April 2025

Thornwood Community Council
Minute of meeting on 01/04/2025
Partick Free Church Hall
2-4 Thornwood Terrace Glasgow G11 7QZ (6.30pm)

1. Welcome and apologies

Attendees:
TCC Members
Shaun Conroy (Chair)
Jamie MacBrayne (Treasurer)
Colin Price (Secretary)
Allan Smith
Madeline Jansen
Nicolas Dear
Séamus Gallagher
Stephen Marshall

Ex Officio Members

Other attendees
Gemma Love (Police Scotland)
Joe Bole (Police Scotland)
2 members of the public

Apologies Received in Advance
David Garfield (member)
Councillor Eunis Jassemi (Scottish Labour Party)
Councillor Lana Reid-McConnell (Scottish Green Party)

Not present
Geraldine Ross-Hargreaves (member)
Councillor Feargal Dalton (Scottish National Party)

2. Minutes

Minutes for previous meeting (4th March 2025) — approved
Proposed: Jamie
Seconded: Nic

3. Matters arising

1. Flytipping — Kennoway Lane
   – There are ongoing discussions about getting the lane cleared.
   – It is possible that the Wheatley Environmental Team may help with clearance.
   – Lana is engaging with Education as their approval and support will be required if there is to be proper improvement to the lane.
   – A meeting has been arranged with Partick East Kelvindale Residents Group to get their experience of using the Private Lane Improvement Fund.
   
2. Phone box removal at foot of Thornwood Drive
   This phone box has now been removed. Thanks to Lana for chasing this up.
   A request has been submitted for the phone box at the health centre to be cleaned.
   
3. RPZ – (see note 4)

4. The current state of Thornwood — Dog fouling, littering, graffiti, flytipping, flyposting.

There was a general discussion on ranging over these topics.

1. Nic reported that at the harbour NRS will now be providing dog fouling notices; that the land owned by Peel on the north side of Castlebank Street is now being included in their litter-picking programme; that when graffiti in the underpass is reported it is usually removed very quickly.
   
2. NRS say they need “intelligence” to follow up on dog fouling. The police advice was to be very cautious about filming people as that might be misunderstood and lead to a breach of the peace. Perhaps reporting incidents of dog fouling on a regular basis will give the council the information they need to deploy resources.
   
3. NRS are providing notices to be deployed in various streets around Thornwood.
   
4. It was noted that the black bins are covered in stickers and graffiti. It was agreed that Colin should contact Mark and ask for all of these to be cleaned.
   
5. There was a suggestion that moving the black bin closer to the bus stop might help reduce the litter in that area.
   
6. Colin expressed his frustration at trying to get information on fines for flytipping and dog fouling using FOI requests.
   
   • For flytipping the request for information on Thornwood, Whiteinch, Broomhill and Partick was rejected as being “manifestly unreasonable”. The reply stated that “the Council is of the view that in this case the public interest in disclosure is outweighed by the requirement to ensure the efficient and effective administration of public funds and resources. Accordingly, your request would involve both significant costs and an unreasonable diversion of public resources, and the council believes that in this particular case the public interest is best served by withholding the information.” They did however go on to say that in Ward 12 there had been three fines in the last five years.
     
   • The FOI request for information on fines for dog fouling led to the response: “We can provide data for the whole of Glasgow. For the other areas mentioned, however, could you please provide us with a list of all the streets that fall within the requested area (Thornwood, Partick, Broomhill, Whiteinch)? Alternatively, we can provide figures by Ward if that is acceptable?” [My emphasis]
     

5. Thornwood Primary. 125th anniversary.

Thornwood Primary School is holding an initial planning meeting for their 125th anniversary celebrations this year! This will take place at 9.30am on Wednesday, 30th April where they are hoping local organisations, parents and members of the community will support in helping them to organise a fabulous event.
The celebrations are planned for Friday 19th September.

6. Disabled bay: poor quality road signage

A disabled bay in Kildonan Drive was installed with very poor quality signage. This was reported on 6th March. On 7th March we were told, “Officers will be raising this issue with the contractor to request they revisit and rectify this issue as soon as possible before any payment will be released.“
It hasn’t yet been fixed. Colin to ask for when this might happen.

