LANGBANK COMMUNITY COUNCIL
MEETING MINUTES
WEDNESDAY 11th SEPTEMBER 2019
7.30pm in the Langbank Church Hall, Main Road
In Attendance: Neil Barrington (chair), Cllr James McLaren, Carly Deheer, Janice Buchanan, Cllr Natalie Don, Jacqueline Doherty (secretary) and Julie Gilmour.
Apologies: Gloria Dunn (treasurer), Julie Arbon and James Hunter, Cllr Colin McCulloch, Helen Heselton and Iain McDougall.
Also in attendance: Maggie Hancock, Caroline Bryce, Giselle McGill, Mercedes Harm and PC Ross Wilson from Police Scotland.
Start and welcome :
The Chairman welcomed everyone and started meeting at 7.30pm.
Police Report:
2 reported crimes. 1 breach of the peace, police have name of suspect and therefore investigation ongoing. 1 internet fraud, ongoing – victim lost approximately £600.
Number of reports re abandoned van. It appeared to have been broken down, police had no powers to remove as no criminality involved. This has now been removed, following police enquiry. Although van was unlocked it was immobilised.
Also, few reports re ongoing parking issues at the Coast Restaurant. Suggestion that anyone who experiences issue with parking should contact police and this can be checked and logged.
Issue of abandoned vehicle at west end of village. Looks like it has possibly been in accident as windscreen smashed and in poor state. Police investigating.
Update on wild camping outside village hall, but no more incidents.
Acceptance of last meeting minutes:
All accepted minutes as correct. Proposed Carly Deheer and seconded Janice Buchanan.
Treasurer’s update:
13 Smart Waters in all. 2 have been further requested so 11 left. £12 each.
Year accounts have been completed. Total in bank £1,486.94
Beechwood Ave resurfacing being done this week.
Drains on Station Road. Gloria Dunn has emailed James McLaren to advise that 8 out of 13 drains on Station Road are blocked.
Village website update:
Last month’s minutes were published on website. This will continue. Carly Deheer will also try to get some photos on, time permitting.
Accident activity at A8 Roundabout :
A Fiat 500 was seen against the central crash barrier on east side of roundabout Friday 6thSeptember. On subject of roads there was brief discussion around benefits of white lines being painted on road under Station Road bridge and also mention as to the different ways drivers approach junction at top Station Road onto Old Greenock Road.
Formatting, printing and distribution of Langbank Survey.
These have been completed and are ready for printing. These will ready for distribution at the end of the month with a return date of 25thOctober. Post boxes to be placed at “doctor’s surgery”, “village hall”, “church notice board” and “the notice board at foot of steps Station Road field”.
Input from last month’s RCC Forum meeting.
Arrangements for various local partnerships are not consistent – some of them currently have different rules. Our local partnership meeting does not allow substitutes, however other local partnerships do allow this. Jacqueline raised issue that she had specifically mentioned in her application that she may require a substitute at some meeting and there was no feedback given to her at the time and no questions raised around her application.
Cllr Natalie Don suggested that this should be raised with the chair of our local partnership meeting, as this type of decision has been left to their discretion.
There was a drive to make the process of joining community councils easier, by self-nominating. However, most community councils voted against this, hence the current process will remain unchanged.
Suggestion that community councils should have a generic email address, which would make it easier to keep track of emails and to maintain privacy and provide some protection for CC members.
Looking for guest speakers to attend next forum. Suggestion that someone from roads who could answer concerns about impact of new housing on roads.
Status of Marypark/Middlepenny footpath:
Still more to be done – some steps and hard core required to complete this.
Cutting back of overgrown verges:
Caroline has not heard from Community Payback Team re their use of the village hall toilets, whilst they are clearing edges along main road. Janice Buchanan believes it is likely to be end September that this will happen.
CC Elections:
The closing date for applications is this Friday – September 13th. There are currently 6 applicants with another 7 outstanding.
Preparations for next month’s AGM Meeting:
AGM will start at 7.30pm and conclude by 8pm at which point the normal meeting will start.
Renfrewshire Council will provide a chair for this meeting and ensure fair proceedings. They will then publish these minutes. There will be a report by previous chair and treasurer followed by elections. The normal CC meeting will start at 8pm.
Langbank Primary School update:
Next LPP meeting will be 19thSeptember. Jacqueline Doherty will try to speak to head teacher prior to this meeting and ask about recycling and covered walkway. LCC to write to RC regarding their concerns around the covered walkway as the LPP have not had answers to their direct questions.
Tennis Courts:
Julie Gilmour is still struggling to find a resolution. She is still struggling with Scottish Water and Business Stream and the debt collectors are still on the trail. The issue needs to be resolved by end September before the impending court date. These debt letters should not be going to Julie and she has no idea how Business Stream got her name – especially as the address is for elsewhere.
