MINUTES

Virtual meeting Monday 10th May 2021

Final

Members Present: - Grace Edmonds; Julie Hutchison; Kate Ramsden; Evelyn Mac-
dougall; Andy Thompson; John Gray; Eleanor Balfour; Craig Melville

Apologies: Philip Graves

In attendance: Cllr Rob Davies; M Vass, SCDT; David and Stuart Fraser; Robert
Hay + 4 residents

(SC = Stirling Council. CC = Community Council. CDT= Community Development
Trust * Denotes an action)

1. Welcome from the Chair and declarations of Interest

    

   JH welcomed everybody to the meeting. She acknowledged our huge debt of grati-
   tude to Pam Campbell for all her help.

   The CC was sad to learn of the death of Murray O’Donnell. He will be missed in the
   village.

   There were no declarations of interest.

    

2. Minutes of April meeting and matters arising

    

   EM noted that she had made a mistake when reporting the account balances last
   month. The Instant Saver account had £1343.01, not £1342 as reported.

   With this amendment the minutes were accepted, proposed by EM seconded by JG
   Matters arising: JH contacted Steven Robinson about the damage to grass verges on
   the A81. She was impressed with his prompt reply. He will address the issue when
   he has the resources.

   Loch Lomond Fisheries Trust suggested May 15th as a date for clearing the
   riverbank, but JH thought it would be better to leave it until later in the month to give
   us time to ask for volunteers. This was agreed

   A resident had emailed the CC regarding the rubbish left at Loch Ardinning. JH had
   contacted the litter-picking group who tidied the site.

   PG has contacted Scottish Water but he was unable to attend the meeting to report
   on the outcome.

   JH asked Councillor Davies for his help in persuading Lynne McKinley and Caroline
   Fraser to respond to emails regarding the participation request and hedge cutting. JH
   has tried repeatedly to contact Lynne, who never replies. Caroline told us in Septem-
   ber that it would only take a couple of weeks to get the hedge cut, but we have heard
   nothing about this. MV suggested emailing Crawford Bell. RD will chase this up.

   KR will join the South West Forum. JH suggested asking to add roads to the agenda.
   A resident had asked SC about reinstating the village officer. JH contacted Colin
   McKay at Land Services. He replied very promptly and explained the reasons why
   SC cannot reinstate the officer. JH will circulate his reply to the CC members.

    

3. Police Report

    

   PC Steven Graham sent the police report for April.
   Anti-social behaviour

   Youths were again moved from Mugdock quarry. One male had got into difficulties in
   the water but had been rescued by another male.

   A male was assaulted near Abie’s Loch. One male was charged with assault.

   A dispute between neighbours in Milndavie crescent resulted in one being issued
   with a recorded Police warning for minor assault.

    

   A dog attacked another dog at Loch Ardinning and a male was bitten. Both parties
   had left when Police arrived. Enquiries are ongoing.

   There were a few mountain rescues at the Devil’s Pulpit. No serious injuries were
   sustained.

   A drugs warrant was executed at an address in Blanefield and a small amount of co-
   caine and cannabis was recovered.

   Road Traffic

   A minor RTC occurred on the A809. One vehicle was involved which ended up in a
   field. There were no injuries/

   Parking on the A81 at the distillery has been monitored again and this will continue.

    

4. Carbeth Inn update – Stuart and David Fraser and Robert Hay

    

   Stuart updated the meeting on what has been happening with the Inn. The drive –
   through has been very busy although things have calmed down recently. This has
   highlighted some potential issues for the future. Stuart thanked residents for their
   help, especially Jo Waterfield who has helped with managing litter issues. They are
   happy to supply litter pickers and bags to anybody who wants to help with litter col-
   lecting and will also dispose of the full bags. Car parking and road access to the
   Stockiemuir Road has been a big problem. The 40mph limit has been extended to
   cover the car park entrance and Stuart suggested that more speed checking in the
   area would be useful.

