2. / Minutes and matters arising. / There was one matter arising from the Minutes and an addendum should be recorded. “David Allan proposed that the HCC grant £500 from funds to help underwrite the costs of the Glasgow School of Art Exhibition in the town from 21-23 July as the exhibition is being held under the auspices of the HCC.” The proposal was carried by a majority show of hands. / Minutes were agreed – proposed by Neil Drummond seconded by Stewart Noble
3. / Argyll Gathering / Argyll Gathering, 19th & 20th Aug on Rugby Club site:
James Windebank, organizer of this event and former local of Helensburgh attended the meeting to give more insight into the agenda, supported by the police planning department. It is a 2-day event, bigger than the real ale & gin event, concentrated on music on 2 stages. Late night buses have been organized to take guests back to Glasgow.
Clear statement on event website that camping is not desired; police teams will patrol through Duchess Woods and surroundings. The guest demographic is 30+ and family-orientated; majority are from the vicinity. Some guests from Scandinavia and London. James stated that he had volunteered for the Highland Games in the last 5 years to collect experience how an event like this in Helensburgh can be arranged as smooth as possible, with shuttle buses from the pier etc. Road closures to start as late as possible on Friday and stop as early as possible on Monday.
For any wild camping the Scottish rules of wild camping will have to be adhered to, if a farmer allows camping in his land, it cannot be prohibited and the rules of the farmer apply. At Loch Lomondside a byelaw is in place as it is the National Park, police officers are well used to dealing with wild camping there.
Event is planned for 3000 people per day. Ticket prices are, £45day/£80weekend, £35 for young folk, and under 12’s are free. All food and drink will be locally sourced from Argyll & Bute.
Alastair MacBeth, representing Helensburgh Green Belt group and Friends of Duchess Wood, stated he was now comforted to hear that all eventualities that could lead to any damage in Duchess Wood and other green belt land have been thoroughly thought of.
Parking: Discussion within HCC if it should be free of charge for the event, however Paula Dick, member of the public, stated that she would be happy to pay if a place was guaranteed. Ample car parking is available.
4. / Planning, Town Improvement and Members’ Input including members of the public / Planning. Persimmon Housing Development at Glenoran Road, 76 homes at Old Dobbies Site. This was the first time theArchitecture & Design Forum was deployed. The response was a twin approach, one about design, the other about community. A large report was produced by Nigel M.The 76 homes proposed was considered as serious overcrowding; housing design is desired that mirrors the community and allows development of a communal sense; and a 30m green corridor should be put in place not the 10m proposed. Photograph evidence was shown that Persimmons, when pushed, produced appealing designs elsewhere in the UK.
Town Improvement Group.
Beach Clean. The skip hire agreed by a quorum of the HCC out of committee had not been actioned as investigation was continuing into other means of clearing the beach.
Colquhoun Square. An investigation into the replanting of the shrub beds is continuing and funding will be sought for the purchase of suitable plants.
Grass Verges. A query was raised regarding the length of grass on Henry Bell Street. It is a continuing issue owing to the ownership of the verges concerned.
Food Festival Update: It is still proceeding under planning. The intention is to hopefully key it to the Argyll Gathering to run in parallel with the event. A video about the food festival has been posted on the facebook page.
Town Police Issues. 19 incidents from 27th of May to date, consisting of, housebreaking, dog offences, vandalism, theft in John Street, theft from Helensburgh sailing club, Winston Road 4-car accident, enquiries still ongoing.
Increased numbers of vehicles to be stopped over the summer as a campaign against drink driving and drug use. Police confirmed that the town centre CCTV system is still working properly (as queried by Stuart N).
Town Recycling:Christine W pointed out that herself and certainly other households are unsure about what to recycyle and what to look out for in regards to signage on recyclable items to get it right. We need to become more aware of recycling issues and the HCC should seek further information. Association for the Protection of Rural Scotland are apparently taking the matter forward, but not much known yet.Waste separation a law in Scotland for business, but Irina A pointed out that it was currently not enforced and therefore perhaps not fully followed. / A vote was called for to support the report produced by Planning as the official Community Council position on the planning application. It was agreed by a majority vote with one member opposed and one abstention.
