Community Council Meeting Minutes - September 2016
LANGBANK VILLAGE COMMUNITY COUNCIL.
MINUTES OF MEETING – 15th Sept 2016
7:30pm – 9.30pm in Langbank Church Hall
LCC Members & Local Cllrs Present:- Neil Barrington (Chairman), Russell Overend (Secretary), Deirdre McLean, Cllr James MacLaren, Cllr Maria Brown, Dav McKenzie, Gloria Dunn, Jacqueline Doherty, Janice Buchanan Joe McGarrigle.
Apologies:-, James Hunter, Eileen Mather, Alex Dunn, Carly Deheer, Kirsteen Breckenridge and Catherine Farrington,
Also in attendance:- Tom Adair, Andy Steven, Margaret Steven, Norah Watson, Kevin McGettigan, David Henry, Graeme Brown, Judy Henderson, Vincent Tait (Scotland Transerv), Paul Smith (Scotland Transerv), Jane Lasley, and Police Scotland - Area commander Ch. Insp. Simon Wright.
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Police Report:
No Crime in the village but active house braking in surrounding villages to steal car keys. Houses with sash window are particularly at risk. Keep car keys out of sight at night.
Cold callers are still a problem in Renfrewshire - if you see something not right then please call 101 number.
Minutes of last meeting:
Accepted
Proposed - Dav McKenzie, Seconded - Russell Overend
GUEST SPEAKER.
Vincent Tait and Paul Smith from Scotland Transerv (took over from Amey) were in attendance and gave an update on the improvements at the A8 roundabout. Their main function is to look at sites where there is an accident history and understanding community requirements.
Langbank shows up as an accident "black spot" - mainly westbound vehicles going too fast on the approach to the roundabout.
Accident history shows two cycle accidents which is also a problem and future steps may be taken to help cycle safety on the dual carriageway and divert cyclists off the A8 onto the path and through the village. The aim is to make the cycle improvements this financial year.
Changes made already
- new high visibility yellow lines
- repositioned the roundabout sign further away from the roundabout
- black visibility barrier was installed to give an enclosed feeling to drivers to reduce speed of approach
- block paving was dirty and repainted
- illuminated warning signs
The work was completed April and May . It is too early to see if the accident trend line has improved.
Questions from Langbank -
- Can we send dash cam footage to Transport Scotland? Please send to Police if it an offence (clear inconsiderate or dangerous driving) or Transport Scotland for future road improvement suggestions.
- Visibility of drivers exiting the village to Eastbound traffic is reduced because of the high shrubs. The shrubs are still to be removed. Once the shrubs are removed there will be better visibility for eastbound drivers of cars exiting the village and so less late braking.
- An alternative strategy is to restrict visibility for eastbound traffic to increase uncertainty and encourage drivers to reduce their speed.
- Could the speed limit be reduced? 70mph limit applies - there are various criteria to reduce the limit including accidents record, type / look of road, problems from setting a false low limit and danger of greater speed differentials for non compliant drivers.
- Could speed cameras or average speed cameras be installed - Police reported that the costs are very high and Scotland Transerv reported that Scottish Govt have already priority listing for new cameras.
- Could the height of the yellow lines be raised. They are mainly installed for their visual impact.
- What can police do? It is too dangerous for local beat police officers with speed guns. Policing of the road is done by patrol cars.
- Could a dedicated through lane be considered to separate Eastbound vehicles from Langbank? Vincent is going to consider.
- Clarify two lane turning right exiting the village is allowed (or not) by painting appropriate arrows. This will give confidence to village drivers exiting the village.
Scotland Transerv will continue to monitor the injury accident rate until the benefits are proven to be effective.
Mr Tait had left some photographic evidence of the improvements and these will be sent on separately from these minutes.
Renfrewshire Community Forum and LAC meetings key points.
Paisley city of culture bid is mainly being funded from out with Renfrewshire.
Council tax freeze is coming to an end next year so we should expect costs bands higher than D to be 17-20% higher.
Inspector Glass reported that there has been a lot of social disorder organised through social media - mainly Renfrew.
Neil attended a special forum meeting. RC have seen a 10% reduction in budget year on year. Erskine amenity site has closed to some materials and the only recycling centre is Underwood road. Following pressure from the CC's the decision has been reversed so the Erskine amenity site will reopen once the SEPA permits have been received.
A new health centre and new primary school is being considered for Bishopton. The health centre is more likely to go ahead than the primary school in the near term.
The LCC feel that the spending on Langbank is disproportionally smaller than the amount of Council tax collected from Langbank. The feeling is that decisions are taken by RC without consultation from a broad enough group of opinions and there is no transparency particularly breakdown of spend and no follow up return on investment by area. Apparently more consultations will be carried out in the future.
