LANGBANK COMMUNITY COUNCIL
STANDARD MEETING MINUTES (following AGM Mtg)
WEDNESDAY 9 th NOVEMBER 2022
MEETING HELD IN THE LANGBANK COMMUNITY CENTRE, MIDDLEPENNY ROAD @ 8.00pm.
Present: Neil Barrington (chairman), Gloria Dunn (secretary), John O’Brien, James Hunter, Carly Deheer, Caroline Bryce, Jacqueline Doherty (secretary), Julie Gilmour and Maggie Hancock.
Also in attendance: Iain McDougall, Cllr Fiona Airlie Nicholson, Cllr James MacLaren, PC Dean Mitchell, PC Bryan Cochran and PC Mark Ewing.
Apologies: No apologises received.
Start and welcome:
Meeting began at 20:05
Police Report:
5 recorded crimes: 2 detected. 2 common assaults and 3 road traffic – 2 bumps and 1 driving without insurance.
A question was asked as to whether any action had been taken following the serious accident at roundabout earlier in the year – no update available.
Question asked about the two assaults – both these took place in Houston area.
Wider concerns - Speeding complaints on Old Greenock Road
Police will be out monitoring with speed guns next week, although it was noted that as soon as drivers spot the Police high visibility clothing, they tend to reduce their speed.
Question asked about event on 11th December, with regards to walk along Main Road – Jacqueline Doherty to email Police with plans once known.
Acceptance of October meeting minutes:
No issues to note. Proposed by Carly Deheer and seconded by Julie Gilmour.
Village website and Facebook updates:
Carly Deheer going to check stats of Website use to allow for full discussion at next meeting.
Brief discussion about broadband speed which is still poor in certain parts of the village.
This should be reported to BT – Cllr James MacLaren will follow up.
Suggestion that householders continue to keep a spreadsheet over a month to ascertain whether weather having an impact. Iain will put post on FB page.
Residents in Mary Park Road have found that their broadband performance is impacted by passing trains.
Repairs to A8 Roundabout and fence on Main Road:
No further update, awaiting AMEY to complete repairs.
Parking Issues at Coast:
Parking issues at Coast restaurant on Main Road. John O’Brien has drafted letter to the “Scottish Ministers” which was shared with group for their consideration.
All present approved this letter which will be attached to the minutes of this meeting. Next steps will be decided at the December meeting. Thanks were expressed to John for his efforts.
Question asked about land adjacent to Coast, however this is not a viable option. Cllr James MacLaren will follow this up.
All agreed that the land to the north of Coast would be far better for “off road” parking as the land adjacent to the current Coast car park is a woodland area and also adjacent to railway, which would have restrictions.
Renfrewshire Council Road Officers are preparing a parking order to restrict parking – this would allow a consultation period to begin. (Double Yellow Lines)
Clyde Coastal Path Meeting developments:
The group is currently trying to gauge interest for a future meeting, with proposed date of week beginning 21stNovember.
MUGA status:
The village event hosted on 31st October for Halloween with some fun activities. This provided an opportunity for village consultation re next steps. An open shelter with storage facility was a popular option and a toilet facility. Graham Brown is happy to pursue a grant.
Street Stuff:
The LCC has been told that these sessions have now stopped. This is disappointing as these sessions were very well attended by the children in Langbank. It is believed this is due to Langbank not meeting the criteria of social deprivation, despite it being an area of social isolation. Still awaiting a response as to whether this would be allowed to restart at some future date. Cllr Fiona Nicholson will follow this up.
Next Local Partnership Meeting:
This is due on 10th November 2022…following evening.
The chairman and Jacqueline Doherty will attend this meeting, and they will ask about additional funding for CCs to cover web site licencing fees. Report will be provided at December meeting.
Langbank Church conversion follow up:
An email of support was sent to Rev Fiona Smith, the Principal Clark to the General Assembly as well as Rev Dr Peter McEnhill and Rev Alistair Shaw from Clyde Presbytery. Response back to state final decision has not yet been made,but latest proposal is that Langbank will remain open as a Local Mission Church. Rev McEnhill’s email was brief, bureaucratic and directed us back to the Session Clerk for further information. It was requested that the LCC supported the village church the this was reported back to Presbytery before final decision made.
Flooding issues on Station/Main Roads.
Need to keep RC updated and informed of flooding. James Hunter had contacted RC with regards to flooding on Main Road. Culvert has been cleared and this had helped.
Question asked as to whether the work carried out by Network Rail has made any difference – unknown.
Station Road drains are once again covered in leaves. The pavements are also covered in leaves and are slippery.
There was a RC employee checking drains on Station Road yesterday, and the drains on Middlepenny had been cleared.
It would be helpful if trees and vegetation on Station Road pavement were cut back this would allow walkers to reach the handrail throughout the year.
Question asked about the upturned cone which is currently being used to block a collapsed gully, it has been like this for some time.
