March 2024 Minutes

This meeting took place in Lochearnhead Village Hall at 7:30 p.m. on 20th March 2024. It was chaired by David Johnston.

Present: David Johnston (DCJ), Carolyn Brooks (CB), Ruth McLusky (RM), Andrew Poulter (AP), Angus Cameron (AC), Webster Inglis (WI), Martin Mackenzie (MM).

Apologies: Bob Wells (RJW).

Also Attending: Cllr Martin Earl (ME), Stirling Council; David Fettes (DF), Loch Lomond & The Trossachs National Park Authority (LLTNPA); PC Heather Campbell (HC), Police Scotland; Paul Hicks (PH), minute-taker.

1. Approval of minutes from 7th February 2024

It was proposed by CB and seconded by RM, that the minutes of the meeting on 7^th February 2024 should be accepted and this was approved unanimously.

2. Declarations of Interest

There were no declarations of interest by members present.

3. Police report (8^th Feb - 20^th Mar 2024)

During this period, there was one incident of anti-social behaviour when a member of staﬀ at a licensed premise in Balquhidder, who was drunk, became abusive and refused to leave. Police attended and removed the person. No formal complaint was made. There were two incidents relating to road safety. One concerned a report of dangerous driving, when a heavy goods vehicle overtook another vehicle on a bend whilst travelling South on the A84 from Stathyre. This caused an oncoming vehicle to swerve onto the verge. The driver of the HGV continued without stopping and enquiries are ongoing to trace the driver. The second report concerned an abandoned, damaged vehicle in Balquhidder. On making enquiries, police established that no injuries had occurred and the owner of the vehicle had already made arrangements for it to be recovered. With regard to crime reports during this period, although no local reports had been received, there had been several reports of thefts and housebreakings in neighbouring villages. All residents were urged to be vigilant and to make sure that items are stored away in a building with doors and windows secured. A report had been received concerning a vehicle parked in Lochearnhead with no current MOT certiﬁcate. The owner had now been traced and the appropriate action taken.

AP asked about the "pop-up police oﬃcer", as a deterrent against

speeding, that hadn't been seen for some time. HC replied that it had been stored in her usual police vehicle, but that had gone for a service and she had since been using a diﬀerent vehicle. She indicated that she would recover the equipment and and bring it back into use.

4. Matters arising from previous minutes

Speeding in Strathyre (Keip Road and Stroneslaney Road). RM reported that a response had been received from Stirling Council, stating that an extension of the 20mph speed limit on Keip Road

beyond the current section was not in line with its speed limit policy.

However, it would be possible to implement a 40mph limit as part of a

section of this road to be designated as " Walking and Cycling Friendly". This could be added to the current work plan and progressed in the next ﬁnancial year.

CB agreed that it was more important to have the speed limit on roads where people are walking and cycling. Members considered that the Council policy was a good one and it would be appropriate to follow it. It was proposed that an application should be submitted for four roads (Stroneslaney Road, Keip Road, Ballimore Road and the C33 throughout its length) to be designated as "Walking and Cycling Friendly". ME suggested applying for all of them as one block. AP suggested that a further request to reinstate the missing "no alcohol" signs should be included as well. This was agreed unanimously.

RM to submit application as discussed.

5. Collapsed wall beside A84 trunk road in Strathyre

RM reported that this section of wall had now been repaired.

6. C60 Bus Service

RM reported that the C60 bus service, which operates between Callander and Killin, will be withdrawn on 31 ^st March, but Stirling Council is considering options for its future. Kingshouse Travel has operated a service on the route for twenty-eight years but, owing to challenges with driver recruitment, has decided not to renew its contract for the service supported by the Council. The service normally runs ﬁve times a day, from Monday to Saturday, along the A84 between Callander and communities that include Strathyre, Lochearnhead, Lix Toll and Killin. The council opened the route up to tender in September last year, but received no responses from potential operators. A further tender process in January attracted one bidder, but the oﬀer was considered signiﬁcantly over budget and proposed a substantially reduced service. A report will be brought to a

future Council meeting to review options for the future with associated costs. This will include options for the Council to operate a service directly, or to agree that a service will not be provided, since this is not a statutory requirement. Although the service will cease on 31^st March, there are a number of alternative transport opportunities in place. These include: Demand Responsive Transport (DRT), remaining service bus links, the Killin and District Volunteer Car Scheme (KDVCS), lift shares, and a term-time school bus provision.

