Minutes – 16 February 2011
North Kelvin Community Council Minutes
Wednesday 16 February 2011 at 6:30pm
St. Charles School
Present: Dave Beavan (DB) (Chair); Janet Andrews (JA); Ken Andrew (KA) (Vice-Chair); Gordon Barnes (GB) (Website); Peter Blackshaw (PB) (Secretary); Councillor Jim MacKechnie (JMacK); Councillor Kieran Wild (KWi); Kate Wooding (KW) (Treasurer); Kirsty Davidson (KD) (Minute Secretary)
Apologies: Susie Hallas (SH); Jane Morgan (JM) (Planning Officer); Douglas Peacock (DP)
1. Minutes of previous meeting and matters arising
DB welcomed everyone to the meeting and said it was good to see KWi again.
JA said she had been unable to open the agenda. KA suggested PB forward the agenda to him and he would re-circulate it to everyone in a format they can open.
Action: PB to send future agendas to KA for formatting and recirculation.
The minutes of the January meeting were approved by KA and seconded by GB.
2. Councillor’s Report
JMacK said he had attended New City Vision’s drop in session on Saturday (12 February) and there had been some interesting changes since the Ideas Day on 14 January. JMacK reported that the green space had been repositioned and the amount of green space has been increased from 20% to 32%. Though as a result of this change there has been a slight increase in the height of the flats facing Sanda Street.
JMacK reported that letters had been distributed regarding the one-way system around St. Charles’s School and the responses were currently being collated.
JMacK said engineers had been asked to look at the condition of the 60 Steps and as a result approximately £10,000 worth of work would be carried out in the near future. This work is conservation rather than restoration, which is the long-term goal.
GB suggested that the Community Council should make contact with the 60 Steps Preservation Trust. DB said he had met some members while manning the West End Festival stall and asked them to make contact with the Community Council, which was not followed up.
JMacK suggested it might be nice, as a note of goodwill for the Community Council to make a donation to the 60 Steps Preservation Trust. DB suggested inviting them to a meeting.
Action: DB to contact the 60 Steps Preservation Trust and invite them to a future Community Council meeting.
JMacK reported that Glasgow City Council (GCC) passed the budget, more or less as he had reported at the last meeting.
JMacK confirmed that the lighting on Clouston Street would be a lighting renewal programme rather than just a repainting job and that this job had been accelerated. DB asked what type of lamp standards would be installed, as this area will soon be part of the conservation area. JMacK said he would ask the question.
Action: JMacK to confirm what type of lamp standards will be installed on Clouston Street.
JMacK reported that no agreement could be reached with all the residents of 7 Jedburgh Gardens for a plaque to be installed on the wall, commemorating Lieutenant Jock Young. However, a chiseled granite slab will be installed in the footpath instead. JMacK said GCC plans to hold a formal ceremony on 30 March (the day before he died in the Battle of Kohima in 1944) and there will be a PR launch a few days before the event. KA suggested putting something on the website after the event.
KWi said he was impressed with the changes New City Vision have made and felt things were moving in a positive direction.
PB reported that the dropped paving stone at the entrance to Oban Lane had been repaired, but the surface had not been finished off properly. JMacK said he would chase this up.
Action: JMacK to chase up the resurface work to Oban Lane.
PB said the condition of the road and pavements around the building site at the bottom of Oban Drive were bad. JMacK confirmed there would have been a condition attached to planning consent for the road and pavements to be put back into the original condition.
3. Discussion on Licensing Laws
PB raised the issue of how KW and he were treated at the Alcohol Licence Board. KWi said he had heard things about how the board is conducted.
KW suggested gathering information together into a fact sheet for future Community Council members, as we might not go through it again for a while.
KW said the Alcohol Licence Board need to improve the situation, so it is a better experience. KW said she intends to write a letter to them with suggestions for improving the system. It was agreed this should be sent on behalf of the Community Council.