7. Meadow Road – resurfacing. Also other roads. (see note 5)

There was some doubt as to what was meant by the Thornwood Drive reference. It was also noted that the road seemed to be in good condition until nearly the top of the hill.

It was noted that Dumbarton road between the Thornwood and Kennoway Coffee is in very poor condition as is the slip road at the same location.

8. Pavement/crossing at Crow Road retail park

It was noted that this was very difficult for pedestrians as it is in constant use with cars entering and leaving the retail park.
It was agreed to ask if there might be a pavement pedestrian crossing.

9. OSB boarding/Hoarding at 19 Apsley Street

On 11th March it was noted that the OSB boarding/hoarding has now failed allowing access to underneath the building. This is still the case. It was agreed that Colin should pursue this matter.

10. Speed signs on Dumbarton Road

There seems to be an issue with the illuminated speed indicator signs with the words ‘slow down’ / ‘thank you’. For those travelling east the instruction is to slow down to anyone going more than 5mph. The officers from Police Scotland agreed to ask if these had been set correctly or as intended.

11. Anti-social behaviour at or near the nursery

This has been reported to Police Scotland who will be making contact with the nursery.

12. ​​Police Scotland report

• ​​Police Scotland have engaged in a road traffic initiative checking speeds, doing document checks, etc.
• Cars in Thornwood Drive have been vandalised. This looks as if it isn’t targeted.
• There has been an incident of housebreaking into a commercial premises and intelligence has led to a perpetrator being apprehended.
• There continues to be some shoplifting in the area but this has declined as both the shops and the police have taken more steps to address the issue.

13. Elected Representatives Update

None

14. Firework control zone (see note 1)

It was agreed that there was no obvious evidence of illegal use in the area. Police Scotland concurred. Accordingly, it was agreed that there was no need for TCC to respond to the issue.

15. Proposed Visitor Levy Scheme for Glasgow. Feedback — David (see note 2)

There was no opposition to the scheme. It was agreed that we might make a response saying that any monies raised should be spent throughout Glasgow not just in the tourist hotspots.

16. CC Development Session on planning applications. Feedback — Colin (see note 3)

It was noted that the information from the CCDS may be very useful if/when TCC chooses to respond to the proposed development in Meadow Road.

17. Planning & Licensing – Jamie

https://tellmescotland.gov.uk/tellmescot/pages/notices?mode=postcode&pCode=G117QZ
There were only two notices this month affecting Thornwood. It was agreed that neither required a response.

18. Public liability insurance

Colin expressed his frustration at trying to get a response from GCC regarding the block insurance cover that supposedly gives CCs cover. Since there has been no response, despite repeated requests, it was agreed to renew our own cover and inform GCC accordingly.

19. Treasurer Report – Jamie

The monthly report was circulated prior to the meeting.
The recent request for funds for bulbs has still to be confirmed. Colin said Toiny had agreed to some flexibility due to the application having been delayed.

20. Questions from the public

1. Large pothole at the foot of Thornwood Drive where cars turn. Colin offered to report this via the app.
2. A member of the public had cleared the pavement of leaf litter to make the pavement safer to walk on and wanted to know what should then be done with the leaf litter. Colin agreed to ask.

21. AOB

1. Thornwood  roundabout.
   • Designs are currently being finalised.
   • About to start modelling to determine the best course of action for the signalising of the roundabout. The preferred option will be determined by the results of the modelling.
   • It is hoped that options can be presented to the working group at the
     beginning of May.
2. Illegal parking on Meadow Road (note 6)

The next meeting will be on May 6th 2025

Additional note 1

Letter from Patricia Ferguson

Dear Secretary,

I am writing to advise that Glasgow City Council is currently receiving applications for firework control zones across the city. A firework control zone is an area, designated by the council, within which the use of fireworks can be restricted.

The application process is open to various local stakeholders, including community councils and residents’ groups, to ensure that local people are heard in the decision process. I thought this might be of interest to you as residents within your Community Council area contacted me last year to raise concerns about fireworks.