Members expressed extreme dissatisfaction at the situation and ME stated that, although this had needed to go before the relevant committee for consideration, it had been left very late and now a break in service was inevitable. RM stated that it was strongly discriminatory against vulnerable people and, to support this, several members gave speciﬁc examples of local people who would now be unable to attend medical appointments or accept jobs outwith the immediate area. ME suggested that a public campaign to restore the service would be appropriate, ideally after the Easter holiday. He also suggested that Stirling Council should be encouraged to run this service itself. He advised that it would also be possible to cite actual examples of hardships caused, provided that no identifying names or other details were used. It was agreed to progress the proposal of a public campaign.

Stirling Council budget cuts

ME conﬁrmed that the budget had been passed on 28 ^th February. Numerous cuts will be implemented with some increased charges for things such as garden waste removal and the withdrawal of support for events such as "Open Streets" and Hogmanay. The budget for the Library Service will be reduced but not withdrawn. RM asked about the loss of swimming tuition for P5 school-children. ME responded that this wasn't good but was a better option than some of the other proposals. There will still be swimming lessons for older children. AC asked about public toilets. ME replied that charging had been proposed but had proved to be too expensive to implement. AC also asked about village halls but ME could not recollect anything in relation to them. ME then addressed the matter of the "Christie Clock" in Stirling, a listed structure that had been inadvertently demolished in September 2023. The Council intends to rebuild the monument a fter taking advice from specialist consultants on how best to proceed.

8. Forestry and timber transport

A public campaign to be launched.

West Strathyre Forest. Forest & Land Scotland advised on 8^th February 2024 that all operations (felling, clearing and haulage) are expected to conclude by 26^th April 2024. The agreed arrangements for haulage specify that lorry movements on all routes should be avoided between

5 p.m. and 6 a.m. No convoys of lorries will be permi tted and adequate controls on daily movements are to be applied to minimise the impact on local residents and traﬃc. A maximum of eight loads

per day will be allowed from the area, regardless of which diﬀerent landowners are involved. No journeys in the vicinity of Strathyre Primary School will be allowed during the period between 8:45 a.m. and 9:15 m. or between 3 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. from Monday to Friday during the school teaching term. (See Stirling Council website for details of school term times -

www.stirling.gov.uk/schools-and-learning/education-documents-a-z/ school-holidays-2023-24/)

Leitter's Forest Plan. Fraser Wight, Assistant Forest Manager, is asking people to raise any interests or considerations of which he may not be aware. These could include matters such as recreation, rights of access, wildlife, biodiversity or archaeological features. This will

enable him to protect sensitive features when planning operations in the future. The forest is already managed under the terms of a plan approved by Scottish Forestry. The new document will provide authorisation for further work after the existing ten-year arrangement has lapsed.

Timber Transport Management Plan. DCJ reported that this is due for

review but nothing had been He proposed asking for a meeting with Stirling Council Roads Department to discuss it. This was agreed.

Muirlaggan Forest. DCJ reported that felling and haulage operations

are due to begin in April 2024. It is likely that six lorry loads per day will be required.

Request meeting with Roads Dept.

9. Correspondence

Community Council member reconciliation. RM reported that, under the "Scheme of Establishment" for community councils in Stirlingshire, the Balquhidder, Lochearnhead & Strathyre Community Council is entitled to have a maximum of nine Currently, there are eight members, comprising six full members and two co-opted members. The co-opted members serve for at least six months (or a minimum of three meetings), after which time they are eligible to be

appointed as full members of the community council. If the two members who are currently co-opted wish to continue as full members, a resolution can be proposed at the scheduled meeting on Wednesday 19^th June 2024. However, no further members may be co- opted at present, because the number of co-opted members may not exceed one third of the number of full members.

Roadworks at Strathyre. BEAR Scotland, on behalf of Transport Scotland, had given notice that it is planning to planning to carry out urgent, overnight resurfacing works on the A84 trunk road, north of Runacraig and within the village of Strathyre. The works are

programmed to commence on Sunday 24^th March 2024 and are anticipated to take four nights to complete, subject to Works will be carried out between the hours of 8 p.m. and 5 a.m. each night. "Amnesty" periods will also be oﬀered at the following intervals: 9 p.m., 11 p.m., 1 a.m. and 3 a.m.

