Environmental Society Working for you

Minutes of Meeting on 31st January 2013, 10.00am Conference Centre, Cumbernauld College

Chairman: Bobby Johnstone Minute taker: Donna Grant, Secretary

1. Present: Bobby Johnstone, Donna Grant, David Eadie (Central Scotland Forest Trust, CSFT), John Duffy (Cumbernauld Environmental Society, CES), Nick Dekker (CES), Janice Crawford (Hope Community Garden, HCG), Liz Graham (HCG), Georgina Lee (resident of ), Louise Stewart (resident of Carrickstone), Jean Cunningham (resident of Carrickstone), Jim Cunningham (resident of Carrickstone), J Smith (resident of Carrickstone), AWG Smith (resident of Carrickstone), Billy Lees (Cumbernauld Community Forum, CCF), Jack Banks (CES), Anne Rafferty (resident of Carrickstone), P Rafferty (resident of Carrickstone), Glyn Price (Friends of Cumbernauld House Park), Lee Madigan (resident of Carrickstone), Kitty Madigan (resident of Carrickstone), Sandra Wylie (resident of Carrickstone).

2. Apologies: John King (CES), Adam Smith, Stephanie Muir, Allan Graham, Kenneth Wilson, Yvonne McPherson, Brenda Flyn, Eleanor Campbell (YMCA), Faith Hillier (Froglife), Brian Thomson, Ann McCulloch, Paddy Hogg, Ann Sneddon, Alan Sneddon, Donald MacDonald, Willie Goldie, Jamie Hepburn.

3. Minutes Amendments advised by Gerry Lewis, NLC. Changes were as follows:-  Where it states Gerry has taken over Keith Vernon’s duties, this should in fact state that Gerry has taken over some of Keith’s duties specifically in relation to the Keep Scotland Beautiful competition.  Any criticisms of Council owned sites, should be recorded as those people’s opinions where relevant, especially when efforts are being made to address issues. Each individual is indeed entitled to their opinion/to say what it is they believe but it should be recorded as such.  Gerry disagreed that the main cause for trees falling over at Broadwood Loch is due to lack of tree thinning & in fact, states that there have been a number of thinning programmes undertaken at Broadwood. He believes the main reason for the significant tree loss is a rising water table and 2 very severe storms in the last few years.

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Chairman Secretary Treasurer Bobby Johnstone Donna Grant Yvonne McPherson www.cumbernauldenvironment.org.uk [email protected] Bobby Johnstone stated that he disagreed with the 2nd amendment above in so far as he feels that CES Minutes should indeed reflect the opinion of those who attend & speak up at our meetings and he also disagrees with the findings in the last point above.

Pending the above changes, the Minutes will be taken as read and approved by John Duffy and seconded by Billy Lees.

4. David Eadie, Central Scotland Forest Trust (CSFT) David Eadie, CSFT, presented plans/boards demonstrating the 2 key sites for new Woodland areas within Cumbernauld. David will forward PDF versions of the boards/plans shown today which will be available for viewing on the CES website in due course.

The first site is Sandyknowes next to Palacerigg. This site will have mixed woodland planted, with a grass pathway through it & because the area is so wet, they will plant a lot of Sitka Spruce trees. The site will be deer fenced for ease of maintenance/ protection. CSFT will maintain the area for a period of 5 years & thereafter, it will be handed over to North Lanarkshire Council. David also pointed out that some pond areas had been created in order to address water problems from the ditches that were there.

The 2nd site is Millcroft, alongside the A73, near Blairlinn Industrial Estate. A mixture of trees will be planted & groupings will be made up using Scots Pine, Aspen, Red Alder, Silver Birch, Downy Birch, Sessile Oak, Rowan, Hazel, Cherry, Goat Willow, Grey Willow & Hawthorn. Again, the whole site will be deer fenced for protection to prevent the deer from destroying the trees. At this site, there are water pipes running through it & you cannot plant trees within 6 metres of those & so this is something they’ve taken into account.

Comments following CSFT presentation:- It was asked by a member of public if, after CSFT’s 5 years, NLC would change the layout/sites. CSFT said no. It was also asked if NLC will continue to maintain it after CSFT is no longer responsible. Gerry Lewis confirmed that it is land owned by the Council & so they will be responsible for maintenance thereafter, albeit funding may be an issue but NLC will find ways of thinning, etc.

Bobby pointed out that the issue of people feeling safe walking through woodland areas is important & asked if this would be addressed. It was pointed out they are not creating a narrow pathway & in fact, there is a large gap between the tree areas. Bobby also asked that, if any trees die in these areas, would they be replaced; David Eadie confirmed they would be.

