Community Council Minutes 23/10/2003

AGENDA ITEM AND CONTENT

ACTION POINTS

INTRODUCTIONS

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

Welcome was extended to all attendees. Apart from the committee, it was noted that there were 16 attendees at this meeting.

2. APOLOGIES

Apologies were received from Mike Ogden, who was attending a JAG meeting.

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 same.

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

4. TREASURER’S REPORT

JT presented the Treasurers Report as detailed below.

Bank Account

Opening Balance £891.70

Cheque No 008 (1 year website fee) -£96.20

Closing Balance £795.50

Petty Cash

Opening Balance £48.58

9 Oct – Postage -£14.00

23 Oct – Fence Paint -£10.35

Closing Balance £24.23

Grant application had been made to NLC for £500, for the planned Christmas event

5. MATTERS ARISING FROM PREVIOUS MINUTES

AP9/2 Path at Craigmarloch Lodge – A letter has been received indicating that it will 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 – AC trying to establish number of people interested / on any waiting list. It was felt that interested parties could register their names on the Website. There were about 10 people now interested- ongoing 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 – To establish the opinion of residents regarding this. Article to be included in next Newsletter. – ongoing AC.

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.

AP4/1 Neighbourhood Watch – Police invited to this meeting to give us guidance. See Section 8 - discharged.

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:

O2’s Communication equipment at the golf course – this has now been removed.
Letter from Dr Moffat re A80 upgrade – This excellent letter to be entered on Website.
JAG – Public meeting presently taking place, which is being attended by MO and Councillor Murray.
Water Board Info – Various literature to hand.
Kilsyth farmers market – details of this forthcoming event.
Blue recycling bins – these are available on request from Alex Maclaren on 01698 302043.
Anti-social behaviour – Letter from Paul McKenzie of North Ayr Community Council on above emotive topic. He is contacting all Community Councils in Scotland.

7. COMMUNITY COUNCIL MEMBERS FEEDBACK

Website - SC advised that the CCC Website had now moved to a new host, with a capacity of 500M/byte (50 times larger than previous).
Community Council Forum – AM, the forum secretary, reported that there were now 9 Community Councils represented at the forum. The special meeting on Education had taken place and a promise of a root and branch report was given by those in power. Another meeting is planned for 27^th November, and hopefully we will find out where we are with the report. There also is being considered a "drop-off" area at the rear of the school, for children arriving in vehicles.

We were advised by AM that as the proposed North Area Committee was to be composed of representatives from a wide range of different community groups, tenants groups, disabled groups, etc (including Community Councils). It raised the question as to whether the Community Council needs were best served via the present Community Council Forum, or whether we should be represented on the North Area Committee instead, or both. After some debate and a vote, it was decided to continue with the Community Council Forum, and provide the necessary representation and link from this forum, into the North Area Committee, should it go ahead. The next meeting is on 11^th November.

JAG / A80 - MO was attending a JAG meeting, so watch this space for more news.

Crime Prevention Panel - JB gave a report back. Anne Marie Stobbo was to give advice to the council re Neighbourhood Watch schemes (see section 8 below). Although there were positive news regarding solving crime in the area, there were bogus workmen about, so all to be on the lookout. Also to be aware of the sale of replicas in shops, as this is not illegal. For insurance purposes it was a good idea to have a record or CD containing an inventory of valuables and household items. On the subject of house alarms for older people, 20 have been ordered @ £120 each. There was to be a public meeting on vandalism.
Town Park – JT reported back on the "walk through the Town Park" which was led by a Conservation Officer from Palacerigg. The event was not very well advertised or attended, but was still much enjoyed by those present. Apart from walking the patch, activities including planting bluebells and snowdrops, near Eastfield Cemetery, and building bird boxes and hibernation boxes.

8. COMMUNITY POLICE

We received our first visit from Constables Willie Sampson and Shad Scott, our community policemen, who were warmly welcomed by the chair.