The deadline for applications is the 11th April 2025. The criteria for an application is as below:

A request cannot be made by an individual. Applications for consideration of a FCZ can only
be submitted by:

• A community of residents (25 signatures)
• A welfare group or
• A Community Council

The community request application form will require information on:

• The reasons for the proposed new FCZ, or for amending or revoking an existing zone
• The boundaries of the zone
• The start and end dates required for the zone to take effect

Before submitting you must consult with:

• Those who live or work in the proposed zone
• Members of the local community in or near the proposed zone

For more information on how to apply and further details you can visit:
Fireworks Control Zones (FCZ) – Glasgow City Council
I hope that this information is of interest.

Patricia Ferguson MP
Member of Parliament for Glasgow West

Additional note 2

Colin and I attended the online presentation outlining the details of the Glasgow tourist levy.
The levy will be a 5% on all tourist accommodation in the City.
They expect to raise £11.2 to £11.4 million per year. This money will be used to improve tourist infrastructure, but potentially other purposes. Deadline for objections, any issues is May 2nd. The levy will go into effect 18 months after this date, not in time for the Commonwealth Games in 2026.
First review of the levy will come after 3 years. Reporting will be annually and there will be strict enforcement of this.

– David

Additional note 3

On Saturday 29th I attended the CC Development Session which looked at the planning process. It was easily the best CCDS so far. The speaker was an expert in the field, a good communicator, and the IT worked. The activity sessions were practical and it was all geared to what CCs need to know when responding to planning applications. There was a lot of information and at times I felt I was back at university. That was a good thing.

It is not possible for me to properly summarise such a session but I would say the key takeaways are:

• Planning officers are very busy and you are more likely to get a hearing if you make it easy for them and speak their language. To do this your response should be framed with reference to,
• NPF4, the National Planning Framework.
• The City Development Plan. Within the CDP there are 12 policies. Any objection or support to a planning application should be considered in relation to these 12 policies.
• Each of the 12 policies is supported by supplementary guidance.
• Make use of the online planning portal. In particular check the planning statement. Check for generalities and where it looks as if the planning application has been massaged to make it look as if it is supporting the CDP.
• Always consider the specifics of the local context.
• There will always be two sides to every story. The objective is to show that the story you are telling is more persuasive. However,
• Planning decisions are decided on numbers and arguments grounded in the CDP. They are not decided by personal or anecdotal stories however passionately those stories are presented.

More help is available from

• Planning Aid Scotland
• Planning Democracy

– ColinP

Additional note 4

The original aim was for the amended proposals to be out for public discussion by the end of March. This has been delayed due to staffing issues. Unfortunately, the first round of recruiting was unsuccessful. A new round of recruitment is underway. When/if this is successful, a new timeline will be given.

Additional note 5

From Roads Maintenance, NRS

I can advise that a roads officer has carried out an inspection of Meadow Road at the junction with Dumbarton Road and has identified locations for interim pothole repairs. An instruction has been created to carry out these localised repairs within 5 working days, to mitigate the risk of any immediate safety concern.

This section of carriageway has been assessed for permanent patching and is scheduled to be included in the 2025/26 patching program. The work will commence upon the allocation of funding in the upcoming financial year.
(Thanks to Lana for pursuing this.)

We have also been told that the following locations are scheduled for inclusion in Ward 12’s 1st tranche of carriageway resurfacing programme for the 2025/2026. They are continually developing their 2nd Tranche of works and we will be advised you accordingly.

• Crow Road (Between Clarence Drive and Monkscroft Avenue)
• Thornwood Avenue (Crow Road to No. 48)
• Thornwood Drive (Thornwood Avenue to No. 38 Thornwood Drive)

Additional note 6

Many of the parking bays in Meadow Road need refurbishment to allow enforcement of parking restrictions. NRS (Parking Services) anticipate this happening in the new financial year. When parking attendants attended on 7 March they found that all vehicles were, at that time, parked adjacent to the kerb and were not causing any obstruction. We are told they will patrol the area regularly taking action where they can.  

(Thanks to Lana for pursuing this.)