Meeting Monday 3rd February 2025 in the Village Club.
Final
Members Present: - Julie Hutchison; Grace Edmonds; John Gray; Pamela
Lee; Kate Ramsden.
In attendance: Margaret Vass SCDT; + 9 residents
Apologies: Ian Boardley; Eleanor Balfour, Rob Davies; Andrew Thompson
(SC = Stirling Council. CC = Community Council. CDT= Community Development
Trust * Denotes an action)
- Welcome from the Chair and declarations of Interest
JH welcomed everybody to the meeting.
There were no declarations of interest.
- Minutes of December meeting and matters arising.
The minutes had been circulated to all CC members and were accepted. Proposed
by KR, Seconded by PL.
Matters arising: JH emailed James Aikman at SC about spending the money
we still have for the playpark. She will meet him on Wednesday to see what
equipment we can afford. JH noted that we received no community funds from
the development at Graham Lambie Brae. A resident suggested that JH asks
James about Scottish Government funding for playparks which was given to
local councils last year. She will do this.
We have not yet had a response from Evelyn Tweed or Rosemary Fraser regarding
the situation with ambulances and hospital visits.
We have received the money from card payments at the Christmas lights
switch on from SCDT and the invoice for the tree has been received and paid.
- Police Report
Hate Crime
Enquiries are ongoing to identify the suspect who sent via post a letter containing
anti-Jewish, pro neo-Nazi and anti-Semitic comments.
Wildlife
Enquiries are ongoing to identify two males whomwere reported to be poaching
within Mugdock Country Park.
Other
A report was received from a member of the public who had been bitten by a
dog while out running. This resulted in the victim requiring medical attention.
The dog owner provided details to the victim and enquiries are ongoing.
Incidents of note
A report was received of a collision near Mugdock Country Park. A car left the
road, landing in a ditch. A male received minor injuries.
2
Several incidence of fly-tipping within Mugdock Country Park have been reported.
Enquiries are ongoing.
A report was received about a bank account being opened in a person’s name
which they had not requested. The person contacted their bank and the account
was closed with no financial loss to the victim. Please ensure that you
keep your personal information safe.
- Local Place Plan update.
We have a meeting of the LPP group this week. We will circulate a special
edition of the BVB to inform residents about the plan. We will hold two information
sessions in the library on February 22nd and March 1st from 10am –
1pm. JH asked everybody present to encourage residents to attend one of the
sessions.
JG and Alistair Gray from SCDT attended a session with SC to learn about
digital mapping. They now need to find their own way of working with what
they learned. No money is available for printing large maps.
JG responded to Gladman who replied that they would like to help us with
LPP. He has not responded to this.
- Elected member’s report
There was no elected member present.
A resident asked how to contact a councillor regarding the need for renewed
white lining on the roads. GE will email Councillor Fraser about this.
A resident mentioned that several trees in the park fell during the recent
storm. SC does not appear to survey this area. GE will contact S Bly about
discrepancies in the map of the park area.
- Planning and Licensing.
JG emailed all CC members prior to the meeting regarding two applications at
Auchineden.
24/00760/FUL Sub-division of existing dwelling house and recording studio
into 4no dwelling houses with external alterations, Auchineden North Lodge,
Blanefield G63 9AX
24/00759/FUL Change of use of existing garage into commercial recording
studiowith extension and alteration to the existing building, Land and building
at Aucheneden North Lodge, Blanefield
JG thought that we would not comment on this. A resident pointed out that
this might create a new cluster. It was agreed that JG will ask that the buildings
will not give rise to new building in the area via a cluster.
- Finance
There is £4773.80 in the account. The money for the Christmas tree has to be
subtracted from this and there will be costs for the repair of the shed.
3
- Correpondence
Val Brand emailed to report on a meeting he Passenger User Group had with
representatives from the council and the bus company. There was no explanation
given for the poor maintenance of the buses. There were various excuses
for the APP failing to track buses. McGills will look into this issue. Driver
complaints have dropped since the introduction of designated drivers. Bad
behaviour, particularly among youngsters using U22 passes is still a problem
Inspectors were sent out in November to monitor the situation on X10/X10A
services. They have not yet submitted their report.
A resident said that the new estate at Ballagan Woods is zoned for Strathblane
Primary School. GE will email Councillor Fraser and SC about where
pupils will go. JH will contact the Head Teacher about ongoing parking issues.
A studenty contacted us to ask about the possibility of helping with the BVB.
GE replied that our newssheet is not really what he is looking for.
We had an email regatrding Informed Communities, with four dates for meetings.
All of the meetings are in Viewforth which is not inclusive for our area.
GE will email SB at the council about this.
- AOCB
IB asked if we should set up a social network between the villages for incidents
like the recent storm. JH said that Facebook covers resilience these
days and it was agreed that we would leave things as they are. KR said that
the residents communicated well during the storm, offering help to others. MV
said that in retrospect they should have opened the library for people with no
power.
GE and JH met with the resilience team from SC regarding access to phones
during power cuts. SC plan to buy several portable generators which provide
power and can be delivered to anywhere that needs them. JH said that we
should contact them to find out more about this.
MV suggested that we should have a review of issues raised by the storm at
the next meeting.
Edward Pickard told the meeting about what he has been doing at Craigallian
Road. He has been clearing the track and having the entrance onto Craigallian
Road moved, prior to repairs to the dam. This will be a large scale operation
and will allow people to see inside the dam. The work is planned to start
in mid-March. This work is entirely unconnected with the sauna beside the
loch, although Edward supports the wild swimmers and the people who plan
to run the sauna.
Connan and Keiran, who run the sauna company were present to speak
about their plans for Dumbrock Loch. At present they are testing the market
and hope to work in conjunction with wild swimmers who already use the loch.
The sauna holds between 8 and 10 people and they charge £10 and hour.
A resident asked if they have applied for planning permission, but this is not
necessary for a temporary structure. They will submit an application if they
decide to stay. At present customers park at Mugdock Country Park with their
permission. JG asked how long the trial will last and it is scheduled to end in
mid-February.
MV highlighted a free energy event being held by Changeworks in the library
on March 4th from12.30 – 20 pm.
4
JH reminded those present about the second film from the SCDT on February
21st, also in the library.
KR raised the issue of the Post Office hours and suggested that this should
be a watching brief for the next meeting.
- Date of next meeting
March 3rd, 2025
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