SAUCHIE COMMUNITY GROUP - Jul 08 - (41) PRESENT:A Graham, Anne Irvine, Andy Irvine, A Tapsfield, A Robertson, A Pollock, C Weld, D O'Donnell, E Tapsfield, E Fraser, E Connor, G Rennie, G Cummings, G Fraser, J Allan, J Reekie, M Comrie, M Horne, M Lindsay, M Graham, M Ketchion, M Muir, M Duffy, N Paterson, N Archibald, N Pollock, S McKean, S Gruar, S Pollock, S Gilchrist, S Ross, S Munro, S Patterson, T McIntosh, T Burnett, M Chambers, S Chambers, J Marie COUNCIL:Cllr Stewart, Michelle Flynn Police: G Hastie APOLOGIES:A Airnes, C Wright, E Rodgers, F Orr, K Turner, L Turner, M Freeburn, M Gove. MINUTES PROPOSED:T McIntosh. SECONDED: E Connor. MATTERS ARISING:There was a letter received from Clackmannanshire Council confirming the attendance of Mr Charles Norman (Roads Dept) at the Jul 08 meeting, and a second letter from the Department acknowledging the groups points raised at the Jun 08 meeting including any planned repairs. (Letters are on file). Letter received from Rev Brown thanking the group for their offer to support future church organised community events. This was in direct reply to a letter of thanks sent from by the Vice President on behalf of the group. Michelle Flynn raised the point that she had not been recorded as apologising for her absence at the Jun 08 meeting however made it clear that an email had been sent. Secretary informed Michelle that point is noted and made reference to the President that in future such emails need to be forwarded to the secretary prior to all meetings to enhance the recording of attendance figures. GUEST SPEAKER:Charlie Norman Roads and Street lighting Dept: Charlie introduced himself to the group and thanked the group for inviting him to speak, having attended previous meetings he went on to cover recent projects undertaken by his department including the new roundabout at Hall Park and then further on the subject on what he saw as our most urgent topic of Traffic calming matters within Sauchie. Charlie further acknowledged that his department does not always have the budget to cover and repair all areas, which we as the public may have some concerns over. He does however hope that the public have in general a confidence in the Roads department to respond as urgently as possible to any queries raised. A question raised from the floor on the subject of repairs to the surface in the lockup area directly behind the main street, in as much as all that ever seems to be carried out is minimalist patchwork, with no real maintenance especially where subsidence is a real issue. Charlie agreed that his department often, carry out what is patchwork in lockup areas, and further pointed out that under normal circumstances with the exception of erecting lighting in such areas the upkeep and repair of such areas was out with the remit of his department. Further points from the floor covered the topics of crossing points and the future plans of any Traffic lights/Traffic calming measures for Sauchie Main Street. Charlie went on to inform the group that Allan Murray, the traffic management team leader has previously been in touch with the group and in certain cases individual members of the Group in a bid to tackle some of the concerns in regards to Main Street and the Greygoran road areas, plans were for traffic signals to be put in place in 2 years however this has been brought forward by 6 months in order to tackle the growing traffic concerns in the area. A point made by Charlie was that although the general feeling is that there is a lack of crossing and traffic calming measures in Sauchie, a study has been conducted and there are actually 7 crossing points spanning the main street down to hall park, the current situation is that most pedestrians actually choose to ignore the current crossing areas and cross elsewhere. The final point raised was on the workings of some of the roundabouts now being constructed and in particular the issue of accidents due to the roundabout at Fishcross. Charlie replied by saying that it is ideal to make Mini roundabouts where there is a 3 road junction, however there is a clear need for similar roundabouts to be constructed as part of traffic calming/control measures and where this is not always a suitable conclusion it comes down to the fact that human error and in this case driver error is the cause of accidents at such sights and not the construction of the measures in place. POLICE REPORT:George Hastie read The Police report Vandalism is on the rise over the school holidays. Property is being left unattended in gardens, bikes etc in clear view. Information is required regarding drugs issues, youth disorder and anti-social behaviour. George can be contacted via Crime-stoppers 0800 555111, Alloa 01259 723255. COUNILORS REPORT:Cllr Stewart gave the following report: Derek briefed the group on some of the traffic measures currently in place in Sauchie and wanted to reassure the members that he had personally been out with local Police, part of this report was the functional testing of the 30mph speed restriction signing at the top of Sauchie and the fact that it was recognised that the