July 2024 Minutes

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Balquhidder, Lochearnhead & Strathyre
Community Council Minutes – 31st July 2024
This mee ng took place in Lochearnhead Village Hall at 7:30 p.m. on 31st July 2024.
It was chaired by David Johnston.
Present: David Johnston (DCJ), Carolyn Brooks (CB), Ruth McLusky (RM), Andrew
Poulter (AP), Webster Inglis (WI), Angus Cameron (AC)
Apologies: Mar n Mackenzie (MM), Bob Wells (RJW).
Also A ending: Maida MacLaren, resident of Balquhidder; Cllr Mar n Earl (ME), S rling
Council; David Fe es (DF), Loch Lomond & The Trossachs Na onal Park
Authority (LLTNPA); PC Heather Campbell (HC), Police Scotland; Pauline
Allison, Karen Anderson, SSE Renewables; Paul Hicks (PH), minute-taker.
Item
Content
1.
2.
3.
Approval of minutes from 19th June 2024
It was proposed by AP and seconded by RM, that the minutes of
the mee ng on 19th June 2024 should be accepted and this was
approved unanimously.
Declara ons of Interest
There were no declara ons of interest by members present.
Police report (18 June to 30 July 2024)
In terms of an-social behaviour, one incident took place in July
when two people were reported for offences rela ng to camping in
a prohibited area. In terms of road safety, there were six incidents.
In June, a motorist was seen driving at excessive speed and, when
stopped, found to be over the limit for alcohol. Also in June, there
was a traffic collision on the A85 near Lochearnhead between a
motorcycle and a car. The motorcycle rider sustained minor injuries
but no offences were disclosed. There were two incidents involving
animals: in the first, a vehicle struck a deer on the main road in
Lochearnhead and, in the second, a cow was reported to be
straying on the A84 near Mansewood Country House but had
disappeared prior to police officers arriving. Finally, police patrols
dealt with two broken-down vehicles, one in Lochearnhead and
one in Strathyre. Both vehicles were recovered successfully. In
terms of crime, a the from a parked motor vehicle was reported
in July. The vehicle had been parked on the A84 near Strathyre and
several items (including climbing equipment and personal
property) were stolen. Enquiries are ongoing. An a empted fraud
was perpetrated in June by someone purpor ng to have been
delivering for Evri who requested an addi onal fee to be paid. No
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Community Council Minutes – 31st July 2024
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money was transferred and enquiries are s ll ongoing. On 30th
June, Killin Mountain Rescue Team rescued three people who had
become stuck on Ben Vorlich. None was injured or suffered any
long-las ng effects and no police ac on was required. Police
officers, both local and from the Na onal Motorcycle Unit have
carried out speed checks locally and the "pop-up police officer" can
be seen regularly in the villages.
4.
5.
Full membership of community council
Since WI had a ended three community council mee ngs since
being co-opted as a member of the council, RM proposed that, in
line with sec on seven of the Scheme of Establishment for
community councils, he should be appointed as a full member of
the community council. This was seconded by DCJ and agreed
unanimously.
Glentarken wind farm
DCJ introduced Pauline Allison (Stakeholder Engagement Manager)
and Karen Anderson (Project Manager) from SSE Renewables and
invited them to address the community council on their company's
proposals for a wind farm at Glentarken, near Lochearnhead.
Members asked ques ons during the presenta on and the
following summary includes points made by the speakers, together
with their replies to queries from members.
SSE Renewables is part of a large, interna onal energy company
but deals exclusively with renewable energy. Through previous,
local exhibi ons, the company has shared the scope of its plans for
a wind farm at Glentarken and it is now on target to submit a
formal applica on by the end of this year. A total of twelve
turbines is envisaged, each 180 metres in height, with the aim of
producing some 104 megawa s of electricity. It is planned that
some power will be stored in ba eries, but the site will also need
to connect to the Na onal Grid. This will require construc ng an
overland connec on to the distribu on centre at Killin. A separate
applica on process (similar to the one being undertaken for the
wind farm itself) will be required for that stage. It is hoped that the
en re project will be completed by November 2031.
SSE Renewables will con nue to manage the project a er it has
launched and an cipates having a long-term rela onship with the
local community. It is recognised that there will be a substan al
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impact on local communi es, both during the construc on and
opera on of the site. Accordingly, the government has provided for
such projects to compensate local communi es with funds
amoun ng to five thousand pounds (£5K) per megawa per year.
The construc on process will last about twelve to eighteen months
and will involve the transport of large construc ons from
Grangemouth, via A84 and Callander, to the site. These journeys
will be assessed jointly beforehand with Police Scotland and
escorted throughout. The distribu on of funds is linked to the
assessed impact of the project on different areas. Detailed plans
are s ll to be confirmed, but won't necessarily rely on factors such
as "visual impact" alone. Some community benefit will also be
linked to the connec ve infrastructure through a separate project.
