Balquhidder, Lochearnhead & Strathyre
Community Council Minutes – 23rd October 2024
This mee ng took place in Balquhidder Village Hall at 7:30 p.m. on 23rd October 2024.
It was chaired by David Johnston.
Present: David Johnston (DCJ), Carolyn Brooks (CB), Ruth McLusky (RM), Andrew
Poulter (AP).
Apologies: Bob Wells (RJW), Webster Inglis (WI), Angus Cameron (AC), Mar n Mackenzie
(MM); PC Heather Campbell (HC), Police Scotland.
Also A!ending: Maida MacLaren (MML), local resident; Cllr Elaine Waterson (EW), S rling
Council (via Zoom); David Fe!es (DF), Loch Lomond & The Trossachs Na onal
Park Authority (LLTNPA); Victor Clements (VC), Balquhidder Deer Management
Group; Paul Hicks (PH), minute-taker.
Item Content Ac on
- Approval of previous minutes
It was proposed by AP and seconded by RM, that the minutes of
the mee ng on 11th September 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 (11 September to 22 October 2024)
During this period, there were no reports of an -social behaviour
or crime in the area. There were, however, seven incidents rela ng
to road safety. Two collisions occurred: one on the A84 near
Strathyre between a car and a motorcycle and the other in
Balquhidder Glen (near Monachyle Mhor) between two cars.
Neither involved any injuries and no offences were disclosed in
either case. There were three reports of poor driving: a campervan
swerving around on the A84, a vehicle speeding and tailga ng
other vehicles and a vehicle that le# the road and had to be
recovered from an embankment beside the A85. Neither of the
offending vehicles was traced in the first two incidents and no
injuries or damage to street furniture was caused in the third
incident. An injured deer was reported on the A84 beside Loch
Lubnaig and police a!ended but could find no trace of the animal.
On 8th October, police a!ended an incident in which a motorcycle
fell from a trailer and caught fire. Traffic control was established
whilst the Fire Service ex nguished the blaze. In two miscellaneous
incidents, police officers were asked for advice by a family looking
for somewhere to camp and by a foreign na onal (who was
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camping locally) and was offered advice a#er the loss of a passport
in Oban.
- Presenta on from Balquhidder Deer Management Group
Victor Clements from the Balquhidder Deer Management Group
gave a presenta on on the work of the group to explain the
contents of its Deer Management Plan for 2024-2029. Full details
of the group's work can be viewed on its website by any member
of the public. [www.balquhidderdmg.deer-management.co.uk/]
- Membership of community council
a)
It had been intended to offer full membership of the community
council to a co-opted member, but this person was not present and
had not a!ended two previous mee ngs. It was agreed that DCJ
should write and ask whether the person concerned s ll wished to
con nue as a full member.
DCJ to write to
the co-opted
member and
seek clarifica on.
b)
MML had a!ended earlier mee ngs of the community council and
had expressed an interest in becoming a member. RM proposed
that, in line with sec on 1(7) of the Scheme of Establishment for
community councils, MML should be co-opted as a member and
this was agreed unanimously.
- Ma!ers arising from previous minutes
There were no ma!ers arising from the previous minutes.
- Forestry and mber transport
The exis ng opera ons were con nuing but no new works had
been no fied.
- Correspondence
- a) Premises Improvement Grant. A Premises Improvement Grant is
being funded by the UK Government’s Shared Prosperity Fund and
is open to local business and social enterprises, as well as
cons tuted community halls. The aim is to enhance (amongst
other things) community well-being and reduced carbon
emissions. Awards between £2K and £20K are available for capital
funding but contracts must be in place by the end of March 2025
with works completed by September that year. The closing date for
applica ons is 12th November 2024. This was noted but no suitable
applica ons were put forward for considera on.
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- b) Car park QR code scams. No fica on had been received from
S rling Council regarding fake no ces with QR codes that have
been placed in some car parks. The code takes people to a website
where they are charged excessive fees for parking. This is
fraudulent. The Council will take ac on if no fied, either via its
website or by telephoning 01786 404040.
