MINUTES

Meeting Monday 1st November 2021

Final

Members Present: - Grace Edmonds; Julie Hutchison; Kate Ramsden; Evelyn Mac-
dougall; Philip Graves; John Gray; Andrew Thompson; Pamela Lee; Ellie Balfour
Apologies: Craig Melville; Cllr A Berrill

In attendance: Cllr R Davies; M Vass, SCDT; D Bertram, Flood Group + 3 residents
(SC = Stirling Council. CC = Community Council. CDT= Community Development

1. Welcome from the Chair and declarations of Interest

    

   JH welcomed everybody to the meeting and said that it was good to be able to meet
   in person again after so long. She asked RD when the councillors’ surgeries are
   starting again in person and he said they should start next month.

    

2. Minutes of October meeting and matters arising

    

   The minutes were accepted, proposed by AT seconded by EM

   Matters arising: GE emailed Police Scotland regarding concerns from residents
   about dangerous driving on Old Mugdock Road near the Co-op. PC Graham said
   that he would monitor this.

   Resilience Planning will be discussed during the item on Flooding.

    

3. Police Report

    

   PC Graham sent the report for November..
   Theft

   There was an attempted break in art the St Mocha Coffee Shop but no entry was
   gained.

   Country Cycles in Killearn was broken into and a number of high value bikes were
   stolen.

   An attempted fraud was made via a message pertaining to be from Hermes. The vic-
   tim handed over bank details and an attempt was made to transfer funds from one
   account to another.

   Further advice on fraud and home security can be found in the Police Report on the
   CC website.

    

4. Elected Member’s report – Councillor Rob Davies

    

   The main issue currently is bridges as two have collapsed in our area resulting in
   road closures. A third of the Roads budget has been moved over to repair these. The
   Catterburn Bridge is currently being surveyed. There is a meeting on Wednesday re-
   garding the bridges that the public can dial into and RD thinks the CC should do this.
   RD and a local farmer went to look at the Blane Smiddy bridge and were horrified by
   the condition it is in.

   There is a council meeting on Thursday to discuss Stirling’s bid to be City of Culture.
   There have been complaints about bins not being collected. RD said that residents
   should contact SC directly or through him. He is concerned about the situation if
   people miss a collection and have a month to wait for the next one.

   The December SC meeting will start to address the budget for next year.

   JH asked RD if he would speak to Angela McGibbon regarding the driving and park-
   ing issues at the Co-op and ask if she could visit the site. RD will do this. JH sug-
   gested that bollards along the pavement might be the answer. A resident said the Co-op and Post office vans have to park on the pavement, causing additional prob-
   lems. RD suggested complaining to the Co-op and the Post office about this.

   There is a council meeting coming up to discuss the Deputation Policy.

   JH told RD that she has told the Church that he will be laying the Council wreath in
   Strathblane.

   JH thanked RD for his report and for standing in for Cllr Berrill who is unwell.

    

5. Update on Flooding Issues – Doug Bertram

    

   The Flooding group has been working with SC and other stakeholders to look at
   flooding issues in the valley. A number of sources of flooding have been identified
   and a study is being done to identify areas likely to flood in the future so that we can
   be better prepared to deal with this risk. The challenge is that evidence needs to be
   more strategic than just anecdotal. The group has asked residents to send infor-
   mation about what they can see from their homes during flood events.

   A further challenge is that the effects of storms are different depending on where you
   live. Often the infrastructure cannot cope with the volume of water. This information
   needs to be captured and inserted into the model that the consultants are working
   on. The group asked the CC to request information from residents regarding the re-
   cent floods. Only when there is a clear picture of what is happening can mitigating
   measures be decided.

   DB reported that SC has been very helpful in terms of possible measures to deploy.
   They are using a Smart Village concept, where a network of things will feed infor-
   mation back. SC will provide two rain gauges and two residents have put up their
   own. There will also be a series of pressure sensors and cameras to monitor water
   flow One of the sensors and a camera will be in the culvert on the A81 and another in
   Jenny’s Burn. This is phase one of the project. Once information is collected the
   group can think about mitigating processes.

   AT asked about capacity to cope with the future? DB said that there is little infor-
   mation about past years for our area and the group has to work with that. The group
   needs information about what is happening on the day of an event to pass on to the
   consultants. PG asked if the group has engaged with SEPA etc. regarding river flow
   on the Blane and rainfall records from SEPA recording sites. DB said that there is no
   information about the Blane. SEPA’s rainfall records are not local enough and their
   measurements of the Endrick do not reflect what happens here.