The normal prac ce is to appoint a representa ve group from
affected communi es to develop a plan for how funds should be
distributed. A further exhibi on for local residents is planned for
Autumn 2024.
DCJ thanked the two company representa ves and postponed
further discussion of this subject to item 8A of the agenda
(minuted below).
6
a)
b)
c)
Ma ers arising from previous minutes
Removal of BT payphone at Lochearnhead. RM reported that a
no ce had been placed in the telephone kiosk at Lochearnhead,
invi ng people to make representa ons about the removal of the
kiosk. To date, nobody had responded.
Local prescrip ons. Cllr Maxwell had researched this further and
reported that it would not be possible to use the C60 bus service
to carry prescrip ons to a central point (or points) in the local area
for further distribu on, owing to the security implica ons.
Recipients would need to make their own arrangements for
collec ng prescrip ons in person.
Communica on with S rling Council. Nothing further had been
heard since this was raised at the previous mee ng but it was clear
that dissa sfac on with the current arrangements was rife. ME
suggested liaising with other community councils and DCJ offered
to contact Kilmadock Community Council again to see if any further
progress had been made.
Ac on
DCJ to contact
Kilmadock CC.
7.
Forestry and mber transport
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a)
b)
c)
8.
a)
b)
Prepara on of land at West Strathyre. DCJ reported that the
current plan for extrac ng mber from here is now available from
the community council on request.
Timber Transport Management Plan, Balquhidder. This is now
available and can be viewed and downloaded from the community
council website. (www.blscc.org) To date, no problems had been
reported.
Monachyle Forest. DCJ reported that Fountains Forestry had
announced that mber extrac on from Monachyle Forest would
commence on 31st July 2024.
Correspondence
Community benefit from renewable energy. On 20th June 2024,
DCJ had a ended a community mee ng in St Fillans convened by
Community Energy, Scotland. There were representa ves present
from community councils and trusts in Strathearn, Crieff, Comrie,
St Fillans, BLS and Killin. Two talks were given: firstly, from Chris na
Heinz, represen ng the Sco sh government's Community And
Renewables Energy Scheme (CARES) and, secondly, from Steven
McCarron, represen ng the Nine Community Council Group (9CC)
in Ayrshire.
Ms Heinz outlined best prac ce in se ng up a Shared Ownership
or Community Benefit scheme and the availability of Third Sector
Interfaces (TSIs) in every local authority area of Scotland to assist
with financial and legal advice. Mr McCarron related the
experience of 9CC in Ayrshire with a detailed exposi on of the
work involved in developing a "matrix" for the distribu on of funds
amongst the various community council areas. This provided 70%
of funds for major development and 30% for small projects.
DCJ concluded that developing the "matrix" would be challenging,
but the money involved is likely to be considerable. There are
several other areas in Scotland that have gone through this process
and on whose experience BLS may be able to draw. DCJ believed it
would be helpful to make early contact with the TSI in the S rling
Council district because the community can ask for money up-front
to set up a suitable infrastructure for dealing with the process.
Missing fire hydrants in Balquhidder. DCJ reported that progress
had recently been made on this long outstanding ma er. A couple
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of hydrants had s ll not been traced but others had been fixed,
although some work (and a temporary road closure) are s ll
required for one final hydrant.
c)
d)
e)
f)
Road verges and lines of sight. DCJ had recently contacted S rling
Council over local concerns about the rapid growth of vegeta on
on many road verges, resul ng in sight lines becoming obscured
and pu ng various road users at risk. The Council had responded
that, as a ma er of policy, road verges are no longer being cut
rou nely. A contractor had been tasked to deal specifically with the
problem of obstructed sight lines, but the Council could not say
where or when any work would be carried out. DCJ had sought
further clarifica on as to whether specific roads in the BLS area
were to be examined or not and to what extent the existence of a
mber transport management plan in Balquhidder might affect the
priority for those roads affected. ME suggested that the Council
only considers sight lines at road junc ons, rather than through
bends and other hazards. He added that, where a road has been
designated as being for "shared use", this should also raise its
priority for clearance of overgrown vegeta on.
Discon nua on of BT analogue telephone service. ME had
previously no fied local community councils that Bri sh Telecom
(BT) is gradually transferring its telephone services from the Public
Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) to Digital Voice. Further
informa on about this is available on the BT website at:
"www.bt.com/broadband/digital-voice/". Where BT is aware of
customers with a healthcare pendant, no mobile signal or
alterna ve equipment (or any other relevant need), the PSTN
service will con nue un l alterna ve arrangements can be made.
Sco sh water survey. The head of corporate affairs at Sco sh
Water had contacted the community council to invite one or more
members to respond to a short, online survey on behalf of the
local community.
