LANGBANK COMMUNITY COUNCILMEETING MINUTES WEDNESDAY 14thAUGUST 2019
7.30pm in the Langbank Church Hall, Main Road
In Attendance:James Hunter, Jacqueline Doherty, Janice Buchanan, Gloria Dunn, Cllr Colin McCulloch and Julie Gilmour.
Apologies: Cllr James McLaren, Cllr Natalie Don, Maggie Hancock, Joe McGarrigle and John O’Brien.
Also in Attendance:Helen Heselton, Caroline Bryce, Julie Arbon, Tom Adair, Paul Harms, Mercedes Harmes, Mark Ellis and PC Fraser Williams of Police Scotland
Start and welcome :
The chairman welcomed everyone and opened the meeting at 7:30.
Police Report :
4 recorded crimes, 2 detected. 1 theft mobile phone (domestic incident), one undetected vandalism. 2 road traffic offences, 1 hit and run on motorway, 1 drink driving in village – driver refused to provide breath sample.
Lot of recent online fraud Renfrewshire wide. Invoices being intercepted and bank details changed before client receives invoice. Advice is to phone company to check the bank details before paying any invoice.
Enquiry about yellow lines on Main Road to assist with parking near Coast. PC Williams has raised this issue, but no response yet.
Enquiry on Facebook re – abandoned white van, which is parked at bottom of Station Road outside train station entrance. This van is likely to have broken down.
There has been wild camping in swing park twice this summer. Situation to be monitored and any concerns to be reported to PC Williams.
Acceptance of last meeting minutes:
Proposed by Gloria Dunn, seconded by James Hunter. No issues arising.
SmartWater update:
15 Smartwater Kits left – these are now available for friends and family. These need to be used by February 2020. Cost is £12 which is heavily subsidised as normal price is around £70.
Village website update :
Carly Deheer will put Gala day update and CC minutes on the LCC Website.
Accident activity at A8 Roundabout :
No recent reports.
Updating of West Ferry Car Park :
If this area was improved and better access provided then more people would be encouraged to use this area, but sadly the current state and use of the area puts people off.
The chairman the difficulty he has had in establishing the ownership of land beside motorway. Emails to be forwarded to Colin who will try to find more information.
Formatting, printing and distribution of Langbank Survey :
Carly Deheer has completed these ready for printing. These could be distributed with The “Advertiser Magazine”and post boxes placed around the village for return forms.
Julie Gilmour met with representatives for Improving village and community grants. This was a positive meeting and involved discussion around the tennis courts and playing fields. The Langbank Survey would prove a positive addition to the grant application.
Status of Marypark/Middlepenny footpath :
Gloria Dunn cut the ribbon at the official opening of the second phase of the footpath. The final phase would be to tackle the overgrown section nearest Marypark, and possibly put down some hardcore or equivalent as this area is currently waterlogged. Julie Arbon suggested grant funding from “Paths for All”, and Mark Ellis suggested “Scottish Rights of Way Society”.
Input from Local Partnership Mtg on 19thJune 2019 :
The minutes from this meeting have yet to be circulated, although it would appear next meeting will be in the Langbank Church Hall in November.
Progress with Primary School covered walkway :
This project is now complete but there still are concerns remaining around strength of polycarbonate roof. The chair of the parent council wrote to Renfrewshire Council (RC) expressing concern about this structure not being strong enough should anyone be tempted to climb onto the roof. No satisfactory response was given despite the head teacher and director of children’s services being copied into the email. Cllr Colin McCulloch visited the site to see the walkway and shared the parents’ concerns about the strength of the structure. Jacqueline Doherty to feedback to parent council and head teacher.
Feedback from Langbank Gala Day: There has been some feedback asking for few more stalls. There was initially a bigger outlay, but all groups seemed to make a good profit. Weather helped. CC profit to be used to pay insurance of £60, fund PA repairs, and the rest to go towards the tennis court improvement.
RC Local Development Plan :
No feedback provided to CC regards to this.
Status on use/implementation of RC ipads for Primary School :
This matter had been escalated to Steven Quinn of RC, who was going to deal with this. Cllr Colin McCulloch to chase this matter up. He has been advised that all Ipads are now working and individual schools should organise staff training.
Primary School recycling implementation :
Jacqueline Doherty has volunteered to assist school with the recycling process in the Langbank Primary School, although it is disappointing that this is not a priority for the Head Teacher. As recycling in council buildings is a statutory requirement, then - if there is no improvement Jacqueline will ask council to step in.
Feedback/acknowledgement on Primary School letter to Scottish Parliament :
No satisfactory response to children’s letter re the roundabout safety concerns and the response re - playing fields was disappointing.
Langbank Tennis Courts :
Julie Gilmour has been served with a court summonson behalf of the tennis club, to pay the water charges for the tennis courts. This was supposed to have been dealt with in 2016 and therefore came as a huge surprise. Julie has spoken to “Business Stream” and “Scottish Water”. The matter now lies with Business Stream’s legal department. They believe the council may have some involvement and therefore RC legal team are now also involved. Julie is awaiting advice on what to do with these court papers. Ownership is once again proving to be a huge issue. All agreed that Julie needs to be fully supported by the LCC in this matter. The court summons is not addressed to Julie personally and indeed has the incorrect address on it. Scottish Water are the only people who can resolve this and change the status of the tennis court water by deregistering the supply.
