Service updates and festive arrangements

Nov 2021 Minutes

Last updated

06 Mar 2024

Drymen Community Council

 

Minutes Of The Ordinary Meeting
Held On Tuesday 02nd November 2021

Within Drymen Village Hall

 

At 7.30pm Fraser Robb opened the meeting, welcomed all of the attendees and
thanked them all for participating.

 

Present

 

Fraser Robb (FR), Marie Elder (ME), Jemma Allan (JA), Walter Hemfrey (WH),
Andrew Richardson (AR) and Carole Kerr (Minutes)

 

Also Present

 

Councillor Alistair Berrill (CAB) representing Stirling Council, Willie Nesbit
representing Loch Lomond And The Trossachs National Park Authority, and two
members of the community: Mrs Kate Robb (KR) and Mr Robert Edwards (RE).

 

Apologies

 

Mike Kane (MK), Carol Hemfrey (CH), Adrianna Dent (AD).

 

Declarations Of Interest In Any Agenda Item

 

None

 

Approval Of The Minutes Of The Last Meeting

 

The minutes of the previous meeting were proposed by JA, and seconded by WH.

 

Matters Arising From The Previous Minutes

 

None

 

Police Report

 

AR read out the police report:

  • Antisocial Behaviour

    • No complaints of anti-social behaviour within the Drymen area, since the
      last report.

       

       

  • Road Safety

    • There have been no reportable RTCs since the last report.

  • Theft

    • There have been no thefts in the Drymen area since the last meeting.
      However, an attempt was made to break into the St Mocha Coffee Shop at
      Carbeth, and Country Cycles in Killearn was broken into with high value
      bikes being stolen.

  • Fraud

    • The community is reminded not to give out their bank details nor PIN to
      any unsolicited telephone call or emails.

       

      Correspondence

       

      AR informed the meeting of the following correspondence:

  • 17th October 2021 – DCC received an email from Dr Jan Chesham, who is
    the Heartstart Co-ordinator for the public access defibrillator, which is located
    on the wall of the Village Hub shop. The defibrillator requires a new cabinet.
    Dr Chesham would like our assistance by funding or contributing towards the
    funding of a new cabinet. She lists the options as:

  • 29th October 2021 – DCC received an email from Mertorn TV, looking for
    audience members for BBC Scotland’s Debate Night, which will be recorded
    within Stirling on the 10th November 2021. Tickets may be obtained by
    emailing     http://www.bbc.co.uk/debatenight.

  • 29th October 2021 – DCC received an update from Councillor Hutchinson
    relating to the A811. Work to repair the A811 will commence on the 15th
    November.

  • Throughout October DCC have received emails from a resident at Balfunning,
    who complained about the amount of vehicles using Balfunning Lane and
    Balfunning Road since Catter Burn Bridge closed, and the damage which
    vehicles were doing to the verges of those roads. AR emailed Stirling Council
    and with the assistance of Councillor Hutchinson, Stirling Council eventually
    enacted The Stirling Council (Balfunning Road / Balfunning Lane, Balfron)
    (Temporary Closure) Order 2021, and The Stirling Council (Gartness Road,
    Killearn) (Temporary Closure) Order 2021, both made under the Road Traffic
    Regulation Act 1984. These two orders make it a road traffic offence to use
    Balfunning Road, Balfunning Lane and Gartness Road without good reason.

  • 02nd November 2021 – DCC received an email from Stephen Bly of Stirling
    Council, informing them that online public meetings to update both businesses
    and local communities about the Catter Burn Bridge, are planned for both the
    3rd and the 10th of November. The meetings on Wednesday the 3rd of

    November will take place between 5-6pm and between 7-8pm. Invites to the
    meetings can be obtained by emailing
    environmentandplaceenquiries@stirling.gov.uk . No attendees have yet been    environmentandplaceenquiries@stirling.gov.uk .

  • 02nd November 2021 – DCC received an email from the LLTNPA Planning
    department, informing them that they have approved planning permission for
    the nursery to be built at Drymen primary School.

  • 01st November 2021 – DCC received an email and a text message from local
    residents complaining about the build-up of refuse at the bins within Drymen
    car park. AR emailed Stirling Council and asked them to clean up the mess.

  • 02nd November 2021 – DCC received a text message from a local resident
    informing them that a stone is loose at the bottom of the war memorial, and
    will require fixing. The resident has spoken with Stirling Council, the War
    Graves Commission and the War Memorials Trust, none of whom say they
    can help.

    There followed a discussion as to who might own the war memorial. FR said
    that he would ask Ewan MacKay if he could repair the stone.

     

    Chairman’s Report

     

    FR informed the meeting of the following:

  • He had been in contact with Heather from Stirling Council, regarding the
    overflowing refuse bins within Drymen car park. Although Heather had
    assured him that the refuse would be collected and the bins would be
    emptied, nothing had been done as yet.

    ME commented that empty bottles were being left at the bins within the car
    park, even though the bins were full, and suggested that a sign should be
    erected to instruct people to take their rubbish home if the bins were full.

