Community Council Minutes 15/01/2004

AGENDA ITEM AND CONTENT

ACTION POINTS

INTRODUCTIONS

Our fifth meeting of session 2003/2004 was opened at 7.30 p.m. by our Chair, BK.

Welcome and "happy new year" was extended to all attendees. Apart from the committee, it was noted that there were 11 attendees at this meeting.

2. APOLOGIES

Apologies were received from Chris Kay, Michael Crainie, and Constable Scott.

3. APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETING

Copies of the minutes of the last meeting, were available to all meeting attendees, who were given time to read and digest.

The minutes were accepted as being an accurate account of the meeting, nominated by Ms Jean Thomson, seconded by Ms Marion Young.

4. TREASURER’S REPORT

JT presented the Treasurers Report as detailed below.

Bank Account

Income

Opening Balance £795.50

Grant Received £500.00

£1295.50

Expenditure

Cheque No. 009 Endorsing Stamp for CCC £13.50

Cheque No. 010 Colin Scott (Newsletter) £50.00

Cheque No. 011 Cash (Christmas Event) £300.00

Cheque No. 012 Costco (Sweets) £270.27

Cheque No. 013 Cash (Christmas Event) £300.00

£933.77

Closing Balance £361.73

Petty Cash

Income

Opening Balance £24.23

Introduced £200.00

£224.23

Expenditure

12 Dec – Postage £13.50

12 Dec – Laminator £13.50

14 Dec – Laminator Cartridge £14.99

16 Dec – Laminator Cartridge £14.99

16 Dec – Cards £23.84

£94.41

Closing Balance £129.82

JT advised the meeting of the fact that there had been great confusion in relation to the £500 grant from NLC. NLC had stated that they had paid the cheque into the CCC account, and we then incurred expenditure on that basis. The cheque had not been paid in, and we were now liable to bank charges. NLC then paid 2 lots of £500 in to the CCC account. In the end NLC stated that as the matter was their fault, they would pay any bank charges that arose, and we would refund them £500.

JT also advised that the total spend for the Christmas event was £592.87. Councillor Murray suggested that we could apply for a top up grant of £92.87, the amount that was over budget. He indicated that he would be willing to contribute half of this and perhaps Councillor McCulloch would contribute the other half. JT would make application.

AP1/5 JT

5. MATTERS ARISING FROM PREVIOUS MINUTES

AP9/2 Path at Craigmarloch Lodge – A letter has been received indicating that it may be included in refurbishment plans. It will be between Craigmarloch Lodge’s representative, Mitchell and Butler, and landowners NLC to decide. – ongoing AC.

AP4/5 Community Centre – letter written to NLC, still waiting response. - ongoing AC.

AP2/7 McBride Property / NLC – Letters written requesting details of common land and insurance liability. Still no replies. AC will take up the matter with Councillor McCulloch re Glen Clova, and also write to Persimmons regarding Glen Douglas - ongoing AC.

AP2/8 Broadband – Present position is that Broadband is not available in Craigmarloch, This has been explained in both the winter Newsletter, and on our web site. We still continue to register interest- ongoing SC/AC.

AP1/9 Local Plan – This plan is apparently well developed, but we have not been consulted regarding same. The new "Local Plan" will now cover a larger area. AC to try to find out more details. - ongoing AC.

AP1/1 Bus Shelters Glen Fyne – Not all residents are in favour – discharged.

AP2/1 Pond Pump – This was installed to keep the pond filled with water, but is not working. AC had written to NLC, but no response as yet. - ongoing AC.

AP3/1 Tesco car park maintenance – AC has written to Tesco regarding the poor condition of some areas. There has been no response as yet. - ongoing AC.

AP1/4 No December meetings in future – noted by secretary and discharged.

AP2/4 Strathclyde Police bogus workmen leaflets – will be delivered along with Spring Newsletter. - ongoing AC.

AP3/4 E-mails to web site – Responses made by AC - discharged

AP4/4 Area boundaries within Craigmarloch – AC to write to Community Services Department regarding these. - ongoing AC.

AP5/4 A80 upgrade proposals – MO to get JAG to request that each Community Council formally objects - ongoing MO.

AP6/4 A80 upgrade proposals – AM also to raise at the next meeting of the Association. - ongoing AM.