Stirling Waste Recycling (funding). Stirling Council had reported that a grant of £234,000 from "Zero Waste Scotland" has been used to increase, re-use and upgrade signs at Stirling Council’s three household waste and recycling centres, located at Lower Polmaise, Callander and Balfron. The funding has also allowed the purchase of two mobile roll packers (one at Lower Polmaise and one at Callander) which allow staﬀ to compact recycling skips more eﬃciently, creating less void space within them and reducing carbon impact. As a result, three new recycling skips have been introduced at Lower Polmaise to recycle used mattresses, carpets and hard plastics for the ﬁrst time.

This follows a successful trial period between May and December 2023, which saw more than three thousand mattresses diverted from landﬁll, along with almost three hundred and ﬁfty metric tonnes of carpets and hard plastics. The increased potential at Lower Polmaise for re-using items has seen walking aids supplied for refurbishment to NHS Forth Valley and the introduction of a partnership operation with "Transition Stirling" for the re-use of furniture and bric-a-brac. The upgrades will be promoted on new livery for waste trucks, which will also advertise recycling promotions across the area on the range of materials that can be re-used or recycled at the waste and recycling
National Park pre-season brieﬁng. Cara Thom from the Loch Lomond & The Trossachs National Park Authority (LLTNPA) had notiﬁed the community council that a pre-season brieﬁng concerning the management of visitors to the National Park will take place online

between 3 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday 26 ^th March. The draft of a plan for a joint response to the management of visitors this year sets out a clear approach and collective plan of action from the range of public bodies involved in managing any pressures caused by the arrival of visitors in the National Park. The Zoom meeting will be chaired by Cllr Martin Earl (Deputy Convener for the LLTNPA) and will include some short presentations on plans for managing visitor pressures this summer, for longer term investment and for infrastructure planning. There will also be a "Question & Answer" session for community council members to ask National Park representatives and other partners any questions they may have.

Stirling Waste Recycling (booking system). Stirling Council Waste Services department had notiﬁed community councils of the

introduction of a booking system for its household waste recycling

From Wednesday 1^st May, a booking will be required for all

residents looking to visit one of its three sites at Lower Polmaise, Callander and Balfron.

Stirling Council (communication and community engagement). Lyndsay Macnair, Thriving Communities Engagement Manager for Stirling Council, had announced a commitment to improving communication and engagement with communities and their community councils in order to foster strong partnerships between all involved. An invitation has been extended to join an online meeting on Thursday 28^th March between 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. These newly established sessions for "informed communities" will be held quarterly

and will provide a platform for council oﬃcers and representatives from national organisations to share information on projects and plans with community council "chairs". The sessions will cover a range of topics relevant to communities, including community development, infrastructure, engagement strategies and best practices. The Council believes that coming together in this way will strengthen relationships and help work towards building thriving communities. An agenda and weblink for the meeting meeting will be shared during the week commencing Monday 25^th

10. Planning Matters

2024/0055/DET. An application had been made to erect a 4G telecommunications mast at Sgiath A Chaise, Strathyre Forest. Members thought that this was unlikely to be problematic and agreed not to pass any formal comments to the LLTNPA planning authority.

11. Matters from ward councillors and National Park representative

DF reported having attended a recent meeting of the LLTNPA Access Forum at which several developments and enhancements were announced. These included: a safe timber extraction route, new car park and section of cycleway at Glenoglehead; a previously agreed path, with access through a deer fence, reinstated at Ballimore Farm, Balquhidder; some redundant "no access" and "no camping" signs at Loch Voil (between Craigruie and Monachyle Mhor) replaced with new signs regarding the camping management bye-law; a "passing place" sign to be erected before Easter in the lay-by at Craigruie to prevent people parking there overnight; the re-development of trails around Killin and Acharn Forest with new way markers and QR codes providing mapping information. Finally, two further phases of the cycle path between St Fillans and Lochearnhead will be taken forward this year, but funding for the section between Glen Beich and Lochearnhead had been withdrawn. DCJ stated that the BLS Trust has agreed to get involved in seeking fresh funding. DF concluded that, once the cycle path has been developed, it will form part of an extended "Pilgrims' Way" along Strathearn which could become a strong tourist attraction.

12. Any other competent business

No additional items were raised under this heading.

There was no further business and, at 8:40 p.m., DCJ declared the meeting to be closed. The next meeting is scheduled to take place at Strathyre Village Hall on Wednesday 1st May, 2024 at 7:30 p.m. It will be preceded by the Annual General Meeting.