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Balquhidder, Lochearnhead & Strathyre
Community Council Minutes – 1st May 2024
This mee ng took place in Strathyre Village Hall at 7:30 p.m. on 1st May 2024.
It was chaired by David Johnston.
Present: David Johnston (DCJ), Carolyn Brooks (CB), Ruth McLusky (RM), Webster Inglis
(WI), Mar n Mackenzie (MM), Bob Wells (RJW).
Apologies: Andrew Poulter (AP), Angus Cameron (AC); PC Heather Campbell (HC), Police
Scotland.
Also A ending: Cllr Gene Maxwell (GM), S rling Council; Paul Hicks (PH), minute-taker.
Item
Content
1.
2.
3.
Approval of minutes from 20th March 2024
It was proposed by DCJ and seconded by RM, that the minutes of
the mee ng on 20th March 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 (21 Mar to 30 Apr 2024)
During this period, there were two incidents of an social
behaviour. On 11th April, a report was received of a drunken male
shou ng on the cycle path in Strathyre. Police a ended and found
someone the worse for drink. No offences were disclosed but he
was escorted from the area. On 28th April, an allega on of assault
was received from a male who had been camping beside Loch Earn.
Police a ended and enquiries were made but the complainant
would not engage with the police and withdrew his complaint, so
no further ac on was taken. In terms of road safety, ten reports
were recorded, six of which concerned extended delays caused by
temporary traffic lights, mostly at Glen Ogle. In several of these
instances, the lights were clearly faulty and remaining stuck in one
posi on for an inordinate amount of me. Traffic Scotland was
advised of these problems. There was one allega on of dangerous
driving and enquiries are ongoing to trace the offending driver.
There was one collision between two vehicles in Strathyre, but no
injuries were caused and the drivers exchanged details.
During this period, there was one report of a the from a garden in
Strathyre and enquiries are ongoing to iden fy a suspect. On 22nd
April, police were asked to a end a report of a dog a acking two
chickens. All par es concerned were seen and spoken to by the
police. On 11th April, a female required assistance from police and
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the Killin Mountain Rescue Team to get down from Beinn Each. She
was not injured but was duly assisted and able to return home
safely. Police patrols have been ac vely deterring and detec ng
speeding offences with the use of hand-held, radar equipment. On
15th April, officers gave some much appreciated advice about
dealing with "cold callers" and various "doorstep scams" to
members of the Lunch Club in Lochearnhead.
4.
a)
b)
5.
a)
Ma ers arising from previous minutes
S rling waste and recycling centres. Further to item 9(e) in the
minutes of the mee ng of 20th March 2024, further details of the
new procedure had since been published and are now available on
the community council website. (www.blscc.org) The new system
begins on 15th May 2024. GM explained the reasoning behind the
introduc on of the new system: to prevent abuse by residents from
other areas and commercial contractors.
C60 bus service. Further to item 6 in the minutes of the mee ng of
20th March 2024, a request for help was made to S rling Council
and, on 9th April, a reply was received from Robert Plewes, team
leader for public transport. It stated that two procurement
processes had been launched to find an alterna ve supplier for this
service, but no sa sfactory offers had been made. A report will be
submi ed for discussion at the next mee ng of S rling Council on
2nd May to review op ons and poten al costs. Meanwhile, the
school bus con nues to run and some links are possible with the
Demand Responsive Transport facility. GM added that four op ons
had been proposed for the discussion.
i) Do nothing.
ii) Re-adver se for the tenders.
iii) Expand the exis ng Demand Responsive Transport system.
iv) Provide a minibus service on a two-year trial, comprising four
round trips per day, six days per week.
DCJ added that this service had previously carried prescrip ons
from the pharmacy in Callander to the local area, but this is no
longer required because medicines need to be delivered in person.
Forestry and mber transport
Timber haulage, Leadscreden, Balquhidder. Sco sh Woodlands
had no fied its inten on to harvest mber from here during May. It
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intends to comply fully with the provisions of the agreed Timber
Transport Management Plan, using routes 1A, 1B and 6. Access has
been agreed with Forestry & Land Services.
b)
6.
a)
The Timber Transport Management Plan should have been
reviewed in March but nothing had happened. S rling Council
(Roads Department) has met with Claire Glaister but no changes
are expected.
