1 Bishopton Community Council Minutes of the meeting held in Bishopton Primary School on Wednesday 5th November 2014 at 7.30 pm Present: David Woodrow, John Mackintosh, Brian Stewart, John Anderson, Colin Camelford, Aileen McLean, Peter Bryson, Ewing Mitchell, Fiona Robertson. . Apologies: John MGinnigle. David Rigg. In Attendance: Cllr Maria Brown, Cllr James MacLaren, Karen McCrystal Community Police Sargent, Jane Russell, Alan Brown, Sam Marshallsay, John McArthur. Approval of Minutes: The minutes of 1st October 2014 were proposed and approved by Ewing Mitchell and John Anderson. New Members: Alan Brown proposed by Ewing Mitchell seconded by Peter Bryson Sam Marshallsay proposed by David Woodrow seconded by John Mackintosh The meeting approved of seconding these new members and the secretary will forward the applications to Renfrew Council for approval. Matters Arising: The vice Chairman was asked to find an entry in the minutes referring to Renfrew Council having adopted the village entry flower tubs. The original statement could not be found but 2 subsequent references were found referring to the council not having yet taken any action over the planting the tubs dispite having made a commitment to look after them. On the second occasion the then Councillor Ian Langlands agreed to look into the matter. These items were raised in minutes during April and May of 2011. There did not appear to be any reply to subsequent meetings. Cllr Brown agreed to investigate at Renfrew Council. John McGinnigle has been in touch with the Green Gym people to inspect and asses the planters and do some work on Hatton Brae. The visit will be on the 26th of November. The borders at the station were maintained by Michelle who has got fairly robust plants in and all that is required is to weed the area occasionally. Come next spring arrangements with the station will be organized over this bed and the new planters yet to be set up. The Ferry road situation has now calmed and the seat location has been chosen and all that needs is contact with the roads department to ok putting it in place. The stretch of border on Ferry road requires regular attention re the weeds can the Councillors arrange for this to be organized. Correspondence: The girl from the village pharmacy would like suggestions as to local charities that could benefit from the carrier bag revenue. Ideas please. A reply was received from in roads dept. in response to our request for H-Bars in front of drives around the school. They replied that only essential white lining is being done at the moment. Scottish water has communicated that in conjunction with Renfrew Council they are rerunning the sewer model to ensure that the new development has a zero impact. Discussions have taken place privately with Barrangary farm a signage contract has been appointed to change the door signs on the pump station. Due to a smell in the village the secretary again contacted Scottish Water and informed them of the smell and that the phone numbers had not been changed. The smell was due to a blockage in the sewer under Greenock road which was removed along with other debris found in the sewer. They have also seen more volume of surface water entering the pumping station than would be expected. They are currently trying to trace the source of this water and have arranged for the sign to 2 be replaced. They now think there has been an unauthorized connection to the sewerage from the surface water system. It was suggested that this could have happened when Rossland crescent and Holmpark were joined into the surface water system instead of going through the factory. They have been asked to keep us advised of developments. This could explain some of the recent flooding problems. There has been some correspondence from Renfrew Council regarding the draft scheme for Community Councils. There is little to concern us other than an increase in annual funding. Members can be disqualified after missing 6 consecutive meetings. This disqualifying system could also apply to the Trust if some members decide not to continue attending. A community Council could be disbanded for failing to meet the criteria of the scheme. All the information is available on line at Renfrew Council website. A copy of Clyde Breakers the Firth of Clyde newsletter. An application for street trader’s license throughout Renfrewshire for fresh fish, cakes, and bread. A questionnaire from the Centre for Youth and Criminal Justice consisting of 10 questions on the biggest issues your community is facing. The questionnaire will be forwarded to members. There was a public consultation in the community centre for a planning proposal to remove more clay from the borrow pit to reinforce areas were the sandy /silt soil in the development is not very suitable for construction work mainly for embankments. The main issue was rain water possibly running through the sandy soil eventually used to cap the site and washing out the capping. Proper drainage was request and insuring that sufficient clay remains to cap the landfill sites. The site is near Formakin and was a small clay hill bordered by the Dargavel burn and a small marshy pond. SEPA get their information via a council team who are monitoring the burns in the area. The area in question was being used as farmland until recently and is not in the development site although it is inside the factory boundary. Anne McNaughton replied to the letter seeking information regarding the role of community Councils verses Community Trusts. She was unable to