Business Streams Senior Accounts Manager advised of three potential options: -
1. Cut the water supply, which would be the simplest – but this would have an impact on the bowling green who would then also lose their water supply. This would not be ideal Julie is working hard to avoid this.
2. Go to court – but this would mean tennis club getting legal representation, which would potentially cost more than they have in their account.
3. Get Scottish Water to come out and perform a site visit – but they won’t speak to Julie as they say it’s a Business Stream issue, but Business Stream says it’s up to the tennis club to contact Scottish Water. Neither group willing to talk to each other or find a resolution via Julie despite her best efforts.
The chairman has a contact at Scottish Water, who proved helpful in the past with water issues. It may be worthwhile attempting to contact him in the hope of gaining some resolution.
Cllr James McLaren suggested contacting the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman.
All agreed that this was an appalling situation and shouldn’t happen when someone is merely trying to maintain village facilities and allow for improvements to be made.
Suggestion to contact Business Stream and raise complaint which would then allow a further complaint to be made to the SPSO if no satisfactory outcome.
Paul Harms has written a very comprehensive letter re the tennis courts which will prove useful with improvement going forward.
AOB:
Elderslie Community Council have applied for funding for dog poo bags and holders. Is it something we s, hould consider? General agreement that the situation has improved recently, perhaps as a result of the pavement stencils. No further action – pending monitoring the situation.
The chairman has received a written request to raise poor condition of the road surface on Middlepenny Road. This has been raised regularly at these meetings and is a real source of frustration. It has been forwarded on to the nominated CC’s contact at RC. (Dorothy Kerr)
Signage at Station Road bridge was deemed to be adequate by RC. White lines under the bridge would be beneficial as they would ensure traffic knew it was a two-way road here.
Planning permission for house on Finlayston Estate. Resident in Marypark Road has written letter of objection. In past there have been numerous reasons to decline permission here.
Leaflets through doors re resurfacing on Seath Ave this week. Signs went up last week to say they will be resurfacing, but appears likely to be a protective skin rather than full resurfacing, especially as road was repaired to good standard earlier in year. The road is currently in very good condition, so it seems bizarre that with Middlepenny Road and other roads being in such a bad state that they are spending money on a perfectly good road. There is also a real concern that this protective skin will do more harm than good. The chairman will try to call John Wallace of RC Roads Dept. Cllr Natalie Don will also raise this.
St James football pitches in Paisley are well used, but the facilities are awful and badly in need of repair. Question asked as to what future plans there are for these facilities, is there any possibility of repair. Both attending Councillors will endeavour to find out about this.
One of the fixed goalposts in the playing fields has been taken down by one of the residents. The teenager did not intend to vandalise the facility and genuinely believed that he could move them to a spot he felt was more suitable. Unfortunately, having failed to seek any permission or appropriate advice the result was the goalpost was broken and is now lying flat in the field and will need to be removed. The teenager did attempt to dig the one post (which wasn’t broken) back in, but this would have left the posts dangerous. The most unfortunate thing is that this was the one set of goals which was most used for target practice as it is situated on a part of the field which isn’t waterlogged for most of the year. As there are currently no funds to replace these then the only thing which can be done is to have this goalpost removed from the field safely.
LCC received a request for an update on the improvements to the footpath linking Langbank and Kilmacolm. Some months ago, the LCC were asked if they would support an improvement to this path. The LCC have not heard anything since and therefore they shall request an update on this situation.
Update from Cllr James MacLaren:
Green Spaces, Parks & Play Areas and Villages Investment Fund
Some village community councils have now applied for £50k of funding for such things as an improvement to play park equipment in their park. A similar application from LCC would enable the football pitch, and goal posts, in the village to be renewed.
Station Rd Issues
There are several issues on Station Road, some of which have been raised before, that I am chasing up. These include; repositioning of pedestrian priority signs, water continually runs through the bridge, a "low bridge ahead" sign at the top of the hill, white lines through bridge, the sunken manhole cover near the bridge, a number of blocked gullies despite the gully slurper having been out, overhanging bushes, and ivy covering the pavement.
Damaged wheelie bins.
If you are having difficulty replacing a damaged wheelie bin or having the damaged wheelie bin removed then let me know and I may be able to help. I recently collected 2 damaged ones and found new homes for them after a small repair.
Refuse collection.
Many residents, especially those on assisted bin uplift are being missed by the council crews. This is not acceptable and I will be taking this forward.
Westferry Area.
Good to see that the bushes have been cut down around the car park to open this carpark up. This should make it a safer place to stop. The bin also looks as if it is being emptied. Unfortunately a large amount of litter has been exposed and I am asking for a litter pick to remove this.
Deposit Return Scheme - DRS.
I attended the recent APSE meeting which discussed the DRS. In September 2017 the Programme for Government 2017/18 stated that Scotland will introduce a DRS for drinks containers. There is potential for local organisations to make some money from this, but without a village shop I am unclear as to where your nearest drop off point would be.
Meeting closed at 9.30pm