Minutes – 20 April 2011
North Kelvin Community Council Minutes
Wednesday 20 April 2011 at 6:30pm
St. Charles School
Present: Dave Beavan (DB) (Chair); Janet Andrews (JA); Gordon Barnes (GB) (Website); Peter Blackshaw (PB) (Secretary); Councillor Jim MacKechnie (JMacK); Jane Morgan (JM) (Planning Officer); Douglas Peacock (DP); Kate Wooding (KW) (Treasurer); Kirsty Davidson (KD) (Minute Secretary)
In attendance: PC Tracey Heaney (TH); PC Derek Niven (DN); Rosie O’Reilly, Aspire (RO’R); Alan Russell, Glasgow City Council (AR)
Apologies: Ken Andrew (KA) (Vice-Chair)
1. Minutes of previous meeting and matters arising
DB welcomed everyone and thanked KA for chairing the last meeting.
KW requested a minor change to the draft minutes. KW said it had actually been agreed that she would finalise the letter to the licensing board for discussion at the next meeting.
Action: JM to amend the draft minutes accordingly.
The minutes of the March meeting were approved, subject to the minor amendment, by PB and seconded by KW.
2. Police Report
PC Derek Niven (DN) explained the Canal Community Policing Team from Saracen now cover the North Kelvin area.
DN provided the crime figures for the period 20 March-20 April 2011. There were – 8 house break-ins; 5 bicycle thefts; 7 motor vehicle thefts; 6 cases of shoplifting; anti-social behaviour – 2 possessions of drugs; 5 cases of vandalism; 1 case of dog fouling; 2 cases of breach of the peace; 7 cases of common assault, mostly as a result of alcohol; serious – 1 attempted murder; 2 street robberies (both detected) and 1 sexual assault.
DN requested that the Community Council feedback on what information we are looking for from the meetings e.g. detections, trends, serious crimes. DN suggested coming up with three top priorities prior to each meeting.
Action: Community Council to let DN know what information we want from the Police at each meeting and what our top three priorities are for May’s meeting.
DN confirmed that Aspire and the Police have a useful relationship and work closely together.
3. Report from Aspire
Rosie O’Reilly (RO’R) said that she had nothing specific to report, she was just following on from Pauline Regan’s visit in January and representing Aspire. RO’R said a representative from Aspire would come every second meeting, DB suggested quarterly attendance might be better.
PB said he had not heard of any problems with Aspire residents from the local community or the shopkeepers on Queen Margaret Drive.
DB thanked RO’R for attending.
4. Councillor’s Report
JMacK reported some slippage to the completion of flats by Queens Cross Housing Association (QCHA) at Murano Street. The block of 32 flats facing onto Murano Street is finished and they aim to have the first block on Murano Crescent completed for occupation in June, with the rest completed by the end of the year.
JMacK said the development of 35 supported accommodation flats for the elderly at Hopehill Street aim to have the first occupiers in by July.
JMacK confirmed the final costs for solving the drainage problem at the old school site on Oban Drive were £911,000 and funding has been agreed. Scottish Water (SW) will pay £218,000 and Glasgow City Council (GCC) will pay £693,000. JMacK said there will be 48 properties for sale by the builder, McTaggart and if they make a profit, QCHA will get a cut. JMacK reported a site start date of no later than 2 May and confirmed the builders will be accessing the site from beside the fire station.
JMacK reported an ongoing flooding problem at Kelvin Beauty Rooms. Work will been done to raise the lowered curbs, but there is no simple solution to the problem. JMacK said he has arranged for the gullies to be emptied on a monthly basis. SW has investigated the sewer and it has a big enough capacity. JMacK said SW and GCC engineers plan to head to the site at the next downpour to see what happens.
JMacK said the plaque unveiling commemorating Lieutenant Jock Young had been a marvellous day with many people attending including the Lord Provost, a WWII veteran, the military attaché from the Indian Embassy and a representative from the Hillhead Former Soldiers Club. JMacK confirmed the inscription had now been picked out in black ink, but this will not last and will need to be redone occasionally. JMacK said it was hoped the plaque would become part of the City’s Heritage Trail.
PB reported that not all the gullies had been done on Oban Drive, when GCC came around recently. JMacK asked PB to email him a list and he would investigate.
Action: PB to email JMacK a list of addresses of where the gullies had not been cleaned.
5. Discussion in relation to the Meadow site and planning issues more generally
DB welcomed Alan Russell (AR) from GCC and thanked him for attending.
