September 2022 Minutes

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Minutes of Meeting of Bridge of Allan Community Council Held on Tuesday 20^th September 2022 in the Allan Centre.

Present: Mike Watson (MW) Chair; Anna Doeser (AD)Vice Chair and Communications Officer; Leslie Harkness (LH) Secretary; Sandra Davidson (SD) ; Bill Fortune (BF) ; Rosalynd Webb (RW)

Apologies: Alasdair Taylor (AT) Treasurer; Alastair Heron (AH) Planning Officer; Andrew Drummond Baxter (ADB); Emma Fradgley (EF) ; Siobhan Hencher (SH); Robin Kleinman (RK); Vicky McDowell (VMcD); Moira Randall (MR) Associate Member; Councillor Ewan Dillon; Councillor Graham Huston; Alexander Stewart (MSP); Alyn Smith (MP); Douglas Nielson(Vice Chair, Friends of Bridge of Allan);PC Paul Gilliland; PC Ross Barclay

In attendance: Councillor Douglas Dodds; Councillor Alasdair Tollemache ; Graham Russell (Chair, Friends of Bridge of Allan); Brian Bullen (Minute Taker); Inga Bullen (Chair, RAGE), Gavin Drummond, 3 other residents.

Abbreviations - Annual General Meeting (AGM), Bridge of Allan (BOA), Community Council (CC), Common Good Fund (CGF), Stirling Council (SC), Wallace Monument Stakeholder Advisory Group (WMSAG), Discover Bridge of Allan (DBOA) , Residents Against Greenbelt Erosion (RAGE)

B 2114 Welcome, Apologies and Conflict of Interest (MW/LH)

MW opened the meeting at 19.30, welcoming those present. The apologies were noted as indicated above.

No conflicts of interest noted.

B 2115 Approval of Minutes, Matters Arising and Action Log (LH)

The minutes of the August 16 meeting were approved; proposer was AD, seconder was BF.

Matters Arising (LH)

In relation to Item B 2109:

· Councillor Houston forwarded confirmation from SC that the felling of the diseased trees in the Fountain Road car park was imminent;

· With regard to the Provost’s Park toilets, Councillor Dodds forwarded the response from SC outlining the actions taken to address the issues he had raised, including arranging for the blocked drain to be cleared, repairing the hand dryer and electrical heater, highlighting concerns to the Facilities Management Team and ensuring that, in future, regular maintenance inspections will be undertaken;

· Regarding the mattresses on Glen Road, Councillor Tollemache forwarded confirmation from SC that it had failed to get a response from the owner of the land.

Graham Russell reported that the Friends of Bridge of Allan had organized the removal of the mattresses – a resident observed one mattress had been discarded at the same spot within the last day or two .

In relation to Item B 2106, Councillor Dodds raised with SC the matter of the large yellow lamppost signs in Henderson Street and Cornton Road warning of possible delays at the railway crossing; the council has indicated that these were due to be removed in October. The councillor also raised the matter of a large wooden sign attached to a road sign coming down from the Keir roundabout and, in response, the council has had the advertisement sign, emanating from a private contractor, removed.

Also, in relation to Item B 2106 and the Henderson Street proposals, a resident has written to suggest that more clarification is required on the bus stop measures and to underline his view that residents would benefit more from additional parking spaces than from widening a pavement to benefit a minimal number of bus passengers.

Action Log

Identified actions were covered in the agenda.

B 2116 Police Report

The community policing team were unable to attend, however their report was previously circulated to the CC. MW summarized the report completed by PC Gilliland which is reproduced here:

Introduction / synopsis of previous month:

This report should provide sufficient information of the police activity since the last community council meeting. If you have any further questions about the police report or any incidents that you are aware of that are not included in this report then please email us direct on the above email address and we will answer your questions.

If anyone has any information on any incidents that we have been unable to identify a suspect then please let us know by email, 101 or by contacting Crimestoppers.

The report encompasses all relevant crime and other matters which have occurred between 12^th August 2022 (date that previous police report was submitted) and 18^th September 2022.

Please accept the apologies of the community policing team who will not be in a position to attend the meeting.

Current Priorities:

Our current priorities in the Bridge of Allan area continue to be Anti-Social Behaviour, Road Safety and Community Engagement and Reassurance.

Main Report:

Between 12^th of August and 18^th September 2022 a total of 9 crimes occurred within the Bridge of Allan area (which also covers University of Stirling). The crimes detailed below are those that are of relevance to the local community.

ANTISOCIAL BEHAVIOUR

On the 25^th of August 2022 at Avenue Park a female was verbally abused and threatened during a telephone conversation. This has been crimed as an offence under Section 127 of the Communications Act 2003 and will result in a male being reported to the Fiscal.