  • Both FR and AR had attended at the Croftamie Community Council meeting
    on the 10th October, during which the Catter Burn Bridge was discussed. The
    meeting was very well attended, with many people expressing their
    frustrations about the bridge and its closure.

  • Stirling Council are holding online meetings on the 3rd November to discuss
    the Catter Burn Bridge closure. The first meeting will be 5-6pm, and the
    second meeting will be 7-8pm.

  • Stirling Council have announced £1.5m of funding to be used for both the
    Catter Burn Bridge and the Branshogle Bridge.

    WN asked if the Catter Burn Bridge will be replaced by a new bridge. CAB
    replied that various options were still being considered.

    ME noted that in general, Stirling Council tend to overlook the Drymen area.

     

    WN asked CAB as to when the repairs to the A811 at Catter would
    commence. CAB was unsure, and AR said that Stirling Council had sent out
    an email saying that the repairs to the A811 at Catter would commence on the
    15th November.

  • MacMic have informed FR that they intend to start the Drymen site during the
    spring of 2022.

     

     

    Treasurer’s Report

     

    JA provided the meeting with the following update:

  • There is £3632 in the bank account.

  • Stirling Council have paid the admin grant of £418.43.

     

    Planning Correspondent’s Report

     

    WH provided the meeting with the following update:

  • No new planning applications relevant to Drymen, have been submitted.

     

    Roads Correspondent’s Report

     

    AR provided the meeting with the following update:

  • The Catter Burn Bridge and the A811 have already been discussed during the
    meeting.

  • There are no other matters of note regarding the roads.

     

    Publicity Report

     

    No publicity report was received.

     

    Councillor’s Report

     

    CAB updated the meeting on the following:

  • Stirling Council held a meeting on the 21st October, during which it was
    agreed that £1.5m would be release for repairs to both the Catter Burn Bridge
    and the Branshogle Bridge.

  • Stirling Council will hold a meeting on the 04th November to discuss the City
    Of Culture bid.

  • He now sits on the National Park Authority board.

  • Stirling Council have a website through which petitions can be submitted to
    them:     www.engage.stirling.gov.uk .

  • The national consultation on care is ongoing. CAB does not favour national
    consultations.

  • Stirling was number 1 for the highest number of Covid cases.

     

    AR said that Stirling Council knew about the risks presented by the condition of the
    Catter Burn Bridge, the Branshogle Bridge and the A811 at Catter. AR asked CAB
    who was responsible for managing and mitigating that risk. CAB did not know who
    the risk holder was.

     

    JA asked CAB if Stirling Council were going to wait until someone was killed before
    the risks presented were properly managed. JA also asked CAB who was
    responsible for managing the risks, and added that her employers were responsible
    for managing their risks.

     

     

    RE asked CAB for an update on the chicane on Main Street. CAB replied that Stirling
    Council were happy that it was doing its job i.e. slowing traffic.

     

    The requirement for road markings to be re-painted was discussed.

     

    Loch Lomond And The Trossachs National Park Authority Update

     

    WN updated the meeting on the following:

  • The National Park Authority have had their first in person meeting within their
    office since Covid began.

  • Many of the National Park staff are still working from home.

  • There was a site meeting at Loch Katrine to consider a planning application.
    But due to Covid restrictions, the 10 participants had to return home to
    continue with the meeting online.

  • The National Park Zoom meetings attracted more participants than the in
    person meetings.

     

    Any Other Competent Business

     

    FR thanked the people of Drymen for continuing to help the community, during the
    ongoing Covid pandemic.

     

    FR said that the gala day will be discussed in January.

     

    FR raised the idea of employing a village office via grant funding, and said that
    James Fraser was suggesting the idea locally. A village officer basically cleans the
    public areas of the village.

     

    FR raised the issue of the lack of public toilets, and said that an approach could be
    made to MacMic, to see if they would fund or partially fund new public toilets at
    Drymen car park.

     

    AR informed the meeting of the following:

  • DCC data protection obligations mean that information can only be retained
    for as long as is necessary.

  • The DCC Gmail account has over 2500 emails.

  • AR proposes to delete emails from 19th March 2019 until and including 30th
    December 2019, during December 2021. This will allow anyone with any
    genuine reason which complies with the data protection obligations, to save a
    copy of any relevant email.

 

No objections were raised to AR’s proposal.

 

RE said that during the Community Council’s October meeting, he suggested that
the Community Council could advertise on their Facebook page, the local traders’
evening trade event. He added that he emailed the Community Council to remind
them about the event, and AR replied that the Community Council could not
publicise private business events for commercial gain. RE wanted to know where
that rule was written, and said that AR had said within his email, that the rule was a Stirling Council rule. AR asked RE where he (AR) had written that, and what exactly
he (AR) had said within his email. RE replied that AR had not written it, but implied it.
AR disagreed with RE, who in turn did not read the text to which he referred. DCC
supported AR’s position, and agreed that the Community Council could not support
one private business over another, and had all businesses within Drymen
participated in the event, then that many have led to a different response.

 

FR thanked CK for recording the minutes.

 

Date Of Next Meeting

 

7.30 pm on Tuesday 07th December 2021, within Drymen Village Hall.