Cllr James MacLaren’s monthly input:
Roads
A8 Diversions: - FOI requests from Transport Scotland, Renfrewshire Council and Police
Scotland have been made. Over the last 5 years Old Greenock Rd (OGR) has been used as the
diversion route 56 times (Police = 20, Transport Scotland = 36). I will feed this information
back to RC so they will give the road the attention it deserves. Given the high number of times
that there have been diversions off the A8 onto OGR, I have also suggested that permanent
diversion signs are put in place so drivers are less likely to get lost.
OGR: - (Old Greenock Road) I have requested some more new signage and a new street name plate at the junction with
Gallahill Road. The white lines are due today. The Road will be marked with edge line only, in
line with the guidelines for carriageways less than 5.5m wide.
Pothole: - I have reported the hole in the pavement for repair near the church on Main Road.
Blocked Gullies: -
Station Rd (junction of Elmbank Rd): - Roads have arranged to have the gully cleared. The road
has been recently swept however the roads team have advised they will carry out an additional
sweep at the time of clearing the gully.
Top of Station Rd (at junction with Old Greenock Road): - Reported and logged to the inspector
to assess and make arrangements to have this gully cleared.
Parking issues, Main Rd: - Road’s officers will prepare a traffic order to impose parking restrictions and
publish it for first stage consultation.
Flooding (Over the last month)
Station Road: - I have been told of flooding at the bottom of Station Road last week and have
reported this.
Old Greenock Rd: - Water is rising on both sides of the road close to East Finlaystone Cottage.
Our officer will write to the landowner asking that they resolve the problem.
Main Road: - The burn at Drumhirk was close to overflowing last week and our officer attended.
Flooding Alerts: - The email address ei@renfrewshire.gov.uk can be used for reporting flooding
problems. However, this mailbox is not monitored out of hours. In an emergency it would be
better to call the Emergency Contact Telephone number 0300 300 0300.
Dargavel Development
The school’s current capacity will fall significantly short of what will be required to meet the
needs of the Dargavel Village development over the next decade. The incompetence of council
officers in the miscalculations in the school roll projection for the new Dargavel Primary School
will have ramifications both for the primary schools and Park Mains HS.
Bikeability
Good to see that this programme will take place at Langbankprimary school. Sadly, not Park
Mains HS.
Bikeability level 1 and 2 were delivered to P6 Langbankpupils between August and October.
Green bags for food disposal
These are still available from RC. For additional food caddy bags requests, residents can email
ei@renfrewshire.gov.uk or call customer service team (0300 300 0300) and council will organise
the delivery of a roll of liners.
Station Rd Park
Wild Flowers: - Native wildflower seeds and grasses will be sown in sections along the banking
at the top and bottom of the park and along the west side.
Footbridge: - the legal title as recorded by the Registers of Scotland shows that the boundary of
council ownership is the stream with the Dennistoun Estate having responsibility for the footpath
and bridge. Each home owner within the development will have an equal share of maintenance
responsibility for the open space areas within the title. Council is not prepared to restore the bridge.
Park Mains HS Bus
I saw on Facebook that pupils were having to either stand or sit on the floor during the journey
back from the school. SPT are going to carry out an inspection on this contract to look into any
capacity issues. The contractor has been advised that under no circumstances should the driver
be accepting more pupils to travel than they have seats for. The school will ensure only pupils
who are entitled to travel are getting on the bus to avoid capacity issues.
West Ferry
The Community Safety Partnership Data Analyst will undertake an analysis of the area to assess
if there has been any water related incidents at, or near this location, including fishermen and
potential sinking sand. Should this come back positive via Police Scotland or the Scottish Fire
and Rescue Service as an issue, she has agreed to look at erecting signage to warn people of the
dangers.
You Decide
117 projects were successful in the first round of the council’s You Decide campaign, which the
public can vote online for starting 11th November for 4 weeks. Assistance can be provided for
anyone without internet. We should know which ones will be successful in January with work
starting in 2023. For those who put forward projects but were unsuccessful, then I’m happy to
explore this with them and find out why their project did not make it this time.
Embankment Subsidence at Marypark Rd
Following a site visit by Network Rail, they are now progressing an options report to investigate
possible remediation strategies for this issue.
Forum meeting
These are about to restart and Neil Barrington will be in attendance. John O’Brien will also attend these meetings.
AOB
Boundary Changes:
There will be a public consultation on this. This will be shared with the minutes and a link to the
consultation will be put on the FB page. The consultation closes on 5th December 2022.
Capacity of Park Mains High School:
There has been recent press coverage over the gross under-estimate of pupil numbers attending
Dargavel Primary, which after only 1 year is already close to capacity. This will have a knock-on impact
to Park Mains and is currently being addressed by the Parent Council.
Station Road Playing fields:
Jacqueline Doherty met with representative from RC to look at space for outdoor exercise equipment in playing fields as this was identified in the village consultation. Best location would be near entrance to playing fields, whilst maintaining vehicular access. A Village Investment Fund Grant will be applied for.
YouDecide voting will open on 11th December and LCC will work with RC to promote this. Results will be announced in January.
Caroline Bryce has applied for Winter Community Fund, should this application be successful Caroline will pursue some of the village ideas to have conversation cafes and soup and sandwich.
Question asked about stairs connecting Seath Ave and Douglas Ave. These are the responsibility of adjacent homeowners.
Meeting closed.