On the 31^st of August and 6^th of September at Avenue Park, Bridge of Allan a female complained of being the victim of verbal abuse and threats from a named individual. These incidents were crimed as offences under Section 38(1) of the Criminal Justice & Licensing Scotland Act 2010 and following a full investigation are undetected, PS-20220831-3505 and PS-20220906-3422 refers.

DRUG MISUSE

On the 26^th of August 2022 at Pendreich Road, Bridge of Allan two males who were traced within a vehicle by police, were following a search, found in possession of a small quantities of Herbal Cannabis. The individual concerned were issued with a Recorded Police Warning.

VIOLENT CRIME

On the 14^th of August at Grange Gardens, Bridge of Allan police took a report of a domestic related assault. Following investigation a male was arrested and held in custody for Assault to Injury and other offences.

HOUSEBREAKINGS/CRIMES OF DISHONESTY

Sometime between the morning of 13^th and afternoon 14 ^th of August a quantity of wood was stolen from Cocksburn Reservoir. This is crimed as Theft and at the time of update is undetected, PS-20220823-1150 refers.

On the 27^th of August a Theft by Shoplifting occurred at a retail premises in Henderson Street, Bridge of Allan whereby alcohol was stolen. This is an ongoing investigation at the time of update however the suspects for the theft have been identified and this will be detected.

OTHER

On the 16^th of August a male was arrested in Pendreich Road, Bridge of Allan for a domestic related Breach of Bail offence. The individual concerned was held in police custody to appear at court the following day.

ROAD SAFETY AND ROAD TRAFFIC RELATED CRIME

On the 2^nd of September CPT officers attended Coneyhill Road, Bridge of Allan following complaints of vehicles disobeying the restricted access road sign and driving through the road to access Henderson Street. A number of motorists were engaged with and advised which vehicles can and cannot access this road and warned regarding the potential repercussions of failing to adhere to the signage.

In short if you do not reside in Coneyhill Road, are not delivering to address in the street or visiting residents within the street then motorists should not be driving through it.

MATTERS OF NOTE

Between the 12th of August and 18^th September 2022, there was a total of 121 calls to the Bridge of Allan area. Please note this also covers parts of the Cornton, Causewayhead and Stirling University.

A breakdown of some of these calls is as follows, 9 were public nuisance calls, 9 were concern for person type calls, 4 calls were drugs/substance related, 2 calls were noise related, calls 6 calls were disturbance related, 3 calls related to neighbour disputes, 2 calls were theft related, 3 were domestic related incidents and 8 were road traffic related calls.

Community engagement and reassurance:

CPT officers carried out a Police Surgery on the 1^st of September 2022 at Bridge of Allan Library and engaged with some elderly residents relating to road traffic matters.

On Monday 12^th September 2022 CPT attended at the Freshers Fayre at the University of Stirling and engaged positively with a large number of students in relation to personal safety and crime prevention.

Activity for forthcoming month:

· Patrol areas where road traffic related complaints have been made.

· Patrols areas where antisocial behaviour has been identified.

B 2117 Recruitment (AD)

AD reported 1 full membership slot was available of the maximum of 13 for the BOA CC.

Two co-opted applicants had expressed an interest in joining the CC. One was present - Rosalynd Webb. A formal vote was taken and Rosalynd was unanimously elected. A second voted elected Heather Jones as an Associate Member. Brian Bullen had recently submitted the co-option nomination form.

No further recruitment was be undertaken.

LH reported no response to his letter to an inactive member of the CC. After consultation with the relevant SC officer, LH is to write another letter.

Action: LH to proceed in accordance with the advice provided by the relevant SC officer. B 2118 Tennis Courts (MW)

Councillor Dodds reported promising progress. A meeting of the LTA representative (Kris Henderson) is due with SC and Councillor Dodds. LTA and SC will be working together to confirm operating and financial models.

B 2119 Community Grit Bins

RK is on holiday. Any queries can be emailed to him.

B 2120 Christmas Lights

Both AT and EF were absent from the meeting.

AD indicated the appreciation of the CC to the contributors to the crowdfunding which had been successful in raising the necessary funds.

B 2121 Haws Park / Riverside FC

Councillor Dodds spoke on this (RK being on holiday).

The main issue here is parking on the grass (Though litter was also mentioned). SC apparently permit some grass parking at the roadside border but it seems cars overspill this. The grass is also becoming damaged. There was a suggestion of heavy duty matting – but this would be expensive. However the club could apply to the CGF.

Councillor Dodds reported that the Riverside club concerned would write to visiting teams to ask them to park in BOA, and not on the grass.

