April 2021 Minutes

THORNHILL & BLAIR DRUMMOND COMMUNITY COUNCIL

28th of April at 7:30 pm
Online meeting

Minutes

  1. Present and apologies Hector Muir -Vice-Chair (HM), Gabriela Ingle -Secretary (GI),
    Elaine Blanchard - Treasurer (EB), Al Rawlinson (AL), Michelle Flynn SC (MF), Cllr
    Jeremy McDonald (JM), Cllr Martin Earl (ME), Yvonne Dickson - Minutes Secretary
    (YD),

    8 Members of the public: Christine Bauer (CB), Gary Richardson (GR), Joyce Firth (JF),
    Gavin Morrison (GM), Sam Campbell (SM), Mandy McMonagle (MM), Catherine
    McGreagor (CM), Robbie (R)

    Apologies: Andy Greig (AG), Joanne Ingles, (JI), Scott Patterson (SP) Sheena Stewart
    (SS), Cllr Evelyn Tweed (ET)

  2. Approval of minutes of meeting on the 17th of March 2021 Agreed (GI), Seconded
    (EB)

  3. Matters arising None

     

  4. Reports – External:

    1. Transport Scotland re Traffic Alleviation at Safari Park – (HM) No progress, no
      reply from Transport Scotland as yet.

    2. Police Scotland Report sent out via email

      Antisocial Behaviour Sometime between 26th and 29th March 2021 damage has
      been caused to property within the grounds of Thornhill Primary School.

      Road Safety On 28/03/21 officers were carrying out patrols when they had
      reason to stop a vehicle on A84 near to Blairdrummond. The driver was found to
      have no valid insurance for the vehicle. The driver has been reported to the
      Procurator Fiscal.

      Other: On 18/04/21 police received a call regarding males hare coursing on
      Chalmerston road, Stirling. Police attended and 2 males were traced. After
      enquiry, they have now been reported to the Procurator Fiscal in relation to
      Protection of Wild Mammals Act.

      Community engagement: Should anyone have any policing issues they wish to
      discuss or raise, please contact us at Callander Police Station on 101 or via email
      at
      TrossachsTeithCPT@scotland.pnn.police.uk

       

    3. Stirling County Councillor (JM) Council meeting on technical staff Thurs 29 April,
      Covid Recovery plan, resume committees after election. Having trouble getting in
      touch with roads team so looking to see how we can fix this. (ME) approve roads
      programme for coming year will be discussed at council meeting tomorrow (Thurs
      29 April) and three schemes will be progressed in the coming year. Look out for
      these. Recovery plan – there is a lot of money in various pots estimating 12+ml
      and we have to ensure the Recovery Plan will deal with all of Stirling for support.
      (GR) asked if the roads resurfacing the b822 has been removed. (ME) this is still
      on the roads plan.

      (ME) they have agreed to look at this A873 area has been on the agenda for a
      while now and it will be included in the audit, then there will be an investigation,
      this will be mapped out and have had 17 responses re Blair Drummond lanes. A84

      near the safari park is a really bad junction with heavy vehicles using it via sat nav
      suggestions for quickest route. Need for work and better signage passing places,
      speeding, damage to the verges, traffic calming measures and what should go up
      these roads needs to be mapped out. Can’t say how long this will take. When we
      get to the position there needs to be a meeting to look at the mapping. Thoughts
      are should be done within approx. 3 months. (CB) thanked the councillors for
      their response.

  5. Reports – Internal:

    1. Chair (HM) nothing to report.

    2. Secretary (GI) asked Michelle about sending a couple of enquiries and have had a
      reply from SC to say they can’t receive emails from personal email address.
      Struggling to log in to the account as there are safety measures (MF) Can Michelle
      ask IT to help with this problem. ACTION (MF) will call (GI) tomorrow to resolve
      this issue

    3. Treasurer Bank Balance £1760.60 - Beaton’s Charity Run donation£200 -
      Thornhill Community trust for benches £300, Zoom Licence £143.88 and Minutes
      payment £40 – admin grant to fill in but as it’s a strange year due to Covid there
      are no hall hires etc.. (JM) suggested Include payment for Zoom licence for
      consideration in admin grant.

    4. Planning – no major updates – spread sheet sent out

    5. Thornhill Future Group – (AR) steering group meeting – manifesto was approved,
      started compiling returns – things are moving at pace, and regular meetings
      scheduled, Scottish Government consultation on police plans – proposals for
      development – something to be aware of as a CC. Historic Scotland planning on
      feeding into. Members will take part in the consultation. (MF) numerous planning
      issues a few years ago of over development and because they all use septic tanks.
      It did feed into the LDP – previous CC members fed into this and gave their
      comments around septic tanks and where they flowed into. ACTION (MF) will
      find the documentation on this.