Given that it’s a grass pathway (Sandyknowes site), the issue of whether this would simply turn to mud through too much use was raised. David explained they expect use to be light but if any problems like this did occur, they would pick this up with NLC.

It was asked why the planned pathway (Sandyknowes site) was not in a circle as this might have made more sense; however, David confirmed it was designed to link with the Palacerigg & Luggie pathways.

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Chairman Secretary Treasurer Bobby Johnstone Donna Grant Yvonne McPherson www.cumbernauldenvironment.org.uk [email protected] Bobby said given that the pathway at Sandyknowes will not be suitable for wheelchair users, will they have appropriate signage stating this in order to let wheelchair users know what areas they can & can’t reach. Although this was not planned, David has taken this suggestion on board & will look at letting people know accordingly.

5. Correspondence Brian Thomson emailed to ask that the following points be raised in relation to the Minutes of 29/11/12 as follows:-

Brian is concerned that the Minute offered nothing positive about Broadwood & he rejects the claim that Broadwood Park is suffering from neglect when in fact it is the focus of attention for NLC. Brian confirmed the following:-

 An environmental scoping plan was drafted on the basis of suggestions/comments made at the Society and elsewhere  Central Scotland Forest Trust were commissioned to undertake a full community consultation on Broadwood Loch and surrounds  A consultation report was produced which has assisted in identifying priorities for action. This was reported to the Society by Mike Batley in November  £40,000 has been sourced to allow priority actions to take place between now & end of March. This work principally involves attention to the path network & associated drainage issues.  Additional finance has been obtained by NLC from Forestry Commission Scotland to address some of the woodland issues (thinning, etc) required within Orchardton Woods. This work should also be completed by end of March  From March 2013, NLC intend building a further funding package to implement some of the site improvements identified in the scoping plan/consultation

NLC are discussing with other departments, including Community Regeneration, Learning & Leisure and NL Leisure Trust, how potential access and landscape improvements around the Stadium & Gym Club can be linked to the Broadwood Loch project for mutual benefit & further funding opportunities.

6. Matters Arising

6.1. Bobby advised that CES have still to arrange a meeting with Mike Batley from CSFT. David advised however that Mike has been off work & is still currently off so at present, this isn’t possible. We will await Mike’s return & arrange in due course. 6.2. CES have still to meet with Gerry Lewis re: Keep Scotland Beautiful (KSB) competition to ensure we get proper guidelines on what we should do as an environmental group. Gerry will be submitting a letter to KSB to establish guidelines & thereafter, CES will meet with him on this matter. An update will be provided in due course. 6.3. Re: Luggie cleaning. Bobby said he had been in touch with Deersdyke about this but they had advised they no longer dealt with this & instead dealt more with recycling & that they were now called Horizon. However, Bobby got in touch with Scottish

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Chairman Secretary Treasurer Bobby Johnstone Donna Grant Yvonne McPherson www.cumbernauldenvironment.org.uk [email protected] Water’s Head Office in Edinburgh & was waiting on word back on this matter. Bobby will keep us posted. 6.4. Tree planting – covered by David Eadie’s talk. 6.5. Re: progress in contacting Scottish Wildlife Trust (SWT) about local plans/masterplan; it is the intention of CES to have a meeting with SWT in approximately April time to get them to do a presentation of plans for the whole of Cumbernauld. Bobby will provide an update in due course. 6.6. Re:progress on contacting NLC about path repairs in Cumbernauld Community Park; it has been noticed that repairs have been carried out & to a good standard. John Duffy said he had noticed that since the heavy rainfall, further damage had occurred. Gerry Lewis agreed to look into this & report back. 6.7. Progress on football pitch repair (behind Join Campus School); CES will raise this with Ken Wilson when they meet regarding other matters & will therefore add this to our agenda. When this matter arose, Nick Dekker asked if anyone knew if the consultation on the Community Park had been documented as yet. Billy Lees said the Community Forum had received a copy so yet, the consultation was documented. CES did not receive a copy & Nick Dekker didn’t know how to go about getting a copy as he was unaware it had been published. At our meeting with Ken Wilson (in due course), we will bring this to attention also. 6.8. Orchard; Bobby gave a brief description of what the aims of this project were & he confirmed that he together with other volunteers were due back at the Orchard on 9th Feb to finish putting the remaining soil improver down. He said it is likely a lot of the existing trees will need to be taken away before planting new ones because a lot of the trees had canker. Updates on the progress will follow.

7. Financial Report Treasurer not present, however, an up to date balance sheet had been provided & so Bobby confirmed that the balance was currently £656.38.

