LANGBANK COMMUNITY COUNCIL
WEDNESDAY 12TH MAY, 7.30PM, ON ZOOM
MINUTES
Present: Neil Barrington (chair) NB, Carly Deheer CD, Mercedes Harmes MH, Gloria Dunn (treasurer) GD, John O’Brien JO, Maggie Hancock MH, Caroline Bryce CB, Julie Arbon JA, Cllr James MacLaren JM, Julie Gilmour JG, Jacqueline Doherty (secretary) JD.
Apologies: James Hunter
Welcome:
The chair welcomed everyone and opened the meeting at 7.34pm.
Police Report:
1 antisocial behaviour incident reported.
Last meeting minutes:
Proposed John O’Brien, and seconded by Maggie Hancock
Village website.
The required Accessibility Statement has now been completed. Carly Deheer was thanked for completing this. LCC Meeting minutes have been added and a What’s on for CC meeting agenda and plant sale. Clean Up day will also be added.
Facebook page – Carly Deheer and Jacqueline Doherty will review rules and repost. These will then be referred to when posts are being denied. It is hoped that this will safeguard the integrity of the page and minimise workload for administration.
Activity at the A8 Roundabout:
No incidents reported.
Attempts to purchase/rent the land opposite Coast Restaurant for parking :
The chair wrote to Transport Scotland and Gemma Cameron of the Land Commision (Scotland) also contacted them on our behalf. As a result, Transport Scotland have now stated they would not consider renting or selling land as they require this for maintenance access.
the chair has also been in touch with the restaurant owner - Mr A Cawley, who responded to say he fully understands the problem, but raised his view that not all cars are Coast customers, and some were Scotrail customers. As a result the chair offered to write to Scotrail to ask about a “Park and Ride facility at Langbank.
It was also noted that some drivers are using Main Road as a car share car park, although they tend to park closer to Houston Road.
A question raised as to what utilities Transport Scotland require access to at this point. The chair now understands that should TS be required to perform any maintenance to the A8 dual carriageway, then they would use this land as a working base and keep the interruptions to the A8 to a minimum.
Issue of double yellow lines was raised as these have previously been discussed. These could be on the north side of the road and from Houston Road along towards Coast to increase safety there.
Safety concerns around cars speeding out of Coast car park also raised.
Village Defibrillator implementation status:
Caroline Bryce has heard back from Langbank Surgery landlord who have agreed that the second defibrillator can be sited at the doctor’s surgery. The doctor’s surgery will not be responsible for upkeep and weekly checks. Confirmation letter to be sent on headed paper. This was the preferred site for the second defibrillator as it is accessible for those at the east side of the village.
A kind villager has also offered to fit this for free, which will leave additional funds for ongoing maintenance. Caroline was sincerely thanked for her efforts with this project.
The additional funds will be transferred to the LCC bank account and will be ring fenced for defibrillator maintenance/ongoing costs.
Transfer of funds from “Greening Langbank” to the LCC:
The remaining funds from the “Greening Langbank sub committee have now been transferred from this account to the parent LCC account and the Greening Langbank Account has now been closed. The LCC will now be responsible for the disposal of this money for the benefit of the community.
Julie Gilmour has applied to awards for all for a grant towards MUGA, but this will also be paid into the LCC account. All these monies can be recorded separately, although located in one account.
Villagers volunteering to collect litter from neighbouring roads:
Litter is gathering again. There is a lot of litter and fly tipping behind the wall at the boundary of the Coast Restaurant – this could be targeted on clean-up day.
Status on Langbank Tennis Court – ownership:
Awaiting decision by elected members of RC on grant funding. Decision should be made on 18th May. If this grant application is accepted, then the “Awards for All” grant is also likely to be approved. Thanks to Julie and team for their work and effort in this.
Cleaning of flower tubs on Main Road:
To be completed as part of Clean Up day.
Due to timing and the Langbank School playing catch up after prolonged periods of home learning the children will not manage to participate in usual poster competition this year, but the Clean Up day will be promoted in school and through school newsletter.
Cllr’s monthly input. (Cllr J McL)
Roads
Turning Circle on Marypark Rd: - The existing turning circle is not fit for purpose. I had a meeting on site with the resident concerned to understand the situation and am now trying to organise a meeting with Amey and the resident to find a solution.
Station Rd Underground Cable: - I had a meeting with a Roads engineer and the issue of the exposed cable has been passed to our Street Lighting team. When they have done any necessary works Roads will instruct the verge to be reinstated with soil.
Safer Houston Road: - Cars are speeding up and down this road while large lorries/coaches can be trying to reverse back up the road into blind corners, as they cannot get under the bridge. This is a narrow winding road with no pavement nor verges in areas for pedestrians to walk on (forced to walk on road). With the increase in outdoor exercising, it is an accident waiting to happen. I intend to have a site meeting to assess this.
Question asked as to what reasonable measures could be taken. Drain could be covered - however this is expensive. Pavement – would not be regulation width. Speed restrictions or speed bumps might be possible - would cause a potential hazard in winter on a hill.
A8 Road Noise: - Still no outcome of this enquiry to Transport Scotland though they have said that they are still pursuing advice.
Village Litter Pick (2pm, 23rd May @ Station Road Park)
A local resident has requested that the overgrown/wooded area as you walk past "Coast" eastbound behind the stone wall is an eyesore with litter and fly tipping. He hopes to attend the CC litter pick but requests that this be an area worth tackling on the day.
Special Uplifts:
Special uplifts seem to get put on the never, never list and missed bin collections remain missed. A resident of Beechwood Avenue waited more than two months after contacting the council for uplift of their sofa before contacting me to chase up the removal of their sofa, which was done soon after. Correspondence is equally poor. If you are in this situation then please let me know.
At this point it was noted that the single point of contact for CCs with council is not working as efficiently as we would hope.
Station Road Park
I have a meeting arranged with a council officer on site to view the path that is being eroded by the burn and discuss solutions to the problem.
Siting of Defibrillator
Unfortunately, I have been made aware that Renfrewshire Councils Street Lighting is not on a permanent twenty-four-hour electrical supply but is controlled by means of a photocell switching the lights on and off from dusk till dawn and would not be suitable for the defibrillator installation.
Feedback from Meeting
Defibrillator: - a site for the second defibrillator has been found at the surgery (The other defibrillator is at the village hall).
Houston Road: - Suggestions for road improvements are traffic calming, more signage, reduced speed limit, culverting the ditch). These will be put forward at a site meeting.
AOB.
Question raised over election of a new councillor to replace Natalie Don. Normally an elected councillor would stay on to the end of their term but not sure what will happen in this instance.
Jacqueline Doherty has collated all responses to letter re Swingpark and has sent responses accordingly. She will now follow up with an email to RC.
Meeting closed.
NB thanked everyone for their attendance and closed meeting.