Agenda and Minutes 9th August 2018
Johnstone Community Council
Agenda 9th August 2018 Johnstone Town Hall
1) Apologies
2) Minutes of meeting 12th July
3) Matters Arising
4) Police Crime Statistics
5) Presentation: Renfrewshire Council Changes to Bin Collections
6) Chairperson s Report
7) Secretary's Report: Council Liaison Group/Renfrewshire Council Boards
8) Treasurers Report
9) Councillors Report ...Cllr Emma Rodden
10) Events
11) AOCB
12) Date of Next Meeting 13th September
Johnstone Community Council
Minutes of the ordinary meeting of Johnstone Community Council held
on Thursday 9th August 2018 at 7.00pm in Johnstone Town Hall.
Present
Members: Marie Corbett, Wilma Dean, Linda Flint, Elizabeth Forrest, Chris
Gilmour, Catherine Johnstone, Dennis Lavery, Daniel McKay, Geraldine McNealey,
Valerie Reilly, Arlene Scarff and Thomas Wallace.
Also in attendance:
Councillors (Ward 8) - Jacqueline Cameron, Alistair Mackay.
(Ward 9) - Bill Binks, Andy Doig.
4 members of the public were also present.
Apologies
lain McMillan and Councillors John Hood, Derek Bibby and Emma Rodden.
2. Minutes
The minutes of the previous meeting were read and agreed.
Proposed by Wilma Dean
Seconded by Geraldine McNealey
3. Matters Arising
Chris Gilmour queried the statement in paragraph 5 that the parking charges
had been the idea of council officers rather than Councillors. Councillor
Cameron clarified what she had said.
4. Police Crime Statistics Report
Officer Armstrong presented the crime statistics for the previous month.
Johnstone Town Centre
A total of 36 crimes were reported including 4 common assaults, 11 thefts and
attempted thefts, 1 drug offence, 12 anti-social offences and 4 road traffic
offences. 16 of these crimes had been detected.
West Johnstone
A total of 25 crimes were reported including 1 theft, 3 common assaults, 1
drug offence, 13 anti-social offences and 3 road traffic offences. 10 of these
crimes had been detected.
Johnstone Castle
A total of 12 crimes were reported including 2 common assaults, 3 thefts or
attempted thefts and 2 anti-social offences. 5 of these crimes had been
detected.
Spateston and Corseford
A total of 8 crimes were reported including 2 common assaults and 3 anti-
social offences. 2 of these crimes had been detected.
Dennis Lavery was interested in traffic light offences and asked if there were
cameras on the local lights. Officer A replied that there weren’t, and that
offences were usually detected by officers on the scene.
Thomas Wallace said that he had recently seen two vehicles running red
lights in the town and one of them a bus. Officer A said they have to be caught at
the time of the offence.
Catherine Johnstone asked if there were any CCTV cameras at the Thorn.
She was told that there weren't but the area was covered by the long-distance camera.
Daniel McKay asked if the Mill Street cells were still closed. Officer A said that
there were no plans to reopen them.
Linda Flint asked if there were any figures relating to speeding on Beith Road as she wondered if the cost of installing them had been worth it. Officer A replied that he did not have any statistics and that application would have to be made to the Camera partnership for the information.
CG asked if there could be any chance of an increased Warden presence in the town, a blitz perhaps, as traffic problems were getting bad again.
It was established that three officers would be bringing the police van to the
Gala Day.
The police officers then left the meeting.
5. Chairman's Report
TW announced that the presentation by Karen Anderson had had to be postponed and that we were hoping that she would be able to come to the September meeting instead.
He said that we had not as yet heard anything on the matter of the parking charges, but reiterated that recent newspaper articles from around Britain showed that there was a general feeling that such charges ruin businesses for example a Liverpool Echo article had shown a 20% drop in sales after charges were introduced scheme in Oban had been supported initially, but now it was in operation it had attracted huge opposition as it was affecting tourism.
TW said he hoped the Councillors could see the pattern and that he had contacted the Renfrew Community Council to see how they were dealing with the issue. Another signature gathering event was proposed for Ludovic Square on the Saturday before the Board meeting.
LF asked who had the authority to place bus stops as it seemed the moving of the bus stop from the High Street inshot had led to the closure of the butchers shop and the cafe due to lessening of footfall.
DL asked whether the Council had any power to make McGills revert to their
original route.
From the floor the meeting was informed that only SPT had the power to site
bus stops.
ML reported that two people in North Road had asked for a bus shelter and that it was dividing the community. On contacting SPT they had been told that SPT have no responsibility for shelters — they say they have some input into bus stops but is not responsible for them. T\N said he would investigate the situation.
