Topic

Minute

Decision / Action

1. Welcome

The Chair welcomed the members, and our speakers.

2. Minutes of Previous Meeting

The minutes of the meeting of 30^th November were considered and it was noted that in Items 1 and 3 the person’s name should be Horrell and the organisation the Helensburgh Garelochside Rotary; in Item 2 to the text of the 3^rd  bullet point should be added Those relating to the Golf Club and Toyota were the most numerous. Those advanced by Helensburgh community groups, such as HCC, were generally well founded and some have resulted to changes in the plan; in Item 2 in the 12^th bullet point, has should read have; and in Item 2, 13^th bullet point, insert a full stop after East Clyde Street School, delete Hermitage Academy and insert before Golf Club site Other objections concerned. Moved by Richard Trail and seconded by Alastair Macbeth.

It was agreed that the minutes as adjusted represented a fair record of the meeting.

3. Finance

It was reported that there the bank balance stands at £1,678 with some expenditure in connection with the Remembrance Day parade still to come.

The position was noted.

4. Resolution

The following resolution was moved by Stewart Noble:-

That Helensburgh Community Council petition the Scottish Parliament to introduce a system of charges on cars going to shopping centres and supermarkets which are located outside of town centres.

A number of different points were made in  discussion and the Motion was then put to the vote.

It was agreed by a substantial majority not to approve the resolution.

5. Town Issues

It was reported that a planning application had been submitted for 150 houses at the present Hermitage Academy site. The aspects of suitability of design were identified as being beyond the knowledge of the Planning Group. There is also a traffic order in process of being promoted for the part of Craigendoran affected by the proposed development

6. Helensburgh Partnership

The Chair welcomed Derek Anderson Chief Executive of the Helensburgh Partnership who talked about it. He made a number of points.

• He thinks that it is important that he goes out and meets organisations.
• His background is that of a Chartered Surveyor in the commercial property field.
• The Partnership is funded by Argyll and Bute Council and Scottish Enterprise Dumbarton and has representatives from Helensburgh Community Council, the Chamber of Commerce and the Retailers’ Association.
• The Partnership is concerned with the physical and economic regeneration of the town centre and waterfront, which must impinge of necessity on other parts of the town, particularly on the proposed industrial area at the east end.
• The emphasis will be in private sector involvement, but the public sector has a crucial role.
• The funding available to the Partnership will be concentrated on the procurement of relevant studies, key research needed now,  to assist ion the starting of projects.
• Studies envisaged initially include traffic management and parking; retail assessment and strategy. These should be available after February when they will be available for comments.

6. Helensburgh Partnership (cont’d)

There then followed a series of question-and-answers in which a number of points emerged.

• Helensburgh is different from most areas of regeneration, as it does not suffer from high unemployment or industrial decline.
• A general framework of proposals will be developed and thereafter each site will be considered in greater detail.
• The question of the land ownership at the pierhead will go to the Court of Session in 2007 and may take about a year or more to resolve. However, it is thought that, if the verdict is not in favour of Luss Estates, it will be appealed.
• Considerable work has been carried out on the retail trade in the past. However, these data may well be now out of date.
• A future study which may be promoted by the Partnership may be into the potential for the leisure market.
• Another future study may be into the development of flatted residential property to take advantage of the height which is available above single storey properties.

The Chair thanked Derek Anderson for his contribution.

7. Alan Reid MP

The Chair welcomed our MP Alan Reid who talked briefly before a question-and-answer session. He made  a number of points :

• Helensburgh is the largest community within his constituency.
• Supermarkets on the fringes of communities is a topic of interest throughout the UK.
• There is an ongoing review of British naval bases. The indications at this time are that Faslane will be maintained.
• The Liberal Party consider a replacement for Trident is premature. The initial decision should be to extend the live of the existing system so  such a decision need not need to be taken until about 2012-14.
• The review of post offices suggest that about 1 in 6 will be closed. The specification for need calls for 95% of the population of a town of more than 10,000 people to be within 1 mile of an office. This would suggest that Helensburgh would not loose any.
• The work of an MP in Scotland is now, since devolution, much more about personal aspects of people’s lives.

7. Alan Reid MP (cont’d)

• There are proposals in the Marine Bill 2008 that the foreshore between high and low water should be transferred from the Crown Estate to local authorities.
• The latest ideas in health care call for the majority of treatment to be provided locally.
• We will only know the success or otherwise of the PFI concept towards the ends of the contracts.

8. Local Plan – Business Site

The zoning proposed in the local plan for the business  site at the east end of town has varied over the years.

·         In 2000 it was to be 10 ha (gross).

·         In 2002 2ha as per the draft local plan at that stage— 3 ha proposed by HCC.

·         In 2004 14ha (gross)

·         In 2005 3.6 ha.

·         In 2006 6.8 ha (gross).

The terms gross and net have been introduced. Gross means the whole of the site, while net means the area of the site available for use after constraints are considered, eg topography, landscaping, etc.

Four local groups and four individuals have submitted objections. If all of these are not withdrawn then the matter will have to be resolved by the Public Local Enquiry which is not due to report until August 2008.

Helensburgh Community Council has taken on board the task of bringing all the objectors together with a view to resolving the objections and thus allowing the area to be used before the Reporter publishes his findings.

The next meeting of the Statutory Plans Group will be on 5^th January at 10.30 hors in Room 1 of the Victoria Halls.

It was agreed to remit to the Statutory Plans Group the task of resolving their objections by consensus. If consensus could not be reached then the matter would be brought to the whole Community Council for a decision.

It was agreed that the HCC Executive and the Statutory Plans Group would together consider how to engage the various groups and individuals.

9. Next Meeting

The next full meeting will be held on Thursday 25^th January 2007 at 19.00 in the Victoria Halls.