comment as her role only covers Community Councils. The trust position is still in a similar position to last month although the directors will be informed when the date Engage Renfrewshire and Senscott are ready to start training the new directors. A letter has been received regarding the move of the Post Office. David has written to Paula Reynolds the managing director of the Post Office expressing is dissatisfaction with the contract he is expected to sign on 3 counts 1. Removing some of the current facilities they have. Some of the current facilities that the shop currently have would be removed such as parcel collection and the lottery would become part of the Post Office and basing all their figures on the old village and not including the village extension. The reports from other parts of the county suggest that the Post Office do not fully understand the needs of retail. The move is therefor on hold for the time being. Annabel Goldie has written supporting David’s stand. David has accepted the Post Office must move as it has been underwritten by him for years which cannot continue which the post office has accepted. Some items are no longer handled by the Post Office (TV license) but are still included in the contract. David has been advised legally not to sign as have many other retailers. Paula Reynolds has replied saying the case is being investigated. More facilities will be available in the new location. Part of the problem is the Post office is much reduced but 2 counters will still be open with David as backup. Customers were lost due to the new pricing system which means it is more expensive to send a parcel to Greenock that to Germany. Letters of support would be welcome and details of David’s letter can be got from John. Poster on community awards given to David to display in his shop. Crime Report 7 recorded crimes for the month of October .this is the same as this time last year. 4of the crimes have been detected 1 attempted housebreaking 4 thefts from various sites 2 detected 3 1 of vandalism detected at Good Shepherd 1 common assault at the Good Shepherd also detected. Youths caught on the school roof were taken to their parents. It is hoped that they will not repeat their actions. A new resident to Bishopton expressed her dismay at the speed of traffic travelling through the village on the main road. It was stressed that there are very few 30 signs on the main stretch and at some times it is impossible to cross the road. The police have found that although they do many speed initiatives in the village as soon as the police leave the speeds again increase. Traffic management will be asked to repeat the initiatives. The police are not responsible for the signage. The sign coming in from Linwood is still masked by the vegetation. We do not yet know the feedback from the main road signs although Cllr MacLaren who will be along later may have heard the results. The traffic on the main A8 through the village is a regular topic at the Community Council meetings. One of the main problems is the signage for the M8 from Chestnut Roundabout pointing the wrong way through the village and not toward Westferry causing a rat run through the village to access the M8. If any construction vehicle coming through the village should be reported to the development giving registration numbers to Mike Power BAE’s site manager Hotline Telephone Number is 08001303302. The remediation is not causing the problem now but the construction phase. BAE will talk to the builders to encourage them to use where possible the Haulage road from the Georgetown Road or come from the M8 by the Westferry Junction thus avoiding coming through the village. The north and south access roads are to be linked as soon as possible taking traffic away from the main road. A formal letter will be written again to state that construction traffic is still coming through the village. The traffic will tend to reduce due to the builders moving to the south end and no longer want to come through the village. The next phase by the Cala/ Charles Church section will probably not be released until the north south link road is completed. Stephen McLaughlin is the name of the person at BAE who is locally in charge of the infrastructure. The work has stalled recently due to the heavy rain making moving equipment round the site difficult. A house on the site was flooded and a pumping truck had to be brought in. The SUDS ponds will cope eventually but as yet are not connected. Cllr McLaren will try to obtain a speeding sign for Slateford road as even at night during a firework display cars were speeding past despite the presence of young children. A speed measuring sign was present for about 48 hrs. On the main road at the Ashy path which did appear to cause motorists to slow down. Cllr Brown offered to get someone from roads to attend the meeting. The periods of time at the 2sets of traffic light are very short on changing causing the potential for both pedestrians and motorists to take risks. A roads site visit by a roads engineer would be very desirable as many of the problems could be shown. The visit should be around 8.30 – 9.00 am or 4.30 – 5.00 pm as this is the time of the worst problems. The police have no influence on what Renfrew Council will do but could do a traffic management survey and stated that from the Highway Code there should be signage. Ferry road has recently had many 40 mph signs along its length due to our pressure and there should be no reason why 30 mph sign cannot be installed throughout the village. There is a problem where the road from Erskine to the M8 where it splits to the Glasgow direction and the Greenock direction where faster cars do not change from the Greenock bound lane to the Glasgow bound lane until almost the white hatching at the split and force their way in causing accidents. Amey is the company in charge of this section and would need to be contacted. The God Shepherd Centre has offered to send a representative to address the Community Council on the work done there. It was agreed to issue an invite. The issue of barbed wire etc. is allowed for commercial properties but not for domestic properties. It is hoped that a coordinated visit system for police to allow for better follow up but it is not known when this will be fully operational. 