The policemen had 36 years of combined service, and enjoyed their present duties which covered the community areas of Cumbernauld village, Westerwood, Carrickstone, Craigmarloch, and Dullatur. They work a shift pattern that includes late and early shifts, which does not include Sundays. They have a certain amount of flexibility to change their hours to suit work commitments, but obviously cannot be on duty 24 hours per day. Whilst off duty, the areas are covered by normal patrol vehicles.

Judging by crime incidence reporting, Craigmarloch was a good area to live, and it was their intention to do all they could to keep it that way. From their point of view there were some areas that they were presently monitoring closely, including stone throwing at the pond area, the Tesco tunnel and drinking by youths, firework sales to under 18 year olds. Visits to the youth club were a regular feature, as was giving advice to residents on home security. With the lack of activities in the local area for young people, they mentioned the positive work done by regeneration forums such as at Abronhill, and the availability of grants for various projects including youth development.

Shad and Willie were thanked for their attendance (given in their own time), and for their ongoing work in the area. They were welcome at any time to our meetings, should they require the opportunity to communicate anything to the community.

Neighbourhood Watch

Next the chair welcomed Constable Anne Marie Stobbo, our Crime Prevention Officer, who kindly came to give us some advice on Neighbourhood Watch schemes.

Neighbourhood Watch is an initiative which involves community participation, where residents and local police officers co-operate in a joint venture, aimed at decreasing the opportunities for crime in a neighbourhood. The scheme usually has a co-ordinator, who acts as the focal point for both residents and the police. Depending on the size of scheme, there could be a number of group co-ordinators or street co-ordinators, covering say a number of houses each.

In order to establish a community’s interest in supporting a Neighbourhood Watch scheme, a letter and short questionnaire should be distributed to households in the area, asking if they would like to participate. It is recommended that at least 40% of the households in an area should indicate a willingness to participate, for the scheme to be viable. Sample questionnaires, and supporting literature were made available by Anne Marie, who also indicated that further assistance would be available from herself and also N.L.N.C.V.S. (North Lanarkshire North Council For Voluntary Services).

The chair thanked Anne Marie for her information and attendance, and said that we would read the material and discuss the matter further, before deciding on the way ahead.

AP1/2 All

9. COUNCILLOR McCULLOCH

On the ongoing issue of factoring and landscaping, Councillor McCulloch indicated that he would give assistance to any group of residents who wished to form an action group. He could be contacted at his surgery.

Getting the local authority to take over responsibility, was the best solution.

10. COUNCILLOR MURRAY

Councillor Murray attended for the latter part of the meeting, as he had been attending another meeting. He made a couple of points. He referred the council to the report in the Cumbernauld News re funding. He also indicated that in his opinion it would be beneficial for the council to be represented on the North Area Committee.

11. A.O.C.B.

Hacking and Patersons – Letter received by Glen Sannox residents in relation to the fact that the factor intended to erect a sign at the play park, indicating that it was only children aged 4 and under that were allowed to play there. Also there was to be no ball games. The fact that there was a climbing frame used predominantly by over 4’s made little sense of this initiative. AC agreed to write to H&P asking them to defer any action until there was time to canvass opinion of the local residents, and to invite them to our January meeting. She would also write to NLC to try to ascertain the legal position with this intention.
Pond Fence Painting – JT intimated that the paint was now to hand, and volunteers should meet on Saturday next at 11.00am, to undertake.
Christmas Event – The date for this was set at 20^th December 4.00pm onwards. The aim would be to have a "float" with Santa, music etc, and deliver a card to each home, plus small gift for each child.
Annual General Meeting – the date for this is set as 20^th November 2003.

AP2/2 AC

12. DATE OF NEXT MEETING

The dates for the next meetings are as follows:

7.30 p.m., Thursday, 20 November 2003, (A.G.M), at the new school.

7.30 p.m., Thursday, 18 December 2003, at the new school.

( A date for your diary, is that which is planned for the Christmas Event - Saturday 20^th December 2003)