equipment in question had not been functioning properly again after a second set of testing it was deemed again not to be performing at the 30mph limit set. However he assured the group that the system has now been reset and is working properly. Derek went on to say that there is no such thing as a perfect traffic system and once again mentioned the point earlier made by Charlie Norman that it is the person driving the vehicle that causes the accident. Further to this he has asked that people remember that when implementing new measures surveys on previous accident statistics are carried out as was the case with the implementation of the roundabout at Fishcross. In relation to traffic calming he is looking into the Fairfield issue in regards to try to solve the problem of the amount of vehicle which park in this area. Whilst on a visit to Dumfries recently Derek took the chance to look at chicane system in operation there and had said it was initially very good that they went back to watch it in operation. Again in Lochbrae it is planned to implement a box system as a means to determine where cars park in relation to the space available. Further to the above in Ten Acres, the concrete roads and street lighting is to be upgraded this year, which will see the removal of all the old concrete posts and new street lighting being part of the upgrade. Derek informed the group that a notice has been sent out to Councillors stating that there is plans to erect a telephone mast at the top of Parkhead Court, whilst he can not say to much about the proposal due to it coming before a planning committee he has made enquiries as to whether proper notification has or was given to local residents including Forth Valley health Board. He is delighted to announce the great success of the new cameras and has been to see the operations room where they are monitored and can report that although they seem small the technology attached to them is fantastic and reports that they have already proved a success. One consideration he has asked for is that should you report an incident it is important that you state that the area is covered by CCTV and then the control room in Randolph Field could move the cameras in to position, which will provide monitored support prior to and during police attendance at any incident. A question came from the floor in reference to the Lochbrae parking situation that it would be a waste of council money to make new parking areas when currently there is a high percentage of the current garages lying empty. Derek had said he was aware of the current situation in regards to empty garages and made the point that this will be looked at along with any implementation of new systems. Derek made the point that it is possible that there are a substantial number of the current garages which may not be fit for use and that again that will have an effect on any plan implemented. The point was made that a letter has been sent to the council in regards to rerouting the bus service round by Sauchie hall and had asked for Cllr Stewarts backing for this proposal. Derek has attended a meeting along with Billy Robertson with first bus and the feed back has came back as very negative with First Bus saying that the stop currently on that route was a temporary measure put in place whilst the new road system was put in place. It is hoped that a further meeting will take place in Aug 08 with first bus to address this point. The issue of the development of Fairfield School was raised and councillor Stewart made the following statement: The Fairfield was basically part of the project to be sold of to pay for part of the new schools. At the present time it is on hold as you may have seen in the papers in the last few weeks the whole Education structure is being looked at within Clackmannanshire. As to its use for a nursery it is too small inside. A point was made that could Derek give his assurances that no matter what is to be done that residents would be consulted. Derek made the point that he never gives assurances, as it would be improper of him to do so. He further made the point that on the back of the unfortunate death of one of our youngsters in a motorcycling accident it was asked what could be done to provide something for the youngsters in the community. With regards to the use of petrol and diesel fumes from such motorcycles that site would not be admissible and actually what was considered was speaking with Farmers and the likes of John Marshall to see what could be done possibly on a site as recognised by the fact that there is very little available for youth in the site beyond Deerpark. There is money coming to Sauchie for redevelopment issues and this is what is being looked at currently. Derek further made the point that where the death of any youngster is tragic we can not just blame the council Parents and individuals must take responsibility for what happens concerning the use of such vehicles due to the fact that they are illegal, and further to that it was not so long after the recent tragedy the further youths were spotted on similar vehicles with no