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Vice chair report
JW thanked all CC, both past and present, who had given of their time and effort to the local community, with no financial reward, since the last election in December 2018.
Secretary report
OW submitted written recommendations on the work the secretary was expected to do. She had outlined details of how she saw the role of secretary, but stated that over the previous few months, the role had been ‘equivalent to
a full-time job’. She said that the role should be divided into more manageable parts and there should be someone specifically dealing with IT, to include running the meetings and dealing with the Facebook page and CCC website.
Treasurer report
Written report submitted
MM gave an overview of the work she had been involved in. She advised that she had dealt with several financial transactions including the payment to CYP for the meeting, payment to the minute taker for the minutes of the February
meeting and payment of Zoom subscription. She advised that the current balance of the admin. account was £5,818.00.
MM gave an update on grants that have been successfully awarded on the B of D account. The first was awarded to CYP to help with emergency repairs to the roof, which had been discovered during work on the accessible toilets.
There was an application from the Callander and District Horticultural Society who had applied for a grant to run a range of events to mark its 150 year anniversary. This application was successful and the grant was awarded. The
current balance in the B of D account was £78, 894.75.
MM discussed a grant that had been made available during Covid for people who were experiencing hardship. The fund had just over £1,000 left in it . MM proposed that the surplus funds should be transferred to Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB) Fund that was being used to support people experiencing hardship. MM had spoken to SC to confirm that this remaining money could be donated to the CCDT ring-fenced CAB fund. All CC s agreed to the transfer of the funds.
MM raised the possibility of the CC purchasing a computer that could be used by the CC to run the meetings and store files, so that information could be transferred from one secretary to another. This had previously been discussed and a suitable laptop was identified but was never voted on. There was a
discussion about the need for a hard drive as well as a laptop. It was agreed this would be taken forward.
There were 2 applications for microgrants from B of D for consideration.
Callander Mental Health Matters asked for £250 to cover the cost of a banner.
The application was approved by the CC. The second application was from an individual who is keen to set up a recovery café in Callander, for people needing support during recovery from alcohol / drug problems. The application
was for £250 to cover the cost of rent for a room in Callander Kirk Hall, where the café would run every fortnight as a drop in session, initially for 6 months.
This application was approved by the CC.
MM advised that new logs had been delivered to Camp Place play park. The play park held an Open Day last year and the community had hoped that a similar event could be organised this year. MM advised that there was £245 left from the money that had been returned last year and proposed that it was used to fund another Open Day. She advised that CCC needed to start planning soon for the Open Day in June, which would be covered by this year’s insurance. The current CC will not be in place when the event takes place, but the current CC agreed to support planning the event.
Planning report
Written report submitted.
There had been 6 new planning application. These were:
1. East Lodge, Invertrossachs Road that required a ‘certificate of lawfulness’. An existing cabin was now being used as holiday accommodation. The applicants were hoping to confirm that this had legal status in terms of planning. Application had been acceptable, the applicants has not applied for any change of use - nothing to object to.
2. There had been 2 applications made for Lower Church Street. One was a listed building consent, with some internal alternations, the other application was for change of elevation, taking out old UPVC doors and putting in new timber doors - no comment.
3. Leny Woods car park - there had been an application from the CCDT to extend the existing car park and footpath. This had been expected and there had been a consultation on it.
4. Forest and Land Scotland application to create road access for forestry articulated vehicles at Leny Falls car park.
5. East Gartchonzie - request for ground floor rear extension, with accessible bedroom and en-suite. Only reservation was that the steps to the front door were not fully accessible, so this would be put to the planner again.
There was a discussion on the expansion of the car park at Leny Falls including:
Would this address the dangers caused by people crossing the road near the car park ?
Did CCDT buy the car park from the landowner? DM agreed to seek clarification on both issues.
Finally, DM stated that, subject to any changes with the CC, he would hand over files and explain the methodology that had been used, if any new person took over the planning role, once the election has taken place.
Roads report
Written report submitted.
There was a question about repairs to the Leisure Centre car park surface. DS confirmed there has been no update since the last meeting, but he would pursue this.
Metal pavement covers had been removed to upgrade Wi-Fi to the library. DS was pursuing the linking of the footpath from Callander to Doune - this has been passed to the MSP and DS is waiting on a response.
On the refurbishment of the pavements and road by BEAR - DS is currently waiting for a meeting with BEAR which will be after the budget. He highlighted issues with the pavements and roads owned by SC, on the periphery of Main Street and is awaiting a date for a meeting with SC to discuss this further.
Police Scotland
Written report submitted.
The issues highlighted this month appeared to differ from last month’s issues.
This month, issues with traffic, alcohol and drugs were predominant. Last month, the main issues were local burglaries and stealing from shops . OW had contacted Police Scotland to ask why this was the case and had been advised
that the incidents over the Christmas period were carried out by some youths stealing from local businesses and this had now stopped. The burglaries were related to other house breakings that had occurred in Stirling and Doune at the
same time. There had been no further house breakings this month.
Stirling Council
No written report submitted.
ME provided an update from SC. The focus recently had been on the budget.
SC had a £17.5m funding gap in it. One way of covering some of this shortfall was to increase council tax by 7%, which accounted for £3.5m. However there would still be difficult decisions to be made going forward, as there was still a
£14m shortfall.
National Park
No written report submitted.
RJ provided an update on the NP. He advised that the Board has been dealing with several strategic matters. This included producing a partnership plan and rule book that would run from 2024 to 2029. The Board had now approved this
and it would go out to consultation from April onwards. The board had now approved an operational plan for the coming year. The local development plan was underway, and there would be a consultation on this with the community,
arranged through various partners. RJ advised that the budget was now approved. The NP would receive £500,000, which would be allocated to employ permanent seasonal Rangers, who would work for the season and come back year after year. They would focus on visitor management. The planning committee was dealing with several planning applications. Visitor management was working with the community and land owners to look at visitor management and a joint response visitor management response plan was being developed. There would be a consultation on 31st March. Visitor management was discussing, with various groups in the NP, consultation with the community. The NP had been focusing on consultation through social media, but RJ highlighted the importance of public meetings which had been
successful in Callander in the past. There would be a public meeting on 27th April , chaired by RJ, concentrating on infrastructure requirements for visitor management, which would give participants an opportunity to raise any concerns with the NP.
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MM to
transfer
balance to
CAB fund
DM to take
forward the
purchase of a
laptop and
hard drive
DM to seek
clarification
on Leny Falls
car park
DS to follow
up all items
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