A resident suggested removal of the traffic calming keep left bollards would enable kerbside

parking as it used to be.

B 2122 Planning Report

With AH not in attendance, MW spoke regarding the proposed developments at 103 Henderson Rd and 8 Charlton Road, indicating both were unsatisfactory.

Regarding the Lecropt proposal, MW indicated AH had meet with the developer. Councillor Tollemache had also recently meet the developer and received a copy of the plans.

MW invited Inga Bullen ,Chairperson of RAGE , to speak. She commented that though the PAN (proposal of application notice) to SC planners had indicated that an online public exhibition could be made on a website with a live consultation Q&A session there was no publicity of the site to the general public and the website address was obscure ( https://www.stationfieldplots.com ). It was noted that CC will be objecting to this development.

Action: CC to object to the 103 Henderson Rd and 8 Charlton Road proposals B 2123 Chair’s Report (MW)

MW indicated that the Railway station car park needed some attention, particularly regarding signage (direction arrows, parking bays).

Councillor Dodds reported that the disabled bays had been repainted. MW reported there was no news re the redevelopment of the Royal Hotel.

Action: CC (LH) to write to Network Rail about the state of the Railway station car park ( signage , bay marking)

B 2124 Secretary’s Report (LH)

Communications from Councillors

Councillor Tollemache has raised with Scottish Water and with SC the vandalising of the new bridge at the Cocksburn reservoir, along with the issue of litter, and he has forwarded confirmation from Scottish Power Energy of the remedial work to be done and also that the matter has been referred to the police. He has also informed the CC that St Saviour’s Church is intending to have a warm bank on Tuesdays and Fridays from November to April, and he has forwarded notification that McGills Bus Services has acquired the First Midland Bluebird and the First Scotland East companies.

He has also raised with SC:

· the perennial problem of the road surface at the entrance to the Health Centre; SC has confirmed that the full footway entrance will be permanently patched when resources permit;

· the play area at Hillview; SC has confirmed it will continue to maintain this area and will replace the recently removed multi-unit when funds allow;

· the issue of the council’s Housing Lland supply figures ; SC has confirmed it has an effective supply of 5.3 years, representing a surplus of 155 units, and that the next annual Housing Land audit will be published this coming November/December;

· the temporary closure of Inverallan Road to repair a displaced sewage pipe

Councillor Dodds has raised the following with SC:

· bags of rubbish dumped in the Health Centre car park;

• the fact that the Provost’s Lamp was not illuminated;

Communications from Stirling Council

The CC has received the following:

· details of a new phase for the ‘Local Nature Conservation Sites’ Project;

· details of a new phase for the Albert Place and Dumbarton Road East Project;

· an indication that the online 2022 Stirling Council Residents Survey is now live;

· details of the new phase, the ‘Analysis’ phase, of the council’s ‘New Housing Allocations Policy’ and, also, of the ‘Construction’ Phase of the ‘Lower Bridge Street Project’;

· details of a pilot exercise with volunteer CCs to develop a Community Council Health Check process.

Communications from Residents

A dog walker resident who has prosthetic legs has commented on the poor condition of Bridge of Allan’s grassy areas in the context of accessibility.

A resident has voiced concern about the provision of a mountain bike track in the Mine Wood.

The resident who had voiced their concern re the mountain bike track in the Mine Wood was present and passed a printed photograph of a wooden construction (a mountain bike 'drop' jump). (It's at the bottom of a steep bank). He reported having to get out of the way of speeding bikers whilst dog walking. He had found a web site detailing routes in the wood, which may be attracting bikers from outside BOA.

MW mentioned the name of a new SC Countryside ranger ( Luke Taylor)

Action: ? Contact SC Countryside ranger regarding Mountain Bike concerns in the Mine Wood.

Bridget Clark of the Glen Road volunteers has sent the CC a copy of her detailed response on the recent consultation on the Drumdruills WIA( (Woodlands In and Around Towns) scheme.

There was some discussion about the double fence at the side of the Darn Way on the river side of the Drumdruills WIA plantation ( this was covered in Bridget Clark's response) .

General Communications

The CC has received the following:

· the August edition of the Scottish Rural Action newsletter

B 2125 Treasurer’s Report

Nothing was reported; AT was not present.

B 2126 Residents’ Voice

Gavin Drummond raised the issue of the Henderson St bus stop proposals. The pressure on car parking was an issue – additional car parking spaces might be possible , however it wasn't clear from the design document how this might be achieved.

Action: LH to write to Carlyn Fraser (of SC) to clarify the proposed build out and possible extra parking spaces.

A resident voiced a suggestion based on the separation in public parks of areas for dog walking on