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Approved minutes Carron Valley & District Community Council Meeting held Wednesday 12 July 2023 meeting at 8pm, via ZOOM after Inaugural Meeting of CC
In attendance
Peter Hayward, chair, PH Margaret Porter, MP
Morag Holdsworth, Treasurer, MH Maureen Berry
David Petch, DP Dorothy Breckenridge, Secretary, DB
1 Introductions and welcome
1.1 Peter welcomed all to the new CC and thanked Maureen for becoming a Community Councillor.
1.2 Apologies – this was not a scheduled meeting but to update each other of activity which had occurred since the formal April meeting.
2 Update from Peter
• All agreed with comments made at the Inaugural meeting about apparent and actual lack connectivity between using CC enquiries and identifying the outcomes of the requests; and for lack of regular attendance by a Stirling Councillor
• There will be induction courses for Community Councillors in September & October this year and we should all try to attend, an opportunity to raise concerns.
• Planning application at Barrwood had passed, though with absolutely no account taken about CC concerns.
3 Update from Dorothy
• New Police Officer is PC Lynne Goldie, Lynne.Goldie@scotland.police.uk , 07790839078 She has been invited along to the Residents Picnic on 26th August
• FLS contact about felling application near North Third, DB consulted MH who liaised with local residents, DB replied that there were no local objections for the felling to take place as soon as possible.
4 Update from Morag
• She will be meeting with Nicolas for a formal handover of the Treasurer files. PH to also sign new Bank mandates for MH to become a signature for the cheque account.
• She will complete, return the Admin Grant report for last year.
5 Update from Margaret
• VRG year end 30 June. Review identified an overspend of the grants element, this being met from reserves. The grants budget will be considered to prevent this from occurring in the future, probably with numerical limits for each of the grant streams.
• An external Grants review will commence in October, first in 14 years.
• Discussion about encouraging new board members. Residents picnic and any community gathering should be used to sound out potential members.
• Copy for newletter sought.
• Request from VRG (appendix 1) discussed and it was unanimously approved by the CC.
6 AOB Woodland – there has been theft of wood from the pile of logs nearest the western entrance gate. There will be a wood fuel day 12 Aug. Dorothy will inform the police. CCTV should be considered for this and the cabin area.
Meeting finished 8.40pm.
Next meeting Wednesday 6th Sept 2023 at 7.30pm by Zoom.
Draft minutes CVDCC meeting held 1 March 2023
Valley Renewables Group
2023/24 FINANCIAL YEAR
Request to Access Restricted Funds
At last night’s meeting the VRG Board discussed their draft budget for 2023/24 financial year.
In 2022/23 we distributed over £70,000 in grants to households from the Unrestricted Funds. This is more than our Unrestricted Fund income and was met by drawing on reserves. This is not a sustainable way forward.
The recently introduced Energy Efficiency grant of £1,000 per household is at the core of our community strategy. It has proved very popular, with over £27,000 distributed in the first six months of the scheme. The Board is considering how best to maintain the momentum of this key policy.
The Unrestricted funds are currently applied to VRG administration, the Grant Schemes and Community Events. The Events (Open Day, Pomona Day and Gardeners’ Question Time) are community-wide and would be eligible for funding from the Restricted funds. The Chainsaw Training Course might be considered too. Access to the Restricted Funds requires the agreement by the Community Council and Foundation Scotland acting for Renantis.
The only firm commitment of Restricted Funds for 2023/24 is £29,443 to the Community Woodland leaving an unallocated balance of £45,340. Transfer of the Community Events and Chain Saw Course into the Restricted Fund would draw down £22,500, allowing Energy Efficiency grants through the Unrestricted Fund to rise to £44,500.
The VRG Board requests support for this proposal from the Community Council.
RF for VRG
12/07/23