MINUTES
Meeting Monday 7th October 2024 in the Village Club. Final
Members Present: - Julie Hutchison; Grace Edmonds; John Grey; Rob Davies;
Pamela Lee; Andrew Thompson; Ian Boardley
In attendance: Councillor Gerry McGarvey SC; Margaret Vass SCDT; + 6
residents
Apologies: Kate Ramsden; Eleanor Balfour
(SC = Stirling Council. CC = Community Council. CDT= Community Development
Trust * Denotes an action)
- Welcome from the Chair and declarations of Interest
JH welcomed everybody to the meeting. She congratulated everyone involved
with the library project on being Highly Commended at the IRCS awards last
weekend.
There were no declarations of interest.
- Minutes of September meeting and matters arising.
The minutes had been circulated to all CC members and were accepted.
Proposed by RD seconded by JG.
Matters arising: Councillor Fraser asked SC if they are still proposing to build
the cemetery extension and purchasing the land beyond Braidgate. She reported
to JH that Estates is still looking into this.
We raised several issues with Roads, including the speed limit on the A891.
We have asked several times for this to be extended beyond Braidgate but
have been told by the Roads Officer that this is not possible. A resident has
now asked for this to happen and it has been agreed. JH raised the issue of
residents being given different answers to us with G McG.
JH contacted a former member of the CC regarding the grant given to us
some years ago to renovate the War memorial. He has receipts showing how
the grant was spent and we will forward these to the War memorial Trust and
SC.
We asked Rosemary Fraser about the overgrown hedges obscuring the
pavement from the Kirkhouse and on the A81 leaving the village. The answer
from SC was not helpful and GE will email Stephen Bly again.
GE asked if a Roads Officer could attend one of our meetings. The answer
was no, but they could meet us during the day for a walk round. IB said they
have had some success with roads issues in Mugdock.
GE asked Constable McCammon about the recent vandalism in the school
and playpark. He replied that enquiries are ongoing and that officers are accessing
CT cameras to try to trace the culprit.
.
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- Police Report
Anti-social behaviour
Two vandalisms have been recorded after damage has been caused to the
fencing and a metal shed at Strathblane Primary School. Enquiries are ongoing
to identify the persons involved.
A vandalism was recorded after a local resident had her window smashed by
three males. Enquiries are ongoing to identify the persons involved.
Theft
A theft from a vehicle was recorded after a vehicle’s window was smashed
and items removed from within. Enquiries are ongoing.
A report of a theft was received after a member of the public had her passport
stolen while staying overnight at the Kirkhouse. Unfortunately all lines of enquiry
were carried out and then perpetrator was not identified.
Road Safety
A local resident had her vehicle damaged while parked on a residential street.
The driver failed to stop or leave details and failed to report the incident to the
police. Enquiries are ongoing.
A report of dangerous driving was recorded after a cyclist was knocked off
their bike by a driver overtaking on a narrow road. The vehicle struck the cyclist
causing them to fall onto the bonnet of the vehicle which then made off at
speed. Enquiries are ongoing into this incident.
- Local Place Plan update.
There is a small group working on this, identifying possible sites for houses
and discussing results with residents. We had a meeting with SC a couple of
weeks ago and now have a new date for submission of 4th July 2025. We are
continuing to work on our plan and this item will remain on the agenda.
The survey results can be viewed on our website. AT said that at the next
stage of our work we will be inviting residents to join us to discuss the survey
results. JH thanked AT for his work on the plan so far.
- Elected Member’s Report - Councillor Gerry McGarvey
The new Chief Executive is very hands on. The new Leader of the Council is
Margaret Bisley, who was the Deputy Leader. She has been replaced as
Deputy Leader by Gerry McGarvey. A new Finance Officer has been appointed
and a new Senior Social Worker is about to be appointed.
Councillor Henke is recovering well from a recent illness. G McG will pass on
our good wishes.
- Planning and Licensing
24/00537/FUL: Change of use of land to camping and motorhome site, associated
engineering operations and the siting of 2No additional staff caravans
(Retrospective) Ardoch House, Blanefield G63 9AW. JG has checked several
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times that the time for us to comment on this has not started yet. He is concerned
that there is no detail in the application and thinks that SC might still
be requesting additional detail from the applicant.
24/00611/FUL Land South West of Boards Farm. This is an application to remediate
some of the conditions put on an application to demolish the old
sawmill on Boards farm road and put a house on the site. We will not comment
on this.
The Local review body turned down appeals to erect 8 houses on the A81 and
a house on Old Mugdock Road.
- Finance
There is £4218.09 in the account.
We have been allocated an Admin. grant of £442.50 - £27 less than last year
- Correspondence
We received an email from Gary Ralston at SC asking for volunteers to clear
side roads and footpaths in the winter. SC will provide training and equipment
and are happy to send somebody to a CC meeting to talk about this.
SB has sent information about a new booklet about services available for elderly
residents. We have also received information about a Gaelic choir for
school age children We will publicise both in the BVB.
- AOCB
GE attended a meeting at BHS about a minibus that the school is hoping to
purchase. They hope to fund this via community grants and asked for support
from the local CCs. GE circulated CC members who all agreed to this and she
emailed our support to Mrs Quinn at BHS.
As the school Christmas Fair is being held on December 6th we will have to
change the proposed date for our Christmas lights switch on. We now hope to
hold it on November 29th. We will need to purchase some replacement lights
for the VC, and we have been asked to fund some lights for the flower tubs.
This was agreed.
We have been approached by a resident about pavement parking. At this
point JH declared an interest as her street is one of those affected. Our
streets are narrow and the bin lorries have difficulty accessing some now that
all cars must park on the roadway. There is also concern about accessibility
for emergency service vehicles. Residents can request exemption from the
rules if they have evidence that problems are being caused.
MV raised the issue of parents parking in the library car park when dropping
off and picking up children, particularly when they use the disabled spaces.
Some years ago the school worked on Safer Routes to School which resulted
in the installation of the Pelican Crossing and the traffic calming on the A81.
The Kirkhouse Inn allowed parents to park there but when parents have been
spoken to they say this is too far to walk. MV wonders if the school is pursuing
this with parents. MV and JH hope to attend a meeting with the Parent Council
to discuss this matter.
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A resident mentioned that a traffic survey was carried out on Old Mugdock
Road during the summer. We knew nothing about this.
JH highlighted that we still have two vacancies on the CC.
- Date of next meeting
November 4th, 2024
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