Meeting – 2nd May 2023
Partick Free Church of Scotland Hall
6.30pm – 8.00pm
NOTES OF MEETING
Attendees
Elected Members
Shaun Conroy (acting chair)
Jamie MacBrayne (acting secretary, acting treasurer)
Colin Price
Stephen Marshall
Geraldine Ross-Hargreaves
Dora McManus
Invited Representatives
Councillor Lana Reid-McConnell (Scottish Green Party)
Eunis Jassemi (Scottish Labour Party)
PC Andy McKay (Police Scotland)
Public
4 members of the public
Apologies Recieved
Alison Kerr
Allie Hunter
Linda Connon
- Welcome, Apologies and Any Other Matters
On opening, the Chair asked if anyone has any other business to add to the agenda. A member of the public asked for clarification on the rules for members attending meetings. This was as a follow up to the previous meeting where this same person had asked why so many members were absent from the meeting.
Jamie explained the rules are as follows: Members are expected to attend Community Council meetings. If a member fails to attend three consecutive meetings then the Community Council should write to that member requesting an explanation and clarification of their situation. It is within the power of the Community Council to grant that member a leave of absence if so desired, up to a maximum of 6 months or until the next AGM, whichever is sooner. Jamie also mentioned that the Community Council should hold an AGM in October in accordance with the Scheme of Establishment for Community Councils.
The minutes from the 4th April 2023 meeting were approved.
Thanks were expressed to PC Andy McKay for his recent draft ‘Road TrafficSafety Report for Thornwood Roundabout’ which was circulated to members prior to submission to Glasgow City Council. - Police Report (PC Andy McKay)
PC Andy McKay summarised his draft report on Thornwood Roundabout, highlighting the high volume of traffic in the area, poor drainage making some areas dangerous, dangerous crossings near the bus stop, recent traffic collisions at Castlebank Street / Sawmill Road. The report was well received by the meeting with no suggested changes.
There was then some discussion about parking in the area. Apparently one of the underground car parks at the Glasgow Harbour development has been closed, and the residents who would normally use this car park have been given local parking permits, thus exacerbating an existing problem with car parking in Partick and Thornwood.
Lana said the Restricted Parking Zone for Thornwood is due in the coming year. Colin asked if there would be joined up thinking by GCC re the RPZ and the new on-street bins policy which is being trialled and presumably introduced.
The meeting then went on to discuss the new on-street bins policy, with concerns expressed about viability, locations of bins, frequency of emptying, etc. Some positive feelings were also expressed towards the proposal. - Elected Representatives Reports
Lana Reid-McConnell
Lana has been focussing on the issue of insufficient street bins in the area, as raised by residents recently. She has arranged a meeting on Friday with businesses in the area. Issues to be raised are: Number of bins, excessive litter from drive-thrus, requesting Starbucks to install more bins, neighbourhood liaison to visit schools re:litter.
There was a meeting with Cllr Eva Murray last week (also attended by Colin Price) about local bus services, meeting with First Bus to see how services could be improved in the area. There is ongoing engagement with First Bus.
Work on Thornwood Roundabout is ongoing. GCC own the area under the expressway. A desire has been expressed to install some artwork there and the council are in discussions with a local artist.
There have been complaints about the poor standard of the fence alongCastlebank Street / South Street between the road and the undeveloped ground. Complaints about City Fibre’s recent work in the area have been passed on to them. A member of the public expressed concerns about the lack of control we have over national infrastructure projects such as this. Lana agreed to write to Carol Monaghan MP to ask how these decisions are made in the UK parliament.
Eunis Jassemi
Eunis said that GCC are not adhering to their commitments on drain cleaning and lighting, citing examples where residents had been informed of planned work which had not come to pass on multiple occasions.
He has highlighted that tree maintenance is required at Sandy Road. He has also highlighted to City Fibre the poor state that they have left some areas in after their recent works.
Concerns have been raised by residents of Glasgow Harbour re fire safety in the flats, but this is a matter for individual residents. - Love Thornwood (Shaun Conroy)
The head teacher at Thornwood Primary has been in communication with the school parents’ association regarding community development of the pitches within the school grounds. There is potentially £1500 available from the Partick & Thornwood action fund to assist with this. Discussions are ongoing. - Area Partnership (Lana Reid-McConnell)
Representatives from the four community councils within the area met at Whiteinch recently. Further meetings with CC reps will take place to discuss spending of the £1million area improvement fund.
There is an annual allocation of £60,000 to be spent in the Thornwood area. Of this fund, currently around £12,000 is spent on Christmas lighting. This consists of animated lights on three trees at the bottom of Thornwood Park, at a cost of £3,600 per tree. Lana has questioned this cost with GCC. There was a suggestion that perhaps local or national businesses could be approached to meet this funding in future years, with City Fibre beingcited as an example.
Shaun suggested that CC members could be keeping a closer eye on planning proposals in the area - Treasurer’s Report (Jamie MacBrayne)
TCC’s current balance of funds is £1,892.25 with liabilities of £140 in due rent for the church hall.
There was a proposal and an agreement in principal for TCC to spend funds on plants and bulbs for the area..
Shaun requested reimbursement for £30 he had spent on bulbs for the area which was approved by the meeting.
There was an agreement to install a large planter at Auchentorlie Street. A spend of £75 for a TCC stall at the Victoria Park open day was approved by the meeting. - Any other business
A member of the public presented a community action plan which they had worked on for another area and suggested that some members could get involved with drafting something similar for Thornwood. This idea was met with general approval and enthusiasm.
A local resident who also works at The Annexe encouraged people to submit applications for the current Annexe Ideas Fund.
Close
After the meeting, some members stayed on to discuss the development of a new TCC website which is being developed by Stephen Marshall.