September 2024 Minutes

 

Dunblane Community Council

 

 

 

 

Minutes of the Dunblane Community Council held on Wednesday, 11 September, at 7 p.m. in the Library, Dunblane.  This is a “blended” meeting, with some attendees joining by Zoom.

 

Present: Jonathan Failes (Acting Chair), Calum Thomson (Secretary), Karen Jenkins, Fiona Plumtree.  By Zoom: Alan Booth, Anthony Delleur, Anna Jarchow-MacDonald.

 

In attendance: Councillors Alasdair Tollemache and David Wilson, Liz-Anne Richards, Caroline McArthur. By Zoom: Mairi Santolini (Parent Council, High School).  

 

1. Apologies

Apologies have been received from Rachel Nelson, Annelise Bakri, Terence O’Byrne, Peter Swindon, Stewart Corbett, Graham Mowat, Councillor Robin Kleinman and the Police. 

 

2. Chair’s remarks and Conflicts of interest

Ailsa Gray has stood down from the community council and her contribution to its work as councillor, and latterly as Chair, was commended.  Councillors expressed their gratitude to her.

 

There were no stated conflicts of interest.

 

The new Councillor, David Wilson, was introduced by Councillor Tollemache.

 

3. Approval of minutes of 7 August 2024

These were approved, proposed by Karen Jenkins and seconded by Jonathan

Failes.

 

4. Police Report: See attached.

Jonathan Failes read out the police report.  Councillor Tollemache reported on a recent scam involving phone calls purporting to be from the police by which people were being defrauded of money.  This has already been publicised on the community council’s Facebook page and Jonathan Failes asked that it be further communicated with other groups in the town.

 

5. Local Place Plan (LPP)

Jonathan Failes, Anthony Delleur, Rachel Nelson, Alan Booth, Stewart Corbett, Anna Jarchow-MacDonald and Karen Jenkins met 21 August to discuss the progress of the LPP and the application for funding for consultants to aid this.  Unfortunately, the applications were submitted slightly late and the outcome will not be known until the end of the month. However, Jonathan Failes reported that it had been a very productive meeting and, even if funding is not received, it will still be possible to progress, although decisions will have to be made about what can realistically be achieved. The focus is on engagement with the community and the activities the community council can support to achieve this.

 

The data from the survey undertaken earlier this year has still to be analysed and it is hoped that consultants will help in formulating what people have said they want Dunblane to look like in 5 or 10 years’ time.

 

Jonathan Failes thanked Anthony Delleur for his work on the LPP.

 

6. Planning Report: See attached.

The application for Park of Keir has been withdrawn.  The community council joined Councillor Tollemache in thanking David Prescott for the huge amount of work he did, including at the public enquiry, in representing the views of the community.  Although the planning permission does not expire until nearly the end of the year it looks extremely unlikely this will be revived.

 

7. Operational Report: See attached.

Terence O’Byrne has circulated a 15-point report and the following were highlighted:

 

Ramoyle traffic proposals  Councillor Tollemache is going to organise a meeting and site visit between Ramoyle residents, elected members and community councillors to discuss the differing sets of proposals submitted by the Council over the last year. Action: Councillor Tollemache.

 

Lift towers at the railway station  Until the replacement glass is in place, spaces in the car park are still required.

 

Water ponding and rust in the railway bridge  Councillor Tollemache confirmed there is no progress.

 

Sewage leak at rear of Argyle Way  Terence O’Byrne has expressed his thanks for the help Councillor Tollemache provided in contacting Scottish Water directly so that the leak was dealt with within one week.  

 

Councillor Tollemache led a discussion on the work being done by different utility companies within Dunblane and how confusing it is for residents to find out what is happening. Utility companies have the right to undertake work and the Council is notified to organise traffic management.  If a resident enquires about road works to the Council, that is passed on to the relevant utility company and the reply is then relayed back through the Council to the resident.  This takes up a lot of Councillors’ time.  Councillor Wilson informed the meeting that all road works are on a map at www.roadworksscotland.org and it was agreed this should be better publicised.  It was also suggested that the different utility companies and the Council should communicate better with each other.  

 

Fiona Plumtree asked about the reinstatement of the paved area at the bottom of Beech Road and Councillor Tollemache reassured her that this will be done by SSEN (Scottish and Southern Electricity Network)  in due course.

 

Jonathan Failes highlighted the importance of communication, pulling together information from different websites to publicise it on the Dunblane website, so that residents know about work before it starts.

 

8. Communications Report

Calum Thomson led a discussion on how to tweak the format of meetings.  He suggested that an action tracker would be a useful tool to ensure that the council focuses on the issues it can influence.  Ideas and actions for councillors arise at meetings, for example from the LPP survey, different reports, residents’ concerns, and from matters arising.  These should be shared out between  councillors with individuals taking ownership of different actions.  A draft format  for meetings will be formulated by Jonathan Failes, Anna Jarchow-MacDonald and Calum Thomson and circulated. Action: Jonathan Failes.

