Cornton Community Council
Minute of meeting held on
30th October 2024 in the Cornton Community Centre
Minute status: ADOPTED
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Community Councillors Present |
Stuart Meldrum (Chair), Shona Cullen (Secretary), Sarah Jane Welsh, Graeme Leslie, General Manager, McGill’s |
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Apologies |
Chris Burns, Scott MacArthur, Rose Curley, Charles Russell, Aleahya Stevenson
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Also in attendance |
Caroline Stewart (Minute taker); Councillor Rachel Nunn – RN; |
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Abbreviations |
Cornton Community Council – CCC; Stirling Council SC; Support for Families - S4F |
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Item Number |
Notes |
Actions |
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082024-01
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Welcome, Apologies, and Conflicts of Interest The chair welcomed everyone to the October meeting and advised that as only 3 community councillors were present, no decisions could be made. He was also keen to pass on the condolences of the CC following the sudden death of the leader of Stirling Council, Margaret Brisley. |
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082024-02 |
Adoption of minutes for previous meetings The minutes couldn’t be approved as only 3 CC’ were present so they were parked until next month. The chair had made some amendments to the draft minutes and has sent the altered minutes with the agenda for approval at the November meeting.
Minutes Adopted 5th February 25 Proposed – Sarah Jane Welsh SJW, Seconded - Shona Cullen SC |
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082024-03 |
Matters Arising and Actions Bus Service Shona Cullen has been in touch with McGill’s and has raised some personal concerns and anecdotal concerns from the community about issues with the service.
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Graeme Leslie, General Manager at McGill’s came along to respond to concerns. He apologised about the performance not been where the company wanted it to be. Graeme highlighted some of the issues at the Bannockburn depot including staffing and fleet challenges, as well as issues with road works. Grame recently had a meeting with the road work manager for Scotland
Graeme advised that there was underinvestment in the fleet and staff with First and it is a long process to turn things round. They are refreshing the fleet, but this will take time. There are 30 new electric buses coming into the Midland Bluebird fleet within the next year, which will allow them to have better quality vehicles on the road and drop out older buses.
McGill’s are putting strategies in place to address driver shortages including increasing hourly wage by £2 and have planned another 2 rises for next year. They are currently engaged in discussions with the trade unions, looking at rotas and duties. They have reduced unpopular shifts by a considerable amount. They are also bringing in drivers from out with the area and agency staff. There are issues with the service right across the Stirling area, which is part of an industry wide issue where bus companies are trying to recruit staff however it isn’t deemed as a skills shortage.
There were concerns raised about road closures and buses being reroutes and it was asked who makes these decisions. Graeme advised that is down to the depot to make these decisions.
Graeme highlighted the issues with cars being parked around Cornton and buses struggling to get round the routes including in Strathmore Drive. There have been complaints to SC public transport unit about buses hitting kerbs in Strathmore Drive due tomwhere people are parking. McGill’s are trying to maintain a commitment to get the bus through the route but without enforcement it is difficult to improve things. Graeme felt it would be useful to keep in contact with the CC as this can add weight to arguments and raise awareness and the importance of parking/not parking in specific places.
The chair agreed to go and look at the van parked in Johnstone Avenue with Councillor Nunn. There was a discussion about the traffic speed and hotspots at Voil Road and Vorlich Place. The other streets that the buses have issues with are Strathmore and Achray Drive, the rest all ok. It was also highlighted that parking enforcement is needed to deal with issues with people parking on double yellow lines.
Graeme highlighted that due to cars being parked on Voil Road and Strathmore Drive, buses are having to mount the kerb to get round. Grame highlighted that it is one of the most difficult routes for drivers to negotiate. The issues were raised with SC in 2021 issues. Graeme felt that McGill’s can work with CC member about hotspots along with elected councillors to address with SC.
There have been complaints from residents about speeding. There are plans to carry out surveys which will include putting cables across roads to monitor quantity, speed and type of traffic at hotspots. It was felt it would be useful to have an onsite meeting with CC and highlight where line markings are worn, where there are no double yellow lines and where they need to be extended or |
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implemented. It was also highlighted that there is a lack of signage at Ledi view and what measures can be put in place to mitigate any potential issues with speeding traffic. Graeme wanted to provide assurance that McGill’s are doing all they can to improve the service.
Grass cutting Bottom of trees long and this was raised as a concern. The chair has been liaising with Councillor Nunn to try and get things done, it was highlighted that the trees have been cut down at the back of Strathmore Drive.
Planters Licence to occupy being drawn up and will be sent to the chair by post for physical signing. This will cover the planters and will also be required for the noticeboards. The locations have been decided so this needs to be included in the documentation. Once this has been completed the delegated authority will be signed by senior officers at the council. The insurance is needed at the point of signing rather than at point of installation, The chair may need to make a purchase before next meeting. The noticeboard has been purchased but not yet delivered and no delivery date has been given yet. It is being delivered to SM, who has made a request to SC about getting installation organised
Working with schools There was a positive meeting with Wallace High School last month to organise some form of evening for them to come in, as well as to arrange a focus group with parents. The chair emailed on Monday but not had a reply yet, he is pressing for a date and time.
