Meeting Stevenston Community Council Date/Venue 2nd December 2019 – Ardeer Neighbourhood Centre, Stevenston. Attendance I. Winton – Chair. D. Campbell. - Treasurer S. Sinclair. - C.C. Member D. McGrory- C.C. Member Media Team L. Thomasson. - C.C. Member Media Team D Rodgers – C. C. Member D McTiernan – Councillor. J. Sweeney – Councillor. J. Miller – Councillor. (C.C. - Community Council) (N.A.C. - North Ayrshire Council) Apologies I. Hamlin – Community Council Advisor. M. Law – Secretary. Actions No Action Responsible 1. WELCOME AND INTRODUCTION. The Chair welcomed all attending the meeting, which would the last of 2019. He also welcomed D Rodger on his attendance after his surgery and recuperation. 2. APOLOGIES. See above. 3. MINUTES OF LAST MEETING & ITEMS ARISING. There were no Matters Arising and acceptance of the November minutes was proposed by D McGrory and seconded by L Thomasson. 4. SECRETARIES REPORT. D Campbell reported on behalf of M. Law (who is currently off ill) that only routine correspondence had been received. 5. TREASURERS REPORT. D. Campbell reported that as no monies had been spent since the last meeting, the bank balance remained the same as reported in November. He also stated that he was aware that any monies received 1 by the Community Council in the form of grants etc. would have to be lodged into a separate account for audit purposes. 6. POLICE REPORT. Constable Michael Mackie reported the following; There had been 3 common assaults and no serious assaults. There had been 7 reports of vandalism with no discernable pattern emerging. There had been a quantity of scaffolding poles and fence posts reported stolen and a report of clothes being stolen at Morrisons. There had been a car collision on Hayocks Rd and a driver had been reported to the Fiscal on a charge of drink driving. The Police Initiatives on speeding and youth disorder at the Cross are ongoing. 7. MEDIA TEAM REPORT. The Media Team reported that they were still posting local organisations events, and that they would welcome more participation in this facility. 8. FUNDING REPORT. S Sinclair reported that he has had a meeting with R Fotheringham of N.A.C. and he now has a list bodies that could provide funding. The funding available covers a substantial spectrum of activities from youth activities to the Robertson Trust. The next stage in the funding process is for the Community Council to decide which type of projects to undertake and this would enable him to apply to the relevant body for funding. He suggested that the Community Council should ask the people of Stevenston on the type of projects that would be feasible. 9. HARVIES REPORT. S Sinclair reported that he had not pursued a meeting with J. Cullinane of N.A.C. due the current general election situation and that the Chair and himself, and hopefully D Rodger, would arrange a meeting early in the New Year. 10. TOWN CENTRE REGENERATION. A power point presentation was given by A Mackenzie of N.A.C. He stated that the allocation of the £500,000 was broken down as follows: Mill Dam Route Improvements £150,000 2 Improved road layout/parking at Main St/New St junction £150,000 Beach Park Toilets. Repair/New Build. £50,000 Shop Front Improvements £150,000. The above are the financial details of the grant. The technical details of the Regeneration and the time scale of its implementation will be posted on our face book page. 11. TOWN CENTRE CAR PARK. Local Councillor J Sweeney reported that a formal hearing on the compulsory purchase of the car park would now take place on January 29th 2020. 12. ARDEER PENINSULA. A power point presentation was given by Ms. J. Frew. The presentation included drone photographs of the Peninsula which showed off the natural beauty and to some extent, the unregulated commercial activities of the area. Over 1200 species of plants and animals have been recorded on the Peninsula. The southern end of the Peninsula, where the bulk of any development is focused, is the most environmentally important part of the site. Scottish conservation charities are united in their concerns that development in the southern part of the Peninsula would be an environmental disaster. It was felt that if any development of the Peninsula should take place, it should take place at the Stevenston end. It was pointed out that there were 100 acres of brownfield land, much of it concreted, behind the Stevenston Industrial Estate and on the former nylon plant site. The former I. C. I. site could be utilised as sustainable tourist and community assets. Uses suggested were a National Park, a forest park, a wetland bird reserve, or a sand dune country park. It was also felt that access to the Peninsula should be from Stevenston, not Irvine, and a refurbished Africa House could be a