Raploch Community Council Meeting
1st May 2024 – 6.30pm
Raploch Community Campus
Present: J Haslam, Chair, (JH), S Currie, Vice Chair & Treasurer (SC), R Robertson (RR), I Lowe (IL), L
Kettrick (LK), M McKinley (MMcK), G Slade (GS), MC Dungavell (MCD), H Makhatholela (HM), D
Totten (DT), Mike Lowe, War Memorial Committee, John Muirie, War Memorial Committee, Gill
Christie, Ecologist and local resident, Hamish Taylor, Robyn Clark, Treelink Max Hislop , Treelink
Councillor Rachel Nunn (RN)
P Roberts – Stirling Council Community Engagement (PR)
C Stewart – Minute taker (CS)
Apologies: A Connal, Secretary (AC), B Hughes (BH), Police Scotland
Welcome, apologies & Conflicts of Interest
JH welcomed everyone to the May meeting of the community council and gave apologies for
Amanda Connal, Barry Hughes and Police Scotland.
1. Approval of Minutes
JH provided paper copies of the minutes. They were approved by RR and seconded by JC.
2. Chairs Report
JH went through both her report and also communication and correspondence in the absence of AC.
McFarlane’s Pharmacy opened today (1st May) in Raploch and is a welcomed additional to
the local community.
Work is taking place on Raploch Road at the junction of Weir Street between 6 and 24th May.
This is the final park of the Walk, Cycle, live project. Questions have been received regarding
any changes to bus routes and also issues with street access. JH will ask for an update on
both.
There will be an area forum connecting communities that will take place at the Bannockburn
Enterprise hub on 7th May There will be a thematic theme of health and wellbeing and this
will also be a good networking opportunity. Anyone who wishes to attend needs to booking
so that adequate catering is provided. JH will send round the link.
There are council proposals to convert Drip Road and Raploch Road to 20mph zones. There
is the opportunity to object until 22nd May. If anyone wishes to do so they need to email the
reasons, they are objecting to Stirling Council.
There is an online conference on 30th May being delivered by Forth Valley Health
Improvement looking at tobacco and vaping. The conference is open to the community
council and the public.
There was a request for an update to the issues with the lighting at Sainsburys. RN will chase
this up with Councillor Thomson.
Hard copies of flyers will be printed soon to promote the “Report it” function on the Stirling
council website. The function is to encourage individuals to report issues themselves rather
than take them to the community council which is likely to delay a response.
Stirling Council will introduce the booking system at the Polmaise recycling plant on 14th
May.
3. Treasurers Report
The community council are still unable to access their current bank account.
They are now looking at opening a new account. The plan is to look at reviews for
each bank before deciding.
The current balance is £3056.46, no change since the previous meeting.
4. Events Sub Group
There is a need for more people to support the subgroup to ensure any events are
community led. There are plans to do another social media drive to encourage participation.
There are issues with planning events as the community council are unable to access funds
in the bank account.
The community council hope to involve other partner organisations from the third sector so
that there is a collective response.
Councillor Nunn advised if there is a flyer/leaflet put together to promote the group the
local councillors can help distribute them.
5. Councillors Report
Councillor Nunn highlights that she is always available by phone or email to answer any
questions.
There was a long discussion about the Christie Clock and the plan is to consult with the
community to find out what the people of Stirling want to happen with the clock.
JH asked if there was any update on the electric charging points on Drip Road. RN will ask
Councillor Thomson for an update.
There was a question about the impact that budget cuts and voluntary severance may have
on Stirling Council and if this is likely to lead to cuts in services. It was suggested if anyone
wants to keep up with any updates it would worthwhile reading the minutes of Stirling
Council Finance and Economy Committee.
There are also plans to have more Big Conversation events to engage with communities.
6. Police Report
Apologies were received from the local community Police. JH read through the report that they
had submitted. There will be changes to local community policing from 8th May with PC Capes
being the main point of contact.