4 Chairman’s report: David Woodrow appeared on TV news to talk about the health centre. He will further write to Alex Neil after discussing the matter with the Health Centre staff to get a better idea of what they would like to see happen. Since then there has be 2 more funding initiatives concerning primary care. The opportunity arose on the radio after David phoned in and was able to have a discussion with the minister. BBC phoned back to ask David to appear on TV which he did and gave excellent publicity to our case for the new Heath Centre. Reporting Scotland showed up the overflow at the Health Centre and the addition of portacabins to give more space. Waiting times are long even when a timed appointment is made which can add to the parking problems. A new doctor has been employed but shows very little waiting time improvement. Flu vaccinations for children were not advertised as well as for pensioners who received individual letters. The situation of space for rooms for doctors to see patients is limited and with the Erskine Hospital funding situation and need for community visiting doctors there is an increasing shortage of all kinds of facilities. The practice carries a large number of aged people with 150 at Erskine Hospital alone. The government wants to support practices that have a large number of aged patients. Not all the doctors in the practice are full time. The full time equivalent needs to be known before David writes to the minister but Dr. Downie is not back till tomorrow after which David can discuss the letter content. Dr. Finucane left due to the loss of Erskine funding which was in the region of £85,000. Calders have now taken over the Garden Centre allowing Erskine to concentrate on patient care. All social enterprise units at Erskine have also been ended. BAE and Renfrew Council are pleased that this issue has been raised again as they are keen to know what the Health Board intend to do. The school roll is rising by a few children continually. There is a shortage of seating during the lunch period although new seating is expected to be in place before the free lunch systems begins. There are currently extra classrooms and the ability to employ new teachers when the numbers sufficiently increase to require this. Community Trust / Community Council: Fiona raised the issue of forward planning on the community council, do we need specific sub groups to deal with specific issues such as the Health Centre and the School. The groups that were formed prior to the trust may need to be restored where they are relevant. It is suggested that where specific information such as The Good Shepherd Centre coming to talk to the community council there could be more community involvement such has a community digital hub that could identify links to the various websites etc. that already exist with it village. The Community Council has rejected a Facebook or similar page. Facebook although in use by other Community Council lends itself to abuse on a personal level. Links from other sites to the Community Council website would be acceptable. Some of the vitriolic input on the Dargavel Facebook page was due to poor communications and information. In the case of the scout firework display it was believed that the carpark was no longer available due to the house building having started. It may be that this will be relooked at with perhaps an approach to the Local Area Committee as happens at Erskine to help finance the firework display as the scouts only make very little return for a great deal of work and had to pay around £200 for a license from Renfrew Council to put the display on and 2 people had to be trained at cost to know how to release the fireworks and insurance had also to be obtained. The link to the Community Council website would be acceptable. Via this link it could be possible to ask the community what local charities they would like to see receive funds from the chemist carrier bag fund. The community Council and the Trust would be better working together rather that in isolation with where appropriate joint initiatives. Where the two organizations work in parallel the community council can identify work needed and the trust can raise funds to make it happen as community councils have very limited abilities to raise funding for projects. In the 1980‘s the community council had up to about 30 people on board and the people on it formed committees to 5 organize various aspects of the council’s roll. However the council began to wane as members aged or left the village and were never replaced. An opportunity now exists to draw in new blood and revamp the council. Issues such as Old Greenock road at the school and the Health Centre need input from the community as a whole not just the community