Agenda and Minutes 14th June 2018

Agenda Johnstone Community Council

Thursday 14th June, 2018

7:00pm Johnstone Town Hall

1. Apologies

2. Minutes of May Meeting

3. Maters Arising

4. Police Crime Statistics

5. Car Parking Proposals

6. Chairperson’s Report inc Election update

7. Secretary’s Report / Council Liaison Group / Council Bond Papers

8. Treasurer’s Report

9. Councillor’s Report - A. MacKay

10. Events

11. A.O.C.B.

Date of Next meeting 12th July 2018

Johnstone Community Council

Minutes of the ordinary meeting of Johnstone Community Council held

on Thursday 14th June 2018 at 7.00pm in Johnstone Town Hall.

Present

Members: Marie Corbett, Linda Flint, Chris Gilmour, Daniel Graham,

Catherine Johnstone, Dennis Lavery, Daniel McKay, lain McMillan, Geraldine

McNealey, Valerie Reilly, Arlene Scarff and Thomas Wallace.

Also in attendance:-

Councillors (Ward 8) — Jacqueline Cameron, Alistair Mackay.

(Ward 9) - Derek Bibby, Andy Doig, Emma Rodden.

Several members of the public were also present.

Apologies

Elizabeth Forrest and Councillors Binks, Hood and Steel.

2. Minutes

The minutes of the previous meeting were read and agreed.

Proposed by Dennis Lavery

Seconded by Catherine Johnstone

3. Matters Arising

Nothing was submitted.

4. Police Crime Statistics Report

The report was presented by Officers Andy Taylor and Ian Armstrong.

Johnstone Town Centre

A total of 34 crimes were reported including 1 serious and 3 common assaults, 18 thefts and attempted thefts, 1 drug offence, 2 anti-social offences and 6 road traffic offences. 21 of these crimes had been detected.

West Johnstone

A total of 20 crimes were reported including 3 thefts, 1 serious and 4 common assaults, 3 drug offences, 4 anti-social offences and 2 road traffic offences. 12 of these crimes had been detected.

Johnstone Castle

A total of 13 crimes were reported including 1 common assault, 2 drug offences and 8 anti-social offences. 7 of these crimes had been detected. Spateston and Corseford

A total of 15 crimes were reported including 7 thefts and attempted thefts, 1 drug offence, 2 road traffic offences and 3 anti-social offences. 5 of these crimes had been detected.

Thomas Wallace alerted the officers to people attempting to get into houses at Scholars Green and asked if anyone had been in contact about this. Officer AT said he was not aware of this situation but would pass the information on.

CJ referred to the announcement that the Scottish government were planning to make parking on pavements illegal and asked if the police would be the ones enforcing this. Officer AT replied that the draft legislation would clarify this.

5. Car Parking Proposals

TW reported that the Infrastructure Board had met on 30th May. So far, the exercise has cost Renfrewshire Council some £41,000 not including the time of Council Officers — money that would have employed a traffic warden for two years.

The Business Consortium has suggested the enforcement of a three hours maximum stay with no return within two hours but no charges. JCC agrees, but not if this were to be administered by a profit-making third-party company.

It was reported that the residents of Thorn Court would be in favour of residents permits but not if they were to cost £50.

We are told that money raised would be put towards the provision of electric car charging points. Cllr Cameron noted that the £50 charge had been suggested by officers and that the Councillors were not particularly supportive of it.

DL commented that it was the ‘Queen's Highway` and wondered how that gave the Council the right to charge those who pay their car tax for street parking.

Cllr Rodden noted that the current permit operated in some areas of Paisley is free.

Cllr Doig wondered about permits for town centre businesses commenting that small businesses in Johnstone and Renfrewshire would not be able to cope with high charges. He added that the area in Floors Street would make a fine additional car park and that the possibility of extending the station car park should be pursued with SPT.

Chris Gilmour commented that the written report was flawed as the officers had only scoped it to look at parking meters — with no consideration of any possible alternatives such as a car park at Milliken Station. Charging and/or permits would only push the parking problems to the outskirts of the town. The Council should forget charging and instead put the money into employing wardens. Town centres across Britain are under pressure and parking

restrictions will only increase that for Johnstone.

lain McMillan commented that most people in Johnstone were horrified at the £41,000 already spent and added that the report made no mention of the JCC opinions. Once the decision is made in August any arguments will be too late.

