Minutes – 17 November 2010

North Kelvin Community Council Minutes
Wednesday 17 November 2010 at 6:30pm
St. Charles School

Present: Dave Beavan (DB) (Chair); Janet Andrews (JA); Ken Andrew (KA) (Vice-Chair); Peter Blackshaw (PB) (Secretary); Councillor Jim MacKechnie (JMacK); Jane Morgan (JM) (Planning Officer); Kate Wooding (KW) (Treasurer); Kirsty Davidson (KD) (Minute Secretary)

In attendance: PC Fiona Brown (FB); PC Ross Whyte (RW)

Apologies: Gordon Barnes (GB) (Website); Kevin Edgar (KE); Liz Edgar (LE); Susie Hallas (SH); Douglas Peacock (DP)

1.     Minutes of previous meeting and matters arising

DB welcomed everyone to the last meeting of the year.

PB noted a minor correction on page one of the previous minutes. It was a burnt out motorbike in the River Kelvin near Belmont Street, rather than a car. The minutes of the October meeting were approved by PB and seconded by JM.

2.     Police Report

PC Ross Whyte (RW) reported that at the end of October changes were made to the Community Policing Team (CPT). The CPT is now larger, so response times will be quicker and there are more vehicles available. They cover a bigger area, but more officers are based at Maryhill Street, so are closer to the areas they work in.

RW provided the crime figures for last month. There were – 21 thefts (1 detection), 8 house break-ins (no detections), 3 assaults (1 detection – domestic assault), 3 breach of the peace (all detected), 2 cases of street drinking (both detected), 3 drug offences (all detected) and 10 cases of vandalism (1 detection).

PB reported an increase in car vandalism on Oban Drive and suspected students. RW said he would see if PC Fraser Reid (FR) could go and speak to the students again.

Action: RW to see whether the students can be given another talk on behaving in the local community.

PB also reported that the burnt out motorbike was still in the River Kelvin. RW said he would investigate.

Action: RW to investigate removing the burnt out motorbike.

3.     Councillor’s Report

JMacK said he had noticed an improvement in recent months of Police attendance at Community Council meetings. RW said there had been an agreement that officers patrolling in an area will attend the relevant meeting.

JMacK noted there had been a planning request for an ATM and illuminated sign for the site at the bottom of Oban Drive, where Tesco is going to have two of the three shop units.

JMacK reported that the barrier at the top of Firhill Road had been demolished and there was currently a temporary structure in place. A new permanent barrier will be installed in due course.

JMacK reported that work had started on the junction between Queen Margaret Drive and Maryhill Road. JMacK said he thought they were doing a reasonable job and that it was subsidence, not just potholes.

JMacK said no work has been going on at the excavation of the canal basin for a long time and it was not clear who had been working on the site. JMacK said he had asked for an investigation to be carried out.

JMacK reported that graffiti had been removed twice from the 60 Steps, which is disturbing, as it is listed. JMacK said the 60 Steps Preservation Trust are planning to put a notice board up at the top of the steps to keep the local community updated on developments.

JMacK said a building warrant was in place for demolishing the property at 5 Kelvinside East. However, rebuilding was not part of the original consent, but the builder has challenged the need for consent, as it is not a material variation. The builder has been told to submit plans and cease work, though he has been allowed to install drainage. The agent has requested planning application papers and they have 28 days to get these in. JMacK said there might be an issue over height and materials and said there needs to be at least three objections for the decision not to be made solely by officers.

JA mentioned the Hilltop Group, which has recently been established and has both a knitting group and a reading group. It was agreed they should be invited to a Community Council meeting.

Action: JA to find contact details for the group, so PB can invite them to a meeting.

KW suggested starting a list of local community groups for help with clean-ups etc and said she was happy to make a start on this. KD suggested using Google Docs, so that everyone can contribute.

Action: KW to start compiling a list of local community groups.

4.     NKCC Membership

DB informed everyone that Karen Chung (KC) has resigned as a member of the Community Council. DB said this means there are three places available on the Community Council.  DB said he would make contact with Moira Christie (MC) and Martin Venherm (MV) to see if they were still interested.

Action: DB to contact MC and MV about the vacancies.

JM said KC was the Community Council representative on the Canal Area Committee and while she is the substitute, she can only go occasionally. JMacK confirmed the next meeting is on 17 January 2011, JM said she might be able to make that date. Unfortunately meetings during the week do not suit anyone else’s availability, DB said the problem cannot be solved immediately. JM said she would notify the Canal Area Committee to remove KC as the Community Council contact.

Action: JM to notify the Canal Area Committee to remove KC as the contact.

5.     Planning Officer’s Report

JM said there was nothing of note on the planning lists, just the two requests by Tesco, as mentioned earlier by JMacK.

JM reported there was still no pre-application paper for the meadow development. JM said she had become aware of a Scottish Government mediation pilot and thought this might be useful. It was felt some sort of facilitation at the ideas gathering public event would be useful, to get the best outcome from the process. It was agreed that JM should make an exploratory approach on what the pilot would involve.

Action: JM to find out more details about the mediation pilot.

6.     Information – website

DB said there was no website update as GB was unable to attend, but he would ask GB to circulate the link to the new website before Christmas.

Action: DB to ask GB to circulate the link to the new website.

DB said he would speak to GB and see if he was still able to continue working on the new website, as the old website is now very out of date. KW suggested paying someone to help update the website.

Action: DB to find out if GB still wants to continue working on the new website.

7.     Treasurer’s Report

KW reported the account balance is now £1,327.17.

DB said the website domain name was still under his name, as it is cumbersome to change and the bill will come out in November/December.

It was agreed that PB should write a letter to the Community Council Resource Centre to request a formal change to the name of the Community Council.

Action: PB to request a formal change to the name of the Community Council.

8.     Correspondence

PB reported the Annual National Conference of the Association of Scottish Community Councils (ASCC) was taking place on 20 November, KW agreed to attend.

PB said there was a request for a new alcohol licence on Maryhill Road. It was felt there were not many shops selling in the area.

PB noted that HMO renewals are coming too late for us to respond. JA suggested putting them on the website to inform the local community and for us as a Community Council to make comments/objections in time.

PB said the West End Festival want Community Councils to take out membership or take a place on the board and a meeting is being held in the Grosvenor Hilton, DB agreed to attend.

9.     AOCB

There was no other competent business.

Next meeting: 19 January 2011 @ 6.30pm, St. Charles School