LANGBANK COMMUNITY COUNCIL
MEETING MINUTES
WEDNESDAY 11th NOVEMBER 2020
7.30pm via the digital meeting medium “Zoom”
Present: Maggie Hancock, Julie Arbon, Neil Barrington (chair), Julie Gilmour, Carly Deveer, John O’Brien, Jacqueline Doherty (secretary), Cllr James MacLaren and Caroline Bryce.
Apologies: Gloria Dunn (treasurer), Giselle McGill, Janice Buchanan, Mercedes Harms, James Hunter, Cllr Natalie Don and Cllr Colin McCulloch.
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Start and welcome:
The chair opened the meeting at 7.35pm and thanked Carly Deheer for setting up the zoom meeting.
Acceptance of last meeting minutes:
John O’Brien proposed minutes of the preceding LCC Meeting on the 11th March 2020 and Carly Deheer seconded these.
Police Report:
Aug – a common assault, this was detected.
Sep – 2 thefts, 2 road traffic accidents; 1 drink driving and 1 speeding
Oct – 1 theft, 1 anti-social breach of peace, 1 fraud and 1 other
Nov – 1 other
Langbank Village website:
Annual fees for maintaining the village email address have been paid.
Langbank Opinion Survey results have been added to the website and results of children’s survey will also been added.
Accident activity at A8 Roundabout:
No major incidents reported apart from the usual bad driving.
Village Survey:
See website above. The results of the survey are now available and can be used to identify priorities and for completing grant applications. Langbank Swingpark Regeneration (LSR) are now utilising this information.
Village Defibrillator implementation status:
Caroline Bryce was thanked for her efforts in driving this forward. The first defibrillator has now been installed at the Village Hall and Caroline has organised announcements/articles in media platforms.
The access code for this will be provided to callers, as appropriate, when they contact the emergency services (via call 999).
During the course of discussion Caroline informed the meeting that she did not believe that the east side of the village (Station Road side) will automatically be covered by the defibrillator, as she has been informed that the Scottish Ambulance service will not provide the code to those that they deem may need to drive to collect it. She believed those to the east of the village may need to specifically request the code, however it was not clear whether this would be given. This needs to be further clarified.
Concern was raised that at no point in any of the defibrillator media posts, had there been any mention of the fact that this is the case and therefore half the village may be unaware that the defibrillator does not cover their area. All articles indicate that the defibrillator covers the whole village. This needs to be clarified.
SCOTRAIL have agreed to site a second defibrillator at the station and it was agreed that the best place would be on the west bound platform (Station Roadside of platform). This will cost approximately £2000, which is more than the first one, however under the circumstances it would be good to have this in place as soon as possible.
Status on Langbank Tennis Court:
The best way forward is for the LSR group to proceed with grant applications for a Multi-Use Gaming Area (MUGA) on the site of the tennis court. The village consultation has helped provide the basis for this, as it was one of the top priorities highlighted. Julie Gilmour has already completed RC grant applications and in total £60,000 from a combination of Green Spaces and Village Investment Fund, has been earmarked for this.
The plan is to fence off the area – ie no access to bowling green – and put in an appropriate surfacing which can be used for several activities. The Opinion Survey identified the 3 sports which were identified as high priority were tennis, basketball, and football.
The old hut will be removed and replaced with a portacabin which can be used for the storage of village equipment – which is currently stored in various peoples garages and lofts in the village. The Chair offered to enquire about a storage container and Cllr MacLaren suggested contacting “Men’s Shed Charity” in Paisley to enquire where they sourced their one.
Jim Deheer and Michael Geraghty will meet with suppliers to obtain quotes for the MUGA and all works.
Julie Gilmour has tried on several occasions to contact the bowling club but unfortunately, they are not responding. The LCC chair agreed to contact the chair of the bowling club. Once this has been done the proposed plan will be put on the village Facebook page.
Advertizer:
Unfortunately, the villagers no longer receive a paper copy of the Advertizer due to staffing issues created by the current covid-19 crisis, however they can access the online version. Jacqueline Doherty has submitted an article for inclusion in the December issue.
It was suggested that someone from the village could perhaps collect Advertizers from the office in Bridge of Weir for distribution in the village. Jacqueline to email the Advertiser with regards to this.
Drains blocked:
The drains on Middlepenny Road are blocked as are some on Station Road.
The leaves were swept from pavements several weeks ago, however this situation is as bad as ever and requires another sweep.
Feedback from Virtual Local Partnership Meeting (held on the 8th September 2020)
At the last meeting, the annual grant applications were discussed, and funds appointed. Prior to the meeting the LCC chair (Partnership vice-chair and Cllr Campbell (Partnership chair) had broken down the applications into three groups.
Those where funding was no longer appropriate – time sensitive and impacted by current crisis
Funding is justified as application met local area priorities
More discussion required – groups needed to provide more information or specific feedback identified.
