March 2021 Minutes

THORNHILL & BLAIR DRUMMOND COMMUNITY COUNCIL

17th of March at 7:30 pm
Online meeting

AGENDA

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

   10 members of the public: Peter Christie (PC), Alyn Den Holm(AD), Peter McHardy
   (PM), Christine Baur (FB), Heather McHardy (HMH), James Smith (JS), Craig B (CB),
   Martyn Steedman (MS), Kate Sankey(KS), Gary Richardson (GR)

   Apologies: Sheena Stewart (SS), Cllr Evelyn Tweed (ET)

2. Approval of minutes of meeting on the 3rd of February 2021 – Agreed (SP) Seconded
   (EB)

3. Matters arising - None

    

4. Reports – External:

   1. Transport Scotland re Traffic Alleviation at Safari Park – (HM) Sent a letter to
      Transport Scotland and it was acknowledged.

   2. Police Scotland –report has been distributed via email

   3. Stirling County Councillor – ME Budget meeting Council Tax freeze, SC wants 6
      enforcement officers in place so they will need to re-advertise for more. Better
      levels of weekend work and T&C’s.

      Driving test can restart as off Apr 26 – Callander is moving to another location
      and awaiting confirmation.

      Bin Permits – Garden Waste charge letters are out. Online portal has a problem
      for online permits, people have been paying more than once and will need
      refunded. What’s to be determined is what is food waste and what is garden
      waste – If brown bin has permit it will be automatically be emptied, if not it will
      only be emptied if it has food only in it.

      (SP) question re email about- drinking in public (ME) Police can act if you have an
      open container of alcohol whereas currently they can only act if someone is seen
      opening the container. This will be decided on March 29 council meeting.

5. Reports – Internal:

   1. Chair - (SP) nothing to report

   2. Secretary - (GI) Zoom account – currently using personal account – suggested we
      should we have own account. (JM) Use council admin fee for own Zoom account.
      (ME) still doesn’t know when we will be able to meet face to face – possibly after
      the recess, after August.

      (GR) suggested to keep using zoom for the future, would this be a good idea

      (GI) Zoom excludes people who don’t have devices and some elderly would like to
      personally attend meetings. (GR) noted there is a much wider attendance with
      the use of zoom. (PC) new to Thornhill mentioned that community halls may be
      closed for the foreseeable future. (AG) we currently need our own zoom account.

   3. Treasurer – £2444.04 in our account- payment to Yvonne for minutes.

   4. Planning – seems to be on a slow down on decision making, no decision made
      since our last meeting.

   5. Thornhill Future Groups – (AG) steering group met on Mon 15 March – 15
      members in group and 22 themes have been whittled down to 18. There are 30
      volunteers. Dividing themes into people to take them forward on a fairly
      compressed timescale from summer to September. There will be regular

      meetings to keep track of what’s going on. Trying to encourage more young
      people and get a cross section of others to get a good representation of the
      village.

   6. Blair Drummond Community Hall – nothing to report.

       

6. Community Council Business

   1. Dunsire and Partners’ development in Thornhill: AG – no application in as yet

   2. Windfarm – Shelloch development in Gargunnock - AG - awaiting planning
      decision 6 April. Will keep an eye on the planning portal in the meantime prior to
      next meeting. MF says we can have an emergency meeting if need be.

   3. Slow down sign/flashing light on A873 after B8031 (near Coldoch Road) towards
      Stirling – (MF) – sent another email recently, awaiting Carolyn Fraser to provide a
      report when she returns from annual leave next week. (CB) 0.9 miles from
      Smiddy to Coldoch Rd, there is lots of traffic from local businesses and on top of
      this the day to day traffic. SC states they are happy to help people walking cycling
      etc… Can CC share the report when it comes from SC. CB will write to the 3
      councillors, MPs and MSPs to complain about this. We have no traffic calming
      measures and the traffic has rapidly increased in the past 10 years. (MF) will
      share the report. (ME) say the synopsis by CB should be shared to Transport to
      help with the conclusion and recommendations. When the report comes through
      we can have a specific report to look at this issue. Bruce Reekie is the officer in
      charge and he would be the person to send anything to. (GR) interested to hear
      about the report and has also been in touch with SC in the past re – the traffic
      along the wider area B822 along Kippen – SC says vison is fine at Goodie Bridge
      whereas residents are not in agreement with this. (ME) suggested CC provide
      google maps with this information for a formal assessment. (MF) reminded CC
      that the original assessment was about A873 after B8031.