Correspondence
Glentarken Wind Farm. SSE Renewables had no fied its inten on
to present details of its proposed project and solicit feedback from
local residents at two public exhibi ons, on 28th and 29th May.
Members decided that it would be good to have an updated report
and it was agreed that RM should invite them to present this at the
community council mee ng in October.
Ac on
RM to invite SSE
Renewables to
mee ng in
October.
b)
c)
d)
e)
Community councils - tenant involvement. An enquiry had been
received from the Tenant Par cipa on Officer for S rling Council
regarding the involvement of council housing tenants in any
capacity on the community council. Members were not aware of
any tenants having served on the council in recent years.
Flooding - poten ally vulnerable areas. The Sco sh Environment
Protec on Agency (SEPA) had no fied its inten on to run a
consulta on on poten ally vulnerable areas (PVAs) for flood
management risk in Scotland. The PVAs are updated every six years
and are designed to help protect people, proper es, businesses
and communi es. The consulta on will run from 25th March to 24th
June 2024 and both individuals and community groups are invited
to take part. It is expected that the revised PVAs will be published in
December 2024. CB asked if roads were included but nobody knew
for sure. WI was concerned that any homes added to a PVA might
suffer detriment regarding their home insurance, par cularly if the
research by SEPA was based purely on modelling. It was agreed that
these ques ons should be raised during the consulta on.
“Report-it” facility. This provides a simple way for residents and
community councils to report problems such as potholes,
uncollected waste bins, li er or fly-pping and an-social
behaviour to S rling Council. Full details are published on the
community council website. (www.blscc.org)
Community councils – administra ve grant. S rling Council RM to no fy AP.
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provides an annual grant to community councils to assist with
administra on and applica ons for grants are now invited. It was
agreed that RM should no fy AP accordingly.
f)
g)
Empty homes. S rling Council is currently seeking to encourage
people who own empty homes to return their proper es to
residen al use. RM commented that she had seen the number of
houses brought back into use thus far and it was very impressive.
Queen Elizabeth Forest Park. Forestry & Land Services Scotland
(FLSS) is seeking to establish the level of sa sfac on amongst
visitors to the park locally and, in par cular, whether the
community council has any plans or aspira ons to promote the use
of the park and its facili es. RM suggested that addi onal signs
would be useful and it was agreed that the council should respond
accordingly and invite FLSS to come and speak to the council.
Ac on
RM to invite FLSS
to meet with the
council.
7.
8.
9.
10.
a)
11.
a)
Imposi on of 40mph limit and “shared use” signs on single-track
roads
Angela McGibbon of the Roads (Network) team from S rling
Council reported on 29th April that details of the sec ons of road to
be designated for “shared use” (with a 40mph speed limit) have
been confirmed. They include Glenbuckie Road (also known as
Ballimore Road) and Stroneslaney Road.
Alcohol bye-law and passing-place signs
Angela McGibbon of the Roads (Network) team from S rling
Council apologised for the lack of progress with the replacement of
these signs. She was hopeful that the work would now be
completed by the end of May 2024.
Planning Ma ers
There were no new applica ons considered to be of wider public
interest or concern.
Ma ers from ward councillors and Na onal Park representa ve
GM advised members that the Former Ministry of Defence site at
Forthside in S rling was to be re-purposed. In par cular, a large
unit that had previously been used as a storage warehouse is to be
developed as a film studio. It is hoped that this will provide
significant employment opportuni es locallly.
Any other competent business
RJW commented that work on the Play Park at Strathyre was due to
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begin on 2nd May. This was welcomed by members.
b)
AC had passed on reports of dangerous potholes on the South Loch
Earn Road. It was suggested that it would be ideal to make use of
the newly developed "Report-it" facility run by S rling Council. RM
undertook to advise AC accordingly.
Ac on
RM to suggest
use of "Report-it"
facility to AC.
There was no further business and, at 8:20 p.m., DCJ declared the
mee ng to be closed. The next mee ng is scheduled to take place
at Balquhidder Village Hall on Wednesday 19th June, 2024 at 7:30
p.m.
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