LANGBANK COMMUNITY COUNCIL
MEETING MINUTES
WEDNESDAY 13th OCTOBER 2021
7.30pm by the ZOOM medium
In Attendance: Neil Barrington (chair), John O’Brien, Caroline Bryce, Jacqueline Doherty (secretary) and Cllr James MacLaren.
Apologies: Carly Deheer, Maureen McLachlan (secretary to LangbankBowling Club), James Hunter, Julie Arbon, Gloria Dunn (treasurer), Iain McDougall and Julie Gilmour.
Also present: Neil Shaw, Ian Millar and Susan Barrett.
It should be noted that there were several technical issues with tonight’s Zoom meeting and as a result Gloria Dunn and James Hunter were unable to participate and Caroline Bryce was unable to participate in much of the meeting, but was able to provide some input.
The chairman welcomed everyone and opened meeting at 7.31pm.
Due to the low attendance at tonight’s meeting (this is the school October break) the AGM will take place at the beginning of November’s meeting, which will be on the 10th at 7.30pm via zoom.
Police report:
No police report available. The chairman will request this and in addition to this, a zoom invite will be sent prior to the next meeting, although it is unlikely, they will be able to attend a meeting on Zoom.
Minutes of previous meeting:
Request made to clarify last month's minutes to state that the LangbankBowling Club vice president had joined the community Facebook page, rather than stating he had asked to join.
With this amendment John O’Brien proposed said minutes and Jacqueline Doherty seconded them.
Ian Millar asked about raising the issue of street lighting in Mary Park Road and it was agreed this should be covered under AOB later in the meeting.
Village website updates:
The minutes of last month’s minutes have been added and any emails sent to the community address have been forwarded to the relevant persons.
Accident activity at A8 Roundabout:
No accidents at Langbank A8 Roundabout were reported, however a fatality occurred beyond West Ferry roundabout, no details known at this time.
Future “face to face” LCC Meetings held in the Church Hall:
The chairman has spoken to the Langbank Church Officer - David Steel - who has stepped in to cover this role and he stated that he hoped that meetings could commence in the church hall in December. It was decided to hold off having any future face-to-face meetings until January 2022 onwards.
Village Defibrillator:
Second defibrillator unit is ready to be installed at the surgery on Station Road. It was agreed that the wording on the board should read either donated by Langbank Community or Villagers of Langbank which would reflect the fact that this was funded by villagers. Both units should be included in the defibrillator section in The Advertizerpublication.
Grand opening of the new MUGA development:
This will be held on Saturday 23rd October 4pm -6pm. Leaflets to be posted through every door in the village. This will be a simple affair with the opportunity to answer questions and consult with the village about ongoing maintenance/running costs etc.
With regard to installing additional safety measures, Renfrewshire Council have agreed to put a barrier along the pavement at the entrance to the MUGA and will consider appropriate signage to warn drivers of the play area. This will not be in place before the 23rd October.
Clyde Coastal Path:
A meeting was held last month via zoom to decide on a committee. Iain Balfour will be chairperson and Jacqueline Doherty will act as secretary of this group, which will be the “Clyde Coastal Path” (CCP) and “Langbank Community Council” (LCC) Liaison group. There has been a positive initial reaction from elected members, both in Inverclyde and Renfrewshire communities.
Cllr James Maclaren suggested gaining support as an Active Travel Initiative. Participatory budgeting could be used to highlight the desire for a footbridge over the A8. £1.2m of the roads department will be earmarked for part of the ‘You Decide’ campaign.
Defects on Middlepenny Rd:
The chairman received a letter from villager Iain McDougall, re recent roadworks which involved 3-way traffic lights from Dennistoun to Middlepenny Road. This would be to allow new street lighting cabling to be installed. There seemed to be prolonged maintenance with periods of inactivity and faulty traffic lights, and no workers being there for significant periods of time. It was agreed that Renfrewshire Council should be contacted to feedback the views of villagers and find out further information. The chairman will forward information on to Cllr James MacLaren.