 

The tracker would be updated by Calum Thomson, who already updates the community council’s page on dunblane.info, and Jonathan Failes indicated that a spreadsheet of actions would be used in meetings to inform councillors of what has been done.  The meeting could then concentrate on future actions and progress.  Calum Thomson suggested there should be further discussions about this.

 

9. Schools

Mairi Santolini from the High School Parent Council, updated the council on what is happening at the school.

 

Duke of Edinburgh award scheme  She reported that over the last year, young people on the award scheme had contributed 3,574 hours of volunteering, mainly at the Dunblane Centre.

 

Mobile phones  The High School has altered its policy on mobile phones.  Pupils in S1 and S2 are now not allowed to have their phones in classrooms; S3 to S6 are allowed to keep their phones as long as they are on silent at all times in class.  Staff are reporting a difference in pupils’ behaviour, and parents are very supportive.

 

Support for reading  There is a focus on encouraging pupils to read and to reinstate the library at the school.  The Scottish Book Trust is running Book Week Scotland from 18 to 24 November and Mairi Santolini reported that the school is making this a Dunblane Book Week.  This will involve fund-raising and also a move to get volunteers into school to support pupils’ reading.

 

Apple Day  Mairi Santolini indicated that the school wants to be involved with this.  The Chair reported that she is taking this forward, and is going to meet with the Chairs of community councils in the Stirling area to discuss the possibility of having a region-wide Apple Day.

 

Dunblane Centre  The school is strengthening its links with the Centre and supporting the appointment of a youth trustee.

 

Foreign languages  Mairi Santolini reported that a large working group is working on promoting foreign languages, including running a language café. She encouraged people to get involved.

 

Murray’s Memorial Match  This will take place on 29 September and is a socceraid style charity football match to raise funds in Murray Dowey’s memory to benefit local mental health projects. 

 

Pupil participation in community council meetings  It was agreed that it is important to encourage young people to attend meetings, and strengthen the links with the school.  Councillor Tollemache suggested that the school communicate more about its 50^th anniversary celebrations. It was agreed that communication with the school is important and Mairi Santolini agreed to send something for posting on the Dunblane website. Action: Mairi Santolini.

 

Jonathan Failes reported that Rachel Nelson is very keen to get involved with the schools and it would be useful to have a separate session to co-ordinate everything.  He agreed to organise this. Action: Jonathan Failes.

 

10. Treasurer’s Report

As the Treasurer is away at present, no report has been submitted.

 

11. Report on meetings

Common Good Fund  Alan Booth has circulated a brief report of a meeting held on 29 August between himself, Ailsa Gray and Rachel Nelson with Council officers, George Murphy (Finance Service Manager) and Tracey Mills (Service Manager, Infrastructure and Environment), to discuss communications Ailsa Gray  submitted to the Council earlier this year about the criteria for common good assets in Dunblane (See minutes April 2024). Councillor Tollemache is a member of the Civic Panel and fully expects this to be on the agenda for its meeting next week. He will send a copy of the agenda, a public document, to the community council and report back on the Panel meeting.. Action: Councillor Tollemache.

 

12. Any matters arising

Newton playpark  Councillor Tollemache reported that the old play equipment at the park is going to be repaired as some of it is gets very wet and dirty.  The Council did instal new equipment but one piece has been damaged. He noted that there are no available funds for repairs unless the local community organises fund-raising.   He also reported that the path from the playpark is regularly flooded due to drainage issues and he has asked the Council to address this. 

 

C48 bus  Councillor Tollemache, while noting that the contract from the Council is for a small bus on this route, reported that school pupils have become accustomed to a double-decker bus on the route, allowing them to avail themselves of its larger capacity and take it to school. This route has now reverted to being served by a smaller bus and pupils have unexpectedly been left stranded.

 

Andy Murray legacy  Councillor Tollemache raised the idea of commemorating the legacy of Andy Murray.  As this will be discussed by the Town Centre Group of the Dunblane Development Trust next week, he suggested that it would be useful if a community councillor attended.  Jonathan Failes agreed to attend or delegate someone else. Action: Jonathan Failes.

 

Dandara  Dandara has requested a meeting with the community council to discuss an update on their original proposals for developments in Dunblane. Anna Jarchow-MacDonald’s preferred option would be for Dandara to make a public presentation to inform the whole community and she agreed to send round an email to gauge the opinions of the councillors. Action: Anna Jarchow-MacDonald. 

 

13. Date, time and place of next meeting

The next meeting of the Dunblane community council will take place at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, 2 October, 2024,  in the Library, Dunblane.

 

The meeting ended at 8.45 p.m.

 

This is a true representation of the meeting.

 

Jonthan Failes  ……………………………………………………  Date  ………………… ^16/09/24

Acting Chair

 

Calum Thomson  ………………………………………………… Date  …………………