6. SECRETARY’S REPORT

Various items of correspondence were to hand that would be made available at the end of the meeting to interested parties. These would also be circulated to all Community Council members. Subjects covered in the Secretary’s Report included:

North Area Committee meeting on Council Tax, at Kilsyth Primary School, on 5^th February at 6pm. 2 reps from the CCC to attend were sought. AM and BK volunteered, and would give feedback.
Copies of letters from Gordon Murray on a variety of topics were available including, Town Centre access roads, NHS proposals for North Lanarkshire, and Scottish Executive phase 1 proposals for the A80 upgrade.
Water Consultation Panel and charges – Various literature to hand.
Strathclyde Police and Crime Prevention Panels. – Various literature to hand.
Community Council Forum – AC advised that after 3 meetings of the Forum, there were still no elected reps, and a Constitution had still to be formed. The meetings were shambolic, and suggested that a formal letter of complaint should be made by the CCC, which was agreed to.
NHS proposals North Lanarkshire – AC advised the meeting of the fact that it was proposed that Monklands would cover out of hours health service for Cumbernauld, taking over from existing arrangements whereby we would normally get a local Health Centre Doctor. As of August, it was also proposed that any requirement for emergency surgery at night, would be transferred to Hairmyres. Hospitals like Wishaw and Hairmyres are not readily accessible, and could, in the extreme, mean the difference between life and death. There seemed to be a complete lack of Health Service facilities on the north side of the A80, and this coupled with a growing population was giving cause for concern. New residents in fact may find difficulty in getting registered with a local doctor. Proposed timescales are as follows:

The Primary Care changes (out of hours doctors calls) will begin to be phased in from August 2004.

The Acute Care changes (out of hours emergency surgery) will not be introduced for approx 2 years.

Although no final decisions had been made, AC would investigate further, and report back at the next meeting.

AP2/5 AM/BK

AP3/5 AC

AP4/5 AC

7. COMMUNITY COUNCIL MEMBERS FEEDBACK

Website - SC advised that the CCC Website has now had over 300 hits from 28^th Nov 2003 until now. Approx 70 enquiries had been made from residents in Craigmarloch, who were interested in Broadband.
Association of Community Councils – AM, the association secretary, reported that the next meeting was on 29^th January. Meetings were bi-monthly. 10 out of the 11 Community Councils were now represented. At the last meeting, the education issues involved the 4 schools to the west of us. Another report will include our school, plus east of Craigmarloch. Gordon Murray advised at this juncture that the agenda for the next Education Committee meeting, did not include the report for our school, which we would have to await. He also suggested that we should look at rezoning non-denominational children into the overall plan, once the second report is to be discussed
JAG / A80 - MO advised that the draft orders for phase 1 of the proposed A80 upgrade were published on 19^th December. Copies were available at Fleming House and at local libraries. It was important that as many objections were lodged as possible. Objections basically fell into 2 categories. Statutory Objections, whereby the objector was involved in a Compulsory Purchase Order (CPO). It was noted that at this time no CPO’s had been issued as yet. Non Statutory Objections, whereby the objector was required to object on what was considered to be valid reasons, such as road congestion, safety, environmental etc. The address to send objections to would be made available on the web-site, and would also be in the Cumbernauld News. Objections had to be received by the Scottish Executive by 18 February, if they were to be considered.

Crime Prevention Panel – The last meeting of the CPP was on 12^th January. JB reported that there was a speaker who addressed them from the Stolen Vehicle Department. House breaking, and vandalism figures were down generally. There was a report of general nuisance at the Tesco café, due to the apparent influx of young people using the facility. It was felt that a low profile should be adopted, with perhaps the community police making a frequent look in.
Area Plan – BK stated that it was important for all in the community to have their say in what should be in the area plan. Watch this space for further news.

8. COUNCILLOR MURRAY

Councillor Murray distributed copies of various letters that he had written to NLC regarding education matters. He was trying to establish numbers of parents receiving rejects for Primary and Nursery places. He also stated as regards this school, it was planned to extend the facility. It was against all policy to compel people to send their children to Eastfield or elsewhere for that matter.

9. A.O.C.B.

Landscaping opposite school – BK asked if anyone was aware of what was happening regarding the landscaping immediately across from the school. As no-one knew of what was happening, he promised to write to the Director of Planning and Environment to find out.
Hacking and Patersons – One attendee raised an issue whereby she and her partner were being taken to court for an unpaid bill of £88. The couple were in dispute as to whether the services charged for had been carried out, with H&P stating that they were the only people who had ever complained to them. Another person present volunteered their name as someone else who had complained to H&P, and AC agreed to provide the names of other complainants, and copies of our letters written to the factors recently. Councillor McCulloch’s surgery was another avenue that could be used.
Christmas sweets – There was a lot of sweets left over from the Christmas event. After discussion, it was agreed to distribute amongst the local schools.

AP5/5 BK

AP6/5 AC

10. DATES OF NEXT MEETINGS

The dates for the next meetings are as follows:

7.30 p.m., Thursday, 19 February 2004, at the new school.

7.30 p.m., Thursday, 18 March 2004, at the new school.