November 2022 Minutes

Minutes of Meeting of Bridge of Allan Community Council Held on Tuesday 15^th November 2022 in the Allan Centre.

Present: Mike Watson (MW) Chair; Leslie Harkness (LH) Secretary; Anna Doeser (AD) Vice Chair and Communications Officer; Alastair Taylor (AT) Treasurer; Robin Kleinman (RK); Heather Jones (HJ) ; Associate Member; Bill Fortune; Rosalynd Webb (RW); Sandra Davidson (SD) ; Alastair Heron (AH) Planning Officer; Emma Fradgley (EF) ;

 

Apologies: Vicky McDowell (VmcD); Andrew Drummond Baxter; Siobhan Hencher; Moira Randall (Associate Member); Councillor Graham Houston; Councillor Ewan Dillon; Alexander Stewart (MSP); Alyn Smith (MP); PC Paul Gilliland; PC Ross Barclay; Gavin Drummond

 

In attendance: Councillor Douglas Dodds; Brian Bullen (Minute Taker); Graham Russell (Chair of the Friends of Bridge of Allan); Inga Bullen (Chair, RAGE); Janie Meikelbland (Secretary DBOA); Douglas Ross ( Vice-Chair DBOA); 3 Board members of DBOA; 5 other residents

 

Abbreviations: Annual General Meeting (AGM), Bridge of Allan (BOA), Community Council (CC), Common Good Fund (CGF), Stirling Council (SC), Wallace Monument Stakeholder Advisory Group (WMSAG), Discover Bridge of Allan (DBOA) , Residents Against Greenbelt Erosion (RAGE)

 

B 2148 Welcome, Apologies and Conflict of Interest (AD)

 

MW opened the meeting at 19.30, welcoming those present. The apologies were noted as indicated above.

 

B 2149 Approval of Minutes, Matters Arising and Action Log

 

The minutes of the October 18^th meeting were approved; proposer was AT, seconder was BF.

 

MW spoke re the Remembrance Service and thanked AT for attending to the repair of the speaker system and Councillor Dodds for arranging the cleaning of the memorial. Councillor Dodds gave special thanks to the Wallace High School student for the rendition of the Last Post – there was general agreement this was a very well received.

LH reported on Matters Arising and Action Log, the report from LH is reproduced here: Matters Arising (LH)

In relation to Item B 2124 and my letter to Network Rail expressing the CC’s concerns about the railway station car

park, I received a further update from Network Rail confirming that the station’s Buildings Manager had arranged for a blocked gully to be emptied to allow a temporary alleviation of the flooding issue and that he is now in liaison with ScotRail’s Building Manager to clear out the gully and to remove the surrounding mud. ScotRail have also looked at the pathway and have agreed to clear the vegetation and to resurface. Finally, the communication notes that, since ScotRail, as part of its maintenance lease, is responsible for the car park linings and signage, the relevant issues raised by the CC have been passed on to them and the CC can expect to hear from ScotRail in due course.

 

Action Log (LH)

 

In terms of the Action Log and my own minuted action points I have noted that all future references to the Allan Centre meeting room used by the CC shall correctly identify the room as the GP room. I have also provided written confirmation to all CC members that that both our MSP and MP have a standing invitation to all meetings, with the MSP always sending his apologies when necessary; both, of course, receive the agenda and the minutes in advance of each meeting.

In relation to the very large number of additional actions, seven were for the Communications Officer, three were for the Chair, two were for the Treasurer, one was for Emma and one was for Robin.

 

The other actions were addressed under their agenda items.

 

B 2150 Police Report

 

The community policing team were unable to attend, however their report was previously circulated to the

1. LH summarized the report completed by PC Paul Gilliland

 

Between 20^th September and 14^th October 2022 a total of 10 crimes occurred within the Bridge of Allan area (which also covers University of Stirling). The incidents detailed below are of relevance to the local community.