council. The notice board outside the post office can take any notices as BAE has not given out any new notices for some considerable time. The minutes of the Community council are posted on the community centre board and are available from the desk at the library in addition to the website. There has in the last year since the website has been active only one communication to the secretary. David is happy to deliver welcome leaflets to the Dargavel site as he is already delivering other leaflets there. Communication is going on and evolving as it does. The lack of information that stems from BAE has been fought and sought by the Community Council since the inception of the project. David has raised some points with Steven McLaughlin concerning the water at the level crossing between Rossland crescent and Birch road and only 4 street lights are functional on Birch road as no light comes as it did in the past from inside the factory site. The ramp up to the station platform from the rear car park has been held up as power cables have had to be rerouted. The path from the southern end of the site to the station is hoped to be y Christmas. The facility is available for street lights on the path if there is seen to be a need. There are already lights from Newton road down which have not yet been lit. Lights have conduit in to install cables for lights in some areas in the future. Environmental Report: Councillor’s Report: Cllr Maria Brown Little to report Street lights out at Queens Drive due to cable fault. Should be dealt with by contractor next week. Lights are also out on the Yarrow crescent footpath. Brian to email Cllr Brown with the locations. Shared surfaces i.e. pavements and roads shared. This system has not been explained to residents. Any change to the current system and signs would take at least two years to change and is what is available now. The explanation of what a shared surface is could be put on the Facebook page for Dargavel. New buyers should also have an explanation in their introduction pack. Slateford road has a different structure to the south access road as tis was expected in time to become a much quieter road. The plans for the motorway junction had been in David’s shop window for over a year which when complete will tend to send traffic via the link road to the new junction. C Report from Councillor James MacLaren: 1. Roads i. ii. DFS signs: - The signs should have been out at the lower end of Slateford Road Feedback would be useful from these signs from all over the village. A sign would be good on Old Greenock road leaving the village towards Linburn West Ferry car park: - I have had a site visit with the Community Enforcement Manager and she was very positive about the project to tidy up this area and turn it into a beauty spot. Agreement has been secured from the landowner Scottish Ministers to progress with the proposals. This is dependent upon securing funding from Zero Waste Scotland (ZWS) and we should know if we have been successful in this regard in the New Year. It would be good to have the backing of the community council with this. This site is however notorious as a meeting point for less that acceptable characters and needs to be floodlit. 6 iii. iv. v. vi. Resurfacing: - Some resurfacing is due to begin from 10th Nov at Bruce Road and Stuart Road. Road engineers met with me and community councillors at Carron drive to correct elements of previous resurfacing, and I hope some repairs will take place there to make good. Overgrowth, Erskine Ferry Road: - Our Roads inspector has confirmed that there are trees that need cutting back. So. It is hoped that they will not repeat their actions.me of the trees are in Council ownership and some are in the ownership of Erskine Hospital. Our Estates section are confirming which accounts the land areas are held in and we will then ask the relevant parties to take any necessary action. Sign on Old Greenock Road, Erskine: - The tree obscuring the large sign on Old Greenock Road will be cut back soon. Some signs have been vandalised on this road. Old Greenock Road: - Traffic is speeding when heading east out of the village along this road. I will inform the police and investigate traffic calming measures. 2. Park Fence, Newton Road Foliage is being cut back and repairs will be made to the fence. 3. New Chief Executive The council has appointed a new chief exec who is the Director of Finance and IT. She will be a safe pair of hands. Feedback from Meeting 1. DFS signs: - The signs have not been back out and I will chase this up. 2. West Ferry car park: - Lighting is needed as the car park is known to attract some seedy activity. 3. Signs on Millhill Road (Houston Road), Bishopton have been damaged. I will take a look at this. Pavements on the Hatton Brae at least as far as the Good Shepherd have been resurfaced. Some work has been done earlier when the wall was repaired by the railway. Pavements have been asked to be resurfaced on Old Greenock road before and after Kingston Road. Signs throughout then village need attention and some added at some places. Treasurer’s report: no report Community Council Forum: no report this month Local Area Committee: no report this month Community Liaison: No meetings this month A.O.B: Cars parking across the pathway from Yarrow crescent path to Ettrick drive pathway request for dropped pavement. Proposed dates for future meetings: At 7.30pm in Bishopton Primary School 3rd December 2014 6th May 2015 th 7 January 2015 3rd June 2015 4th February 2015 1st April 2015 7