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082024-04 |
Residents Voice No one present |
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082024-05 |
Traffic, speeding and parking Discussed earlier in the meeting
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082024-06 |
Social Media Social media printed copies provided few groups’ people talking about speed bumps at Primary school and at Johnstone Avenue not raised with CC. There was a discussion about how the CC engage with groups through social media who want to have their voice heard. The CC are keen to encourage more residents to attend meetings. It was highlighted that the CC are held to the principles of CC. They have set up a profile for CC that could comment on posts. The” Straight out of Cornton” group required anyone who wishes to engage to have a profile. it was discussed that the CC should make minutes accessible to the community as well as giving details of the next meeting and give details of what is going on. |
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082024-07 |
Community Centre and keyholder training Keyholder training has never been done. It has been raised by Susan McGill. The chair highlighted that he doesn’t have a list of applicants, SC will check for |
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the list. There was a discussion about sharing the invitation to constituents to see if there is anyone who would be interested in doing the keyholder training to increase access for the community. It was also highlighted that different codes would be required to monitor who is accessing the centre, training would be provided. It was agreed that anyone who would like to get involved should express interest to CC and a deadline of mid-November should be set.
Stuart sent a request to SC Officer to look at doors and signs of the centre and also at the possibility of getting a different door handle. During the meeting, 3 other officers arrived who were doing investigative work prior to work taking place on the centre,
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082024-08 |
CCC Calendar of activities The chair asked for everyone to do some homework to think about putting together a calendar of things that the CC can get involved in. It was highlighted that the CC need to be careful of workload as only 6 CCs. It was agreed people will go away and come up with ideas and report back next month. It was highlighted that it would be useful to write to other CC to see what their programmes are such as Cambuskenneth. There was a discussion about activities that could be added including • Audit of grit bins • Best garden – trophies • Funding – There was a discussion about possible funding sources including the Community pride awards. Councillor Nunn also highlighted the SEET grant for environmental projects. It was asked for examples of things that have been funded. Councillor Nunn advised that benches have been out in place. Councillor Nunn will send the details of Audrey Morrison who is responsible for SEET funding.
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082024-09 |
CCC email provision No Rose or Charlie present so no one to give an update. The chair advised that in November 2023 the CC bought a domain and paid for 2 email addresses. This is due to expire in November 2024. The chair has tried to get more information from CR and it appears the renewal has been made. It was felt as this wasn’t discussed with the whole community council a policy is needed on how the CC make decisions and spend money and approve expenditure. It was agreed that the renewal can be paid out of the admin grant. The CC will keep the domain name and moving forward they will buy another name with a different host, use new domain on new host direct email to Gmail or use Cornton.com domain. £7.99 plus VAT. |
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082024-10 |
Stirling Councils Community Winter Volunteer scheme SM has sent documents round; SC have legislative responsibility to maintain roads when it is snowing. The hope is that volunteers can clear areas lower on SC priority list. It was felt it would be useful to form a group to discuss who will get training and be provided with equipment. The chair highlighted if it was a constituted group such as CC it would not be given extended liability insurance therefore would need to pay for this separately. However, another group can form in an unconstructive way and extend instance. There was a discussion on how to reach the community and Councillor Nunn suggested that |
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the CC should reach out to community by putting together a letter. If the CC print copies, she may be able to help distribute them. |
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082024-11 |
Police Report Nothing
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082024-12 |
Chairs report • The Big conversation, SC facing a large budget shortfall, need to complete survey by 17th November either online or there are paper copies available at libraries. The chair discussed responding on behalf of the CC. It was agreed that the chair will draft and circulate. There will then be a second survey in early 2025. The chair will copy the 4 elected members into the response. • The chair recently attended Causewayhead community council meeting where the Stevenson Bridge was discussed. He has included more information in his notes. Any work is likely to have a huge impact on how local communities move around however the work is not imminent. • Road closure information is shared with the chair by Stephen Bly. This is the same information that goes into the Stirling Observer.
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082024-13 |
Treasurers Report Nothing further to report. The admin grant for £749.87 has been received.
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082024-14 |
Secretary’s report Nothing to report waiting on word coming back from other organisations that emails have been sent too. Castle Rock and Paragon have confirmed they will attend and also Forth and Link Housing who will attend next year. CAPP forum on Monday 4th November – SM has been invited 12-1pm
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082024-15 |
Planning and Licensing Nothing from CR
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082024-16 |
Elected Councillor’s report There was a discussion about 1 Johnstone Avenue. There are officers present at all times, can’t have people walking in and out, monitored, temporary accommodation
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082024-17 |
Stirling Council report Nothing |
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The meeting was closed at 9pm
Next meeting The next meeting will be on the 27th November 2024 at 7pm in the Cornton Community Centre |
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