Download or view in pdf format
Torbrex Community Council
14th November 2023
Stirling High School
--- closed meeting for community councillors only (from 1900) ---
1. Welcome and introductions
a) Recording attendees
Community Council
Ruth Paterson (RP)
Julie Myles (JM)
Matt McGrandles (MM)
John Buchan (JB)
Derek McCulloch (DM)
Stirling Council
Cllr Jen Preston (JP)
Stirling High School student reps
Lucas Cuthbert (LC)
Sophia Furioso (SF)
b) Apologies received
Community Police Officer
2. Declarations of interest
No
3. Adoption of previous meeting(s) minutes
JB proposed
JM seconded
Matters arising
CC web domain is up for renewal on 19 Jan 2024. MM purchased the domain name for £20
and was reimbursed by the CC. MM used his own hosting package at the time; a hosting
package for maintaining the CC website would likely cost around £200. This is not
accounted for in CC’s budget. What does CC want to do?
DM and JM questioned how many see visit the website.
E-mail domain is an additional issue, as this would need to change too, potentially to a free
gmail.
RP questioned whether there’s time/money to properly develop and maintain a website,
unless it would be just a landing page.
Some CCs have their own sites, some use a gmail address.
Contact details need to be somewhere
DM suggested that e-mail could be replaced or supplemented by a WhatsApp group.
JB thought that there needs to be a website
JP - CC website comes up first in search engine
Decision: do not keep the domain name and go a free e-mail option.
MM suggested that flyers go out to Torbrex residents with meeting dates for 2024.
DM – how many people usually attend the residents forum?
MM – usually 3-5 people. Flyer is one of the options to improve communication about CC
meetings and in turn attendance to the residents forum. It costs around £50 for 1000 flyers;
community service will put them through doors. Residents may not have full understanding
of what CC can do or not. Residents that wish to raise issues are now encouraged by the CC
to go to Stirling Council first and their inquiry logged with a code.
DM – can the residents forum be earlier?
MM – if attendance remains low, then CC will revisit the timing of meetings.
Decision: proceed with flyers
Action: DM volunteered to explore incentives for people to keep the flyer e.g. discount from
Torbrex Inn
LC – CC could potentially have booth at Stirling high school at a family event on 16 Dec at
10-12.30.
4. Voting in of board positions
a) Secretary (interim) – running RP; proposer JB; seconder JM
b) Treasurer (interim) – running DM; proposer JM; seconder JB
c) Planning officer – running JB; proposer DM; seconder RP
5. Matters arising
a) Motion to arrange 2 Extraordinary Meetings for business in December 2023
▪ 1st Extraordinary Meeting Agenda item - “Torbrex Community Council – Future
Plans”, Public Offer of Co Opting”
▪ 2nd Extraordinary Meeting Agenda item directly after - “Offer Of Full Member”.
5th of Dec?
Both Necessitated following guidance from Stirling Council.
These two meetings will take place in JB’s shed at 6.30 on 5th of December.
Guidance:
Minimum Membership is 7.
Maximum Membership is 9.
Membership is currently 6, 3 leaving Vacancies - 4 Full Members, 2 Co Opted
Members and no Associate Members.
Torbrex CC will be looking for new members in the New Year.
6. Reports – External
a) Police Report
Our priorities in the Torbrex area continue to be Anti-Social Behaviour, Drug
misuse/Drug dealing, Road Safety and Community Engagement and Reassurance.
Crime Reports for the Torbrex area between 13/09/2023 – 07/11/2023
◦ Detected: 17
Relating to Road Traffic Offence, Vandalism, Assault, Theft, Theft by Shoplifting and
Threatening and Abusive Behaviour.
◦ Undetected: 9
Relating to a crime of Theft by Housebreaking, Fraud, Theft by Shoplfiting Assault and
Vandalism.
◦ Total Crime Reports: 26
Off those undetected 2 reports are now complete and there are no further avenues to
explore. The others remain open with enquiry continuing.
999/101 CALLS
There were 162 calls made to Police for the Torbrex area over the stated period. The
calls relate to incidents including road traffic matters, vulnerable persons, anti-social
behaviour, noise, police information, threatening and abusive behaviour, missing
persons, fraud, domestic incidents and vandalism.
This call level may seem higher as the report encompasses a larger date range. Several
of those calls also refer to information being received about vulnerable younger persons
from the care unit or the being reported missing.
Various comments from attendees about apparent lack of police presence in Torbrex.
b) Elected Member Report – Cllr Jen Preston
JP - typically CCs have complaints about infrequent police presence in CC meetings
Stirling Council is holding budget events and online consultation (Big Conversation).
Local authorities Scottish Government grant and Council tax have been frozen, so there
is a funding shortfall of around £12M next year. Easy cuts were made in previous years;
difficult cuts now needed and proposed. Decision on cuts will be made before end of
March following resident consultation.
MM - CC signposts residents to online consultation, but doesn’t take direct stance.
