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Minutes of the Meeting held on October 14th 2008
Present: Douglas Coupethwaite, Geoff Peart, John Craigen, Maitland Clark, Barbara Drummond, Councillor Graham Lambie, Brian Wilson [Stirling Council Trading Standards]
Apologies
Constable Kathy Kirsop, Duncan Leask, Edmond Mansion, Paul Gilhooley, Margaret McKechnie
Minutes and Matters Arising
Adoption was proposed by Maitland Clark and seconded by Douglas Coupethwaite. No response had been received from Stirling Council regarding the state of play with the Safer Routes to Schools proposal. It was agreed to use the Community Council Enquiry Service to pursue this matter.
Community Police Officer
There was no report at this meeting. A Community Councillor raised concerns about young people using their scooters on the public road at dusk creating a potential road safety hazard. DC agreed to raise this with KK.
Doorstep Crime Reduction
Brian Wilson, a Trading Standards Officer from Stirling Council gave a presentation on Doorstep Crime Reduction. This was initially a Home Office initiative but Stirling Council had developed its own scheme. Generally it is elderly women who are targeted and some in the area had lost substantial sums of money. The Council have produced a booklet “Doorstep Advice” which gives useful information on how to deal with a range of unwanted commercial approaches to households [including junk mail and cold telephone calls] and also gives details of contacts where advice and help with small scale home repairs, etc. can be obtained. In addition, the Council has introduced the “No Cold Calling Community” initiative, which has been successfully piloted in Balfron and Killearn. This involves erecting signs indicating that cold calling is not acceptable in the village and the distribution of “Doorstep Advice” booklets to all elderly households. DC thanked BW for his helpful presentation.
Action: It was agreed that Gargunnock should become a “No Cold Calling Zone” and that “Doorstep Advice” booklets should be distributed to elderly residents of the village.
Future Programme
The Chairman tabled a list of suggested topics for future meetings which included the following:
Energy Saving Advice
Waste Collection
Complaints Procedures
Fire Safety Advice
Question Time with Local Councillors
Two further items were suggested in discussion:
Footpath/Cycleway Progress
Future Housing Development in the Village
It was also agreed that the potential to provide fixed-line gas supplies to the village should be investigated and if this might be feasible a further meeting would be organised around this topic.
Action: [1] The Chairman to formulate a programme for the remaining session of Community Council meetings based on the agreed suggestions and availability of appropriate external speakers [2] John Craigen to pursue the potential for gas supplies to the village and report back to the Community Council on progress
Secretary’s Report
The following items of correspondence had been received since the last meeting
Minutes of meeting of South West Area Forum held on September 22nd - Noted
Community Briefing from Rural Stirling Housing Association- Noted
Letter from Stirling Council re on Flooding – No Community Councillor was available to attend the meeting on October 27th but the Secretary agreed to write to Les Goodfellow raising problems with the bridge/culvert on Station Road
Letter from Stirling Council re Community Pride Fund – Up to £1000 was available to communities and the next deadline for submissions was November 21st 2008. There were suggestions that the benches in the Rest Garden could be replaced and that work on the Beeches footpath at the back of Drummond Place needed urgent attention. It was agreed that the Secretary investigate this further with Council Officials.
Treasurer’s Report
The Treasurer reported that the Community Council account currently stood at £751. There was some discussion about how this might be best used for the benefit of the village and consideration given to various suggestions.
Action: It was agreed that the Community Council should support the Village Trust fundraising efforts re the Community Centre and also make a contribution to any Community Pride Fund application. The amounts to be confirmed following further investigations and in consultation with the Treasurer
Other Business
[1] Community Council Enquiry Service – MC reported on his experience in using the service to raise concerns about grass cutting etc. Several attempts were required before contact was established and a Council Officer then agreed to respond to the matters raised. This had not happened within the promised 15 day deadline and was still awaited.
[2] Councillor’s Report - Councillor Lambie tabled his report and spoke to some of the issues of relevance to Gargunnock. In particular, he agreed to forward a copy of a letter from Alan Ogilvie regarding the Safer Routes to School initiative and highlighted the fact that the Council was now giving consideration to where additional council housing should be built in the rural area. It was agreed this was a matter the Community Council would want to consider in some depth at a separate meeting.
Date of Next Meeting
Tuesday November 25th at 7.30 pm in the Community Centre
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