)planning applications for each of the joint committee's local authorities;(b)

the running of the service;(c)Historic Environment Record Maintenance and Development;(d)advice provided to other local authorities and organisations;(e)information and advice to developers/agents and to statutory
undertakers;(f)agri-environment advice;(g)the annual performance statistics for 2019/20; and(h)the revenue account for the year ended 31st March 2020.

West of Scotland Archaeology Service – 2019/20 draft Annual Audit report –Consideration continued.
5The Joint Committee, having heard a report by the WoSAS Manager advisingthat the WoSAS 2019/20 draft audit report by Audit Scotland had still to be finalised,agreed to continue consideration of the matter to its next meeting.

West of Scotland Archaeology Service – 2019/20 Annual Accounts –Consideration continued.
6The Joint Committee, having heard a report by the WoSAS Manager advisingthat the 2019/20 Annual Accounts for the West of Scotland Archaeology Service had
still to be finalised, agreed to continue consideration of the matter to its next meeting.

Glasgow City Council Internal Audit Annual Report 2019/20 – Consideration
continued.
7The Joint Committee, having heard a report by the WoSAS Manager advisingthat Glasgow City Council’s Internal Annual Audit report 2019/20 had still to becompleted, agreed to continue consideration of the matter to its next meeting.

West of Scotland Archaeology Service risk register noted.

Glasgow City Council, City Chambers, Glasgow G2 1DU

8There was submitted and noted a report by the WoSAS Manager detailing theWest of Scotland Archaeology Service risk register as at November 2020.

Review of reserves policy – Verbal update noted.
9There was heard and noted a report by the WoSAS Manager regarding thereserves policy of the service, advising that(1)

the reserves policy due to be considered at the March 2020 meeting had now
been superseded as new WoSAS accounts were now available;(2)

as the Service hadn’t been operating for almost 6 months due to COVID-19
the reserves policy would require to be updated;(3)

currently the reserves were 40-45% above the recommended level forminimum reserves and it was necessary to establish a useful function for theexcess; and(4)a report would be submitted to the next meeting giving details of how thereserves could be utilised.

Glasgow City Council, City Chambers, Glasgow G2 1DU