Mr McDougall also noted that streetlights on Middlepenny Road are on 24/7. The lights on the A8 are still on 24/7 despite Iain having contacted AMEY and the chairman also having contacted Transport Scotland.
Cllr Maclaren’s monthly input:
Roads
Turning space, Mary Park Road: - Transport Scotland and Amey have concluded that there is no alternative location to the existing turning area.
Old Greenock Road Resurfacing: - major patching is planned for this location over the next few months in advance of surface dressing next year. The road will get any potholes filled in the meantime.
Participatory Budgeting:
The council have allocated £1.2 million of the “annual roads capital budget” over three years (2020-2023) for communities to decide on how it is spent (more info on my Facebook page). This funding could possibly be used to improve i) Repairs to the footpath and its adoption at the west side of Station Road Park. ii) Additional gullies at the bottom of Station Road and on Main Road. iii) A barrier between the A8 and the cycle track leading to Hatton Brae. iv) A pedestrian bridge over the A8. The campaign is now live and will take place online via a Survey123 accessed at www.renfrewshire.gov.uk/YouDecide
The closing date for ideas is 14th November 2021.
Interlinked Smoke Alarms Regulations:
From February 2022 all homes in Scotland must be fitted with interlinking smoke and heat alarms. In addition carbon monoxide alarms are required if there is a carbon-fuelled appliance or flue. All alarms must be powered either from the mains electricity circuit or by a sealed battery lasting the full lifespan of the alarm. Smoke and heat alarms must either be interlinked by cable or by wireless radio-frequencyinterlink. Whilst nobody will be prosecuted, this is a safety measure, and it is hoped most people will see the benefits of it.
Flooding - Footpath cycle path alongside A8:
Our contractor excavated at the point of rising water and located a buried uncharted manhole and associated pipework that was blocked. They cleared the pipework from the buried manhole beside the cycle track and tracked it along the verge to a second manhole. The outlet pipework then crosses under the A8 before out-falling to the Clyde. They located a blockage in the pipe approximately half way beneath the dual carriageway. This has been reported to the Trunk Road Authority for action.
Overgrown hedges, Station Rd:
The Landowners have been contacted and asked to cut the overgrown hedges.
Grass Cutting:
The grass area adjacent to the footpath leading to Middlepenny Place from Main Road seems to have been dropped from the council’s grass cutting rota. I have requested that this get cut before the winter.
Sewage - Leak Gleddoch Hotel:
Council officers visited Gleddoch Gate House on the 23rd of September and spoke with the owner who advised that sewage had been discharging beside their property and that the blockage had been cleared by Gleddoch Hotel’s contractor on Tuesday 21 September 2021. The driveway had been cleaned and sanitised following clearance of the blockage.
Clyde Coastal Path Improvements:
Great to see some discussion on this to extend the Clyde Coastal Path along the banks of the River Clyde from Parklea to Langbank. Currently walkers coming from Greenock get to the Finlaystone Burn and no further. This project could be examined under the auspices of both councils, SPT and Sustrans under active travel initiatives.
Bonnie Bishopton:
A group calling themselves “Bonnie Bishopton” have started work to improve parts of Bishopton. I would be happy to hear from anybody willing to get involved with a similar scheme in Langbank.
Council Tax:
Ward 11 brings in more council tax than any other ward. I will put these figures up on my Facebook page. I am unable to get a breakdown of council expenditure. (copy attached to minutes)
Street Lighting – Marypark Rd:
Lamppost R1: - Scottish Power say they are unable to dig up the road as permissions from the road owner were refused and therefore they are unable to connect a power supply to the column.
Lamppost R2: - Scottish Power believes that the private owner of the road stated that there will be no new column located within the road and no digging of any kind that will disturb the road surface. Council have said that as this is a private road, the matter now lies with the residents and Scottish Power.
