Tweedbank Community Council
Minutes of the meeting held at 7.30pm in Tweedbank community Centre on 9th March 2011
Present : Councillors Bramhall; Buchan; Cavaroli; Clayton; Lowther; Paul; Thomson; Waterson.
Regional Councillor : Nicholas Watson.
Apologies : Councillors Simmons; Torrance. Regional Councillor : John Peyton-Day.
Community Police Office: Duncan Begg. Press Representative: Ally MCGillvray.
The minutes of the previous meeting were approved – proposed by Mike Clayton seconded by Alastair Paul. Vivien Lowther was thanked for preparing the last two months minutes.
Police Report:
Performance : the following formed the basis of the police report, indicating a low level of crime and community issues.
Crime figs for period 01/02/2011 – 28/02/2011
6 crime reported - 4 crimes solved
Community Issues
13/02/11 - Complaint of loud music in Tweedbank Avenue. Police attended, occupier
seen and warned
14/02/11 - Male detained and subsequently cautioned and charged to appear at Court
with regards to possession of drugs.
24/02/11 - During the day 2 x child’s go-karts were stolen whilst left insecure in
Honeylees Drive. One go-kart has been recovered nearby.
06/03/11 - Report of loud music received coming from Weavers Linn. Occupants
spoken to and music turned down.
Duncan Begg indicated that there was a wish from his superiors that the community should consider resurrecting the Neighbourhood watch scheme and briefly outline what was involved but details of the scheme can be found on the Internet. Councillors were in favour of the idea and agreed to keep it under review and possibly circulate the village with the outline of what is involved and the advantages of such a scheme for the area.
The presence of a trailer parked opposite the entrance to the Ag. & Fish building in Cotgreen Road was drawn to the attention of PC Begg.
Treasurer’s Report
Mike Clayton reported that the current balance in the ordinary account was £4128.98 – this was high due to grant for the Community Centre sound system being paid into this account. This would soon be paid out again when the invoice is received. The TCC were acting for the Community Centre in this matter.
The Project fund was standing at £1133.65p. The project of providing wooden planters for the school was current and now that the school alterations were complete the secretary was instructed to contact Daniel Pulman of the Schools Council to push the project foward.
The treasurer would be attending a training course for Community Council treasurers.
Matters Arising
1)Road Safety : To date there had been no feedback from SBC on road safety measures for Tweedbank Drive. Comment was passed that there were still speeding vehicles entering and leaving the village, particularly in coming vehicles from Abbotsford Roundabout.
A short discussion took place on the matter as the matter seemed to be taken time to implement any safety measures. It was also suggested that the railway may be influencing progress.
It was reported that the secretary had attended an the Wider Access Forum at the SBC headquarters and at question time asked if the regions access officers had sight of the proposed alterations to the footpath network linked into the old railway track. The railway group had not discussed the matter and again was influenced by the project going to the two consortiums bidding for the work.
The delay in road safety measures and footpath diversions was tied up with the railway project.
Secretary asked to get in touch with Jonathan Hepton regarding these two matters.
2)Bus Stops Galafoot Bridge: concern was expressed to the meeting about the danger from fast moving traffic on residents using these bus stops. Secretary instructed to E-mail BEAR regarding this matter. Secretary report that this issue had been rumbling on for a few years and was essentially a Scottish Office matter. Nicholas Watson requested any information on the matter from the TCC files.
3)Sports Facilities :noted that TCC’s comments had been passed to SBC but no feedback had been received. Councillors still strongly of the opinion that Tweedbank should not lose any facilities and that the playing fields should not be sold off for housing.
4)Allotments :a report from Jason Hedley is still awaited. Several members commented on the work done in Walkerburn in providing allotments. There still appeared to be a growing interest within Tweedbank.
5)Domestic Rubbish Cotgreen Road : reported that the residents were being written to by SBC regarding the matter as it is now becoming unsightly. A request was made that Gunknwe Bank residents should also be circulated.
6)Pot Holes : noted this is an on-going problem in the region particularly after two bad winters. However, it was noted that the Abbotsferry Road problem was one of long standing and the patching work did not cure the problem. TCC minutes reflect that the matter was raised a number of times out with the winter period. Nicholas Watson noted the concerns.
7)Roadside Work Tweedbank Drive – a question was asked about the nature of the work in Tweedbank in early March as it appeared that it was in connection with the telephone cabling system. Members wondered if the village would benefit from this with a faster broad band. Nicholas Watson indicated he would find out and report.
8)First Bus Problem : it was reported that on 9th March the 15.15hrs 361 bus from Galashiels Academy to Tweedbank failed to stop for pupils request the central village bus stop. Parents were concerned that they were carried on to the Jura Drive stop and also that the driver had been abusive ( swearing).
One councillor reported that this had happened before and First had been contacted at that time. It was also reported that there had been continual ringing of the bell by older pupils but members felt that there was a child protection issue for younger pupils and parents had every right to voice their concern. The secretary was requested to write to First at Falkirk.
9)Landscape Maintenance within Tweedbank : complaints had been raised about the methods currently being employed within the village. It was reported that a mature cherry tree had been felled in Gunknowe Park and the wood from this shredded and spread on the area of ground where the Community Council planted Bluebells in early 2010. There did not appear to be any reason for felling this tree and no explanation why the action was necessary. The shredded wood isssue had been drawn to the attention of Jason Hedley and he subsequently acknowledged that the Parks Dept. would have to think again about this practice. Jason Hedley arranged to have the wood deposits blown off the area.
A similar situation involving shredded wood was reported by a resident as taking place on the old railway and that SBC Parks was responsible. It was also reported that small trees, saplings and roses had also been cut back along the railway and the cut material simply left at the side of the black path creating something that detracted from the appearance of the place.
It was also reported that a tree had been cut down in Abbotslea and saplings cut to the ground and dumped beside the path adjacent to the old ruins at Lochend. Another member reported tree trunks being left at the end of Blakehope Court and children were rolling them over a banking with the potential for injury to take place.
Concern was also expressed that some of the bushes heavily pruned in 2009/2010 winter had not recovered and where there had been recovery the growth was extremely slow .
The chairman then produced an E-mail that had just been received from Jason Hedley advising of the felling of some 50 trees to be started imminently. This was accompanied with a technical report with the trees identified by tags and the species with Latin names. The species of tree could not be identified by the lay people on the community council and felt that the report should have been in terms that the councillors could understand. Councillors were obviously concerned about the matter as they felt there the programme would have a serious affect on the asthetics of Tweedbank particularly around the loch, the centre of the village, where a number of the poplar trees would come down. There was concern about the effect on the wildlife of the area as the breeding season had commenced.
There then followed a discussion on the whole matter of landscape maintenance with Nicholas Watson taking note of the concerns in relation to work practice and the severity of maintenance work and contributed to the discussion where appropriate. Nicholas Watson also indicated that he was in the dark about some of the maintenance carried out and of that now being proposed.
It was noted that Councillor Parker had indicated he would be attending and the chairman felt that he would and would be in a position to comment as he had been on site with his secretary along a tree specialist. However, Mr.Parker did not attend. Therefore there was no one from SBC able to answer the concerns directly.
The next meeting of Council will be on 13th April 2011 at 7.30pm in the Community Centre.