Action: KW to write a letter to the Alcohol Licence Board with suggestions for improving the system.
JA suggested sending a copy of the letter to the Community Council Resource Centre. DB suggested asking for this issue to be added to the agenda of a future Community Council Forum meeting. KWi said the Community Council should invite a representative to attend a meeting. DB said they should be asked to come and address the points raised in KW’s letter.
4. Information – website
GB reported that New City Vision have published the updated plans on their website today and he has put a short piece on the Community Council website directing people to the plans.
GB says he still has questions about what material should go on the website and about how to engage more with the local community. GB said these issues can be discussed by the website sub-group and apologised for not having arranged a meeting yet.
GB said he is happy to provide training to members of the Community Council who are interested in updating the website.
KA suggested putting on information about Lieutenant Jock Young, the 60 Steps Preservation Trust and local walks. JA suggested mentioning the Hilltop Garden. DB said the website should focus on providing information about the local area rather the wider locality. KA said the public should be given information in advance. DB said the agenda should be advertised online a few days before the meeting.
GB raised the issue of a Community Council notice board again and said he would be happy to follow this up with Boots. JMacK said that if it were installed on the wall outside Boots then residential permission would be required. It was suggested that Boots or some of the local shops might allow a notice board in their window or perhaps Tesco when it is built. KWi said GCC has a portal on their website, which they plan to give the public access to soon.
5. Treasurer’s Report
KW reported the account balance is £1,313.25.
6. Correspondence
PB said there were a number of events coming up –
– Glasgow Alcohol and Drug Partnership consultation event – 21-28 February (5 different locations)
– Future of Housing in Glasgow – 2 March
– Association of Scottish Community Councils (ASCC) Common Ground event – 26 March
PB said that DB and he had attended the Community Council Forum on 5 February. The Commonwealth Games were discussed and it was good to hear about the plans, but there are no venues situated in the North apart from Scotstoun.
PB reported that there are plans to install a mobile phone mast on Wilton Street. A local resident is objecting and has been posting flyers in the neighbourhood alerting people to this proposal. PB said that Friends of Glasgow West are also objecting, but noted there are only a few days left to raise an objection.
KWi said potential reasons for objecting to the plans would be – loss of visual amenity, distance on pavement and distance from windows to the object. It was felt the key thing was that this area would shortly be part of the Conservation Area. JMacK said he would be raising an objection.
KW suggested contacting the Planning Office at GCC for advice on what we can and cannot object to in terms of the planning application. PB to write objecting to this proposal.
Action: PB to send a letter of objection on behalf of the Community Council.
7. AOCB
DB confirmed the special Community Council meeting with New City Vision would take place on Monday 28 February at 6.30pm in the Gym at St. Charles School.
It was agreed to invite a GCC representative to the meeting on 28 February. JMacK and KWi suggested the best person to contact would be Andy Young (AY), the Head of Property Development and Management at GCC.
Action: PB to invite AY to the meeting, explaining the reason for the request.
It was agreed the agenda should follow this format – background, developer presentation, public asked what questions do they want to raise with the developer, Community Council discussion and then presentation to the developer.
Action: DB to prepare a timed agenda for advertising.
DB asked KW to invite the North Kelvin Meadow Campaign to the meeting to discuss what the site means to them and what the future holds. The GCC representative will also be asked to discuss these two points.
Action: KW to invite North Kelvin Meadow Campaign to meeting on 28 February.
KW agreed to draft a press release about the meeting on 28 February.
Action: KW to draft press release.
DB said that neither KD nor he would be able to attend the March Community Council meeting. DB asked KA to chair the meeting and to organise for the minutes to be taken.
Action: KA to chair March meeting and arrange for the minutes to be taken.
KW said we had not discussed how to deal with licensing requests that are received outside of meetings. PB to add this to April’s agenda.
Action: PB to add ‘Discussion on Licensing Applications’ to April’s agenda.
Next meeting: 16 March 2011 @ 6.30pm, St. Charles School