A suggested topic for future forum meetings - Langbank has not had a good experience of the criminal justice service - have other CC's had problems?
Station Rd has been resurfaced - A big improvement. Thank you.
Superfast broadband
Superfast broadband is now installed - achieving ~30Mbps to some residents - others are not covered. David Dresser from Virgin Media indicated that LCC could spearhead a further improvement for those without service under their "infill areas" initiative. David Dresser can attend the next meeting to discuss.
Langbank Gala Day - 10th Sept 2016
The Langbank Gala day went off very smoothly this year thanks to the new organising committee and the good weather.
Thanks should go to the various businesses that contributed to the event:
Portacabin and DF Concerts - Portable toilets
Richard Starrett - Pop up marquees
Wheelhouse - Gift voucher.
Happy Hound Hotel - Pet Competition Prizes
The Langbank groups represented include LCC, LPP, Primary School, Church, Under 3's, Play group and Sepsis fundraising.
We estimate that 300 - 350 people attended with no trouble and no problems.
LCC raised £387, the church raised £158, LPP raised about £165, the sepsis charity raised about £320, Morton football club donated their takings to the school.
We raised the entry fee to £2 to cover the additional cost of 2 bouncy castles (£250 but which were provided mainly free) and the Outdoor Play Leader (£100).
Feedback has been overwhelmingly positive from all who attended and helped run the event. Particular thanks should be noted for Rebecca Docherty who was keen to help. As a young 11 year old she collected entry money from visitors and coped extremely well and responsibly under challenging conditions.
Village website:
Finishing off the website. Russell, Neil and Dav have e mail addresses. Dav is contacting village groups about getting their information on the web site.
Cllr MacLaren report
Flood management meeting still to be called.
West Ben View culvert CCTV inspection should have been carried out by now - no update yet.
Japanese knotweed has been treated in July / Aug.
List of projects - James would be willing to have a site visit.
Pot holes on Seath are scheduled to be filled soon.
Fly tipping on Main Rd has been dealt with.
Cllr Maria Report.
Station Rd hedge requires cutting - the land owner has been notified.
The wall at the school on Dennistoun Rd is due to be fixed during the Oct holiday.
Maria is working though a list of improvements previously agreed between RC and Nora which has not been carried out. Maria will have to take some photos to better describe the areas concerned.
AOB:-
Footpath to Marypark Rd. Volunteers sought to help clear footpath, install steps and hard core.
Christmas tree light switch on Fri night. Xmas fayre in school Fri pm then Fri 25th Nov. Neil to ask John Wallace if we are getting a tree and if we can switch light on at this date.
Meeting was closed.
Next Meeting Schedule – 2016 (second Wednesday of every month apart from July)
12th October
9th November
14th December
Langbank Community Council Report from Councillor MacLaren:
Flooding Issues
West Benview: - CCTV survey works at this location should have been carried out along with 4 or 5 other culverts in the village. I am now waiting on the results.
Meeting following CC Report: - We are waiting on Mr Dewar calling a meeting once he has further information that he is gathering up.
Amenity Sites
The Council is to restore the services to the amenity sites. As the council needs to apply to SEPA for new waste disposal licenses for the sites, it could be a few months before the sites are opened up fully.
Fly Tipping on Main Road
A council officer has visited and spoke to the neighbour who has agreed to ensure the tree branches are removed.
Japanese Knotweed
Japanese Knotweed on the Main Road was treated in July and Station Road was treated in August.
Station Road Signs
Roads are reluctant to move the twenty’s plenty sign further up the road. The missing 30 mph sign (on the right-hand side) is still to be replaced. I am chasing this up.
Projects
I would like to arrange a site visit with some cc members and bring along a council officer to look at some of the suggested projects. Perhaps the CC could form a small sub-committee to help with the various tasks like applying for funding?
Roads
Station Road: The road has now been resurfaced by a local contractor, but there is water running across the junction with Seath Avenue. I will get this reported.
Potholes: 2 potholes reported on Seath Avenue have still to be filled. I will chase this up.
Hedge on Station Road: The owner has been advised to cut the hedge back and this should happen within the next two weeks.
Core path upgrade
Residents are keen to carry out some work on the Right of Way between Middlepenny Road and Marypark Road. I hope to be able to assist with some materials for this.
Charity Zip slide
Councillor MacLaren has done the charity zip slide on 3rd September and would welcome money from his sponsors.
Feedback from Meeting
Missing Double Bin: The double bin that was outside the old shop has been removed. I hope to recover it and would welcome suggestions for its relocation.
