December 2023 Minutes

Item

Action

PART 1 : WELCOME AND PROCEDURES

Introduction, Apologies and Meeting Procedures

EW welcomed everyone to the meeting as she was standing in due to the resignation of the Chair MM and Vice Chair JK. EW advised that this it was
standard procedure for a Stirling Council Officer or Ward Counsellor to stand in as chair due to the unusual circumstances.

Recording/Conflict of Interest

EW stated that the meeting was being recorded for the purposes of minute taking only. She asked if there were likely to be any conflict of interest and MM advised if any discussion came up regarding the Development Trust she would raise if appropriate.

Minutes of the previous meeting

Copies of the November minutes had been distributed prior to the meeting. They were proposed by MM and seconded by DS.

Election of Interim Officers

At the last CCC meeting, no eligible community councillor had volunteered to take on the role of Secretary, following the request of the Secretary DM for a leave of absence due to ill health. MM Chair and JK, Vice Chair, had tendered their resignations, which were accepted by Stirling Council on 15th December. EW asked for nominations for Interim Chair. MM proposed JK, this was seconded by LG and the vote was carried unanimously. EW asked for a vote for Interim Secretary, JK proposed MM, this was seconded by OW and the vote was carried unanimously. EW handed the meeting over to JK as Interim Chair of CCC. JK passed on his congratulations to EW on her recent election as
Provost of Stirling.

Matters arising

The Big Conversation

OW, RW and MM had attended a meeting arranged by Strathard Community Council, where it was agreed that all local rural Community Councils should work together to challenge SC’s potential budget cuts. Since then, the group had met twice and had identified several areas to concentrate on. OW advised that the group was keen to emphasise to SC the disproportionate impact the proposed cuts would have on rural communities. OW was lead on potential closures/cuts to library services and the group was also challenging closures of public toilets, loss of end of road bin collection, reduction/closure of nursery services, transport issues, specifically S60 and X10, as well as potential closures of village halls, with a representative leading on each topic. The group had discussed what initial questions should be sent to SC for further information and each Community Council would send questions tailored to their own circumstances. The group was intending to hold a meeting with local ward
counsellors as well as those based in Stirling. A response was expected from SC by Mid-January.

• A member of the public asked if the responses received through the Big Conversation would have an impact on SC decisions. EW advised that all responses received would be collated and assessed in accordance with the Equality and Socio-economic Impact Assessment (EqSIA) system, considering the demographics of the local area. She was also keen to emphasise that no decisions had yet been made by SC. Once the draft budget was available at the beginning of February, individuals could lobby ward counsellors with any concerns.
• There was a discussion about the possible closure of village halls and who was responsible for the ownership and maintenance. Ian McCourt (IM) advised he was happy to support whoever was leading on this, as he had a background with SC dealing with community centres and village halls.
• LG asked if it was possible to look at the budget and EW clarified that it would be posted on the SC budget webpage. It was also possible to look at the previous year’s budget online.

St Kessog’s

Several members of the Community Council had visited St.K’s to see in what condition was the inside of the building. JK stated that the general feeling was that the damage to the building was not as bad as had been expected. JK cautioned that it was important to ensure that any future options considered by the community were based on logic rather than on emotion. JK referred to the report completed in 2019 and EW clarified there was both a draft and a final copy of this report.
There followed a discussion on the next steps for St. K’s and the financial burden of community ownership. EW clarified that previous reports had stated that the financial liabilities were too large for the community to take on. EW and the other ward councillors would meet with Steve MacDonald in the New Year to discuss options.

• LG proposed that any photographs taken during the visit should be sent to SC and displayed in the information hub. OW seconded this proposal and there was a unanimous vote to take this forward.
• LG proposed that that the Community Council investigates fixing the clock. MM thought that the Rotary club were already dealing with this
  and RJ confirmed that this was the case.
• EW would send the final report from 2019 to JK for the group to consider and she also suggested they looked at the operational models alongside the report.

