MINUTES
Meeting Monday 2nd September 2024 in the Village Club. Final
Members Present: - Julie Hutchison; Grace Edmonds; John Grey; Rob Davies;
Pamela Lee; Kate Ramsden; Eleanor Balfour
In attendance: Councillor Rosemary Fraser SC; Margaret Vass SCDT; + 2 residents
Apologies: Andrew Thompson; Ian Boardley
(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 first meeting of the new session.
There were no declarations of interest.
- Approval of Full Membership
Eleanor Balfour and Ian Boardley, who were co-opted members are now eligible to
be full members. This was agreed by all members present, and they were duly elected
to be full members of the Community Council.
- Approval of minutes from July 2022 AGM
The minutes were approved, Proposed by KR, seconded by JH
- Minutes of June meeting and matters arising.
The minutes had been circulated to all CC members and were accepted. Proposed
by JG, seconded by PL.
Matters arising: 3 residents decided that the damaged shed at the library could be
saved and are working to repair it. JH thanked residents who helped to empty the
shed and clear the surrounding area and Chris Edmonds for offering to store the
equipment in the Edmonstone Hall until the shed is ready. The Wildlife Sanctuary
and Wee Spuds group have asked if they can store some equipment in the shed
once it is ready. This was agreed. JG mentioned that local maps still show the shed
as a Recycling Centre.
JH spoke to Richard Baines from the Paths Group about the Scottish Water path.
SW want the vehicle gates to remain locked and the SC paths officer is still negotiating
access with horse owners.
We now get a roads update every month, but these are not always accurate. We
were not notified about a closure of the A81, which residents saw in the Stirling Observer.
S Bly looked into this on our behalf and said that the notice in the newspaper
was a mistake.
- Police Report
Anti-social behaviour
Vandalism has been recorded after damage was caused to fencing at the Wildlife
Sanctuary.
Theft:
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An attempted housebreaking has been recorded after a male jemmied open a shutter
on a local shop and attempted to force the internal door. Approximately 10 days later
the same shop was targeted again after a male forced open the shutters. The male
was traced by police and a report has been submitted to the PF.
A theft has been recorded after unknown persons entered an insecure motor vehicle
and removed items from within. A local resident disturbed them, resulting in them
dropping the items which have been recovered. Enquiries are ongoing to identify the
persons involved.
Road Safety:
A report of careless driving has been recorded after a cyclist had to take evasive action
after a vehicle has overtaken them in an unsafe position on the road. Enquiries
are ongoing to trace the driver of the vehicle.
A report of a road accident was received, and police attended and carried out checks
on the vehicle and the driver. The driver had no licence, and a report has been sent
to the PF.
A report of a fail to stop has been recorded after a motor vehicle reversed into another
vehicle, causing damage. The offending vehicle failed to stop and provide details.
Enquiries are ongoing into this incident.
A report of careless driving has been recorded after a cyclist had to take evasive action
due to a motor vehicle overtaking them in an unsafe position on the road. The
driver drove off at speed, swerving all over the road. Enquiries are ongoing to trace
the driver of the vehicle.
A fail to stop was recorded after a van reversed into a camper van causing damage
and the driver failed to stop and provide details. Enquiries are ongoing.
JH thanked PC McCammon for running the information session about scamming.
GE will email PC McCammon to ask if there is any update on the vandalism in the
Playpark and Playground.
- Local Place Plan update.
AT has done a lot of work analysing the data from the survey. JH thanked JG for putting
the analysis on the website.
JG has tried out the planning tool to show where people thought houses could be
built.
JH suggested holding information sessions for residents with information about the
survey results on boards and the opportunity to comment.
RF said that the planners will look at what the community wants when considering
Green Belt boundaries. She will send us a few completed LPPs for information.
The LPP Group needs to meet again soon. GE will email group members to find a
suitable date. RD asked if the hutters should be included in the group, but we did not
think so.
- Cemetery
The cemetery extension was marked for the land beyond Braidgate, but this was put
on hold while the Gladman plans were fought. This has now been resolved and permission
to build houses finally refused. We need SC to purchase the land so that the
extension can be built.
JH asked RF if she can find out about this.
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- Roads
JH said that we have raised awareness with SC regarding lack of discussion between
SC and EDC where roadworks overlap.
MV raised the issue of the pavement between the Kirkhouse Inn and the traffic lights.
The hedge has overgrown the pavement and needs to be cut back. It is impossible
for more than one person to walk on the pavement. MV pointed out that this is part of
the Safer Route to School.
- Elected member’s Report – Councillor Rosemary Fraser
The new Chief Executive, Caroline Sinclair has taken up her position. MV asked if
she would visit rural areas.
Lloyds has been appointed as the new auditor for the council. They were almost a
year late with the audit and then charged an additional £170,000. The council is challenging
this fee.
There was a meeting of the LDOP steering group today. RF is confident in what is
being done and said that rural areas should feed in strongly to the plan to ensure that
their needs are met.
RF has told SC that electric chargers in public places are hard for disabled people to
access. JH asked if there are any grants available to install chargers as we have
none in the village.
- Planning and Licensing.
Change of use of land to camping and motorhome site, associated engineering operations
and the siting of 2 no additional staff caravans (retrospective): Ardoch House
Blanefield G63 9AW: 24/00537/FUL
A previous application was approved for a few caravans and camping area. There is
now a visible caravan area and large earthworks going on. We submitted an enforcement
request for this. This is a new planning application for a bigger site. JG is
concerned that there is no real detail in the application, no mention of waste disposal
or disposal of rubbish. The owners claim to be supporting charities but there is no
evidence of this. JG suggested that CC members discuss this application and our
response via email.
Discharge of Planning Obligation on planning permission 08/00327/OUT Lagan
Wood, Campsie Dene Road Blanefield G63 9BW:24/00546/DOM
The original planning permission for this house, built in 2008 for a shepherd, stated
that the property had to be kept fore farm use. It is no longer required for the farm
and the owners are applying to get rid of the condition. We agreed to allow this to
happen, but JG noted that we should be aware of this type of justification in the future.
- Finance
We have £4209.49 in our account.
PL noted that we have yet received the Admin Grant for this year.
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- Correspondence
We received an email from the War Memorial Trust regarding ownership of our War
Memorial. They believe that the CC might be responsible for maintaining it. GE
emailed SB to ask about our position. He will try to find out. RF said that if we do not
list it as an asset then it doesn’t belong to us.
JH said that we used to receive a publication from Scotways but never use it. She
suggested cancelling our subscription and this was agreed.
- AOCB
MV and JH gave the Wilsons a card from the CC and SCDT to say thank you for their
contribution to the village over the last 5 years. We wish Chris and Matthew all the
best now that they have taken over the café.
RF asked about Greens. JH said that we should have the management team back to
discuss ongoing issues.
MV said that she has been approached by Ballewan Estates. Simon Graham would
like the opportunity to brief members of the CC and SCDT on his plans for the future
of the estate. MV will arrange a suitable time for a meeting.
JH mentioned that several residents have been fined for parking on the pavement.
There was supposed to be advanced publicity about this and a two-week period
when people would be warned but not fined, but this did not happen. RF said that
residents can write to SC to say why their street needs to exempt from the regulations.
We will flag the issue in the next BVB.
- Date of next meeting
October 7th, 2024
Copy date for the BVB - September 13th, 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