HELENSBURGH COMMUNITY COUNCIL...
Minutes of the Helensburgh Community Council Meeting
Thursday 22nd December 2005
Present: David Sinclair, Maggie Sheen, Alastair Macbeth, Clare Greig, Sonja Aitken, Marion Gillies, Catriona Malan, John Croy. Cllr Ellen Morton, Al Reay.
In the chair Nigel Millar
1. Apologies
Stewart Noble, Kathleen Siddle, Jim Gorie, Jim Milligan
2. Public Session
Cllr Ellen Morton advised that a new noticeboard should be fitted on to the Municipal Buildings by the end of February. The poor state of the existing board had been brought to her attention by Stewart Noble. The new board would be in timber as it was unlikely that aluminium would be approved for use on the old building.
Cllr Morton advised that the Water Panel would be holding their meeting in Helensburgh on January 25th in the Marriage Room. The Water Panel is an interface between Scottish Water and the public.
3. Town Issues
3.1 Ardencaple woods
Cllr Reay advised that a meeting of the Public Service and Licence committee would be held. It will have a private site visit before the meeting itself at which the public will be able to attend to listen to the debate.
3.2 NHS boundary changes
Nigel reported on the visit to the town by the Health Minister to meet with representatives of the community, including himself and Marion. The decision has now been taken and Helensburgh's health services will be administered by NHS Highland from April 2006. While it is not in accord with the expressed wishes of the town’s people, there is reason to hope that access to hospitals north of the Clyde will become easier within 2 years.
The Health Minister has written to the chairman to advise of arrangements to improve public transport access to the RAH, starting from Dumbarton. A contract for a dedicated bus service is out to tender. In discussion serious doubts were expressed as to the level of demand.
3.3 Staircase in Coop car park
Cllr’s Reay and Morton advised on their own efforts at prodding the Coop to take effective action to keep the staircase clean. Letters had not been answered. The Coop state that they have a weekly rota to clean the staircase and Sonja confirmed that she had seen this being carried out. However the problem remained that for most of the time the stairs were dirty and unpleasant.
Cllr Morton noted that the Drill hall on East Princes St. had been demolished. In the short term the site would be levelled and used for parking council vehicles. The long term development of the site would be considered in the context of the plans for the improvements of the whole of the east town centre.
4. Web site
Nigel gave a demonstration of the new web site, which is being developed by David Whyte. The members were impressed by what they saw.
Some comments were made to improve the display and these would be conveyed back to David.
The question of what personal details of members should be published on the web was discussed. It was agreed that individual members would be asked to indicate what personal details they would be comfortable to have published . The Argyll & Bute Council officer in charge of the ABC web site would also be consulted.
5. By-Elections
Text Box: ExecThe Executive have the opinion that we need more members on the Council and that be-elections should be held in wards where vacancies still exist. The new constitution requires that by-elections should be held every 12 months. It was agreed that elections should be held in March. The executive is to come back with proposals on the mechanics of organising the elections by the next meeting.
6. Letterheads
Text Box: ExecNigel proposed that a consistent style of letterheads should be used on all correspondence from the HCC. This was agreed, and Nigel will bring 3 samples to the next meeting and a final choice made.
7. Statutory Plans Sub Group
Alastair Macbeth tabled a record of the meeting of the sub group last month. They are arranging to meet with the officers of ABC to discuss the Finalised Draft Local Plan, in late January. Further information was required on the projections on future housing requirements in the area.
Alastair advised that a report on the consultation about the white paper Modernising the Planning System has just been published. The group have not had an opportunity to assess the Bill which has also just been published.
8. Correspondence
NMABC are conducting a review of their transport strategy for the Argyll & Bute area, and they invite our comments. The chair agreed to contact Steven Mckenzie to retrieve some work on local transport that had been done earlier.
Cllr Morton forcibly expressed her concerns about the changes made to the timetable of the rail services to Glasgow. These had been introduced without any consultation of outside bodies.
NMLetters have been received in reply to the motion passed at the last meeting on the composition of the Strategy and Policy Committee of ABC. The chairman will respond to the one from Alan Macaskill, leader of the council.
9. Minutes of Last Meeting
Alastair Macbeth asked that the final paragraph of item 4 be changed to the effect that the Statutory Plans sub group will investigate the golf club’s plans further, but not to respond to them.
The chairman tabled a fuller record of the Golf club’s presentation and subsequent discussion.
The amended minutes were approved.
10. Treasurer
The chairman advised that the Treasurer’s report showed that the funds stood at £1,694.
Date of next meeting is 26th January 2006.