JM said there was two reasons why the Community Council had requested a representative from Development & Regeneration Services attend a meeting. Firstly, to better understand GCC’s objectives in selling the Clouston Street site and secondly, information and discussion on planning procedures in general.
AR said he would begin by going through the history of the Clouston Street site. The site was used as playing fields for two schools until it became surplus to requirements in 1993 and the Strathclyde Region tried to sell the site. In 1996 the site passed to GCC as surplus land. In 1999 a feasibility study was carried out for mixed-use. In 2002 there were plans for sports facilities and flats on the site (Compendium Park). In 2006 full planning application was withdrawn over issues surrounding noise levels.
AR said the present situation regarding the Clouston Street site was that New City Vision (NCV) had been chosen by GCC as the preferred developer. NCV’s pre-application report has been approved and GCC is currently awaiting a planning application, which is due soon, as missives have been concluded.
AR confirmed there is no common good on the Clouston Street site.
AR said GCC wants to increase the provision of football pitches across the city (2007 Pitches Strategy). North Kelvinside football pitches were identified as the site to compensate for the loss of the Clouston Street site.
AR reported that £1 million from the sale of the Clouston Street site would go towards the development of the North Kelvinside football pitches and the rest of the capital (£2.6 million) will come from GCC. JMacK confirmed this capital still exists.
AR said NCV’s development has 25/30% open space and they have tried to address the community e.g. providing raised beds. The development is low density for this part of Glasgow.
DP said there had been no planning consultation on the change of use between Compendium Park (mixed-use) and NCV (housing). AR said there was no Council obligation on the sale of land. AR stated that the City Plan was about planning applications not the sale of land and was an interpretation of various policies.
AR said Sport Scotland considers the land to be football pitches and the site sits within a wider designated area covered by the Residential Development Policy Principle.
GB said the site had been defined as Greenfield. AR said this was not a specific terminology used by GCC. KW said this was used in the Housing Land Audit, AR said this was not policy.
DP said he had received an email from an ex-board member of the Compendium Trust, who says they did not agree to the sale of the mixed-use site, JA disagrees. JMacK said there were approximately 10 members of the Compendium Trust and duties were delegated to a few members, who attended meetings over a six-year period. JMacK said it was with reluctance that the decision was taken to agree to the sale of the mixed-use site.
AR noted that during 2007 it would have been City Plan 1 that was being used rather than City Plan 2.
The discussion turned to planning applications in general and AR suggested asking Planning Aid for Scotland to attend a future meeting to advise us.
AR said when responding to planning applications deal with things that are appropriate to planning, as other legislations cover other issues e.g. noise.
AR explained that material considerations are things like – surrounding area, privacy, sun lighting/day lighting, planning history of site, amount of open space, design/appearance (guidance in City Plan), trees, environmental impact assessment and traffic impact assessment. AR explained that non-material considerations are things like – building standards (this is a building warrant concern, not planning), loss of value, view and competition.
AR said there are a series of tests regarding planning conditions. Is the proposal –
relevant, necessary, enforceable, precise and reasonable. AR explained the conditions are the fallback position, GCC prefers to consent to planning applications fully and outright rather than impose conditions. AR said that land management could be a condition, though they would expect a factoring agreement.
AR stated the rest of the proceeds from the sale of the Clouston Street site would go towards the Sports Pitch Strategy. JMacK said the Head of Finance had confirmed that £1.1 million would go towards the development of the North Kelvinside football pitches and the rest would go into the general capital fund. AR reported that on 28 April an update to the Sports Pitch Strategy would be presented and noted there was scope within the bid award for changes.
DB thanked AR for attending the meeting.
It was agreed to discuss the Clouston Street planning application at the relevant Community Council meeting and for it to be the only item on the agenda. It was also agreed that if the planning application were submitted outside the normal meeting schedule then a special meeting would be held to discuss the planning application.
6. AOCB
It was agreed that KW should go ahead and send her letter to the Licensing Board on behalf of the Community Council.
Action: KW to send letter to the Licensing Board.
It was agreed to discuss how to conduct Community Council business between meetings at the next meeting.
Action: PB to add ‘Discussion on how to conduct Community Council business between meetings’ to May’s agenda.
JA said she had received an email from GCC in response to her letter about bus lanes and they said they would pass her concerns to First Bus.
Action: JA to circulate the email from GCC to all Community Council members.
Next meeting: 18 May 2011 @ 6.30pm, St. Charles School