5. / Youth Forum / Summer “Give” volunteering program, skill swap. Youth is meant to mix with older people, facebook skills swap against knitting skills (for example). 13th of July 10am to 3pm.
25th July “have your say” John T to attend to explain the role of the HCC and the vision for Helensburgh. 30 young people to attend, inter-generation event. John to assist with the vision for Helensburgh discussion on the day in absence of Peter who is on holidays.
Community Tea party to take place 21st of July, official invitations to come out shortly.
Next Beach Clean is 29th of July 10am to 12noon, 36 young people involved to help, clear bags to be used as a first trial for recyclables, however concerns are that often the plastics are too soiled to recycle. Council to provide grabbers etc and also gloves.
6. / Vision for Helensburgh (VfH) / Peter Bannounced that some questionnaires were filled in, others not, more info available after the summer, A&B Council want to see how their plans fit to the HCC plans for Vision Helensburgh, Health & Wellbeing funding could make a contribution as per Christine W.Will be discussed at next meeting end of August.
7. / HCC Website / As per Peter B the website is still a work in progress, and is currently being swapped over to a new operating system.
8. / Any Other Competent Business /
- Participation Request on roads infrastructure deadline for response is the 7th of July.
- Monday, 3rd July is the meeting about Out Of Hours GP service in the VOL hospital, taking place in the Parish church hall. Members of HCC pointed out that a stop to this service could even affect house prices, and with housing developments another 1200 people would be added to the town in 5 years.
- 19th of July: Meeting of the Mental Health Club. The NHS are buying a cottage for the club as a name for it is sought
Brief Report on Meeting with Chief Executive Argyll & Bute Council – Wednesday 21 May 2017
Present:
Argyll & Bute representatives; Cleland Sneddon, Pippa Milne, Stuart Green.
HCC representatives, Norman Muir, Peter Brown, Nigel Millar, Tariq Durrani.
The meeting was held at our request to establish a mutual understanding of our relative positions in our respective responsibilities. There was a wide-ranging, friendly discussion across a range of subjects. We stressed that we were a pro-active council and willing to be supportive of Argyll & Bute. We highlighted the substantive initiative programme we are undertaking and our engagement with the community on various beach cleans and volunteer work in Colquhoun Square. The Architecture and Design Forum, an initiative which is the first of its kind at the community level, was presented as a credible source of expertise to work in concert with Argyll & Bute on future planning objectives in housing and real estate projects.
We emphasised that we represent an invaluable source of public opinion which can be gained from our 20 community councillors spread throughout the town and that our statutory duty remains to co-ordinate and express the views of the community. This led onto a number of topics starting with;
Communication and Engagement. Some method of flagging up for public knowledge, information from the various committees down to the community council level is required using an alert notification process.
There has to be engagement between the local community and Argyll & Bute staff on matters of importance affecting the town.
A staff list was proposed to identify particular areas of expertise among AB staff who could be approached with queries but this was not supported. The use of the reporting system for faults was offered. All requests to A&BC are to go through their standard reporting system to ensure that they meet the right desk. HCC will track the responsiveness of this over a 6-month period.
Vision for Helensburgh. The intention to produce an action plan was supported and encouraged by Argyll & Bute.
John Logie Baird Centre. There was support and encouragement from Argyll & Bute for the development, accompanied by an offer of assistance to complete a business plan.
Festivals and Exhibitions. The food festival was outlined as another initiative and the School of Art Exhibition was another strand in gaining Helensburgh outside recognition.
Waterfront Project. There was energetic discussion on the topic. It was strongly emphasised that the community had to be involved as the detailed planning and execution phases of this project start to emerge. The lessons learnt from the CHORD project must be applied. The case for involvement at a suitable stage of the development has been registered and noted by Argyll & Bute.
Local Byelaws. Argyll & Bute agreed to look at the issue of introducing local byelaws in such areas as litter, dog fouling and the more recent subject of wild camping.
Summary. The meeting was conducted in a constructive and understanding fashion and there was a frank exchange of views. It did not seek decisions, but it aired considerations that had to be taken account of, in our respective mutual aim to make Helensburgh a better place with good support services and a robust and well-maintained infrastructure.