    6. Thornhill Community Trust - (EB) noted they are losing their current Chair
      person

    7. Blair Drummond Community Hall (GI) no update as the hall remains closed.

  6. Community Council Business

    1. Dunsire and Partners’ development in Thornhill: AG – no information on the
      planning portal

    2. Windfarm – Shelloch development in Gargunnock - AG no further information at
      this time

    3. Slow down sign/flashing light on A873 after B8031 (near Coldoch Road) towards
      Stirling – (ME) as above 4C

    4. North Common – (EB) drainage work continues, resurface the road in the next
      two weeks. ACTION Remove from agenda

    5. CC engagement with the community – (EB) publishing the login and the agenda
      on the web and Facebook

    6. Street lights – (GI) an email was circulated with the response from SC – SC would
      like to keep the lights for the health and safety of the residents if the areas are
      well lit and in the past there were incident of anti-social behaviour – ACTION
      remove from agenda

    7. Junction of Main Street and Kippen Road / Road B822 from Thornhill to Kippen-
      EB – forwarded email to cc-enquiry and hasn’t had a reply to date. (MF) has
      spoken to roads re this issue also.

    8. Cycle parking – (GR) was in Gartmore and they have a very good system working.
      This is the type of thing he was looking for. He will pursue this in other ways
      under Thornhill Futures or something other than the council. (JM) noted its worth
      having a discussion with officers to see if there is anything available and we can
      perhaps join this up. (EB) send details to JM and he will have the discussion with
      officers. (MF) suggested SC Jean Cowie, Funding officer may be able to help

    9. Sommers Lane – ME/ as above 4C

    10. Residents Forum: - Floral tubs in Thornhill – JF (letter) want the tub replaced at
      the end of the road, the ground is uneven and we want to know if SC did this
      work.

      (JM ) asked which road this is - Aberfoyle road out of Thornhill where a path has
      been built which caused the tub to move a few times and it is a mess.

      (AG) sent email the footpath/bridge works along the A873 towards Boquhapple was
      done by the landowner and various subcontractors. The requirement for the work was
      as part of the planning permission the landowner obtained in connection with the
      development of the new houses at Boquhapple Mains. Stirling Council Roads
      Department were involved with a degree of oversight. I am not sure whether Roads have
      signed off the work: my suspicion is that they have not done so yet. It is clear to all that
      the work has been finished to a poor standard, with virtually non-existent landscaping,
      and significant construction debris left on site. A better course of action may be to
      approach the Roads Department to engage their help in ensuring the mess is tidied up
      before they sign off the work as being up to standard. This may enable a degree of
      leverage to be applied, which we are unable to apply directly. (MF) a pathway was put
      in for a safe school route and SC was talking to the Landowner – suggested we go
      back to planning ACTION (MF) to send documentation to (JM)

       

      (JF’s) letter also made note of an overhanging tree near the benches and phone
      box in Thornhill. It is thought this land belongs to the Council ACTION (EB) will
      check who is responsible for tree trimming.

  7. AOB. (GR) 8 houses along have the issue on the B822 - during fine weather there are
    vehicles speeding some well over 80mph, can we get support to monitor this and
    find a solution (JM) explained factors that may come up with the data during the
    audit. (JF) 20 mph restrictions in Thornhill, People don’t respect the speed limit. we
    are looking for evidence of enforcement. This combined with parking on the
    pavements and we need to know we are going to get support from the police. (JM)
    suggested CC write to police he is happy to support this. (MM) noted it may get
    better as more people get used to it. (JM) will bring up traffic calming at the council
    meeting. (MF) explained the cc-enquiries and the capacity and Covid implications –
    individuals are reporting individual issues and saying they are priority; this needs to
    be sent via CC. (JM) we need to encourage people to report issues in the community
    and lights and roads can be explicitly reported via www.upmystreet website. There is
    also a section on the SC website called Report It.

 

Date, time and venue of next meeting: AGM 09/06/2021 at 7pm; followed by a normal
meeting at 7:30pm.

ACTIONS

Remove 6d North Common Road from the agenda
Remove 6f Street lights from the agenda

(MF) will call (GI) tomorrow to resolve the issue around emails to cc-enquiry via personal
email

(MF) will find the documentation on previous planning issues around septic tanks this.
(MF) will find documentation to send to (JM) re Residents Forum issue 6 J re path and
information on who the land belongs to

(EB) will check who is responsible for tree trimming.6 J