Suggestion that the LCC could write to Scottish water to express their concern around this matter. Carly Deheer and the chairman will explore this avenue.
Paul and Mercedes Harms did have some knowledge of this system and offered to help investigate the matter of billing and backdated bills. Both will try to assist as best they can.
The question was raised as to whether Scottish Water could class this as a commercial premise when it is not metered ?
Fly tipping :
Some villagers have been dumping their garden waste in the Station Road playing fields. Most of this rubbish has now been removed by RC, but this still causes concern. All villagers are requested to respect that this is a playing Field and Recreational Area for the whole village, and that they should dispose of their garden waste via the provided brown bins. Anything too large for these bins should be taken to the Council Amenity Sites. Cllr Colin McCulloch will request fly tipping signs for the entrance to the playing fields.
Community Council Elections :
Jacqueline Doherty has CC application forms and posters to be placed around village. Caroline Bryce has taken one for hall. Jacqueline will be contact.
Applicants and proposers must contact ERO to get electoral role numbers. Their telephone number is on the application form.
All applicants must have two proposers who live in the village.
Church Renovation Update :
The respective Plans have now been approved and therefore church are now looking for villagers with an interest in this to help move things forward.
Planning permission :
Plans have been lodged for the building of a house at the west of Marypark House on the Finlaystone Estate. Access is on to Marypark Road and there are concerns that the old sewage system which has not been upgraded, will be under strain, and that there is a long history of flooding in this area, and access onto an unmade narrow road.
LCC should be aware of this as it does impact on the village boundary. The chairman to contact RC to express concern that this will have an impact on the village boundary, particularly as this is an area of greenbelt land.
Cllr MacLaren update :
Pupil Equity Fund
Council says they are not in a position to add to school PEF amounts, where the amount drops. The system appears to be flawed against smaller schools, which are already fighting for funding against larger schools in Renfrewshire.
20mph roads in residential areas bill rejected
A majority of members on the Scottish Government’s Rural Economy Committee concluded that the "one size fits all approach proposed in the bill is not appropriate" and that "local authorities are best placed to make local decisions, based on their local knowledge and evidence, on where 20 mph speed limits should be implemented".
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.
Flooding, Station Rd:
I was very disappointed to see pictures of more flooding on Station Rd this last week. I requested that the council attend to the flooding and investigate the reasoning for it as soon as I was aware of this.I understand that the “gully slurper” had been out recently (an email I received on 15thJuly had said it would get done) and it was more to do with the tide. Looking for confirmation of this please.
▪Tom Adair had cleared leaves from drains during floods and this appeared to help the situation. Noted that drains up Station Road are still blocked.
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.
Elmbank Road Chickens :
I understand that a couple of residents are keeping chickens in their gardens. From personal experience I know that they create a smelly environment so I was not surprised to receive complaints from residents. I don’t think there is a law against it though cockerels’ crowing at 5 am might incur and ASBO. A breach of title deeds would be a legal matter.
▪ There are two families who have chickens. These are kept as family pets and are only hens, therefore minimising risk of early morning wake up calls.
▪ Since the meeting the CC has been provided with an extract of The Allotments Act 1950, see below, and both families would appear to be compliant with this.
Potholes for repair :
Council has a backlog of repairs and are working to get through them.
Footpath, Station Rd to Dennistoun Rd :
Council says that this footpath has not been adopted by Renfrewshire Council and the maintenance of the footpath is split into two sections. One section is owned by the Dennistoun Road Developer (may have been passed onto the residents) and the section beside the railway is owned by Network Rail.
AOB :
Overhanging trees on Station Road are very bad and do cause difficulty for footpath users. Some branches are so low you need to duck under them, and it is extremely difficult to reach the handrail.
Branches are lying on footpath at end of Elmbank Road.
Beechwood Road should have been resurfaced on 1stJuly 2019, but has not yet been done.
Signage on Station Road bridge remains an issue. Pedestrian priority sign would be beneficial especially as there is no footpath. White lines still require to be repainted.
Janice Buchanan has managed to meet with Archie White from the RC Community Payback Team and they will tackle the overgrown footpath along main road in the autumn once all the grass cutting for the year has been completed. They do require the use of toilets and Caroline Bryce confirmed that the village hall toilets would be available if it was out with school out of care hours.
Middlepenny Road is still in bad need of repair.
Meeting closed at 920pm
This extract from The Allotment Act 1950, Chapter 31, Section 12 has been provided to the CC for information only.
Abolition of contractual restrictions on keeping hens and rabbits.
(1)Notwithstanding any provision to the contrary in any lease or tenancy or in any covenant, contract or undertaking relating to the use to be made of any land, it shall be lawful for the occupier of any land to keep, otherwise than by way of trade or business, hens or rabbits in any place on the land and to erect or place and maintain such buildings or structures on the land as reasonably necessary for that purpose:
Provided that nothing in this subsection shall authorise any hens or rabbits to be kept in such a place or in such a manner as to be prejudicial to health or a nuisance or affect the operation of any enactment.
It should be noted that “The Allotments Act 1950 (and any other act of parliament) overrides all other sources of law, apart from European Directives”.