There is only a small window of opportunity to consult the general public and this is at the time when many people are away on holiday.

Cllr Bibby said that this was a revenue gathering exercise which was not intended to address the town's parking problems.

Linda Flint commented that building another level at Johnstone Station would cause mayhem during the construction period and would be useless unless the problems of access and egress were addressed. Already some people are choosing to park on surrounding streets rather than face the queues trying to get out of the car park.

Alan Henderson of Johnstone Business Consortium advised that there would be a meeting in Johnstone Town Hall where Council officers would be present to explain the scheme to residents, but that the date had not yet been fixed.

Cllr C said that the open meeting would be a chance for the public to give their views on the finer details of the scheme.

TW brought the discussion to a close saying that the view of Johnstone is that

these proposals are not wanted.

6. Chairman’s Report

TW gave an update on the recent CC election which had consolidated the positions of some co-opted members and brought in three new members, bringing our total up to fourteen.

He also welcomed Daniel Graham back to JCC.

He reported that JCC had been awarded £5,000 by the LAC to fund the Gala Day and thanked the Councillors for their good offices in this respect.

He commented that the documents circulated re changes to the CC management and disciplinary code seemed somewhat overbearing.

He then asked CJ, our representative on the CC Forum, to give a report on the last meeting. She noted that there had been three main speakers from ROAR, the Council and the Baker Street Project. All spoke very well, but all were looking for money.

In addition, several of the CC representatives spoke about a lack of Council response to CC complaints.

Houston CC’s priorities on various Council policies had been laid out and they had asked for support from other CCs.

TW commented that RCCF had held a special meeting once before which had descended into a Council-bashing exercise, and he wouldn’t want to see that happen again.

7. Secretary’s Report

lMcM reported that he had been emailing information to keep CC members up to date. As requested at the previous meeting, various letters had been sent out, but some replies had not as yet been received. McGill’s had replied and had been supplied with the dates of JCC meetings in July and August.

Karen Anderson is keen to come to the August meeting to talk about the plans for bins.

lMcM had been scrutinising Board Papers — looking specifically for Johnstone-related matters - but there had not been many papers issued recently.

The shop ‘Broadway Fare’ had been sold to the sitting tenants for £70,000.

A report about tower blocks was interesting, showing the Council facing up to its responsibilities.

There was good news in that the school clothing grant had been raised from £70 to £100.

There is to be a £1 million investment in cemeteries — this money will be well received.

On the format of JCC meetings, TW noted that it was proposed to alternate between Councillors’ Report one month and an outside speaker the next.

Cllr Mackay commented that he thought the speakers were more important that reporting by a Councillor, who was often only regurgitating information that was available elsewhere. TW replied that it did give JCC members the opportunity to ask direct questions

Cllr D welcomed the news that the concierge service is to be returned to all the high flats.

8. Treasurer’s Report

LF reported that JCC monies totalled £3,999.98 as the cheque for Gala Day had not yet been received. However, there has been some Gala Day income stall rents and donations - which had not yet been banked.

LF went on to report on a meeting she had attended in Linwood re McGills Buses and the way they had cancelled some routes without any consultation.

The suggestion had been made that a letter template should be produced for complaints to Councillors, MP and MSPs. It was agreed that this would be a good idea.

Cllr Rodden apologised for having missed the Linwood meeting and added that the biggest concern was the withdrawal of the bus linking Johnstone and Linwood, because the health centres in the two towns share services.

DL commented on the withdrawal of the Bridge of Weir service and suggested that perhaps the Council should withdraw their support for McGills.

Cllr D said that he wanted the Scottish Parliament to look again at bus deregulation, adding that Aberdeen and Dundee have already refranchised.

Geraldine McNealey noted that the Council had promised that buses to Linwood would allow Johnstone people access to the new swimming pool, as a way of justifying the decision to demolish the Johnstone pool. The Council should call McGills to account for the withdrawal.

lMcM commented that it was not the Council’s decision to take the buses off.

CG added that the Council Convenors and the Head of Renfrewshire Leisure had both promised buses would be there.

