MINUTES

Virtual meeting Monday 6th September 2021

Final

Members Present: - Grace Edmonds; Julie Hutchison; Kate Ramsden; Evelyn Mac-
dougall; Philip Graves; John Gray; Eleanor Balfour; Pamela Lee

Apologies: Andrew Thompson; Craig Melville

In attendance: Cllr R Davies; M Vass, SCDT; + 3 residents

(SC = Stirling Council. CC = Community Council. CDT= Community Development
Trust * Denotes an action)

1. Welcome from the Chair and declarations of Interest

    

   JH welcomed everybody to the meeting. There were no declarations of interest.

    

2. Minutes of June meeting and matters arising

    

   The minutes were adopted, proposed by EM seconded by KR

   Matters arising: Loch Lomond Fisheries Trust led a small group of volunteers to
   tackle the Himalayan Balsam along the Blane. There is a huge amount in the village
   and this will be an ongoing issue. JH said that the plants can be pulled out and left
   and PG noted that this should not be done when the plants are seeding.

   Cllr Hutchison agreed to look into the fly tipping on the A81. She contacted SC but
   nothing has happened. JG agreed to send Cllr Hutchison contact details for the own-
   er of the old shop. He has done this.

   JH and GE met with Sergeant McDonald from Dunblane regarding the item that was
   omitted from the minutes in May. He has investigated this issue and anybody with
   any questions should contact him directly.

   JG said that there had been further discussion with the Wee Kirk regarding a new
   planning application with cooking being done in the hotel. JG wrote to SC saying that
   we had no objection to this.

   GE reported that the Edmonstone Hall Committee are happy to take over responsibil-
   ity for the defibrillator at the hall and will also look into installing the one currently at
   the Co-op into the telephone box. They will meet the cost of this, but may ask us for
   some help in clearing the telephone box.

    

3. Police Report

    

   PC Graham sent the report for September.
   Anti-social behaviour

   There have been more reports of youths at Mugdock Quarry. There was a report of
   vandalism to a house by stone throwing, leading to a broken window. and another
   regarding a youth hitting another with a bottle. Both youths were from the Glasgow
   area.

   Road Traffic

   There have been several RTCs in the area since the last meeting. None were seri-
   ous, however 2 drivers were issued with a fixed penalty for careless driving.

   A male took his father’s car without permission and headed towards Glasgow. He
   crashed into a wall near Milndavie Road. He was charged with various Road Traffic
   offences.

   There were parking issues at the Devil’s Pulpit and parking tickets have been issued.
   PC Graham has carried out Hand Held Radar speed checks in the village and will do
   so again in the near future.

   Theft

   Two bikes were stolen from Mugdock Country Park.

   There were two thefts of alcohol from the Co-op. One female was charged in relation
   to one of these and enquiries are ongoing regarding the second.

    

   There were attempts to break into two sheds in the village.

    

   Police Scotland had a recent campaign regarding fuel theft. Advice on this, bike theft
   and fraud can be found in the whole Police report on the CC website.

    

   PG and RD visited Mugdock Country Park as vandalism here has been worse this
   year. They couldn’t see an obvious solution and RD suggested that we should write
   to the Chair of the Management Committee. JH will do this.

    

4. Co-option of New member

    

   Pamela Lee agreed to join the CC and her approval has been received from SC. All
   CC members present agreed, JH welcomed Pam to the CC and she joined us for the
   rest of the meeting.

    

5. Report from the consultation on Refuse Collection

    

   KR attended this on our behalf and she will put the PowerPoint presentation on the
   website. She reported that SC was clear from the beginning of the consultation that
   their plans will go ahead so this was not in fact a consultation. Participants asked if
   the new collection does not fly in the face of encouraging people to recycle, with the
   blue bin being collected 4 weekly. SC said that this will link into the Government
   scheme to recycle glass in 2022. When it was mentioned that this has been post-
   poned SC had no response. A question was asked about providing more on street
   recycling bins, but SC said there are no plans to do this. E bins will be available for
   medical waste or households with two or more babies in nappies, but no extra provi-
   sion for pet waste. There were no answers to concerns about rodents, smell etc. KR
   will try to identify the council officer responsible if residents have questions. JH noted
   that many residents are very concerned about the new schedule. KR thinks that SC
   pushed this through with no consultation. There were also concerns raised about fly
   tipping which we are already seeing. SC will let KR know who to contact regarding fly
   tipping.

    

6. Elected Member’s report – Councillor Rob Davies

    

   RD confirmed that the changes to the bin collection will start in mid-September. This
   decision was made last year and opposition councillors tried to oppose the plans,
   with no effect.

   There was a planned council meeting regarding the process for having a deputation
   to the council, but this has been postponed. The next meeting of the council is 7th
   October. RD has tabled a question for that meeting regarding recent closures on the
   Stockiemuir Road. These have had adverse effects on local businesses and RD has
   asked the council to provide businesses with earlier notification of future closures.

   A bridge between Killearn and Fintry failed earlier in the year and RD had grave con-
   cerns about the road infrastructure in the ward.

   The next meeting of the Rural South West Forum is on 20th September.

