MINUTES OF STRATHBLANE COMMUNITY COUNCIL 1st Draft Monday 10th January 2011 in the school Members Present: - Margaret Vass, Willie Oswald, Joan Hoggan, Fiona Murray, Marian Lever, Elspeth Posnett, Alan Hutton, John Gray, Richard Arnold. In attendance: - Cllr Graham Lambie; P.C. McNally; Sargeant Paul Barr, Gordon Ash CDT; Mary Brailey and Alan Sim both representing the Community Allotments Group + 9 members of the public. (SC = Stirling Council. CC = Community Council. CDT= Community Development Trust * Denotes an action) 1. Welcome from Chair and apologies: Opening remarks –by Margaret Vass I have a number of things to cover in my opening remarks. First,Happy New Year and very best wishes for 2011. Not everyone has had the start to the new year that they would have wished and I understand that there are still members of our community who are still without water and have been so for a long time.We will discuss this under item 6 on our agenda. I am sorry that we had to cancel our December meeting but I took the view that it would not have been sensible to ask people to go out to a different location even if they could have made it. Particular thanks must go to those members of the community who have helped clear snow, spread grit and checked up on people who may be vulnerable in the very cold weather. I need to ask for your approval for the alteration of the agenda to hear about the planning application for allotments before we approve our November minutes. Mary Brailey and Alan Sim are attending to do this( CC agreed to the change to the agenda). I have apologies from Philip. I have also, unfortunately, received a letter of resignation from Patsy as she disagrees with the consultation process and the publication of the community action plan. The letter with comments was displayed on the screen. The CC unanimously agreed the comments to be made to Patsy in response to her resignation, in particular those thanking her for her valued contribution. Marian has agreed to take over the Health role and Dick has agreed to do the minutes with assistance from other CC members who have a brief, this will be discussed further under item 5 on our agenda. 7a – Blane Valley Allotments Group. Mary Brailey chairs the allotment group and Alan Sim, a member of the CDT was in attendance to provide help with planning considerations. There are 20 members currently in the group. The proposal for allotments for the village is generally supported by the CC. Until now, no site had been specified. A site of approx 3.5 acres, leased from Duntreath Estates had been identified, being an area adjacent to the old railway line, south west of the Netherblane flats . A planning application for this is about to be submitted. Drawings showing proposals for the site, the equipment and the buildings (huts) proposed, were circulated for information. It was planned to erect deer and rabbit proof fencing around to complete field. Funding from various sources had been applied for with £45K available to date. It was stressed that the whole area would be laid out and kept in sympathy with its environment and there would be discussions with the local community as the project develops. The involvement of the school and schoolchildren was seen as an important goal. 13 tenants are already on the waiting list with 23 plots initially available – expandable. 1 The project was discussed vigorously by the CC and members of the public, with vehicular access, availability to non residents and attractive appearance being matters raised. MB hoped that after initial lorry movements, people would mainly walk or cycle to their allotments. She did not want to be too restrictive about availability of plots and appearance would be controlled. There would not be power or running water to the site. Possibilities of growing the village’s own tub plants were suggested and discussed. MV summed up for the CC by confirming general support from the CC and the matter would doubtless be further discussed when the Planning Application came before us. 2. Minutes of last meeting and matters arising: Nov 1st 2010 minutes approved . Proposed:Fiona Murray. Seconded: Marian Lever. Changes noted – Item numbering incorrect and failure to note the presence of John Gray. Matters Arising: Page 2 item 5 - an email was received on 11th Nov from Mike Fischbacher saying that there was no requirement for a meeting to discuss funding for the Blane by the community council as the Blane can manage without a contribution from the CC. Page 3 item 6 - we previously agreed to distribute the community action plan through the Blane. MV sought CC approval to circulate the plan ourselves with a covering letter, the text of which is still to be agreed by the CC. The CC unanimously agreed to this course of action. Page 5 item 11 - Scottish Democracy website –JG indicated that we should adopt practices recommended by Napier University, but Alan Campbell feels that we can control our own site via the Strathblanefield web site, rather than have this done by outsiders. 4.Police report – from PC David NcNally MV received a letter from acting chief inspector Catriona Paton to advise that she will be our new Communities Inspector following the retirement of Inspector Brian Sharkey. She is also asking us and any member of the public to complete an online questionnaire on policing priorities for 2011-2015 by 31st January. To complete the survey visit www.centralscotland.police.uk . Report as follows: Since the last meeting on 1 November 2011, the following items are of note: Thefts, Thefts by Housebreaking and Thefts from insecure cars continues to be a problem. The recent bad weather brought about a dramatic decrease in crimes of this nature. During December, one house was targeted by housebreakers who fled empty handed after they activated an alarm. A car was stolen from Moor Road whilst another vehicle in Moor Road which had been left insecure had property stolen from within towards the end of the month. It cannot be said strongly enough that residents, particularly those in Mugdock, and in the Moor Road, Old Mugdock Road and Milndavie Road areas should ensure their property, (be it a house, shed, car or bicycle) is properly secured. If anyone is suspicious about anything, the police should be contacted immediately, regardless of the time of day. One example where a prompt call to the police produced results occurred on 11 December in the Carbeth area. Two males were apprehended after they were found to have broken into two vehicles, stolen a third vehicle, and had committed various other offences including drink driving, disqualified driving and police assault. 2 Due to the recent poor weather conditions, very little activity has taken place with regard to speeding motorists. This will be picked up again as the weather improves. Developing trends in the area include a recent increase in the tendering of counterfeit currency. Many retail premises in West Stirlingshire and East Dunbartonshire have been targeted. The typical modus operandi is to purchase a low value item with a high value note – normally £20 notes. Retailers should be aware therefore of unusual behaviour on the part of their customers – one male roused suspicion when he entered a country pub in the Killearn area. The male purchased a drink with a £20 note, drank up within 2 minutes and left abruptly. Due to the suspicions of the licensee an arrest is imminent in this case. One further ongoing issue is that of anti social behaviour in Strathblane. During November, a number of incidences of egg throwing were reported along with reports of youths singling out specific houses for verbal and other forms of abuse. I wish to get the message out to the community that this behaviour will not be tolerated and where identified, offenders will be charged in every instance. If anyone has any information in this regard I would be pleased to hear from them. EP queried any update on the school crossing patrol – none. And Alistair Smith raised the matter of parked cars obstructing during the snow. A softly softly approach had been taken as far as safe and possible but dangerous parking would not be allowed to prevail. 5 Role of the Community Council. –report by Margaret Vass A few people have expressed their concern about the role of the Community Council. For example by agreeing to take actions forward in our Community Action Plan we will be unable to take an impartial view over any proposals coming forward. As chair I am quite clear that our purpose is as set out in statute “to ascertain ,coordinate and express to the local authorities for its area and to other public bodies ( now our community planning partners) the views of the community it represents.” We are doing that and will continue to so on behalf of our community. It has also been suggested to me that the CC is too close to the CDT. Stirling council has advised me that it is good practise for CCs and CDTs to work together closely. I am sure that we can do things even better and I would like to meet with our office bearers to review the Scottish governments good practice guidance for community councils. We will consider establishing subcommittees to widen community involvement. They would have clear terms of reference and produce their own action notes which would form part of the CC minute. If the CC is agreeable to this we report back to the Feb/March meeting.