MM – Are staff related cuts considered? JP not allowed to comment on it
JP – Beachwood Park. Met with Stirling High head teacher about littering in Beachwood
park. Also, met with Head of Environment in Stirling Council about general
maintenance of the park. Specific issue was grass cutting without picking up litter which
resulted in shredded litter. This has now been addressed.
LC – Stirling High has had litter picking campaigns in the past
MM - If the CC knew about litter picking we could promote it via our comms to
residents that might be interested to be involved.
7. Reports – Internal
a) Chair
MM - Met with Stirling high school head teacher and deputy head teacher. Commended
student rep attendance to this meeting.
b) Secretary (interim)
Emails about Beechwood Park storyboards with graffiti which has been reported to the
council by a member of the community, also broken play equipment in Beechwood Park
and council have advised that they are “currently awaiting for costs and availability of
parts for the basket swing and the standard swings, once I have new parts I will have the
replaced” however this may take some time.
c) Treasurer (interim)
d) Planning
A few e-mails but nothing major for the community.
e) Subgroups
MM - Subgroups can be formed and invite more people and take topics of interest forward
independently.
▪ Beechwood (JM)
New equipment – issue raised with Stirling Council. Equipment has been ordered but
will not be installed before the end of the year. Not sure what equipment has been
ordered. Zip line desired, but not clear if it has been ordered. Positive progress so far,
though.
Registered issue about graffiti in derelict building. Different team in Council than for
equipment. Graffiti can be “rude”.
MM – CC can take proactive stance by painting over graffiti and involving the
paper?
▪ Local Place Plan
Local place plan sub-group? RP in it and MM will prioritise his time for it. All were
in agreement that local place plan should be taken forward. Contact Stephen Bly in
Stirling Council for support. Local place plan item to be added to agenda for the
meeting on the 5th of Dec.
8. Community Council Business
New/different signatories need to be added to the CC’s business bank account.
Action: DM to explore.
9. AOB
LC – Pupils would be willing to advertise CC meetings on school social media.
JB, MM – Should people who work but not live in Torbrex be invited to the meetings
Unclear.
Communications plan – JM volunteered to produce a summary plan.
First meeting in 2024 will be on 16th of January.
Closed at 21.05
--- open meeting for residents (from 2030) ---
No residents attended
10. Residents forum (opportunity for residents to raise issues)
a) Issues received prior to meeting
b) Issues raised at meeting
11. Agree date, time, venue of 2024 meetings (Jan, Mar, May, Jun, Sep, Nov)
Next meeting 16th Jan, all further meetings 2nd Tuesday of listed months.
14th November 2023
Stirling High School
--- closed meeting for community councillors only (from 1900) ---
1. Welcome and introductions
a) Recording attendees
Community Council
Ruth Paterson (RP)
Julie Myles (JM)
Matt McGrandles (MM)
John Buchan (JB)
Derek McCulloch (DM)
Stirling Council
Cllr Jen Preston (JP)
Stirling High School student reps
Lucas Cuthbert (LC)
Sophia Furioso (SF)
b) Apologies received
Community Police Officer
2. Declarations of interest
No
3. Adoption of previous meeting(s) minutes
JB proposed
JM seconded
Matters arising
CC web domain is up for renewal on 19 Jan 2024. MM purchased the domain name for £20
and was reimbursed by the CC. MM used his own hosting package at the time; a hosting
package for maintaining the CC website would likely cost around £200. This is not
accounted for in CC’s budget. What does CC want to do?
DM and JM questioned how many see visit the website.
E-mail domain is an additional issue, as this would need to change too, potentially to a free
gmail.
RP questioned whether there’s time/money to properly develop and maintain a website,
unless it would be just a landing page.
Some CCs have their own sites, some use a gmail address.
Contact details need to be somewhere
DM suggested that e-mail could be replaced or supplemented by a WhatsApp group.
JB thought that there needs to be a website
JP - CC website comes up first in search engine
Decision: do not keep the domain name and go a free e-mail option.
MM suggested that flyers go out to Torbrex residents with meeting dates for 2024.
DM – how many people usually attend the residents forum?
MM – usually 3-5 people. Flyer is one of the options to improve communication about CC
meetings and in turn attendance to the residents forum. It costs around £50 for 1000 flyers;
community service will put them through doors. Residents may not have full understanding
of what CC can do or not. Residents that wish to raise issues are now encouraged by the CC
to go to Stirling Council first and their inquiry logged with a code.
DM – can the residents forum be earlier?
MM – if attendance remains low, then CC will revisit the timing of meetings.
Decision: proceed with flyers
Action: DM volunteered to explore incentives for people to keep the flyer e.g. discount from
Torbrex Inn
LC – CC could potentially have booth at Stirling high school at a family event on 16 Dec at
10-12.30.