LF reported that at the meeting one user had complained of having to take three separate buses to get to the RAH, and that it had taken an hour and a half.

It was queried how the Council allowed McGills to change routes and move bus stops without consultation.

Cllr D replied that such matters were the remit of SPT which has traditionally been dominated by Glasgow interests. Renfrewshire representatives need to speak up more forcefully. He added that CCs should take this up with MSPs.

CG commented that we should keep our eyes on Edinburgh, look at the bill when it is published, discuss it and write to our MSPs with our views. The devil would be in the detail of the bill.

TW concluded this discussion saying that until the bill was published there was nothing more that JCC could do.

9. Elected Member’s Report

The report was given by Councillor Mackay.

Cllr M said that there had been no activity to report on, but he would be happy to answer questions.

A question from the floor referred to street cleaning and dog poo bins, saying that many more seemed to be provided in other areas, adding that we need to encourage people to use the bins, but there aren’t enough of them. Johnstone is a filthy town.

Cllr M replied that he personally had spent time cleaning Stoddard Square in Elderslie and he was continually badgering Community Resources about street cleaning. He suggested that there was an opportunity for the Business Consortium to sponsor poo bag dispensers

Another questioner from the floor said that they lived in Houston Court and noted that the Bottle and Clothes Banks behind the premises were overflowing. This had been reported with no resulting action. Cllr D agreed to look into the situation.

A third comment from the floor noted that some poo bags were found on pavements because gulls pull them from open bins - could these not be replaced by closed ones.

ML suggested that perhaps local engineering students could be tasked with a project to design covers for our bins. She added that she was ashamed at the state of Johnstone.

Daniel McKay commented that the look of the streets was only going to get

worse when the Council introduced the proposed fourth household bin, as many people already struggled to find space for the current three bins.

LF said that she had seen un-bagged poo in the Square and could not the CCTV system pinpoint who was responsible.

TW commented that the police probably did not have the staff for it.

Cllr C noted that the Council had asked the wardens to increase enforcement of dog poo procedures and that some were now going plain clothes in order to catch offenders.

Cllr R commented that enforcement was the key, as well as changing people's behaviours - fines would help with that. She added that more fines had been issued in April 2018 that in the whole of the previous twelve months.

10. Event and Funding Sub Group Report

TW reported that the Gala Day was now confirmed for 26th August from 12.30pm to 4.30pm. There had been a planning meeting on 13th June and planning was going ahead well. The Scouts had sent a representative and expressed an intention to be involved.

TW noted that at Lilias Day, Kilbarchan Park had been filled all day and added that our pitch prices were much cheaper.

It was noted that this year sequentially numbered programmes (to stand as raffle entries) will be printed on quality paper. Advertising space will be sold at the rate of£100 for a full page.

It is hoped to secure the services of a local celebrity to do the opening.

A competition is being held in the local primary schools for the P5 pupils to design a Gala Day logo and the publicity push will begin once that is finalised.

We don't charge for entry to the park as, apart from the obvious logistical problem of the many entry points, we are trying to give something back to the community. At the moment it appears we should have about 40 stalls. There had been hold ups with the paperwork for the licence to hold the Gala, but this should be sorted out within the week.

11. AOCB

DL said that he had seen a girl doing a topographical survey in the North Road area and wondered if anyone had any information as to what this was about. It appeared that none of the Councillors had any knowledge of this.

CG suggested that someone could be formulating information for the next housing plan. ML said she had spoken to the surveyor and who said that she had a letter from the Council.

TW said he had no knowledge of any Linstone involvement in this.

GMcN asked if there was any update on the derelict buildings on Mill Brae, but there was nothing to report on this.

lMcM said he had invited Fraser Carlin to come to a future meeting to update us on plans for Johnstone.

LF reported on two untidy areas beside the railway line close to the Silver Tassie as she feared that debris could fall onto the line and cause an accident. Cllr R reported that Cllr Steel was liaising with Network Rail about rubbish.

LF asked about the recycling plant in Floors Street - were the owners planning to empty it. Cllr D undertook to try and find out

There being no further business the meeting closed at 8.46pm.

The next meeting will be held in the Marriage Suite of Johnstone Town Hall on Thursday 12th July 2018 at 7.00pm.