8. Any other business A few points were raised as follows:-  Grant funding; there are a number of funding schemes available for community landscape & environmental projects, as suggested for Greenfaulds Orchard. Some appropriate funding schemes include Central Scotland Forest Trust, Central Scotland Green Network, Forestry Commission Scotland, Scottish Natural Heritage, and the Climate Challenge Fund, amongst others. If CES identify a potential project which will improve the landscape & greenspaces of Cumbernauld, then funding shouldn’t be seen as a barrier, as it is likely to be available.  housing development; CES recently submitted a planning objection to NLC against proposed Ogilvie Homes housing development in Westerwood, which will intrude on a site of importance for nature conservation, encompassing the habitat of a number of rare & protected birds, animals & plant-life. This has been shared with the Westerwood Community Council who are appreciative of our support. A copy of the objection is available upon request. Page 4 of 6

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Chairman Secretary Treasurer Bobby Johnstone Donna Grant Yvonne McPherson www.cumbernauldenvironment.org.uk [email protected]  Local landscape project; there are several landscape projects planned to take place in Cumbernauld in the near future. One is the tidying up of some Cumbernauld Town Centre landscaped areas. Watch Us Grow will be working on this in conjunction with NLC. Another project is a proposed community garden area in Dullatur. CES will offer Watch Us Grow & Dullatur Community Council their assistance & support.  Scottish Wildlife Trust living landscape initiative; SWT are the lead organisation on a new living landscape project in Cumbernauld. The project aims to ‘bring the community together to restore & reconnect woodlands and peatlands, improve water quality, influence the design of green infrastructure and engage local people in volunteer programs’. Ian McKenzie, the Cumbernauld Living Landscape Project Development Manager, has offered to come to a future CES meeting to talk about the project and how it will benefit Cumbernauld. Watch this space.  Red Squirrel sightings; SWT have received reports of Red Squirrels in the area around Cumbernauld Glen, the first time they have been seen in Cumbernauld since the 1980s. SWT ask everyone to keep an eye out for Red Squirrels & to let them know where & when they were seen & if you are able to do so, take a picture (you can contact CES or SWT direct). Evidence that Pine Martens have also returned to the Cumbernauld area has recently been found. Again, confirmed sightings should be reported to CES or SWT direct.

Carrickstone Derelict Play Park A number of residents from Carrickstone attended our meeting today. It had been documented in the Cumbernauld News (30/1/13 publication) under an article headed “Residents’ fury at council threat over derelict park” that CES were holding a meeting on 31/1/13. This led to some confusion in that perhaps our meeting was for the purpose of discussing this issue specifically. However, Bobby Johnstone confirmed that in fact, this was our regular monthly meeting for CES but that we would address the issue of the play park accordingly.

With this in mind, the matter was discussed. It is the belief that work has not taken place on this park area (situated near Gailes Road, Carrickstone) for over 10 years. It is unclear who the owners of this area of land are & despite many letters from residents & others, asking for clarification as to who the owners are, they are no further forward in getting clear answers.

Residents of the area, including those from North Berwick Road & Landsdowne Drive, received letters from Graham MacKay, Head of Roads & Transportation, NLC, recently stating there was overgrown vegetation encroaching on the public footpath causing an obstruction to pedestrians & they had 21 days to have the vegetation cut back to their boundaries (a map showing the vegetation they were responsible for was attached).

In the past, it was suggested that residents of the area, were responsible for maintaining the park area, despite it being unusual to ask residents to do this. Again, in the past, it had residents were advised that it may be an idea to take out individual insurance to protect themselves from potential claims/getting sued should members of the public injure themselves. Residents have supporting letters/paperwork to support anything they have claimed at today’s meeting.

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Chairman Secretary Treasurer Bobby Johnstone Donna Grant Yvonne McPherson www.cumbernauldenvironment.org.uk [email protected]

Residents are understandably frustrated & extremely upset that no-one has provided answers as to who owns the land, who determined that residents were responsible for maintenance & that they got, what they feel is a threatening letter, saying they had a strict timescale to cut vegetation back to their boundaries.

As they are at a loss as to what to do next and given that they, at present, have no functioning Community Council, CES agreed to meet with residents next week to discuss the matter further & get a letter drafted accordingly.

Bobby Johnstone stressed it would be an idea for them to start a Community Council (there used to be a Community Council which they could resurrect) & that this would also open up the opportunity for funding/grants, etc.

A meeting will be arranged & an update provided in due course.

8. Date of next meeting

Bobby said we were hoping to hold another public meeting shortly, possibly in The Wynd. However, our next monthly meeting shall be held on Thursday 28th February in Cumbernauld College, at 10.00am.

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Chairman Secretary Treasurer Bobby Johnstone Donna Grant Yvonne McPherson www.cumbernauldenvironment.org.uk [email protected]