Cowie Community Council Meeting
Minutes of the Meeting
29 January 2025
Cowie Community Centre
7:15pm
Present:
Clare Stevenson
Maria Cooper
Jane Hamill
Amanda Jaffray
Sara Ann Forshaw
Steven Maye
Apologies:
Mags Hughes
Daniel Holgate
In attendance:
Councillor Brian Hambly
Councillor Bob Buchanan
Sharon McGrouther- Stirling Council
Meeting opened and attendees were welcomed by the Chair. Minutes from the last
meeting were handed out and read over by attendees.
Adoption of previous meeting minute:
Proposed – Clare Stevenson
Seconded – Maria Cooper
Reports:
Police Report:
No Police were present at the meeting and no police report was provided. Police had
previously advised they would be in attendance and given date and time of this meeting
but did not show up this evening.
Councillors Report:
- Councillor Hambly introduced newly elected Councillor Bob Buchanan.
- The usual pre-christmas council meeting that had been changed this year to give
time to remember the Late Councillor Brisley. In the meeting he did raise the
issue of Pedestrian crossings to meet the needs of those accessing schools in
the ward.
- The by-elections that have taken place either side of the festive break have
disrupted both council business at Old Viewforth and Councillor work in the wards
involved- One being Ward 7 Bannockburn and the Eastern Villages.
- Forthside Development project is progressing at pace, the main impact it will
have on Cowie and the Ward as a whole is the potential for employment,
apprenticeships and training in dedicated skilled areas but initially it will be the
connectivity via the expanding Active Travel Routes. The route through Fallin will
be completed within the current financial year joining Tibbies Brae to the
Forthside Development and through to the University and Bridge of Allan.
- Pedestrian crossing at Cowiehall Road. One of the 3 Councillor Hambly has been
pursuing within the ward to aid safe passage for those attending our primary
schools- Cowies 2 Primary schools, Plean and Bannockburn. Cowie crossing
should have been completed by 6th Dec but wasnt started until 12th Dec. The
promises on start dates and timings are fiasco.
- Storm Eowyn caused a loss of power to the village but fortunately it was for a
short period of time in comparison to some other areas, the library roof was
unfortunately damaged as well. Council teams/staff and local residents made a
great effort to try and help with the tree clearance and road tidying.
Chair Report:
- There has been some feedback regarding the new pedestrian crossing at
Cowiehall road, mainly to do with the placement of the crossing. Before the
Cowiehall Road crossing was started there was a consultation with safer routes
to School sent out in June just before school summer holidays commenced so
schools may not have had a chance to look through this thoroughly. St.Margarets
Primary School are sending out their own member of staff to assist with children
crossing and are doing this on their own. Could the Council provide a statement
to confirm to the community why the placement of the crossing is the right place
for this to have been put? Could Councillor Hambly possibly provide a paragraph
or statement just to clarify this so we can communicate this to residents.
- Steven Bly from Stirling Council had advised that the reason our Planning Officer
Jane Hamill had not been receiving any planning emails was because of the
GDPR laws and that the email Jane provided was a personal email and not a
Community Council one, if this was the case Cowie Community Council were not
previously advised of this to be able to provide a different email that wasnt
Janes personal email and no planning emails have been sent to the current
Community Council email address either. Jane needs to get access to the
mailbox or alternatively we need to set up a new email address for Community
Council so all emails can be accessed and anything actioned if needed.
- An audit needs to be done on any outstanding issues highlighted in our previous
action plans as once it is sent to enquiries it is passed on to whatever department
is incharge of dealing with it and then closed of as complete but there is then
nothing more done and not all issues are then resolved.
- The glass bins outside the community centre are now full and may create a
danger council need contacted to get these collected ASAP.
- As Cowie Primary roof was highlighted in our last meeting as being a major
health and safety concern Jane Hamill will try contact the drone guy to see if he
can do a video of it so we can post this to try raise awareness.
Treasurer Report:
Opening Balance- £345.57
Minute Taking- £90.00
Closing Balance- £255.57
Any other Business/ Matters arising:
- Scotlands Debate night is being held in the Stirling Tollbooth on 5th Feb and
anyone looking to attend can apply and go along and may have the opportunity to
put forward a question.
- Sharon McGrouther discussed that herself and Chris will be holding a meeting to
support Clacks and Stirling HSPC with their Green Spaces Project opportunity
and are considering the Eastern Villages. They would like to invite people along
to find out more for this great opportunity. The initial meeting is to share
information and chat about this and will be held on 12th Feb in 5pm-7pm in the
Cowie Hub. Senior Health Improvement Officer for Stirling Urban Areas Elaine
Cochrane will be in attendance.
- Sharon McGrouther advised deadline for Community grants is 4th Feb
- The Big Convo is taking place 2nd Feb
- Equality survey is out now and officers can come out to explain this in more detail
and what it covers. Clare advised CRAG will look at inviting them to the open day
they are holding 15th Feb in the Community Centre.
- Clare asked to Community Council if we would all be in agreement to apply to get
2 new notice boards for the village as the one in the square is damaged and cant
be fixed and also for to tidy up the square. All present were in agreement with
this.
- A few businesses in village have asked if we will be doing the hanging baskets
again this year. Could we do this and ask businesses to sponsor them to help
cover costs and for them to help with the watering and maintenance of these?
- The old items and photos from the Welfare are to be displayed in the Library so
that the community can go along and view it.
Local Place Plans:
Councillor Hambly spoke about this development plan again this evening after it was
previously explained to the Community Council what the Local Place Plans can include
and what it benefit the community, He asked if there had been any thought into what
Cowie could include in their plan that could then be put forward to the Council and tried
to encourage the Community Council to put a plan across for this. Things we have
considered to put into the plan include the spider park, the old garages within the village
and the conversion of the Roxborough pitch into an astro pitch. There is still time to
submit this and the deadline is the start of October this year.
Date, time and venue of next meeting:
Wednesday 26 March 2025 at 7.15pm in Cowie Community Centre