- c) No ce of public processions. No ce had been given by Rocket
Events Ltd that an ultra-marathon en tled "Glen Ogle 33" would
take place on Saturday 2nd November 2024. During the event,
runners will be passing through Balquhidder Glen (between
Mhor84 and Strathyre Village) from 9 a.m. un l 10:15 a.m. that
day. It was agreed that AP should write to the organiser for further
details so that local residents could be given some advanced
warning.
AP to contact
Rocket Events Ltd
for further
details of the
event.
- d) NHS Minor Injuries Unit, S rling. No ce had been given that
a!endance at the NHS Minor Injuries Unit (a part of Forth Valley
Royal Hospital but located in S rling) now needs to be arranged in
advance by contac ng NHS 24 (by telephone or online). Further
details are available on the community council website.
- e) Damage to Stronvar Bridge. On 15th October 2024, a report had
been received of further damage to this bridge, probably caused
by a vehicle. DCJ had contacted the Timber Transport Management
Plan coordinator to see if any incident had been reported but, to
date, had received no reply. DCJ had also asked S rling Council to
convene a mee ng about the situa on with the bridge.
- f) Shared Rural Network project. The Shared Rural Network (SRN) is
a collabora on between Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) and
HM Government to improve 4G coverage for people living, working
and travelling in poorly-served, rural areas. It is being managed by
a company called Cornerstone which had given no ce to the
community council that it is proposing to build a thirty-metre high
la&ce tower on the hill above Auchleskine Woods as part of the
project. This will provide mobile communica ons at Immeroine
and Ballimore. A formal applica on for planning permission will be
submi!ed once public consulta ons have been completed.
Members had no formal comments to offer.
- g) Police Reports to Community Councils. Police Inspector Andy
Bushell (Rural S rlingshire) is seeking feedback from local
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community councils on how best the police can support them. In
par cular, he would find it helpful to know what councils would
like to see covered in the regular reports from local police officers.
Following discussion, it was suggested that more informa on
would be useful as some reports were very thin.
- Water provision in Balquhidder
Due to the lack of official informa on from Sco!sh Water, AP had
carried out some personal research regarding the ongoing need for
regular supplies of water for local houses in Balquhidder. Sco!sh
Water is apparently supplying about 30K litres of water per day.
This equates roughly to the es mated number of houses that are
a!ached to the mains supply system in Balquhidder. This water
was previously supplied by the Kirkton Burn so the conclusion is
that water from the burn is no longer available for some reason.
On visi ng the burn, AP found the path to be overgrown and
flooded, but it was not possible to tell whether or not the system
(to abstract water from the burn for the mains supply) was
opera onal or not. It was agreed to send a further request for
updated informa on on the situa on.
DCJ to write to
Sco!sh Water
seeking further
informa on
regarding the
problem.
- Disposal of waste from mobile homes
RM had no fied LLTNPA of a concern raised by a local resident in
August 2024 about the disposal of waste from chemical toilets in
public toilet facili es by the owners of campervans and caravans.
(See item 7B of the minutes of 11th September 2024.) On behalf of
the community council, RM had asked that urgent considera on be
given to pos ng signs at all public toilet facili es in the LLTNPA area
to discourage this prac ce. Nothing had been heard from LLTNPA
and DF offered to chase this up. CB men oned that she had
learned that there are two types of waste disposal systems, one of
which is approved for disposal in normal, domes c toilet facili es.
- Road signs in local area
CB reported that the passing place at Craigruie has now got two
passing place signs. There are s ll other passing places without
signs. DF stated that addi onal signs had been produced by LLTNPA
but sent to the wrong depot and enquiries were in hand to trace
them.