The meeting was told that we had recently been visited by Nathan Graham of the Co-op who are trying to connect with communities. They have a fund for community projects. It is hoped he can give a presentation to a future meeting.
Members were notified that, following discussions at the previous meeting, JCC is now opted in to receiving information about licensing applications.
7. Secretary’s Report
In lain McMillan’s absence there was no Secretary’s report and it was noted that in any case there had been no sub-group meetings or Board papers issued since the last JCC.
8. Treasurer's Report
LF reported that there had been a bit of a problem in receiving JCC statements. She had had to go into the branch to get one.
LF noted that the money from the LAC had been received on 2nd August,money had also been received from adverts in the programme, stalls and donations. Two cheques had been paid out £130 to run the dog show and the other for a secondary PA system.
The JCC balance stood at £9,653.98.
9. Elected Member’s Report
In Cllr Rodden’s absence she had sent in a written report which gave a resume of Council decisions on waste management, the Team Up to Clean Up campaign and the road repair programme. A resumé of this was given by Cllr Cameron. She added that more information about the new bin system would be issued nearer to the implementation date.
CJ asked if there would be any more bins after this addition. Cllr C said that she couldn’t imagine so.
Cllr C added that households where space was a problem could ask for smaller bins, but she didn't know if this would attract a charge.
ML asked if colour-coded calendars could be issued to inform us of bin days.
TW stated that we have many questions on this subject but we should keep them for Karen Anderson’s visit.
There was comment on the fact that Renfrewshire Foodbank had bucked the national trend for increased usage over the summer.
WD reported that there was massive concern over the impending introduction of Universal Credit and that the Foodbanks were stocking up in preparation.
Cllr C reported that Renfrewshire Council have set aside £500,000 to mitigate the anticipated problems.
WD said that we need to look at mental health impacts. Cllr C was hopeful that when Social Services are devolved to Scotland things can be changed.
CG asked if RC were taking on any extra staff to deal with the situation.
Cllr C said she did not know but would look into it.
10. Event and Funding Sub Group Report
TW reported that preparations for the Gala Day were going well. A programme was being printed (with sequential numbers to double as a raffle ticket) and would cost £1. The adverts in the programme would cover the costs
It was asked whether JCC should take a full-page ad in common with other Johnstone organisations.
LF said she was in favour, we could give the dates of our meetings.
Cllr Binks was of the opinion that we could also appeal for new members.
TW reported that the Business Consortium are doing a new version of their Johnstone booklet and that we should take out an ad in that too. The booklet goes into estate agents to be given to prospective buyers of houses in Johnstone.
On the Gala Day JCC we have a tombola stall and any volunteers to help at this
will be most welcome.
The Gala Day is now only two weeks away — the Sunday date was chosen because there is no competition from other local events. We are targeting families with small children
11. AOCB
DMcK said that at the last meeting we had discussed West Lane and Whitehaugh, but that all care services are being reviewed and things are not looking good. The government is proposing help for stressed families, so why is RC targeting this group’?
Cllr C said that the review is under way and she would update us as soon as she knew anything.
LF raised problems of noise at the Miller Street end of town. She said seagulls start calling before 3am, Malcolm’s depot has forklift trucks constantly reversing, planes are continually going overhead and bin lorries travel down to the community facility as early as 6.40am. It was causing tremendous disturbance.
WD said she had seen posts on ‘Our Toon’ about noise - you don't realise the effects until it happens to you.
DMcK raised the problem of Japanese Knotweed — Johnstone is rife with it and it can affect house sales. After a wide discussion on the subject TW said JCC could look further into the situation and ask the Council plan to deal with it.
Cllr Binks said that a report would be available for public consumption in the next month and he would make sure that JCC got a copy — but that RC was only responsible for dealing with land they actually own.
A problem was that the knotweed was often along the water courses and any weed killers used had to be non-toxic to the wildlife in the water.
GMcN raised the problem of litter along the river banks beside the Collier Street car park.
TW replied that this topic has been discussed before at the liaison group, but
would be raised again.
TW tabled posters for the Gala Day and asked members to take them for distribution. He added that the logos submitted for the schools competition had been so good that one had been selected from each of the three schools.
From the floor it was noted that McGills were planning to take off the number 20 bus from Spateston.
Cllr Binks replied that the deregulation of the bus services was also currently being looked at.
There being no further business the meeting closed at 9.00pm.
The next meeting will be held in the Marriage Suite of Johnstone Town
Hall on Thursday 13th September 2018 at 7.00pm.