   The drive-through currently has temporary planning permission until 2023 but they
   are now trying to accelerate permission for the permanent structure. The plans have
   been altered slightly to allow a better flow of traffic. They hope these plans will be
   approved soon as the walks around Carbeth have become more popular recently
   and they hope to pre-empt traffic problems this will cause.

   The original plan to renovate the Inn and then build a coffee shop were changed
   when the Inn proved to be in much poorer condition than anticipated. As a result of
   the work now needed it was decided to build the coffee shop first as a revenue
   source. It opened in October 2020. A further planning application for the Inn will be
   submitted in due course and Stuart will keep the CC informed about their plans.

   The new plans for a permanent drive –through will provide a better lay out for traffic.
   A new entrance will lead to another car park at the rear of the site to allow walkers to
   park without affecting drive-through traffic. The Roads department has been very
   helpful and supportive of the plans. EM queried the fact that the new car park will be
   very close to a house, but Stuart has been in contact with the owners who are sup-
   portive of the plans. JG asked if they are using the cottage car park and if the new
   car park is part of the existing planning permission. Stuart said that the new park
   does not yet have planning permission but this will be submitted soon. They will use
   the cottage car park if necessary in the meantime. JG asked if the hutters use the car
   park and Stuart said they do not. AT said that the plans look good and a lot of
   thought has been put in to problem solving. He asked what solution there could be
   temporarily until the new car park is available and suggested asking walkers not to
   use the existing car park at present. Stuart said that they have signs ready to ask
   people not to queue on the road when the car park is full and they are unable to turn
   right into it and they have high viz vests for staff to use if they need to ask traffic to
   move. As a last resort they might have to keep the car park for customers only, but
   would prefer not to do this. They hope their drive–through plans will be approved
   quickly so that parking issues on the road can be avoided. Stuart asked for any sug-
   gestions we might have to avoid a situation like the Devil’s Pulpit. He asked for sup-
   port from the CC for their application for the coffee shop as a non-material change.
   The new car park will need a full application. AT said that we should send a note of
   support to SC when the application goes in. JG will send a letter of support to Robert
   to accompany the application. RD will contact Roads to emphasise the urgency of
   the traffic problems.

   JH thanked Stuart, David and Robert for the update on their plans.

    

5. Elected Member’s Report – Councillor Rob Davies

    

   Following the election last week we have a new councillor, Jane Hutchison from Kip-
   pen.

   The Council meeting a couple of weeks ago discussed what constitutes an open bot-
   tle of alcohol as part of changing a by-law due to issues at Loch Venachar. There
   was also a discussion about upgrading the council IT system, which was approved.
   Two roads projects affect our area – carriageway improvement on the A81 from
   Milndavie road to the council boundary and also on the A809 from Queen’s View to
   Auchengillan.

   RD noted that the council has allocated £6million to the Covid 19 recovery plan and

   £4million to road improvements. He said that a huge amount of work needs to be
   done on roads in the council area.

   RD and AB will integrate Jane Hutchison into their programme and she will attend a
   meeting in due course.

   JH thanked RD for his report.

    

6. Planning and Licensing

    

   We have received an application for an off-sales licence for the Kirkhouse Inn. JH
   pointed out that we already have two off-sales licences in the village and has con-
   cerns that this might take business away from the Co-op and Vishnu. JG is con-
   cerned about whether the alcohol will be sold from the Wee Kirk, adding to the issues
   already there. EB said that she had heard about a proposal for a microbrewery for
   the Kirkhouse, but we have had no notification of this. A resident said that it is hard to
   agree to the application until current issues have been solved. JG said that we have
   had no updates on the plans for the Kirkhouse and JH asked if there is any way to
   find out more details about the off sales. JG said that he will try to find out what the
   criteria are, but he is not inclined to oppose it. A resident suggested that the manag-
   ers of the Inn could ask that alcohol is not consumed in the car park.