 

ANTISOCIAL BEHAVIOUR

 

Between the evening of 18^th and morning of 19^th of October a Ford Puma motor vehicle then parked within New Street, Bridge of Allan was damaged. This has been crimed as Vandalism and is an ongoing enquiry at the time of update, PS-20221021-0531 refers

 

DRUG MISUSE

 

On the 1^st of November a male was found in possession of a small quantity of what has now been confirmed to be Herbal Cannabis within his university accommodation. The individual concerned will be issued with a Recorded Police Warning for being in possession of controlled drugs

 

VIOLENT CRIME

 

On the 27^th of October within the grounds of the University of Stirling a male whilst under the influence of alcohol or an unknown substance assaulted three members of the public. The male responsible, who was not a student was arrested and has been reported to the Fiscal for Assault type offences (non-serious).

 

On the 4^th of November a male was the victim of a minor assault within a property in New Street, Bridge of Allan. A male has been arrested in relation to this incident and will appear at court at a later date.

 

 

HOUSEBREAKINGS/CRIMES OF DISHONESTY

 

 

Sometime between the 23^rd and 30^th of October a blue and black coloured gent’s mountain bike which was secured by means of a combination lock, was stolen from the bike sheds at Bridge of Allan Railway Station. To date no suspects have been identified in relation to this theft, PS-20221101-1971 refers.

 

On the 25^th of October a member of the public from Bridge of Allan advertised a mobile phone for sale on Facebook Market Place. The seller was then contacted by a potential buyer and after receiving what she believed to be confirmation via email of a pending bank transfer of monies into her account, sent the phone via Royal Mail to an address in the Midlands. It was later established that no money had been transferred and that the seller had been the victim of a Fraud. This is an ongoing enquiry at the time of update.

 

Between the 4^th and 5^th of November a resident from the Bridge of Allan area was contacted via phone by a male claiming to represent the bank Fraud Team and who informed the victim that his bank account had been compromised. The victims trust was gained and he received further calls advising him that various background checks were being carried out. The victim was then informed that another one of his accounts had been accessed and was asked to transfer money out of it at which time he became suspicious.

 

Following checks with the bank it was established that he had been the victim of Fraud and that monies had been removed from his account. This is crimed as Fraud with lines of enquiry to be pursued.

 

ROAD SAFETY AND ROAD TRAFFIC RELATED CRIME

 

On the 22^nd of October at Chalton Road, Bridge of Allan damaged was caused to a stone pillar which had been struck by a vehicle which subsequently drove off. This has been crimed as Fail to Stop after Accident and is under investigation at the time of update with lines of enquiry to be progressed, PS-20221022-2642 refers

 

MATTERS OF NOTE

 

Between the14^th of October 2022 and 14^th November 2022, there was a total of 129 calls to the Bridge of Allan area. Please note this also covers parts of the Cornton, Causewayhead and Stirling University and as such not all calls relate to Bridge of Allan area itself.

 

A breakdown of some of these calls is as follows, 3 were public nuisance calls, 10 were concern for person type calls, 3 calls were drugs/substance related, 2 calls were noise related, 3 call was disturbance/assault related calls, 1 neighbour dispute call, 1 call was theft related, 2 were domestic related and 20 calls were road traffic related

 

FORTHCOMING ACTIVITY

1. Carry out a road traffic operation (date now established towards the end of November)
2. Carry out a Police
3. Patrols areas where antisocial behaviour has been

https://scotland.police.uk/yourviewcounts

 

B 2151 Christmas Lights (EF/AT)

 

EF reported, and provided these notes for the minutes:

 

Individual Light Sponsorship Update

• 16 confirmed sponsors
• 9 have paid - 8 directly into our account and 1 cheque has been sent today (15th November).
• 5 still to pay
• 2 places still unconfirmed – I’ve been unable to contact 2 previous sponsors but I have an additional 2 sponsors lined up to replace them if required

 

Plaques – 16 plaques are all confirmed as being the same as last year and required no changes. The two remaining plaques are waiting on confirmation but will be confirmed by the end of the week. I spoke to Graham Russell who is digging out the two plaques ready for potential amendments, which will only take a couple of days to turn around.

