Penpont Community Council Minutes of Meeting of Penpont Community Council In Gladstone Hall Date: Tuesday 5th June 2018 Present: Innes Carruthers, Sophia Harkness, Irene Haining, Neil McKay, Fiona Cuthbertson, Alison Rodford, Keith Rodford, Community PC (Sanquhar area) Gary Adair Apologies: Tim Simmonds, Caroline Anderson, Sherri Frost, Andrew Wood, Iain Currie Meeting opened: 7.30pm Previous Minutes – Approved by Fiona and Alison. Police Report Nothing reported within Penpont area. In Moniaive, there was theft of lead from an outbuilding. Theft of wood, heating oil and batteries have been reported from elsewhere. Suspicious behaviour has been reported by two males trying to sell fish from a white van. Please notify the police of any unknown fish vans in the area. There have also been reports of bogus workmen canvassing round doors for work on properties. Always check with the police before engaging any unknown workers who cold-call. Police have been clamping down on on traffic offenses on A76 – enforcing the red light at Enterkinfoot, checking use of seatbelts and insurance. Matters relevant to police Alison reported on the mobile speed indicators which have previously been used in Penpont and Dunscore and are currently in storage with the council. PCC hope to get these working again and erected in Penpont. D&G are looking into new batteries and investigating compatibility with solar recharging. PCC are continuing to push for a seven-day speed monitoring strip to be laid in Penpont village. Conflicting advice had been given by police and the council about how to get these installed but Alison is hopeful that she has now identified the correct department. Gary will also raise the matter with Road Policing. There are continuing reports of speeding lorries on the corner at Burnhead. Keith suggested we ask for advisory signs to remind lorries over 7.5 tons that the speed is 40mph. It was agreed that we should investigate how to get these installed. Reminder to the public: please report all traffic incidents that concern you to the police by phoning 101. If more incidents are reported to the police this raises the profile of the matter. Currently, when your Community Council take your concerns to the police they reply that they have no logs of public reporting these incidents. Treasurers Report Innes presented a summary of financial transactions in May. The account stands at £3,426. The increase is due to hall lets payments from the Friendship Club and Sarah Craig’s fitness classes. Outgoings have been water and electricity. Innes noted that the newly-painted hall with PA system is bringing in more income. Open Business Windfarms Windy Rig Community Liaison Group: Fiona is going to the meeting on Tuesday 26th June at 19.00. (Planning to erect the marquee that evening so Tim and Innes not able to go.) Sanquhar II Community Wind Farm: Irene and Fiona met with three representatives on Monday 4th June to find out about the proposal. The proposed area for turbines includes Glenmanna and Chanlock areas so Penpont would receive some community benefit from this project. If it gets the go-ahead it will be at least 2023 before it is operational. The company, CWL (Community Windfarm Limited), have spoken to Buccleuch Estates and other landowners about the proposal. The total proposed would give a generating capacity of 406MW and as a significant number of these would be sited within Penpont area could bring a major community benefit income to Penpont. CWL are also committed to using local contractors for as many services as possible. The access route proposed is to link into the ‘over the hill’ route to the A76 which was constructed by local company AMD for Sanquhar 1 so would not increase traffic on the Scaur Glen road during construction. CWL are also keen to work directly with Penpont Primary to deliver long term educational and financial support. Public consultations will include an exhibition in the Gladstone Hall (July/August) to gather opinions and comments. The CC was asked to submit a brief initial response to the Scoping Report and to try to gather opinions from members of the public in the near future. Irene to ask the church if they would agree to a stall in a gazeebo in the park on the day of the Church Fete. Any member of the public are welcome to respond individually to Martin Williams, Senior Project Manager (contact details on CC noticeboard and Penpontmatters webpage). Penpont CC initial thoughts were that the employment opportunities and community benefit would be welcomed by many in the community. First reading of the Scoping Report showed that CWL had already identified many of the issues that were likely to concern people about the location of wind turbines up Scaur Glen. It was noted that there will be residents