A subgroup of the Community Council would be meeting in January to discuss the matter further.
There was a discussion about Tim Crone (TC) attending the meeting in January as an Associate Member (AM), as he had been an AM with the last community council on this topic. MM advised that Associate Membership only lasted for the duration of the Community Council. LG was keen that Tim was present at the meeting and proposed that he be elected as an AM of the Community Council for the duration of the project. This was seconded by DS. RB objected to this. A vote was then taken, with 5 in favour of TC being elected as AM and two CC abstaining due to conflict of interest. MM advised that any decisions made at the subgroup meeting In January needed to be brought to the next
Community Council meeting in February for approval.

Built Heritage Officer

It was raised at the last meeting that NP had no Built Heritage Officer, which was causing issues as local planning applications had to go through two
different local authorities as well as the NP for approval. RJ confirmed that the NP used the resources of Argyll and Bute as they did not have enough work to employ their own member of staff. A member of the public stated that having to deal with three different authorities was causing problems for property owners in the local area. JK proposed that the Community Council wrote a letter to NP to ask about the possibility of NP employing their own Heritage Officer.

Planning issues

JK stated that there had been 5 planning applications since the last meeting.
JK highlighted two applications. The first one was the application for the new McLaren school campus. He stated that he felt the concerns raised by
residents had not been answered, including the school’s ability to meet local demand. EW advised that there were ongoing discussions, and she would
facilitate another meeting with the Assets Department and ensure that the CC were invited. The second application was a request to remove timber work on the outside of Callander Hostel in Bridgend. Tim Crone declared an interest in
the project. JK advised that he also had a vested interest as he lived nearby and asked MM to lead the discussion. MM asked if there were any comments about the building going back to its original stonework. Tim Crone confirmed it was going back its original render and explained the reasons for the changes being made.

Callander Flood Group

Ian McCourt (IM) met with SC on 30th November and discussed a range of issues. The group had asked for an update on the 27 options that SC were
considering and asked if the shortlist had been finalised. There was a deadline of 31st March 2024 set by Scottish Government and IM felt that SC could not meet this deadline for Callander. SC appeared not to have made any progress with the other 26 options other than the one they presented to the community in 2019 and there seemed to be pressure on the community to accept this option. Ian had drafted a letter to SC advising that the information being received from SC was inconsistent. The Flood Group was standing firm
that it wanted the most appropriate flood protection available for Callander and what was being proposed did not meet the current or predicted future flood level. IM advised that there was no need to rush into deciding on an option as it would be better to wait until the next cycle of funding rather than choose the wrong option.

• JK asked EW if she wished to make any comments on behalf of SC and she advised that she was due to attend a meeting on Wednesday 20th December along with the other ward councillors to discuss how to
  move things forward.
• RJ advised that if a structure were part of a formal flood protection scheme, it did not require planning permission.

Dental Service Update

Discussion was ongoing with FV Health Board. RW would contact the Health Board to ask for a follow up meeting and would provide an update at the
February meeting.

Send photos of
St. K’s to SC and display in info hub.

EW to send
report from 2019.

CC to write to
NP to ask about the possibility of
them employing
own Officer.

EW to
facilitate
meeting with
assets.

Questions from members of the public

No questions from the public. OW stated that this item was included midway on the agenda this month, because a member of the public had had to leave the meeting the previous month before they had been able to ask their question, as the meeting had been running behind schedule.

Local Place Plan

Chiara Fingland (CF) provided an update:

• Now had the keys for 43 Main Street, which would be known as “Callander Connect”. The premises were set up and ready to go. There
  would be an official launch in January. There would be a preview evening on Thursday 21st December 2023 between 4.30 and 8pm as
  part of the Callander late night shopping event. It would also be open on Wednesday 20th and Friday 22nd between 11am and 5pm. It was hoped that from 8th January 2023 it would be open two days a week depending on the availability of volunteers. Other organisations would be able to use the premises out with this time.
• JK is meeting CF and Ellie Burroughs (Development Officers for LPP) on Wednesday 20th December to discuss display boards, to display copies of the Community Council mission statement along with the pen pictures of each of the CCC members.
• JK proposed that once the venue was up and running, the Community Council could have a consultation surgery every Saturday between 9am and 1pm to show the “public face” of the Community Council. JK would organise staffing of this.