Funding was allocated with some groups getting 100% of funds requested and others only a percentage. £40,800 in total was available.
Christmas Tree for the village:
A tree has been provided for the village by Renfrewshire Council. This is due to be covertly switched on the last week in November.
Upcoming Fees:
The annual Data Protection Fee of £40 has been paid.
The need for additional public liability insurance for village events was briefly discussed, however as this is not due until April 2021, then it will be decided at a future meeting.
Report from Cllr James MacLaren:
Roads:
Winter Maintenance Programme: - At the recent ILE Board, I said that I was concerned about the large number of blocked gullies in Renfrewshire and that this will be a problem with the likelihood of flooding and icy roads if it freezes and the water hasn’t drained away. The council workforce moves between gritting duties and road sweeping and clearing gullies. Council has ordered a new Gully Slurper but there is a 46-week lead time for this and in the meantime, they are using a contractor and have an older machine. I asked about the backlog of blocked gullies and was told that council cleans about 15,000 gullies per year in a normal year so due to lockdown when none were cleaned, we are about 2 months behind, but judging by the number of blocked gullies that I see, I think this is a very conservative estimate.
Gully Cleaning: - The gullies on Station Road were cleared around the 5th October. I have asked that the Langbank roads be swept of leaves.
Flu Inoculation Programme:
As you may know I have both raised the issue of centralised inoculation at the HSCP IJB meeting and at a Special Council meeting where I seconded a proposal to widen the inoculation to local centres. So far, it has been agreed that pharmacies in Bishopton, Erskine and Houston/Bridge of Weir will increase their capacity to offer the vaccination to any local over 65s who have not yet been vaccinated and who are unable to attend at St Mirren Football Ground. Letters should have been distributed to local patients, inviting them to contact these pharmacies to agree an appointment. The additional capacity started on Monday 9th November and access to these pharmacies will be limited to the additional capacity they have and will be available on a first come first served basis. These pharmacies will offer this option until Friday 20th November 2020.
It was noted that Langbank residents had to attend clinics in Kilmacolm for their flu jabs and this was managed effectively.
Feedback from Meeting on 11/11/20
1. Blocked Gullies: - Middlepenny Road. I will request that these be cleaned.
2. Flu Inoculation: - Good to hear that the over 65s were catered for up at Kilmacolm.
3. Street lighting: - The F7 light is still out on the footpath from Station Road. I will chase this up.
4. Station Road Park
The footpath along the top is overgrown and muddy. I will request that it gets some maintenance.
The new bridge is much appreciated. Thank you.
The footpath on the west side of the park is falling into the burn and requires work. This may be a problem as it is not council owned land. I will request advice on making repairs here.
AOB:
Julie Gilmour has reported light F7 at bottom of stairs in Playing fields several times, but it is still out. Cllr James MacLaren will chase this up.
The path along the west side of the playing fields running parallel with burn is in a bad state of repair and at one point falling into burn. There was a discussion around who is responsible for this. The residents of Langvale development part of the village believe it is RC and RC believe it is the residents – see copy of email below.
Concern was raised around the UK Internal Market Bill which may have a detrimental impact on the quality of teachers in Scottish Schools. It was agreed that Jacqueline Doherty should write to Maurice Golding (Shadow Cabinet Secretary for the Scottish Economy/Fair Work and Culture at Holyrood) to express the concerns of the CC.
Next meeting
As this virtual meeting had worked well it was agreed that the meeting on 9th December will also be conducted on the Zoom platform.
The chair thanked everyone for their attendance and closed the meeting.
ATTACHMENT:-
Email from Renfrewshire Council
Footpath - Station Road, Langbank
Further to your recent enquiry regarding the footpath to the west of the burn, I can confirm that the ownership of the path from Dennistoun Road to the path running parallel to the railway is entirely owned by the individual residents of the Langvale Developments estate at the bottom of Dennistoun Road. (House numbers 25 to 65 inclusive.) I can also confirm that the footpath & steps from Dennistoun Road into the park and going down the hill towards the station are wholly owned by the residents, with the residents and Renfrewshire Council having shared ownership and responsibility for the footbridge and burn. The split between the land owned by Renfrewshire Council and the residents is the centre line of the burn. I have attached a plot of the area below.
The footpath running parallel to the railway line to the north of the site is entirely owned and maintained by Network Rail.
The uncoloured area (south of the blue and buff areas) of footpath is believed to be owned by the owners of Mondesir and Luibeg but we are in the process of conducting a further land search.
I can confirm that Renfrewshire Council are instigating a suitable repair to the handrail of the footbridge at this time. However, Renfrewshire Council may in future pursue the land owners for the part recovery of any costs incurred for any subsequent works required to footbridge and burn.
I hope this information is helpful. If you require any further information, please do not hesitate to contact me directly.