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Minutes of meeting 2nd March 2023
Present: Colin Cameron (Chair), Alison Limbert (Secretary), Sue Bell (Treasurer), Claudia Duncan, Alasdair Street, Alison Lamont Chalmers, Laura Shaw (Minutes)
Apologies: Robert Young (Vice-Chair), Craig Potter, John Nicolson, Police Scotland
In Attendance: Cllr. Paul Henke, Fiona Shaw
2) Adoption of Minutes of Previous Meeting
The Minutes from the meeting on 2nd February 2023 were proposed by Alison Limbert and seconded by Sue Bell.
3) Matters Arising
Donaldson Park – Sue has contacted Stirling Council concerning the playpark developments and is awaiting a response.
Missing public bins (Weavers Winnel) – Cllr. Henke has contacted Stirling Council and is awaiting a response.
Children’s bike donation – The bike that was offered by a resident to Ukrainian children in the village has been offered to the Primary School for allocation.
Strathendrick Care Home – Cllr. Henke has had no update from Stirling Council on future plans for the building. Colin will separately pursue the proposal to use the building as a Community Hub as submitted by Balfron Heritage Group. ACTION: Cllr. Henke; CC Digital Scotland – Colin has contacted Digital Scotland about the poor quality of broadband reception in the village, as previously raised by Alasdair; Digital Scotland have responded saying they will be in touch “in the near future”.
4) Declarations of Interest
None
5) Projects
- Balfron Active Places – Colin notified the meeting that once again the (new) Project Manager has left Stirling Council and has not yet been The Balfron steering group submitted a range of options for the redirection of available funds, but as yet there has been no response from SC due to staff shortages. In the subsequent discussion it was suggested that Sustrans might be contacted to help fund a project manager to move this forward.
- War memorial – Alasdair has received a second quote for the necessary war memorial repairs. This could be covered by the existing war memorial kitty. A higher quote from another contractor was for more detailed This option would require more funding. The meeting agreed that Alasdair would seek a third quote. Alasdair will share correspondence with Cllr. Henke. Action: AS
- Phone box – The meeting thanked Robert Reid who fixed the problem with the door sticking. Robert Young has not received a response from the company responsible for the initial MarketFresh has delivered vegetables to the phone box. The Co-op will be donating Fair Trade food for Fair Trade week.
- Community orchard – Poles were missing from Upon investigation, it was found that Stirling Council removed them, and returned them upon request.
- Eco activities – Alison L had chaired a meeting of volunteers to allocate remaining funding from the Eco Festival. Ideas include creating a map of eco places in Balfron, seed planting and getting bug hunting kits from the Glasgow Science Centre. The noticeboard at the Co- op will showcase eco activities such as the Primary School litter The first eco theme that will feature on the noticeboard will be ‘waste and recycling’.
6) Police Report
The monthly Police report is available on the BCC website and notice boards along with warnings on how to identify fraud and scams. https://balfroncc.org.uk/.
7) Elected Councillor’s Report
Cllr. Henke attended Stirling Council’s budget meeting. The closure of the Balfron Recycling Centre was discussed to relieve budget pressures but rejected. He noted that Council Tax is due to increase by 7% to help cover the £17m budget shortfall. LATER: details of the budget decisions have been posted on the CC Facebook page.
The community is reminded to log road/pavement issues with Stirling council. See link: https://stirling.gov.uk/online-forms/potholes/
8) Treasurer report
Sue updated the meeting with her monthly report. The Community Council assets list is due to be submitted to Stirling Council for insurance purposes. The meeting reviewed and approved the list.
9) Planning report
Update circulated by Robert prior to meeting. There is one new application but no intervention required. Planning Applications can be found at
stirling.gov.uk/planning-building-the-environment/planning/view-comment-on-planning/
10) Chair’s report
Colin was contacted by resident who suggested that the Community Council should organise local awards that could align with the King’s Coronation. Alison L suggested to contact SVCO to explore their local volunteering awards. Action: CC Colin attended Balfron Pathways meeting who welcomed an offer to plant wildflowers besides the new path in the former SUDS area at Endrick Gardens. Alison noted that the Cubs group had asked where they could plant trees and wildflowers. Alison will connect pathways group and Cubs group. Action: AL
11) Community Council Elections
Notice of the Election will be published on Monday 3rd April. Nominations must be submitted by no later than 4pm on Monday 17th April. All current members seeking re-election must resubmit a nomination form. The current CC will cease on Friday 14th April until an Inaugural Meeting is held, hopefully on Thursday 4th May. A minimum of 7 nominations are required to form a new Community Council. This is a vital part of local democracy, and will be increasingly important given the budget pressures on local councils. Members are encouraged to persuade others in the community to nominate themselves.
12) AOB
None
- Next meeting Thursday 6th April 2023 at 7:30pm in Balfron High School