There are still plain clothes police walk arounds taking place in Raploch and the CCTV
van is also visiting regularly.
JH reminded everyone of the community police mailbox and will send round details of
the email address. This isn’t monitored regularly.
At the end of August work will be carried out on Raploch Road near Forth Valley College
campus.
7. Presentation from Treelink, Stirling
Max Hislop gave a PowerPoint presentation on Treelink, Stirling. The main points were:
The organisation was set in 2020 by a local person who was enthusiastic about trees. He put
a post on social media asking if anyone else had concerns about trees locally and received
lots of interest.
Since then, Treelink has grown into a small charity with 50 members and trustees.
They have been involved in various projects including establishing a small community
nursery, woodland management, and tree planting.
Keen to talk about trees to anyone who has an interest.
They were keen to pull all their ideas together into one big idea and this is known as “The
Crown of Trees” it covers 4 identified jewels – Abbeycraig, Balquidderock (Bluebell woods),
Gilles Hill and Craigforth. The plan is to link them up by planting trees to allow people and
wildlife to explore them better.
Max highlighted the benefits of more tress plating which include connecting habitats and
improved resilience.
There have been various activities that have already taken place in conjunction with other
groups including TCV and Woodland Trust as well as a team of volunteers.
There are plans to run activities on Tree Mulching, Guided walks, and wood land
management all details are on the Treelink website.
Free Tress for babies project where over 200 trees have been donated to families who have
recently had a baby.
Tree equity score, Raploch has a poor score the minimum is normally 20% with Raploch
having a score of 2 and 4% in some areas.
There will be a project starting in June to offer free trees to residents of both Raploch and
Bannockburn to try and improve the equity score. Guidance will be provided on where to
plant the tree, what sort of tree would be suitable for individual gardens and how to care for
the tree.
PR will check with Stirling Council if residents need permission to plant a tree in their garden.
Max will send flyer to PR to send out to community groups.
Max and Robyn also offered to help with the delivery of the next community newsletter and
would also like to put an article in the newsletter, JH will send on details of the space that
will be available.
8. St Mark’s update
MCD gave an update for St Mark’s.
The holiday club will run week beginning 12th July. St Mark’s have been in negotiation with
other local organisations including The Big Noise to ensure that holiday provision isn’t
clashing and there is consistent provision. St Marks offer a meal as part of their holiday club.
BH recently ran the London Marathon and wanted to give a huge thanks to the local
community for the support they gave him. BH raised over £4,000 to support activities for
young people and families in Raploch and was MCD was keen to highlight the fantastic work
he had done.
9. Billy Bremner Memorial
Richard Haynes came along from the University of Stirling to give information on his
involvement in the Billy Bremner memorial. He gave a background to the memorial and how
the idea came about.
Richard has been working with Leeds United and the Scottish Football Association
There has been discussion about where the memorial will be and also the war
memorial has been taken into consideration as part of these discussions as both
memorials must compliment each other. There are currently 3 options that are bring
considered.
2 weeks ago Richard was invited to a Leeds United game along with the editor of the
Tartan Army fanzine and 2 replica Leeds United shirt were signed by fellow Scotland
International Eddie Gray and current Leeds United Captain Liam Couper who is also
a Scotland International. These will be circulated amongst former international
players to sign, and one will be auctioned to start the fundraising for the memorial
and other will be donated to Raploch Community Campus
JH will share details on the fundraising website and the online exhibition on the
Stirling university website.
This led on to a discussion about the war memorial and Councillor Nunn will co
ordinate a sub group meeting to try and move things forward.
There was also a discussion about using some of the parts of the Christie clock with
for the memorial. JH will email the chairs of the other community councils.
10. AOCB
Gill Christie will lead a guided wildlife walk on 1st June on the site behind the fire station if
anyone wishes to attend.
The next community council meeting with include the AGM if anyone is interested on taking
on any of the office bearer roles.
The next meeting is at Raploch Community Campus on Wednesday 5th June 2024 at 6.30pm