4. Voting in of board positions
a) Secretary (interim) – running RP; proposer JB; seconder JM
b) Treasurer (interim) – running DM; proposer JM; seconder JB
c) Planning officer – running JB; proposer DM; seconder RP
5. Matters arising
a) Motion to arrange 2 Extraordinary Meetings for business in December 2023
▪ 1st Extraordinary Meeting Agenda item - “Torbrex Community Council – Future
Plans”, Public Offer of Co Opting”
▪ 2nd Extraordinary Meeting Agenda item directly after - “Offer Of Full Member”.
5th of Dec?
Both Necessitated following guidance from Stirling Council.
These two meetings will take place in JB’s shed at 6.30 on 5th of December.
Guidance:
Minimum Membership is 7.
Maximum Membership is 9.
Membership is currently 6, 3 leaving Vacancies - 4 Full Members, 2 Co Opted
Members and no Associate Members.
Torbrex CC will be looking for new members in the New Year.
6. Reports – External
a) Police Report
Our priorities in the Torbrex area continue to be Anti-Social Behaviour, Drug
misuse/Drug dealing, Road Safety and Community Engagement and Reassurance.
Crime Reports for the Torbrex area between 13/09/2023 – 07/11/2023
◦ Detected: 17
Relating to Road Traffic Offence, Vandalism, Assault, Theft, Theft by Shoplifting and
Threatening and Abusive Behaviour.
◦ Undetected: 9
Relating to a crime of Theft by Housebreaking, Fraud, Theft by Shoplfiting Assault and
Vandalism.
◦ Total Crime Reports: 26
Off those undetected 2 reports are now complete and there are no further avenues to
explore. The others remain open with enquiry continuing.
999/101 CALLS
There were 162 calls made to Police for the Torbrex area over the stated period. The
calls relate to incidents including road traffic matters, vulnerable persons, anti-social
behaviour, noise, police information, threatening and abusive behaviour, missing
persons, fraud, domestic incidents and vandalism.
This call level may seem higher as the report encompasses a larger date range. Several
of those calls also refer to information being received about vulnerable younger persons
from the care unit or the being reported missing.
Various comments from attendees about apparent lack of police presence in Torbrex.
b) Elected Member Report – Cllr Jen Preston
JP - typically CCs have complaints about infrequent police presence in CC meetings
Stirling Council is holding budget events and online consultation (Big Conversation).
Local authorities Scottish Government grant and Council tax have been frozen, so there
is a funding shortfall of around £12M next year. Easy cuts were made in previous years;
difficult cuts now needed and proposed. Decision on cuts will be made before end of
March following resident consultation.
MM - CC signposts residents to online consultation, but doesn’t take direct stance.
MM – Are staff related cuts considered? JP not allowed to comment on it
JP – Beachwood Park. Met with Stirling High head teacher about littering in Beachwood
park. Also, met with Head of Environment in Stirling Council about general
maintenance of the park. Specific issue was grass cutting without picking up litter which
resulted in shredded litter. This has now been addressed.
LC – Stirling High has had litter picking campaigns in the past
MM - If the CC knew about litter picking we could promote it via our comms to
residents that might be interested to be involved.
7. Reports – Internal
a) Chair
MM - Met with Stirling high school head teacher and deputy head teacher. Commended
student rep attendance to this meeting.
b) Secretary (interim)
Emails about Beechwood Park storyboards with graffiti which has been reported to the
council by a member of the community, also broken play equipment in Beechwood Park
and council have advised that they are “currently awaiting for costs and availability of
parts for the basket swing and the standard swings, once I have new parts I will have the
replaced” however this may take some time.
c) Treasurer (interim)
d) Planning
A few e-mails but nothing major for the community.
e) Subgroups
MM - Subgroups can be formed and invite more people and take topics of interest forward
independently.
▪ Beechwood (JM)
New equipment – issue raised with Stirling Council. Equipment has been ordered but
will not be installed before the end of the year. Not sure what equipment has been
ordered. Zip line desired, but not clear if it has been ordered. Positive progress so far,
though.
Registered issue about graffiti in derelict building. Different team in Council than for
equipment. Graffiti can be “rude”.
MM – CC can take proactive stance by painting over graffiti and involving the
paper?
▪ Local Place Plan
Local place plan sub-group? RP in it and MM will prioritise his time for it. All were
in agreement that local place plan should be taken forward. Contact Stephen Bly in
Stirling Council for support. Local place plan item to be added to agenda for the
meeting on the 5th of Dec.
8. Community Council Business
New/different signatories need to be added to the CC’s business bank account.
Action: DM to explore.
9. AOB
LC – Pupils would be willing to advertise CC meetings on school social media.
JB, MM – Should people who work but not live in Torbrex be invited to the meetings
Unclear.
Communications plan – JM volunteered to produce a summary plan.
First meeting in 2024 will be on 16th of January.
Closed at 21.05
--- open meeting for residents (from 2030) ---
No residents attended
10. Residents forum (opportunity for residents to raise issues)
a) Issues received prior to meeting
b) Issues raised at meeting
11. Agree date, time, venue of 2024 meetings (Jan, Mar, May, Jun, Sep, Nov)
Next meeting 16th Jan, all further meetings 2nd Tuesday of listed months.