- Speeding in local areas
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In a recent newsle!er, Police Inspector Andy Bushell (Rural
S rlingshire) had provided details of a scheme called "Community
Speedwatch". Its aim is to carry out overt monitoring of speed
limits at pre-approved sites. This is done by local volunteers
wearing high visibility clothing and using equipment approved by
the Home Office. Details of vehicles travelling above the speed
limit are generated and forward to Police Scotland who send a
wri!en warning to the registered keepers regarding their
adherence to speed limits. Further details regarding the scheme
are available from Police Scotland. Alongside this report, RM
advised members that no ce had been received from S rling
Council of a proposal to reduce part of the exis ng 30mph speed
limit on the A827 in Killin to 20mph. Further informa on can be
obtained by emailing the Council via "traffic@s rling.gov.uk".
- Communica ons with S_rling Council
On 21st August 2024, Tony Farrant, Chair of Kilmadock Community
Council, had received a reply from the new Chief Execu ve Officer
(CEO) of S rling Council (Caroline Sinclair) regarding the ques on
of how to improve liaison between the Council and community
councils (especially those in rural areas). The CEO proposed using a
session of the exis ng "Informed Communi es" mee ngs on 26th
September 2024 to bring together all interested representa ves
from community councils for a joint discussion. Members were
able to a!end in person (at Old Viewforth in S rling) or online.
EW added that a common complaint had been made, that it was
not possible to contact individuals with responsibility for individual
departments but everything had to be passed through one officer.
It had been agreed that a be!er method needs to be found. DCJ
commented that complaints are o#en le# unresolved. EW agreed
that this was not acceptable and the ward councillors were wholly
suppor ve of the drive to improve the current arrangements.
- Community Benefit funding through SSE Networks
DCJ reminded members of the background to this item, which
concerned the development of a wind farm at Glentarken. (Items 5
and 8A of the minutes of 31st July 2024 refer.) DCJ had
subsequently liaised with the Chair of Killin Community Council
(Andy Aitken) about the crea on of a management group to deal
with the ma!er of community benefits deriving from the project.
The composi on of this group would be all-important. Members
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agreed that DCJ should go ahead with discussions, involving the
ward councillors and other community councils. VC commented
that in his area (where a similar project was taking place), an equal
number of representa ves from each community council had been
appointed to a similar management group, regardless of the size of
each area.
- Planning Ma!ers
There were no relevant new applica ons within the community
council area to consider.
- Ma!ers from ward councillors and Na onal Park representa ve
- a) EW reported that S rling Council had just launched its annual
consulta on on budgets for the coming year (en tled, "The Big
Conversa on"). It is envisaged that there is likely to be an overall
deficit amoun ng to about £80 million and cuts to services or staff
are likely.
- b) The recent survey on lending libraries had now closed and there
had been a good response, but a!endance at libraries had stayed
low ever since numbers dropped dras cally during the restric ons
imposed to limit the impact of the Covid pandemic.
- c) DF reported that the temporary Trossachs Bus Service had now
finished. It had been used by over five thousand people, although
most of them had been using travel concessions. Nevertheless, it
had been considered a success overall.
- d) DF also provided some sta s cs concerning enforcement of the
camping bye-laws and ini a ves to promote and encourage water
safety, especially in schools.
- Any other competent business
- a) MacGregor's Landing. AP asked if there had been any recent news
of ac ons taken by any of the organisa ons responsible for the
environmental changes that had been precipitated by this scheme.
Nothing had been heard. There was s ll one plot for sale, but
nothing had taken place in terms of further development on any of
the plots of land involved. DCJ undertook to look over previous
correspondence to see if anything needed to be followed up.
- b) DF asked about the proposal for repairs to the damaged bridge on
the Glen Ogle Path at Lochearnhead. LLTNPA has offered to make
the necessary repairs, but does not wish to take any con nuing
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Community Council Minutes – 23rd October 2024
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responsibility for the structure. It was suggested that this should
be referred to Angus Cameron at Lochearnhead for considera on.
There was no further business and, at 9:10 p.m., DCJ declared the
mee ng to be closed. The next mee ng is scheduled to take place
at Lochearnhead Village Hall on Wednesday 4th December, 2024
at 7:30 p.m.
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