   A resident said that she appreciates the work the group is doing, but raised the issue
   of failure of road drains in some areas. This is particularly an issue for residents of
   Blane Crescent as water flows down into the crescent from the A81. DB said that the
   problem is that the drainage system is very old and poorly maintained. It was de-
   signed for a smaller community and we may have reached saturation point. Both SC
   and Scottish Water need to consider the issue.

   JH asked RD if he could raise the issue with the Roads Department. He will do this.
   A residents asked if there is a process to get flood resources into the village as part
   of the Resilience Plan. KR said that we had a severe weather resilience plan which is
   currently being updated. Once it is complete and lodged with SC we can apply for

   grant funding to provide resources in the village. AT said that we are intending to put
   a piece in the BVB to give residents an emergency contact in the event of severe
   weather. AT asked if we could put an item in the BVB to ask residents to contribute
   information to the Flood Group. The CC agreed that this should be done. KR said
   that SC is already looking at solutions for the problems in Blane Crescent.

   MV suggested that we should keep an eye on the Capital programme for next year to
   ensure that flooding is covered. EM asked if the Flood group needs any equipment,
   but DB said not at present. He thinks it is more important for us to address resilience
   and response.

   JG congratulated the Flood group on their work and JH thanked DB for his interesting
   presentation and his work with the group.

    

6. Planning and Licensing.

21/00762/FUL : Land adjacent to West of An Larach Milndavie road Strathblane. The
CC opposed this due to flood risk and SEPA has sent a letter strongly opposing, cit-
ing the objections of the CC and residents.

21/00644/PPP Glamping pods Edenmill complex: The CC has not yet commented on
this but our intention to comment is on file. JG will progress this.

21/00531/FUL Wee Kirk with no outside cooking. This has been allowed with a time
limit of March 2023 and with several conditions, including provision of bins, cycle
parking, more accessible parking spaces and restrictions on operating and use.

20/00590/FUL: erection of 4 houses at Aros House. The CC opposed this and it is
going to a planning panel next week. JG is contacting Moor Road Residents to con-
firm that they organised to attend and speak.

Gladman Appeal PPA-390-2060-1. The Reporter’s report is being considered. There
is no decision yet.

21/00918/FUL: Erection of house in garden ground of Carbeth Cottage Blanefield:
The planning group will review and provide recommendations.

21/00907/FUL: Erection of dwelling house, an outbuilding garage, driveway, parking-
landscaping and associated works, land South East of the Mill House, Milndavie road
Strathblane: JG recommends to oppose again due to the flood risk downstream. The
CC agreed to oppose this.

The Draft National Planning Framework is due to be laid before Parliament and pub-
lished for public consultation this Autumn. JG said that this concerns policies rather
than the local level.

There is then possibility of help with Place planning from RSHA. They are looking to
work more closely with CCs. MV suggested that we should look at Place Planning in
conjunction with the SCDT. These plans will feed into the Local Development Plan.
Communities will look at housing needs from a community perspective. JG said that
we need to look into this.

1. Finance

    

   Current Account - £2705.71
   Instant Saver - £1343.08

2. Correspondence

The Bank of Scotland are running drop-in sessions at the McLintock hall in Balfron,
every Friday from 10am until 4.0pm, until December 3rd. You can speak to their
Community Banker for support with any personal or business banking questions.

1. AOCB

    

   MV reported that there has been progress on the library. They have agreement on
   principle from SC which is going to committee on November 11th. There is progress
   in value engineering to get the build back to what can be afforded.MV can’t yet say
   when the contract with the builder can be concluded. There is still a chance of a start
   before Christmas. A further donation has been received towards the build. SC is still
   working to find a temporary relocation solution for the library while the build takes
   place.

   JH reminded the meeting that the CC will lay a wreath at the Remembrance Service
   as usual.

    

   MV asked what the CC is doing about road issues in the village, especially a 20mph
   limit. We have always been told that we cannot have this. AT said that he under-
   stands that SC is currently evaluating the effects of then 20mph speed limit in villag-
   es where it has been implemented. Presumably they will use this evaluation to de-
   cide whether to implement it in other villages. JH said that we can contact the Roads
   Department. She also said that we need to contact SC regarding the ongoing Partici-
   pation Request.

    

2. Date of next meeting December 6th 2021
   Copy date for the BVB November 15th 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