 

Christmas Light Switching on Ceremony

Bridge of Allan Primary School have confirmed that that children will be singing carols at the event, starting at 3.30pm, with the children then assisting in the switching on of the lights at 4pm. Fairview came back to say that they would not be able to participate this year, but would like to get involved much earlier next year to get fully prepared for the next event.

 

It’s a low-key event this year, but next year we have an opportunity to make it a larger event, with participation from Fairview, Bridge of Allan Primary School, the merchants potentially having stalls and other possible entertainment like previous years. Planning for this will start early next year.

 

 

A post has been published on our website regarding the switching on event this year and a Facebook post will be sent out later this evening or tomorrow evening.

 

Further Sponsorship / funding for repairs and eventual replacement

We have prepared a new Crowdfunder page to assist with the collection of additional funds this year, to enable us to build contingency funds for possible future repairs and the eventual replacement of the lights in a few years’ time.

Which could cost in the region of £20,000.

We thought the best time to do this would be at Christmas time when the lights are visible, demonstrating their importance to the village.

 

We wanted to seek the approval of the council to continue with this fundraising via Crowdfunder.

If approved, communications have also been prepared for the website and Facebook so we can start raising additional funds as soon as possible. I’ve been out speaking with some of the local businesses and families in Bridge of Allan already and many of them are keen to help us with the fundraising.

 

I will be setting up a stall at the switching on ceremony on 3rd December so locals can purchase the Christmas Lights Sponsorship badges. I can also promote the Crowdfunding page on the day. The Crowdfunding page has a QR code that I can present to people and it’ll open up our crowdfunding page on their mobile phone – which would be better than taking cash on the day for the badges. Additional badges have also been ordered, with a different colour background. This year the badges will be blue, we can do the same next year and order another different colour.

 

Councillor Dodds remarked that not everyone uses the internet and some other publicity might be useful, such as posters in shops, library.

 

MW asked a question of DBOA regarding the Christmas event that has been held in past years. Douglas Ross (Vice- Chair DBOA) responded that it was too late to organize this year – possibly next year.

 

B 2152 Post Office (MW/AH)

 

The Post Office (within McColls store) is to close in January 2023. The parent company (Morrisons) is closing many unprofitable stores. Councillor Dodds and AH have been in contact with the Post Office. The Post Office will be undertaking a review of services in BOA. There was comment on the need to maintain Main Post Office services (service not available in the kiosk style Post Office at the Causwayhead Co-Op. An example was that Gas cards can only be topped up at a Main Post Office.

AH urged the community to complete Alyn Smith's (MP) Survey ( linked at https://https://alynsmith.scot/bofapost/ ). Inga Bullen mentioned that community banks had been organized in other places following Post Office closes.

 

ACTION: Councillor Dodds to find out about community banks. B 2153 CAP Review (HJ)

HJ introduced the background to her activity, along with RW, with the CAP Review.

She spoke to her proposed process for updating the CAP, which had been circulated prior to the meeting. She outlined a five-stage process:

1. Review – the commitments in the current Community Action Plan which covered the period 2011-2016 from which the overarching themes remain relevant
2. Refresh – contact between the BofA CC with all other organisations and groups that have helped with, or may wish to help in future, with the delivery of actions under the themes
3. Report – on what has been delivered since the 2011 CAP was launched, including actions taken since 2016 to the current time

 

4. Revise – the themes to ensure that they incorporate and reflect the needs and expectations of the community in 2023 (the process and resources for this are not yet clear but will be developed following the ‘Refresh’ and ‘Report’ stages)
5. Relaunch – an updated Community Action for the next [5/8/10] years, IF there is demand for that in light of the fact that local authorities now have to take account of Local Place Plans, and the mechanisms and timetable for producing a Local Place Plan for Bridge of Allan are currently unclear but being explored with Stirling Council

 

She proposed a project plan and timetable for fulfilling the above proposed 5 step process.