visitor hub for the Peninsula. (Please note that Stevenston Community Council will shortly undertake an on line survey to get the views of the people of Stevenston on what use that the Peninsula could used for.) 13. COIG. The Chair intimated that Coig were unable to attend the meeting tonight but that they were very keen to work with the Community Council in promoting Stevenston and that they look forward to meeting with us at our February meeting. The Chair also intimated that he had an e mail from Energiekontor regarding their re-submission of plans for the development of the 3 Sorbie Wind Farm. The revised application includes the following measures; A reduction of the internal track layout to 0.9km and this equates to 1860 cubic metres less aggregate being used on the build and which improves its overall carbon balance. The identification of an area that could be used for energy storage should the technology become commercially available during the lifetime of the wind farm. Areas for new woodland planting have been introduced on the southern boundary of the site. These will screen views towards the turbines from the A78 road as well as reducing emissions from traffic using the road. The approved 65m high permanent anemometer is proposed to be deleted from the wind farm, thus reducing the visual effect of the wind farm. The benefits of the revised application are as follows; The taller turbines would generate an additional 87% of renewable energy despite being just 19.8% taller. This nearly doubling of renewable energy output is a disproportionate benefit compared to the modest size increase. The tip height increase would allow the wind farm to power the equivalent of 11050 homes with renewable energy. The wind farm would save 100,000 tonnes of carbon being emitted every year the annual emissions for the whole of North Ayrshire in 2018 was 864600 tonnes. This wind farm alone would reduce net emissions in North Ayrshire by 12%. The wind farm would give rise to a range of opportunities for civil engineering and associated works for local contractors during the construction phase. Energiekontor is keen to maximise these local economic benefits and would put a local contracting procurement policy in place for the wind farm which would give a price advantage of 5% to local firms bidding for contracts. The total value of contracts that could be secured in North Ayrshire has been estimated at £3 million and Scotland as a whole, businesses could secure contracts worth £6.1 million. A community fund would be established that would deliver £60,000 funding a year for local causes based on a rate of £5000 per MW of installed capacity (there being 12MW of capacity proposed.) That could equate to £1.5 million of funding over the lifetime of the project and would double the amount that would be delivered from the consented 104.3M turbines. These local and wider benefits can only be delivered if this application is successful, as the wind farm would otherwise not be economically viable. Stevenston Community Council would endorse this application. 14. VARIOUS FLOWER BEDS. The Chair thanked all the volunteers who turned up a week past 4 Sunday to clean up the car park area and the surrounding flower beds. The Chair also reported that the Community Council has various gardening groups “champing at the bit” in preparation for the growing season. A local gardener has kindly offered bring on plants/flowers to add to those that the Community Council will purchase. The Chair is confident that Stevenston will be in “bloom” next year with a superb display of flowers. 15. RAILWAY STATION DISPLAY AND SIGNAGE. The Chair reported that talks were still ongoing with the Southwest Railway Adopters Gardening Group. The Chair reported that the 3 town’s locality partnership meeting scheduled for December had been cancelled and has been deferred until January 2020. The Chair is hopeful of some word on funding being granted for a feasibility study for signage being erected throughout the 3 towns. 16. BEACH TOILETS. It was reported that Raise Your Voice is waiting on the architects report. 17. ASN SCHOOL AND STAKEHOLDER POSITION. No report was available on this matter but it has been noticed that steel building frames are now being erected on the site. The temporary traffic lights have been moved away from the mini roundabout to about 50yards towards Saltcoats. 18. FLY TIPPING AND LITTER BUGS. There has been no improvement in this matter. It is endemic in all parts of North Ayrshire. It was asked if N.A.C. could organise a “big lift” from a central part of the town on a monthly basis. Could our Local Councillors look into this? The Community Council was asked if it could kick start a campaign to raise awareness of the litterbug problem in Stevenston.