Citizen of the Year (CotY)

CCC was now requesting applications for CotY for 2023. FB and MM had written a protocol for this. MM highlighted the eligibility rules which were as
follows:

• Open to any local resident either a person or a group of people.
• Could be nominated for either voluntary or paid work.
• The nomination had to include the full name of the person or group and why they had been nominated. MM highlighted that the nominee
  needed to have done something special or extra-ordinary for members of the community or have gone above and beyond what was expected in their normal work.
• There had been an article in the most recent copy of the Ben Ledi View
• The winner would be announced in March 2024 and they would receive a certificate during a small presentation.
• Nominations must be submitted by the end of January 2024.

Reports from Office Bearers.

Chair

A written report had been circulated. MM summarised the main points:

• No applications had been received for the Braes of Doune grant. There was a discussion on whether or not applicants should give a
  presentation as part of their application. It was generally felt that this would not be required, as CCC did not have the final say on which grant applications would be accepted.
• The other items covered in the report were covered earlier in the meeting.

Roads

• DS stated that the Community Council had dealt with 154 issues since he came into post and wanted to thank RM for his support with this. DS also wanted to express his support to the local ward councillors.
• DS drew attention to item 4 in his report which was the refurbishment of the A84/Main Street where the Main Road works were nearly
  complete. The pavements still required attention and temporary repairs were taking place until a more permanent solution was found.
• Stirling Council was responsible for refurbishing lighting and a schedule of work had been requested.
• Plans to upgrade the Sustrans footpath would commence in 2024.
• The work on A821 Aberfoyle to Kilmahog was almost complete, with currently no white lines on the road.

Treasurer

JW provided an update. There had been a payment made for hall hire and minute taking. The grant had also been received from Stirling Council. The
balance was £4182.15.

Police Reports

Written report received.

Stirling Council

EW gave an update from Stirling Council:

• The decommissioning of the MOD site in Stirling would begin in the summer of 2024.
• EW was part of the Rural Business Network who had various events planned for 2024.
• EW was part of the Health and Social Care Partnership. It was keen for representatives from the Community Council to get involved. The group met once a month and included a range of partners including Drug and Alcohol Services.
• Stirling 900 celebrations were due to take place in 2024 to mark the 900-year anniversary of the Royal Burgh. EW wanted the celebrations to include rural as well as urban Stirling and to involve all age groups.

Bus Service

RB attended a meeting in Killin on 21 November regarding the C60 bus service and had since had email correspondence with Alex Hornby, the Group
Managing Director of McGill’s, who advised that McGill’s had met with SC but could not afford to run the lightly used service with no funding. McGill’s had
emphasised this to SC and was awaiting a response. RB advised that although the X10 currently had an excellent bus service, it was not well-used.

National Park

RJ provided an update for the NP:

• The Partnership Plan had been accepted by the NP Board the previous week.
• Consultation was taking place for the SC Biodiversity strategy which covered the two NPs.
• Discussion ongoing on the future management of the Cononish gold mine.

AOCB

• MM had recently attended GOALD meeting (Generating Older Active Lives Digitally) at Stirling University. This project involved various options for increasing the activity levels of older people using digital features.
  Information had been passed to McLaren Leisure Centre who were going to visit the University and take it further.
• DS proposed that Callander should have a promotional leaflet to be placed in other locations for visitors travelling round Scotland. MM had had an initial meeting with Visitor Information Centre (VIC) Manager, Sheila Winston, to discuss costs and was awaiting an outline of total costs involved.

DATE OF THE NEXT MEETING

The next meeting would be on Monday, 19h February 2024 at 7.00 pm in CYP, Bridgend, Callander.