 

      Review: Additional CC members become part of the CAP Review Team (current members and HJ and RW) by the end of December 2022

       Review: Engage with HJ to provide updates on progress against delivery of the original CAP (a shared document is in the BofA CC Gmail Drive) by annotating the tracker document or by arranging to speak to HJ by the end of January 2023

       Refresh: Engage with RW to suggest the names of key contacts in other organisations in December 2022 to enable step 2, ‘Refresh’ to be completed by February 2023

       Report: If all goes well, a draft report on progress delivered to date will be available by end March 2023 (HJ has offered to draft this, but would welcome input from any other volunteers)

       Approve the above staged process for assessing where we are, before determining how and when we wish to move on to the subsequent stages of Revise and Relaunch

 

Members of the CC were invited to respond to the proposal.

 

MW thanked HJ for a comprehensive proposal. Both RK and MW volunteered to join the review team. AT suggested a yearly review would be necessary.

Councillor Dodds suggested a resident who is not a CC member be involved.

Inga Bullen reported on the Kinlochard Community Plan which was the outcome of a resident-led consultation initiated by Strathard Community Council. The whole community were invited to comment on the good and bad about life in Kinlochard. Outcomes included mapping out zones for development and others for conservation.

MW reported that in 2011 the CC had consulted a percentage of the local population for input to the 2011-2016 CAP. There was some discussion of a LPP and the relationship to the CAP.

There was some uncertainty regarding LPPs. Inga Bullen mentioned that the Scottish Goverment had only recently

(Nov 8th) published it's revised National Planning Framework (NPF4). Councillor Dodds reported that SC will be inducting CC regarding LPPs.

LH understood that the LPP is separate from the CAP – they serve different purposes and are equally important. HJ noted the names of the volunteers.

B 2154 LPP/CGF Application (MW)

 

Janie Meikel Bland (Secretary of DBOA) gave a summary of the DBOA, explaining how initially the focus was on tourism, but is now refocusing as a Community Development Trust.

The DBOA has submitted an application to the CGF in relation to their proposed development of a Community Place Plan.

A robust and constructive discussion ensued regarding the relationship of the DBOA Place Plan, a LPP (Local Place Plan - a formal planning document), the Community Action Plan and how these feed into the SC Local Development Plan.

LH commented that there are two organisations promoting BOA who need to work as one.

SC will soon provide guidance re submitting a LPP (https://www.stirling.gov.uk/planning-and- building/planning/development-planning/local-place-plans/).

 

Either a Community Council or a qualifying Community-Controlled body may submit the LPP. Councillor Dodds pointed out that the CGF was not for funding council services. The CC was in favour of further consideration of the issues around a LPP. The question was raised whether the DBOA would resubmit their application in light of the comments regarding LPPs and the confusion around the term Place Plan.

 

ACTION: DBOA to consult with their community membership regarding resubmitting their CGF application. ACTION: CC to hold a development meeting.

ACTION: AH and AD to progress understanding LPPs. B 2155 Recruitment (AD)

AD reported previous months action outstanding. CC after a vote, approved HJ moving to full membership. LH reported no reply to three letters to the absent member.

 

ACTION: AD to notify SC that EF is now a full Member and SH an Associate. ACTION: LH to notify the absent member of the revokation of his membership.

 

B 2156 Tennis Courts (MW)

Councill Dodds reported contractual negotiations continue; no contractor appointed yet.

 

B 2157 Mountain Bike Trail (AD)

AD had messages Greenspace rangers and will attend site meeting with them and Developing Mountain Biking Scotland.

 

B 1258 Guala UCP Site (MW)

A meeting re the site development to be arranged.

 

B 2159 Planning Report (AH)

Eagleton (103 Henderson Rd) – revised drawings show East side to be too dominant , and a change from cladding to white render.