Road closure, Lochearnhead. Bear Scotland had no fied the
community council that the A85 would be closed overnight in
Lochearnhead between Monday 12th and Saturday 17th August
2024. The closure would be located outside Osprey View between
the junc on with Auchraw Terrace at the western end and the
Lochearnhead Hotel at the eastern end. This will facilitate drainage
inves ga on work at this loca on. Hourly "amnes es" will be
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g)
h)
9.
allowed on the hour from 9 p.m. un l 5 a.m. The road will remain
open during the day.
Mee ng of District of S rling Licensing Board. The community
council had been no fied that the next mee ng of the S rling
District Licensing Forum will be held as an online mee ng via
Microso Teams on Tuesday 13th August 2024 at 10 a.m.
Resource booklet for older people. Cllr Wa erson had been
appointed as the first ever "Older Peoples' Champion" for S rling
Council and, in support of this new rôle, had produced a booklet
containing details of a variety of support services for older people.
The booklet is available to be viewed or downloaded from the
community council website (www.blscc.org). ME asked for
addi onal contribu ons if anyone had something useful to offer.
The Broch Field, Strathyre
DCJ reported that the BLS Trust now owned this field and had
learned that visitors were constantly asking ques ons at The Broch
café. He asked DF if the LLTNPA might be willing to provide some
informa on signs at this loca on. DF agreed to make further
enquiries about this. There were also problems with overnight
parking and some signs would help with that.
Ac on
DF to enquire
about signs from
LLTNPA.
10.
11.
12.
13.
a)
MacGregor's Landing
DCJ reported that the situa on at this loca on had not changed.
New owners are informed of the restric ons that apply and there
had been li le or no further ac vity there of late.
Single-track roads - alcohol bye-law signs
The latest response from S rling Council had been in May 2024
and s ll no new signs had appeared. ME offered to take details and
follow this up personally.
Planning Ma ers
2024/0084/DET. DCJ reported that this applica on to site a mobile
food kiosk in Lochearnhead had been refused.
Ma ers from ward councillors and Na onal Park representa ve
DF reported that the new Trossachs Explorer bus service had
launched and is popular. It will con nue as a pilot project un l the
end of September 2024. He also reported several other
improvements to LLTNPA facili es outwith the local area.
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RM to provide
relevant details.
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b)
c)
d)
14.
a)
b)
DF then reported some concerns over interac on with Na onal
Park Officers, ci ng their lack of involvement with the ma er of
the C60 bus service and their con nued absence from Highland
Games events. DF has raised this with LLTNPA directors.
CB commented on problems with camping at Loch Voil. Some
people had le mounds of rubbish and there was concern over
poten al erosion of the loch side and indiscriminate parking. The
Park Wardens appeared to be taking no ac on to resolve things.
ME men oned that representa on can be made directly to the
LLTNPA to reduce the number of camping permits if damage is
being caused. He suggested that photographic evidence, showing
erosion damage over a period of me, if possible, would be very
helpful.
ME reported that a new chief execu ve officer is now in place at
S rling Council. He also commented on adverse comments about
the new booking system at the Callander waste facility. He agreed
that it seemed to be superfluous and added anecdotal evidence
that fewer people are a ending the facility but local landowners
have reported an increase in fly-pping.
Any other competent business
Parking in Lochearnhead. AC reported having received several
complaints about the new legisla on that prohibits parking of
vehicles on pavements. This is now being enforced by local
authori es. Following an inspec on recently by enforcement
officers, several vehicles had been decorated with printed warnings
and had, consequently, started observing the new law. As a result,
an ambulance had been unable to reach its des na on at a house
because there was insufficient room for it to pass along the road.
ME explained that the legisla on has been framed to allow for
virtually no discre on or excep on. It is possible to apply for a
given road to be exempted but, in his experience thus far, it is
highly unlikely to be granted.
C60 bus service. DCJ reported that a group had been convened in
Killin specifically to promote use of the new C60 bus service. ME
commented that if people don't use the service, the Council will
not be able to con nue it. RM suggested that the mid-day gap in
the metable caused problems for people, but ME explained that
the metable could not be changed in the short term un l an
objec ve assessment had been made.
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c)
d)
Mobile telephone coverage. DCJ reported that there is now "4G"
connec vity in Balquhidder.
Co-op on of new member. RM stated that, with WI having
become a full member of the community council, a vacancy for
one more person to be co-opted was now available. She would
arrange for this to be publicised on the community council
website. Anyone interested should apply to the Secretary by 28th
August 2024. Any candidates would be considered for appointment
at the next mee ng on 11th September.
There was no further business and, at 9:35 p.m., DCJ declared the
mee ng to be closed. The next mee ng is scheduled to take place
at Strathyre Village Hall on Wednesday 11th September, 2024 at 7:30
p.m.
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