   4. Erection of 3 houses near Thornhill Primary School – SP – nothing to report, take
      this off the agenda.

   5. North Common – EB nothing to report

   6. CC engagement with the community – AG, EB we now have page on community
      website and a Facebook page.

   7. Street lights – GI – some member have asked about lights being turned off –
      there is a SC street lighting policy GI will distribute this (Page5) generally lights
      should be on in residential areas. (AG) cutting emissions and dark nights were the
      issue. (ME) there is a practical issue about the configuration of the lights and
      could have a knock-on effect to other areas. (GI) suggested a survey (ME) noted it
      may not be something that can be done so the question should be asked of SC if
      this is a possibility. (MF) ask what if any options are available email
      ccenquiries@stirling.gov.uk (EB) stated there areas where this may have safety
      implications are.

   8. Junction of Main Street and Kippen Road – (GR) restricted vision at a junction
      coming from Kippen Road- can the yellow line be extended by a few metres. (MF)
      send an email to ccenqiries@stirling.gov.uk (EB) can we add this to the other road
      issues (GI) if someone prepares an email with info and EB and it will be passed to
      GI to include.

   9. Cycle parking – (GR) no provision to lock cycles in Thornhill – if they could lock
      bicycles it would encourage more people to cycle. There is a risk of having bike
      stolen (MF) stated there is somewhere currently in the town (JM) agrees and will
      keep pushing to have safe cycle infrastructure in place but there are budget
      constraints. (ME) suggested getting in touch with Community Trust regarding this
      issue. (JI) added to ME comments with suggestions of the Community Trust.

   10. Sommers Lane – ME/Debbie Wilson - there is currently no response to this. There
       is a lot of development going on and it is becoming a busy area. (ME) has asked
       for an assessment re traffic volume, traffic management, signage, verges etc.
       there is a whole suite of assessments that can be done. (JI) agreed it is a problem
       area. Add to what’s app group and allow residents to view their comments to ME

       – Action (JI)

        

7. Residents Forum: Car sharing – (GR) this is a future wish - written to a couple of
   organisations - setting up car clubs to see if people would be willing to car share –
   will keep on this. (JM) there may be issues around insurance and rental. (GR)
   suspects there will be too little demand to make it viable.

8. AOB – (SP) Neil McLaren has been raising money for cancer and has been running
   (3.5kmiles) – can we give a donation. (JI) stated there may be other looking for
   donations and added be cautious (AG) perhaps we should have an amount for annual
   donations set aside to donate to various causes as they come along. (MF) note of
   caution, cannot use the admin grant as it is restricted. (GR) suggested Clap for Neil
   fundraising and ask for donations from the community. (EB) he has raised almost 5k

   for Beatson. (MF) suggested to put a tin in the local shops to raise funds. (JI) identify
   a pot of money from unrestricted funds then decide how much we can donate. (MF)
   Jean Cowie is funding officer in SC you can contact her to see what funding is
   available. (HM) suggest an amount of £200 as a donation. Proposed by (SP) and
   seconded by (EB) ensure there is a receipt for audit of accounts. (ME) suggest bi-
   annually the provost hold The Provost Awards held in the castle and there are
   opportunities to put people forward for a nomination, this is advertised in the
   observer at the time. They are usually held in October, not sure if they will run this
   year with the pandemic. Action EB will make payment to Neil.

    

9. Date, time and venue of next meeting: 28/04/2021 at 7:30pm