8 Charlton Rd – revised drawings show a complete overdevelopment of the site. Lecropt Hill – unsatisfactory.

ACTION: AH to comment on the above noted as unsatisfactory.

 

AD has a drafted a Planning Information web page. Councillor Dodds emphasized objections should be 'material considerations'.

 

ACTION: AH to draft up technical content to add to the Planning Information page.

 

AH reported that the Blairforkie application has moved to appeal.

 

B 2160 Chair’s Report (MW)

MW reported that Fairview is selling the Royal Hotel.

 

B 2161 Secretary’s Report (LH) Communications from Councillors Councillor Dodds forwarded the following:

• details of the December 1^st Dunblane Christmas Extravaganza;
• details of the new phase of SC’s ‘’Residents’ Survey 2022’’ project;
• confirmation that the War Memorial had been cleaned; and
• responses from Post Office and from Morrisons to the concerns conveyed by our two local elected members and our MSP about the intended closure of the Bridge of Allan post office;

The councillor has also informed us that the Community Parking Management Plan programme has been suspended until appropriate financial and staffing resources are available.

He has also raised with SC:

 

• the need to sweep the pavements and cycle lanes along Airthey Road, particularly where there are overhanging trees and vegetation; and
• the issue of inappropriate parking at Haws Park Councillor Tollemache forwarded the following:
• details of the closure of and suspension of parking on Ferniebank Brae for three days from November 21^st to November 23^rd to facilitate carriageway resurfacing works;
• a response from SC in relation to the UCP Guala site confirming that SC planners are currently considering the implications for the Local Development Plan, are consulting with SEPA on flooding implications and are happy, in terms of local community engagement, to bring all relevant parties together

The councillor informed the CC that he, Councillor Dodds and MSP Alexander Stewart are taking up the issue of the intended closure of the Post Office.

Councillor Tollemache has raised the following with SC:

• the condition of the road surface on Hillview Drive ;
• a blocked gully on the cycle track opposite Graham’s Dairy;
• the defective lights outside the Allan Centre; and
• road signs requiring reinstating:

 

Communications from Stirling Council

The CC has received the following:

• details of the start of the ‘Analysis’ phase of the council’s ‘Organisation of Classes Survey’;
• details of new phases in the ‘ New Housing Allocations Policy’ and of the ‘Lower Bridge Street’

 

Communications from Residents

A resident who, last year, organized carol singing in the Provost’s Park wrote again to ask if there would be any impediment to having a similar event this December and the CC confirmed that the resident should once again obtain the approval of SC.

General Communications

The CC has received the following communications:

• the October ‘Scottish Rural Action’ newsletter;
• the minutes of the October meeting of the Friends of Bridge of Allan
• The November Scottish Community Councils Newsletter

 

B 2162 Treasurer’s Report (AT)

Little change; £1600 Christmas Lights sponsor money received.

 

B 2163 Residents’ Voice

Nothing raised.

 

 

B 2164 AOCB

A resident had noted that the benches and plaque at the Millenium Gardens needed repair. Councillor Tollemache is handling, and Friends will attend to the plants.

 

B 2165 Date of Next Meeting

 

The meeting closed at 21:30

 

The date of the next meeting is Tuesday 17^th January.

 

Action Log Summary:

 

 

1. (from B2152) Councillor Dodds to find out about community

2.      (from B2154) DBOA to consult with their community membership regarding resubmitting their CGF application.

3. (from B2154) CC to hold a development
4. (from B2154) AH and AD to progress understanding LPPs.
5. (from B2155) AD to notify SC that EF is now a full Member and SH an
6. (from B2155) LH to notify the absent member of the revokation of his
7. (from B2159) AH to object on the Eagleton, Charlton Rd, Lecropt planning applications .
8. (from B2159) AH to draft up technical content to add to the Planning Information

 

 

Appendix 1 - Treasurer's Report Nov 2022

 

Bridge of Allan Community Council

Treasurer's report November 2022