Cambuskenneth Community Council

Meeting held on Monday 27 May 2024 at 7.30pm in the Village Hall

Present: Archie McIver (Chair), Elaine Turner (Secretary), Barbara McElhinney (Treasurer) Maggie Ruddy

In attendance: Councillor Jim Thomson

Apologies: Graham Barrett, Catriona Taylor

The meeting was chaired firstly by Archie McIver and later by Elaine Turner, as Archie had to leave early. Minutes were taken by Elaine Turner.

Items for AOCB

See below

Adoption of minutes from meeting held on 22 April 2024

Proposed: Elaine

Seconded: Maggie

Cambuskenneth Nature and Environment Group (CNEG) Report

Helen was on holiday, so Archie gave a brief update from the last meeting on 29/4/24. The Group have arranged a talk on gardening for wildlife on Sunday 7/7/24 in the Village Hall with visits to gardens in the village after. Ricoh do not wish to proceed with the biodiversity plans previously discussed with them.

Treasurer’s Report

Barbara reported that the accounts from 2023-24 have been sent to an accountant for approval. We are now in a new financial year. The balance sits at £3910.

Matters arising (not covered below)

None

Matters arising

Access to Cambuskenneth Abbey and footpath by Hood Farm

Elaine had contacted Mairi McIntosh, the Access Officer who had previously been contacted about the kissing gates on the track leading past Hood Farm at the entrance to the Abbey. Mairi emailed to say that she had had an initial site visit with the Cowane Trust and Historic Environment Scotland. The Cowane Trust are supportive of the project. She has now received information from the farmer on his requirements for the gateway and she is waiting to see if there is an adequate budget to proceed further.

Action: Elaine will keep on agenda for updates

Funding of CNEG events and Pergola

The Community Council will cover the cost of the Gardening for Wildlife talk in July. Elaine has obtained prices on different styles of seating and planters and will share these by email before the next meeting.

Action: Elaine will email examples of seating and raised beds for the pergola area to CCC members.

Feedback from second meeting of Active Travel Community Advisory Group

Archie attended the second meeting of this group where they have been presented with options on traffic calming measures on the cycle route through Cambuskenneth and Riverside. The plans are not yet finalised but may include a raised area at the junction with the road to Broom Farm to slow traffic.

Subgroup Reports Social Subgroup

The next event is the summer BBQ on Saturday 22nd June in the Village Hall grounds. Tickets will be on sale soon. The Local History talk by Murray Cook, the City Archaeologist, on 9/5/24 was well attended with over forty attendees. Most of the talk was delivered outdoors in the Abbey grounds, which limited the size of the group. Several people were too late to obtain tickets due to the popularity of the event.

Resilience Subgroup

The Resilience Group has held its first meeting. There are five members of the Group – Graham Barrett, Maggie Ruddy, Helen Randfield, Leighanne Moir and Bob McFarlane. The Group is seeking advice from the Stirling Council Resilience Officer and others on how to develop a local resilience plan and what should be included.

Village Hall Subgroup

This Group has also held its first meeting. Members include Graham Barrett and Catriona Taylor from the Community Council, Ross McGregor and Caroline Bell. The Group is reviewing the information previously collated when the Hall was previously under threat, and is seeking more detailed information on running costs and maintenance.

Report from Councillors

Jim shared information on the Council’s plans for flood defences. He described that the Council has a statutory duty to make plans for areas where there is a risk of a significant flood once in 200 years. The plan for Riverside may include high walls. This type of defence has already been rejected in Callander because it blocks people’s views and is unattractive.

The Councillors’ most recent meetings have been cancelled because of the announcement of a general election. They had planned to vote to introduce restrictions on pavement parking, but this is now postponed. Jim is keen to exempt North St from the regulations because it is so narrow. Some of the cost savings for this year include not planting out flower beds in town and only treating weeds once per year. The Chief Executive has just left her post and the interim CEO is Brian Roberts.

Police Report

A police report had been received covering 22/4/24 to 27/5/24. There have been no crime reports or phone calls received from the Cambuskenneth area. Action: Elaine will request a report for the next meeting

Questions from floor/ members of public

None

AOCB Cambuskenneth Heritage Walk Leaflets

A member of the public who fills up the village walk leaflet dispenser has reported that there are only a few leaflets left. Elaine had contacted Community support who informed her that the Community Council had paid for the last print run after obtaining a Community grant. Members present agreed that we should again seek a grant to arrange a further supply of leaflets. Action: Elaine to obtain a quote for a further print run and apply for a community grant to cover costs.

Consultation on behaviour of dogs in parks

An email has just been received asking Community Councils to comment on proposed changes to management of dogs in parks, as there had been an inadequate response to the online consultation. Action: Elaine will circulate the email on management of dogs in parks for comment

Toy library

Barbara had noted that some parks have a supply of toys for use in the park, such as buckets and spades in the sandpit. She suggested that we could request donations of second-hand toys for this purpose, as many households have functioning old toys which children have outgrown, and could be used in this way. We accepted that there will be occasional thefts and damage, but agreed this was a good idea, given the success of the book exchange.

Action: Barbara will organise donations of toys for the toy library and some form of storage.

Visit to park (weather permitting) and review of wildflower strip and maintenance required within park

At the end of the meeting we walked over to the park to review its maintenance. The wildflower border has grown well this year and is now at the start of its flowering season. Elaine had emailed the Parks Department to ask for this to be mown and returned to turf but had not received a reply. We agreed that it should be left to bloom this year and mown at the end of the flowering season. There are weeds growing under the climbing frame and in the sand pit which need removed. This could possibly be dealt with by volunteers from the village if we organised a ‘Park Attack’ event in the school holidays.

Action: Elaine will discuss with the Council if we can hold a volunteer weeding event in the park and if the Council can provide any support for this

Date of next meeting and AGM: 7.30pm, Monday 24th June 2024 in the Village Hall

Stirling Council: 01786 404040, Police non-emergency 101, NHS 24 111 Scottish Power emergency: 105, Scottish Gas emergency: 0800 111999

Reminder: Minutes are available via the CC website and Facebook page. If you would like them emailed privately or paper copies, please let us know via email at cambuskennethcc@gmail.com or by contacting any CC member.

May 2024 Minutes