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MINUTES
Meeting Monday 3rd October 2022 in the Village Club
Final
Members Present : - Julie Hutchison; Grace Edmonds; Kate Ramsden; John Gray; Andrew Thompson; Evelyn MacDougall; Rob Davies Eleanor Balfour.
Apologies: Craig Melville; Pam Lee
In attendance: Councillor Gerry McGarvie; M Vass, SCDT ; + 7 residents (SC = Stirling Council. CC = Community Council. CDT= Community Devel- opment Trust * Denotes an action)
1. Welcome from the Chair and declarations of Interest
JH welcomed everybody to the October meeting. Craig Melville has sent his apologies and tendered his resignation due to work commitments. JH accept- ed his resignation and said that he is welcome to join us again if work allows. AT declared an interest in the Wildlife sanctuary.
2. Minutes of September meeting and matters arising
The minutes had been circulated to CC members. They were accepted, pro- posed by JH, seconded by AT
Matters arising: JH thanked m Vass for composing a very inclusive letter re- garding the closures on the A81 over the summer. GE has sent this to the MP, MSPs and Carol Beattie. JH received an acknowledgement from Carol Beattie.
JH spoke to Stephen Bly regarding a meeting with the Access Officer. SB wanted to clarify which other departments we have had contact with. The meeting agreed that this is only Roads and JH will email SB accordingly. Hopefully we will have a meeting with the Access Officer soon.
JH received an email about the new cemetery. SC will only begin consultation once they are sure that Gladman will not lodge an appeal. JG said that it ap- pears that they have appealed. He will ask for clarification of this. AT asked if there is still money for the cemetery in the capital expenditure budget.
JH had an email from SC regarding the toilets in the village. They will need to find money to refurbish the block. JH will try to contact Steven Robinson again.
JH had also heard from SC about charging points in the village. They had looked for suitable places for these and the library car park was the obvious place. This no longer exists until the new library is open and the funding has dried up. We are still on the list once further funding is available and the new library car park is open. RD noted that every other village in the area has charging points. GMcG will follow this up.
JH and GE spoke to Donna mills about new playground equipment funded by the new houses. She has suggested three possible items that JH will take to the school council.
JH spoke to Duff Trees and they are happy to supply a Christmas tree again this year. We are very grateful to them
The Council residents Survey should be completed by all residents. JH urged everybody present to do this and we will promote it online also.
3. 
Co-option of new member
Ian Boardley has not responded to emails, so could not be co-opted. JH will try to contact him again.
4. Police Report
Constable Graham sent the report for September Anti-social behaviour:
An altercation took place at Mugdock Country park between two drivers whose vehicles had accidentally touched. Enquiries are continuing to trace those involved.
Road Traffic:
A vehicle was stopped and uplifted on Glasgow Road, Blanefield when the driver was found to have no insurance or MOT certificate.
Theft:
There was another theft of a vehicle from Netherblane
There was a theft of a trailer from premises off Cuilt Road, Blanefield. Fraud:
A resident reported that she had received a message regarding refunds on energy bills. She transferred money to another account before realising that it was a scam.
5. Traffic Calming Update.
A resident raised the issue of traffic speeding down the hill past Netherblane. JH will contact Angela McGibbon for advice. Another resident said that traffic speeds up to get past the traffic calming at the VC. Speed is an issue throughout the village and there is no enforcement of speeds.
RD said that there is a review due on the current traffic calming measures. JH will contact Angela McGibbon to ask when this is likely to happen.
RD mentioned that we should ask again to have the 40MPH sign on the A809 moved to cover the junctions with Edenmill and Auchengillan. GMcG will fol- low this up.
6. Elected Member’s Report – Councillor Gerry McGarvie
There is a full Council meeting on Thursday 6th October. The Capital Budget was due to be discussed but this has been postponed until December.
EM asked about the Catterburn Bridge. GMcG said that it is due for comple- tion in March 2023 It turned out to be more challenging than had been thought. The Brantshogle Bridge is due to open at the end of October.
7. Planning and Licensing
Local Place Plans. We intend to have a joint meeting with the SCDT about this. JG has emailed SC regarding promised training. GE has sent a letter re- garding Planning Democracy to the MP and MSPs.
22/00295/PPP: demolition of existing livery buildings and erection of 5 dwell- ing houses. Bankend House Strathblane. JG filed our objections to this pro- posal.
The wildlife sanctuary is hoping to erect a temporary structure to be used as a classroom. This will be a summer house type of construction and will enable children to learn about the wildlife in the area. AT said that this is in the early stages and JG referred him to the guidelines for these structures.
22/00583/PPP: Erection of dwelling house and additional works to support ex- isting farm business, land Southwest of Bracken House, Strathblane. This is a house for an estate manager. JG said that we are cautious about such plan- ning. Policy does allow for a building a single house for business needs. There have been pre-application discussions that the Planning officer seems happy with. The house will not be visible from Craigallian Road and access will be via Craigallian Road rather than Old Mugdock Road. RD said that there is a need for more rural business in the area. If it a family house it will be good for the area. JG will file comments that state that the building should comply with policies. The CC will support the application.
22/0590/FUL: Erection of dwelling house, land North of Bluerisk Old Mugdock Road, Strathblane. A resident raised concern about possible issues with sewage and flooding if yet another house is built here. JH asked if the flooding issues at Edenkiln Place have been improved by the building of the new houses. JG will look into this. JG will comment mentioning drainage and sew- age issues.
AT said that the capacity of drains needs to be increased as water floods from the village towards Station Road. We need a review of thew infrastructure of the drainage system.
22/00603/PPP: erection of single storey dwelling house, garden ground of Leddriegreen Lodge, Campsie Road Strathblane. We will not object to this.
8. Finance
Current Account - £2876.00 Instant Saver - £1373.59
EM said that the wreath has been ordered. JH asked if one of the councillors will lay a wreath. GMcG will get back to her about this.
EM is not getting bank statements on time. She asked if we could update our accounts, but we cannot use BACS as we have two signatories.
9. Correspondence
There was no correspondence this month
10. AOCB
JH has been contacted by a resident in Blane Place regarding very high trees in Netherblane. They will not cut them back, and the Council cannot do any- thing about this. KR reported that the council could do nothing about the trees
in Netherblane which were contributing to the collapse of the wall at Jenny’s Burn.
The BVB contained a new Household Plan which caused some consternation in the village. We reassured residents that it is intended to be a source of help during weather incidents.
A resident has asked about providing warm spaces in the village. A resident reported that she had attended a meeting about this but feels that local people may not support this. At the moment it is just an idea. There could be funding from SC for this and GMcG will send JH some information. This will be an on- going issue. KR said that she is happy to help via her role on the VC commit- tee.
A resident mentioned a new Urgent Assessment Unit at Forth Valley. Doctors can make a direct referral to the unit to take the pressure off A and E. We will publicise this in the next BVB.
McGills bus company has taken over transport in the area, and we hope this will lead to improvement in services.
There has been another flood in Blane Crescent. There was a residents’ meeting about this. Council officers will come back to residents once they have looked at measures being put in place.
M Vass requested that an update on the library could be added to the agenda for the November meeting. GE will do this.
11. Date of next meeting November 7 th 2022 in the Village Club.
Contact us at contact @strathblanecc.org.uk Also on our website www.strathblanecc.org.uk . Telephone numbers for Community Council- lors are on the notice boards, in the library and in the Blane Valley Bulle- tin