North Kelvin Community Council Minutes

Wednesday 21 January 2009 at 6.30pm

St. Charles School

Present: Mark Adams (MA) (Chair); Janet Andrews (JA); Peter Blackshaw (PB) (Secretary); Dave Beavan (DB) (Website & Library); Kevin Edgar (KE) (Treasurer); Dorothy Gow (DG); Councillor Jim MacKechnie (JM); Kirsty Davidson (KD) (Minute Secretary)

In Attendance: Lisa Barnwell (LB)

Apologies: Eddie Devlin (ED); Liz Edgar (LE); Susie Hallas (SH)

Welcome

MA welcomed everyone to the first meeting of 2009. MA also welcomed LB to the meeting and explained that she had an interest in the plans for a Vodafone mast on Queen Margaret Drive. The Community Council had not objected to this proposal at a previous meeting.

Minutes of previous meeting and matters arising

PB said he had been reliably informed that the planned development of the Tesco store on Maryhill Road has been suspended.

The minutes of the previous meeting were approved by PB and seconded by DB.

Police Report

MA said he had not heard from PC Gerard Christie.

PB said ED has had a number of problems with vandalism to his car recently and every time he has reported this to the police he has been asked for numerous pieces of information e.g. name, age, if you are a British citizen etc. ED feels making a complaint is very off-putting.

Action: PB to write a letter to the Chief Superintendent at Maryhill expressing our views on the complaint procedure.

Councillor’s Report

Oban Drive

JM reported he had met with Queen’s Cross Housing Association at the beginning of December and they were confident they were able to manage in the current financial situation.

JM said the site start date is April 2009, but agreements from Scottish Water for drainage are still outstanding. Planning approval has been granted, but JM was not sure if a contractor had been employed. The breakdown for the 128 units is – 56 for rent, 24 shared equity and 48 for sale.

JM said Queen’s Cross Housing Association had been approached about buying the former Shell garage site, but they had turned this down, because they were financially committed at the moment.

Murano Street

JM reported the site start date is April 2009, if amendments to plans are approved. The builders have been appointed – Morris & Spottiswood. The breakdown for the 140 units is – 98 for rent and 42 shared equity.

Garscube Road

JM reported the site start date is May 2009 and planning approval has been granted. The breakdown for the 117 units is – 90 for rent and 27 shared equity.

Wilton Street

JM reported the Health and Safety Executive are in discussions with the Procurator Fiscal with regards to legal proceedings.

Mail Circulation

PB said he will monitor the mail situation over the next few months and if reports keep coming after the Community Council meetings, he will write to the Council about the circulation date.

St. Charles Church Closure Report

PB reported he had recently attended a meeting at St Charles Church, where it was clear they intend to close the church and split the congregation across two other churches. PB said he was concerned about what will happen to the building. JM said that the church is a ‘B’ listed building, so it is not impossible for it to get knocked down, but it would be very difficult.

MA said the Community Council can not do anything until the closure is definite, so we will have to keep an eye on planning to see what the Church decide.

Treasurer’s Report

KE said he had still not received an invoice from Queen’s Cross Housing Association.

MA suggested we spend the money in the account just now and do not move the bank account unless we have further problems, this was agreed.

DB passed KE an invoice for the website renewal, KE said he would bring the cheque to the next meeting.

Action: KE to bring the cheque book to all meetings.

Information – website

DB reported there were 673 page views in November, which is comparable with the previous month’s figures, but there were only 427 page views in December. DB said there was no real trend on where people are coming from when they access the website.

Action: DB to add the website to the Evening Times local community site.

Communications and correspondence

PB reported he had attended a meeting on 2 December to give community councils feedback on the parking restrictions consultation. As JM reported at the last meeting, the proposal was rejected in this area.

PB said the Community Council needs to submit annual accounts by 27 February 2009.

Action: KE to prepare the accounts for approval at the next meeting.

PB reported the new Canal Community Liaison Officer at the Waterways Trust is interested in attending a meeting to tell us about developments on the canal.

Action: PB to invite him to the March meeting.

AOCB

Marketing/Publicity

MA said he was waiting on a quote for 20 posters, which could be distributed in schools, churches etc. If this proves successful, then we can get A5 leaflets produced and put them through people’s doors.

Action: MA to circulate quote for approval before the next meeting.

MA suggested adding something to the website, to say the Community Council is able to issue grants to local groups and we are looking for applications.

Action: MA and DB to discuss further.

MA said he felt the Community Council should become more proactive and look into quality of life issues in the local area. He suggested an ‘agenda for action’. We pick an issue e.g. litter, graffiti, domestic uplift, bulk uplift, beggars and then take up that issue. JM suggested we should pick an issue that we stand a chance of winning.

Everyone was in agreement with the ‘agenda for action’ and it was agreed that graffiti would be an achievable issue. JM suggested inviting Glasgow Community Safety Services to a meeting.

Action: PB to invite Suzanne Macleod from Glasgow Community Safety Services to the next meeting.

MA said everyone should look out for graffiti locations, so we have a list for the next meeting.

Action: DB to set up Google Documents for the graffiti log and email everyone the details.

Vodafaone Mast, Queen Margaret Drive

LB reported the mast will be situated near the bus lane at the top of Queen Margaret Drive and the local residents of Oran Gate are going to write objecting to the location of the mast.

MA said the Community Council had already discussed this issue and can not object to the mast, but would suggest they consider locating it more sensitively e.g. next to the other masts on Maryhill Road.

Action: PB to write a letter to the Council making this suggestion.

MA thanked LB for coming to the meeting.

Next meeting – 18 February 2009 @ 6.30pm, St. Charles School