October 29th 2009 Minutes
Johnstone Community Council
Minutes of the ordinary meeting of Johnstone Community Council held on Thursday 29th October 2009 at 7.00pm in Johnstone Town Hall.
Present
Robert Campbell, Stewart Clark, Elizabeth Cosgrove, Chris Gilmour, David Higginson, Pamela Higginson, George Kennedy, Dennis Lavery, Gladys Marchbank, Ian McNaught, Valerie Reilly and Isabella Wishart.
Also in attendance:-
Councillors (Ward 7) – John Caldwell, John Hood, Tracie McGee, Iain McMillan.
(Ward 8) – Bruce McFee.
Anne McNaughton (Renfrewshire Council)
23 observers.
1. Apologies
Wilma Dean, Hugh Thomson, Rosalyn Gilmour, Ewan Finlay and Clrs David Arthur and Neil Bibby.
2. Minutes
The minutes of the previous meeting were approved.
Proposed by Gladys Marchbank.
Seconded by David Higginson.
3. Matters Arising
3.1 Sub-group reports
Roads
Resurfacing has taken place on a section of the High Street – this was one of the items on our ‘wish list’ submitted to the Roads Dept. last year.
Work in the Somerfield Arcade and Town Hall car park is due to start on 9th November.
Rosemount have agreed to reclad the canopies and put up new lights which are 4x brighter before Christmas.
Playparks
Ongoing.
Clr McFee reported that two items re playparks will appear on the agenda for the next LAC meeting regarding Spateston and Shanks Park.
Band Stand and War Memorial.
Expert consultants have spent time on a detailed inspection of the bandstand, the results are awaited.
The War Memorial has been cleaned and lacquered which will be a fitting tribute to the servicemen returning this year from Iraq and Afghanistan. It was noted that it was good this could be done in time for Remembrance Sunday.
Clr McF reported that funds for next year’s programme of music at the bandstand has been approved and will appear at the LAC as an item for noting.
3.2 Johnstone Town Centre Youth Projects
The Centre Youth Club.
The new 5-9 section is proving a success with a high of 25 attendees in only three weeks.
Funding bids for the coming year have been submitted to The Community Chest and to Elderslie Kirk. The latter have generously granted £2,000 to the costs of the Junior Club.
Further funding bids for the 2010-2011 financial year will be submitted to the LAC, the Community Police and Awards For All. If these are successful it will extend the range of activities to outings and drama.
Mobile Football and Youth Bus.
There are currently five sessions per week. These have varying results due to fickle weather.
GM asked how the sessions are publicised. Anne McNaughton replied that notice was given in ‘Renfrewshire Youth Voice’ and through schools.
3.3 Swimming Pool proposals.
Jimmy Kerr was invited to give a short presentation on the JESS campaign. He began by congratulating JCC on their first year’s work.
He explained that he had wanted to produce positive proposals to show that there was no financial impediment to keeping both the current pools, although he knew that some problems had been identified with the figures in the proposals that Jess had drawn up. Renfrewshire Council officers are currently appraising the proposals and results of this are due very soon.
Dennis Lavery commented that closure of the pools would have a considerable impact on the physical health of the communities. Several other audience members made similar sorts of comments.
Clr McF noted the amount of work that had gone into the campaign document and invited the Jess group to speak briefly at the LAC meeting on 16th November if they wished.
He added that he didn’t agree that there were no financial impediments to saving the current pools and briefly gave comments on the three options set out in the JSS document.
Clr McMillan added that the Labour group were awaiting the officers’ appraisal as they had to be sure that the options are credible before setting anything before the Council. He added that the people of Johnstone are totally opposed to the closures and that even those living around the High School wanted the pool to stay in the town centre.
There followed a lively debate of the proposals after which Chris Gilmour thanked JESS for their presentation and the audience for their participation.
4. Planning Report
In Ewan Finlay’s absence it was reported that there were no significant applications at the moment.
5. Treasurer’s Report
David Higginson noted that £1616 had been paid to Weans World and that a few expenses had been paid out. The balance at the bank is £2543.27.
6. Secretary’s Report
George Kennedy reported that a wreath has been purchased and a donation sent to the Earl Haig Fund on behalf of JCC.
The parade on Sunday 8th November will meet at St Aidan’s Church in Tower Road at 10.45am. Wilma Dean has volunteered to lay the wreath.
The 2009 festive lights switch on will take place at 4pm on Saturday 21st November.
A Bag-pack event will be held at Morrison’s from 10am to 4pm on November 21st. All volunteers are welcome.
GK reported that the Police have secured more funding for the Radio Link scheme and hoped to extend it further over the coming year.
It is intended to finish the music in Houston Square programme with some festive performances, beginning with Johnstone Band on 12th December.
There is already one booking for next summer – Houston Baptist Church is entertaining guests from Pennsylvania who will perform in the bandstand on 12th June.
7. AOCB
Dennis Lavery raised the subject of the recycling plant in William Street.
SEPA have inspected and found no evidence that the plant is being run improperly. However, the problem of the unsightly nature of the site remains.
Clr McMillan noted his disappointment with SEPA’s response but thought that the question of shielding the view might be investigated, and the problems caused by the large lorries needs to be looked at.
Margaret Lavery thanked JCC for all their work in Johnstone Town Centre, but took the opportunity to remind everyone that Johnstone is more than its centre and asked the CC for more liaison with the various Tenants and Residents Associations in order to be more community-wide.
GK replied that this was in line with CC ambitions and that we would like more members.
Clr Caldwell added his congratulations for the first full year of the work of JCC.
There being no further business the meeting closed at 8.30pm.
The next meeting will be held at Johnstone Town Hall on Thursday 26th November 2009.