who will argue against any turbines up Scaur and some who will advocate a smaller development. Neil and Fiona identified five that they thought may be visible from the road and one where noise might affect Polgowan. Further discussion will be required on the siting of individual turbines. It was agreed that Irene and Fiona will compose a brief report of this discussion for CWL and PCC will ask the church about publicising on ‘Church Fete Saturday’, 30th June. Diary/Planning Dalswinton Wind Farm application is due in June. Fiona and Alison to meet with Innes Tuesday 12th June to fill in the application form. Harestanes Wind Farm application date is August. As we were unsuccessful with MidNithsdale application for a grant for the path in the park, we could look at putting in a big application in August for £10,000 from ANCB to do the path, gate and widen the wall opening. Hall Sewage: Heavy rain caused flooding and sewage again backed up in the drains last weekend. Fortunately Innes discovered it before it did permanent damage but he and Margaret had the revolting job of cleaning sewage from the hall and toilets. Scottish Water are responsible for fixing the drains on behalf of Business Stream. The people who responded to the emergency callout for the drains noted that the promised camera inspection from the last flood has not been done. Innes is pursuing Business Stream for compensation under their public liability scheme. Alison to chase up the camera-inspection team so that the blockage area can be identified and sorted. Insulation: We were unsuccessful in our application for a Jewson’s grant for insulation of community buildings. Gladstone Park Keith reported that it would cost £30 to check the official Registry to ascertain ownership of sections of the wall from the park to Grennan Place. This was agreed so that we had official records for any grant application for the path in the park. Irene to follow up D&G regarding the final bits of admin to enable the WREN grant payment to be recovered by D&G. Playdale have confirmed that they have been paid in full by D&G. Community clean-up Thank you to everybody who helped with the Community Clean-up on Saturday 12th May and also to everybody who cleaned ‘their own patch’ at other times. Irene asked for volunteers to help Morag plant out the War Memorial on Wednesday 13th or 20th. Fiona and Alison offered to help. AOCB Red Squirrels – Keith explained the very serious and increasing threat of grey squirrels in our area. He has been officially trained to deal with grey squirrels and Capenoch and Buccleuch have staff working on this but it is very difficult to check every trap twice a day to check no red squirrels are caught by mistake. Tynron and Thornhill have already agreed a donation to the National Squirrel Network. Penpont agreed to give £200 donation. Streetscene- Irene attended the meeting this evening. She reported on the presentation regarding all council ‘street-side’ operations. Irene raised the issues of the MUGA cleaning and dog fouling as priorities for Penpont. The Community Safety team responded that they were UNAWARE OF ANY DOG FOULING ISSUES IN PENPONT, nobody has phoned in any complaints. Irene urged residents to phone 030 33 33 3000 and log a confidential report of general descriptions, possible dog type, times and places where they are aware of dog fouling issues. Irene learned that the street cleaning machine is off-road for repairs, hopefully operational again soon. Street-scene can offer ‘weedkiller training’ to CC members. Irene and Innes keen to be trained to tackle key areas within the village Correspondence: Penpont Primary Parent Council have asked about joint ventures for a Games Night in the school grounds in August/September with stalls from wider community groups. The CC were interested in supporting this event but suggested avoiding the first weekend in September as this coincides with Penpont Church 150 year celebrations and a Maasai Group Safari Run on 1st September. The Parent Council also asked about a joint PC/PCC Halloween Party. The Community Council Members do not have Disclosure to work with a group of children without their parents present. If the Parent Council wished to run a Halloween party in the Gladstone Hall the CC would consider a small donation towards some of the costs of the event. VOSCAR Nomination- Penpont Community Council have been anonymously nominated for a community award recognising voluntary work for Nithsdale. Alison and Caroline to go to the awards ceremony on Thursday 7th June at 1.30. Galloway National Park Association Meeting - It is proposed that the Galloway National Park area would include Penpont, Keir and Tynron. There is a meeting for further information at 7 pm on Fri 22 June in Thornhill Community Centre.