Feedback from Meeting:
Roadworks on Middlepenny Rd: - The roadworks, possibly to repair lighting cables, caused several traffic jams. It sounds as if Scottish Power was responsible, but I will enquire.
Street Lighting:
Street lights are on 24/7 on Middlepenny Road and on the A8 dual carriageway. I will report this.
Marypark Road: - The two landowners have not been approached by Scottish Power, but a SP engineer has confirmed that the cable is not in the road but runs through the bushes and trees. If permission was askedthen it would have been given. The location of Lamppost R2 is also known. Lighting is needed for the Right of Way and I will pursue this.
Clyde Coastal Path Improvements: - The next meeting will be on 26thOctober.
Meeting attendance of our local councillors?
James MacLaren attends all meetings and is very proactive, however it has been noted that Cllr Natalie Don and Cllr Colin McCulloch haven’t been able to attend for some time. They previously came to meetings. It was suggested that we write to the councillors and request their attendance and a reminder was given that we do have the power of voting when it comes to the next elections.
AOB:
Renfrewshire’s “you decide” campaign is having an open session in the village hall on Monday 25th October at approximately 2pm (to be confirmed).
Caroline Bryce is also working to bring a collection point for the Renfrewshire Toy Bank to the Village Hall. As the “Out of School Care” has not yet started then there will be space storage and it is hoped many villagers will appreciate the opportunity to have a local collection point. This will be available from 1st November 2021.
Ian Millar of Marypark Road, clarified that he has emailed Renfrewshire Council (RC), as he believes that either someone is misleading Scottish Power (SP) or Scottish Power are being disingenuous, as they have had no contact with either of the two landowners with regard to the aforementioned lamposts. No request has been made to dig up the roads and therefore no consent has been denied to date. Susan Barret had met one of the SP employees, who had stated that he had been able to locate the cable and now they require to dig to find out where the cable fault was. This employee also had a map which located the previous position of post R2. One of the two local landowners -Jim Ure - has said that no permission is required for digging on that part of his land. It would therefore appear that there is no impediment to these lights being repaired (R1) and replaced (R2). This would be beneficial to those using the right of way as well as the residents of Marypark Road.
The footpath from Main Road to the side of the A8 leading to MaryparkRoad has become very overgrown this year and is very dark. This poses a risk to users.
Other matters:
With regards to actions from previous meeting when GordonMacpherson had asked about the Community Amateur Sports Club (CASC) status of the Langbank Bowling Club. Unfortunately, no-one was available at the last meeting to provide this information and apologies have been received for this meeting. The secretary of theLangbank Bowling Club has asked for a closed meeting with three members of the LCC and three members of their committee.
Since the last meeting, two requests have been made for a copy of the Langbank Bowling Club’s governing documents and as of 7pm 13thOctober 2021, we have been unable to secure these.
It was agreed that, as the questions had initially been asked at an open meeting, then it would be appropriate to delay this discussion until the November meeting rather than organising a closed meeting at this point. The chairman noted that the LCC are very supportive of the current land use in this area of land as this fulfils the criteria of being recreational activities.
With regards to disabled access to the Bowling Green and MUGA, the LCC Secretary has met with a representative of Renfrewshire Council to discuss the best point of entry for disabled users and where the most appropriate point of access would be. This would be a costly process and would require considerable grant funding. The first step would be to engage the services of an architect to advise re design of ramp.
During the meeting information was emailed to the LCC, but unfortunately this was not received until after meeting, but as it does answer some of the initial questions this will now be attached below:
In answer to your email, I would comment as follows- 1. CASC is a scheme to reduce tax burden. Allowed LBC to register with HMRC and benefit from a range of tax reliefs 2. “Bowls Scotland” is our national governing body 3. The “LBC Constitution” is our governing document.Hope this resolves any ambiguity
Meeting closed.
The Chairman thanked everyone for their attendance and closed the meeting at 20:48.