helmets or proper protection. A question raised on traffic measures was anything planned for the Pompee road area, Derek said he was not aware of any problem in Pompee Road but if thought it was warranted he could ask the traffic investigation Dept to put out the monitoring systems to see if there was a valid need and introduction of traffic calming measures. Further to this the question of the proposed mast the issue of extra Dishes after its construction was raised and Derek reassured the group that an initial planning application would have to be made and then further applications if any extra dishes antenna were to be attached. A final point was raised on housing and tenancy issues in Main Street Sauchie along with growing concerns over the amount of so called homeless accommodation being placed within various areas of Sauchie. Derek made it clear that he could not and would not get involved in the application and allocation process of housing as it would not be morally sound for a Councillor to do so. Michelle Flynn intervened at this point and made it clear that if things were so bad as being described by the members then it has to be recorded and passed through the correct channels for action. The outcome of this is that where we had planned to invite the Head of Housing John Gillespie to Aug meeting we will now invite him and Cllr Sam Ovens to the Sep 08 meeting at which point if necessary personnel from the affected areas can ask for a meeting in regards to the specific concerns to there areas. Members are reminded that the Guest speaker for Aug 08 is Gordon Banks MP. Derek finally updated the Group on the fact that much of his Council and Provost duties prevent him being at the majority of the meetings, however he will continue to attend when possible, further to which his surgery times and dates are now moved from a Saturday to a Friday night between 5 - 6pm. HOUSING REPORT:Michelle Flynn gave an update as follows: Michelle did not have a formal report as normal, instead briefed the Group that there was an allocations policy review scheduled for 2009, should members wish to be involved they should contact Clackmannanshire Council Housing department. She also reminded the Group that the housing department is audited to ensure they are working within the guidelines where applications and allocations are concerned. As above Michelle recommended that members begin to log their complaints over a period of time and submit them accordingly to the council for action. At this point it was again suggested by the President that we plan for the Head of Housing and the Portfolio Holder to be present at the Sep 08 meeting and we raise these as specific concerns at this time. Incident Log sheets have now been forwarded to the Resource Centre and are available in the foyer. Tenant Participation Meeting:Bowmar Community Centre 21 Aug 08 10am Michelle asked for a meeting with the Community Group Committee in terms of housing being represented. LEISURE REPORT:George Rennie gave The Leisure report as follows: The fun day was a great success and all who attended had a good time, over £1000 was raised on the day and we would like to plan for a bigger event next year. The bus trip to Portobello 15 Aug 08, Nancy has the names please see Nancy to pay for your tickets. A shopping visit to Gretna outlet village is planned for the 2nd weekend in Sep and we have a quote for the cost of the bus, please give your names to myself or Laura and we can then give an idea on cost per person. A.O.B.:Sandra gave an update on the Sauchie Community Group, Active 8 Fun Day held on the 5th Jul 08. Until the intervention of the wonderful weather system which we here in Sauchie seam to attract (Rain) the day was a great success and funds of over £1000 were raised, members can be assured that we will endeavour to build on that success in future years. All members present were given a copy of the aims of the Devon Mine partnership and our President S Gruar then asked for a Proposer and Seconder that the aims were in keeping with the aims of our group. Proposed:M KetchionSeconded:T McIntosh The secretary gave a brief on the current attendance statistics and the need for the members to play there part in the community in regards to talking with the people they know and asking if they would like to come along to the meetings. The Secretary further briefed the group on the current situation with Stuart Milne Group and the consequences on the planned extension in regards to the current situation within the building trade. CLOSE:The date of the next meeting is confirmed as Thursday 28th Aug 08 at 7pm in the Resource Centre. M D KETCHION Secretary I give my early apologies for my absence at the Aug 08 meeting. I have been invited to speak at a Veterans conference on issues which currently affect many of our current personnel leaving the Armed Forces, something I shall be putting forward is the strength in which I believe becoming part of a Community Group such as yours is important for our Veterans of Service. I hope you will enjoy the meeting with Gordon Banks MP and will see you all in Sep 08.