   19/00262/FUL Extension to existing nursery and new staff entrance – amendment to
   planning permission. These minor changes seem to be internal and we will not op-
   pose this.

   21/000309/FUL Amendment to siting and design of dwelling house (West Plot) ap-
   proved under planning approval 12/00505/MSC. Land adjacent to West of An Larach
   Milndavie Road.

   21/00274/FUL Variation to design of dwelling house (East Plot) approved under
   planning permission 12/00505/MSC Land adjacent to West of An Larach, Milndavie
   road.

   These two applications are adjacent to each other. Neighbours have major concerns
   about the flooding risk from this site which is a former mill lade. The CC agreed that
   planning permission should not be granted until the new flood risk is considered. This
   site has flooded several times recently as the volume of water was too much for the
   culverts. If the culverts are enlarged to accommodate the buildings the water will be
   moved down to the village. JG pointed out that we already have concerns about
   flooding in the village. It was agreed that JG would notify the council that we are very
   concerned about the increase in flooding downstream if these sites are developed.

   21/00329/FUL Demolition of dwelling house and erection of new single story dwelling
   house, The Retreat, Blanefield. We opposed the previous application due to land-
   scape impact. This proposal is lower and less intrusive. JG proposed that we support
   this application on condition that the siting, low profile and unobtrusive materials are
   strictly enforced.

   21/00238/FUL Erection of new dwelling house; land adjacent to Troughstone Cottage
   Strathblane. This seems a minor change to existing permission.

    

   The CC received an email from the owners of Cuilt Farm regarding anti-social behav-
   iour at Ardoch House. JG will write to SC about the ongoing issues there.

   EB and CM offered to look into the licensing application from the Kirkhouse

    

7. Finance

    

   Current Account - £2557.49
   Instant Saver Account - £1343.02

    

   EM has paid ICO for the data protection licence. JG noted that the annual web site
   fee is also due.

   EM will submit the accounts to Kate Baxter by the end of the month.

   .

8. Local Issues - Margaret Vass

    

   Thomas Graham Library Ltd and the SCDT have been in negotiations with SC over
   the running costs for the new library. The current cost for the porta-cabin is about

   £5000 per annum. It is estimated that around £10,000 will be needed for the new
   building. MV would like to brief the CC at a later date regarding a campaign to per-
   suade SC to increase the revenue budget to allow the library to go ahead. JH agreed
   to this briefing on behalf of the CC.

   MV highlighted an issue with the pavilion in the park, which was donated to
   Blanefield Thistle about 60 years ago. The land is leased from SC at a charge of £1.
   The lease is up shortly and the football club has been told that the cost of the lease
   will rise to £150. The club cannot afford to pay this. SC has told them that they can
   either demolish the building and reinstate the land or hand it back to SC who might
   subsequently decide that the building should be demolished and require the club to
   pay. RD will look into this and MV suggested that the CC should write to the council.
   GE will write to Chris Kane on behalf of the CC. AT said that Thomas Graham Library
   Ltd is concerned that the same rise could be applied to the new library in the future.

   A resident said that his business would be happy to support the provision of sports
   facilities in the village if SC will not move on the rent.

    

9. Correspondence

    

   GE received a letter from Stirling Voluntary Enterprise Ltd. This had been circulated
   to all CC members.

    

10. AOCB

     

    JH suggested that we should include an appreciation of Murray O’Donnell in the next
    issue of the BVB. This was agreed. EB agreed to ask Ann Balfour if she would write
    this. EM will write an article about avoiding scams.

     

11. Date of next meeting June 7th 2021, 7.30 on Zoom.

Copy date for BVB 21st May 2021

Contact us at contact@strathblanecc.org.uk Also on our website
www.strathblanecc.org.uk. Telephone numbers for Community Councillors are
on the notice boards, in the library and in the Blane Valley Bulletin