   RD reported that council officers are gradually returning to their offices, but this will
   be slow while computer systems are updated.

   JG asked if the road closures on the Stockiemuir were unexpected. RD said that they
   were advertised in the usual way by SC but that some businesses did not see this.
   JG suggested that we could highlight some of the closures in the area on the web-
   site. JG is surprised that SC is opening the offices but have not had technicians in
   updating the computers. SC seems to have put itself into extreme lockdown in the
   last 18 months. RD said that it has been frustrating that Planning officers have not
   been allowed to carry out site visits.

   JG also raised the issue of road markings in the village and surrounding area which
   are fading. It seems that SC is not doing a good job with these. RD will raise this with

    

   Roads. EM mentioned that a lot of the red warning signs are fading also, although
   this seems to be a national problem.

   JH said that we were supposed to have a Participation Requests meeting but this
   had to be postponed because Lynne McKinley was isolating. She hopes it will be re-
   scheduled soon.

   JH thanked RD for his report.

    

7. Planning and Licensing.

    

   JG reported that the Gladman application rumbles on. The Reporter had presented
   their report to the government, but SC revised its housing numbers so the reporter is
   looking into this.

   JG noted that the houses on the Devil’s Elbow are under construction. We do not
   know if there will be a footpath from the development but it seems unlikely as the
   houses are being sold from the original plans. There has been a consultation be-
   tween the residents in Edenkiln Place and the contractor, regarding run off from the
   site.

   JG noted that a petition signed by several residents counts as one petition. It is better
   for residents to send individual petitions.

   21/00762/FUL Erection of new dwellinghouse, land adjacent to An Larach Milndavie
   Road, Strathblane. JG/EB will file similar comments to the previous application for
   this site with regard to water courses, flood risk etc.

   21/00743/FUL Erection of dwellinghouse and associated driveway access, land be-
   tween 1 and 3 Dunglass View Strathblane. CC will ask planning to make sure that it
   complies with all applicable policies and guidance respective of local developments
   patterns, plot ratios etc.

   21/00677/FUL Erection of dwellinghouse in garden ground and creation of new ac-
   cess for existing dwellinghouse, Kenly, 12 Glasgow Road Blanefield. There was
   some concern that this might set a precedent for other houses on Glasgow Road. It
   is a very tight site. SC will ask Planning to make sure it complies with all applicable
   policies and guidance with respect to local development patterns, plot ratios etc.

   21/000629/FUL Demolition of agricultural buildings and erection of dwellinghouse,
   Land Southwest of Boards Farm, Blanefield. CC’s position is the same as previous
   application for two smaller houses. JG said that it is a pity that it will add to large
   houses in the area.

   21/00469/FUL Erection of dwellinghouse and garage building, land adjacent to the
   Garden House Blanefield. JG filed comments in a personal capacity during the re-
   cess and shared these with the CC members.

   JH thanked JG for all his work in Planning.

    

8. Finance

    

   Current Account - £2372.50
   Instant Saver Account - £1343.06

    

   The admin grant for this session will be £475.61

    

   .

9. Correspondence

    

   We have been asked to take part in a Derelict land survey. JH will look into this but is
   not sure that we have any. MV suggested that the land behind the toilet block might
   qualify as derelict.

   We had an email from a resident concerned that the recycling facility in Balfron is in-
   accessible for older people. RD will look into this but is concerned that SC might
   close the facility rather than deal with complaints. JG asked if SC could do a deal
   with EDC to allow residents in our area to use their facilities.

    

   Residents have complained about dangerous driving near the Co-op. People are
   driving at speed along the pavement from Dumbrock Road to park on the double yel-
   low lines. JH will ask Lynne McKinley or Angela McGibbon to look into putting bol-
   lards along the footpath. GE will email Steven Graham about the dangerous driving
   also. JH also mentioned that the bollard at the end of `Blane Crescent that was
   knocked down in February has still not been replaced.

   A resident has complained about people leaving bags of clothes around the recycling
   bin at the library when it is full. KR noted that people leave bags beside the bin even
   when there is space in it. We will put something in the BVB asking people to be more
   considerate.

   The owner of the Kirkhouse Inn has asked about sponsoring the BVB and possibly
   attending a meeting to discuss their plans. We will contact him about this.

   We had an email about the bus service being reduced due to Covid. We will put the
   link to this in the BVB and on the website.

    

10. AOCB

     

    MV gave a brief update on the library. They are still negotiating an operating agree-
    ment with SC. SC is not keen to donate the land, but discussion is ongoing. Tenders
    for the build have been received but are way over budget due to increased costs due
    to Covid and Brexit. MV hopes to have a much more positive report at the next meet-
    ing.

    KR said that the flooding survey is ongoing. She will invite somebody to speak to a
    future meeting about what is happening with the survey.

     

11. Date of next meeting October 4th 2021
    Copy date for the BVB 17th September 2021.

Contact us at contact@strathblanecc.org.uk Also on our website
www.strathblanecc.org.uk. Telephone numbers for Community Councillors are
on the notice boards, in the library and in the Blane Valley Bulletin