Thornwood Community Council
Minute of meeting on 07/05/2024
Held at Partick Free Church Hall 2-4 Thornwood Terrace, Glasgow G11 7QZ (6.30pm)
Attendees
TCC Members
Jamie MacBrayne (treasurer)
Colin Price (secretary)
Ailie Hunter
Stephen Marshall
Ex Officio Members
Councillor Lana Reid-McConnell (Scottish Green Party)
Other attendees
One member of the public
Apologies Received in Advance
Alison Kerr (member)
Geraldine Ross-Hargreaves (member)
Madeline Jansen (member)
Nicolas Dear (member)
Shaun Conroy (chair)
Seamus Gallagher (member)
PC Andy McKay (Police Scotland)
Not present
Councillor Eunis Jassemi (Scottish Labour Party)
Councillor Feargal Dalton (Scottish National Party)
- Welcome and apologies
In the absence of Shaun the meeting was chaired by Jamie MacBrayne who welcomed those present.
Received apologies were noted. - Minutes for previous meeting (2nd April 2024)
Approved. Proposed by Jamie, seconded by Colin. - Victoria Park Area Partnership
- Thornwood roundabout
It was noted that, as per Lana’s email, it has now been agreed by the Area Partnership that design work should proceed:
“I’m following up after the area partnership today regarding what was approved for the Thornwood roundabout project as discussed at the meeting we had on 19th March. The link to the paper is here:https://www.glasgow.gov.uk/councillorsandcommittees/viewDoc.asp?c=P62AFQDN810GUTNTNT and the text referring to the roundabout is below:
‘Pedestrian safety at Thornwood roundabout- following the recent GCC officers/Councillors/Community Council meeting on site, the £100k design costs (subject to approval of NIIF funding) will allow full design of the junction including collection of survey data required to make engineering decisions; the design and consultation works will be undertaken by GCC officers; Once confirmed the design will take between 6-12 months; Consultation period of 6-8 weeks from design to completion. This will include consultation with Area Partnership, Strathclyde Partnership for Transport, Local members, emergency services, local businesses and residents; construction funding will be sought after design works are complete. This would be a competitive external fund and whilst not guaranteed, based on previous track record and experience, officers would be optimistic that this would be successful.’
We agreed there would be a steering group for the duration of the design work that would continue via the Area Partnership and would in particular wish to inform the consultation approach that has been outlined above. It would be good to know from officers who would facilitate this – whether it is Pat’s team or the active travel/ roads team.”
It was noted that the majority of TCC find this a very positive development but some people have reservations. It was noted that there will be a mechanism to feed in both positive suggestions and to register specific reservations so that these can be considered by the design team.
- Thornwood roundabout
- Christmas Lights
Colin repeated his concern that £9000 for three trees was extraordinarily excessive and said it is important that we find out who was paid how much for doing what. Since it seems to be so difficult to get an answer to this question Colin wondered if he needed to consider making a Freedom of Information request. It was suggested that in the first instance the possibility of doing this might be used as leverage.
- Victoria Park Trust
- A question had been raised as to whether the installation of the bench giving visual support to Ukraine was politicising the park and potentially divisive. Nobody had particularly strong views on the matter. Colin noted that it was consistent with Whiteinch Community Centre hosting twice weekly meetings for The Association of Ukrainians in Great Britain. The possibility of a symbol that is meaningful and positive one year becoming problematic at some later time was noted.
- Speed limit on A814 (Victoria Park Drive South?) & level access for pedestrians from Whiteinch library to park entrance. Reference was made to the email that had been circulated concerning the campaign to reduce the speed to 30mph and to provide better access to the park. Jamie commented that the email was very well argued. Colin expressed a personal opinion that was strongly in favour.
- A question had been raised as to whether the installation of the bench giving visual support to Ukraine was politicising the park and potentially divisive. Nobody had particularly strong views on the matter. Colin noted that it was consistent with Whiteinch Community Centre hosting twice weekly meetings for The Association of Ukrainians in Great Britain. The possibility of a symbol that is meaningful and positive one year becoming problematic at some later time was noted.
- Restricted Parking Zone – update from Lana’s email (12thMarch)
In relation to procurement documentation, there has been some delay due to requiring input from a number of other Council teams.
However, my team are currently going through the recruitment process to fill vacant posts and I am hopeful that this will see these posts filled by May. If this progresses as anticipated, my team will be able to carry out the statutory Traffic Regulation Order (TRO) process without the need for consultant assistance. In the meantime, I am meeting with NRS Procurement regularly to finalise the above documentation so that, if recruitment does not progress as anticipated, we can still carry out the first three projects.
We have been working on initial designs for the three projects, including Broomhill/Thornwood and it would be my intention to present these to the affected stakeholders before the end of spring, in order to obtain feedback. Once feedback has been received and the designs have been potentially modified based on the feedback, we will progress to the statutory TRO process in the summer.
I would like to apologise for the road markings having still not been refreshed at these locations. Unfortunately, the installation of road markings has been impacted by the unfavourable weather during the winter months and a reduction in staff resource. This means that the ongoing works programme is facing delays and these works are now expected to be carried out in the new financial year.
It was noted that since we don’t have TCC meetings in July and August there may be timing issues with any discussion re. feedback. Jamie suggested that if deemed necessary we could always arrange a meeting.
It was clarified that the consultation was not about the principle of the RPZ but would only be to do with whether any specifics of the design might cause particular problems.
There was some discussion about enforcement or the lack thereof. This led to discussion about the lack of enforcement on other issues such as idling. Lana noted that on some issues GCC prioritises education over enforcement but it was questionable whether there was any evidence that this strategy was working.
It was noted that the introduction of the RPZ may help with the increase in the number of commercial vehicles that seem to be parking in residential streets.
- 20mph city-wide mandatory speed limit
Details can be found on GCC website: https://www.glasgow.gov.uk/index.aspx?articleid=29987
It was noted that 20mph will apply to all roads in Thornwood with the exception of Dumbarton Road from the roundabout to the Crow Road junction and South Street and Castlebank Street. Since this coincides with the area that has given much concern re. accidents and safety this exception seems strange. It was thought important to find out why this decision was made.
It was suggested that Crow Road and Broomhill Drive would be the two roads where drivers will find it most challenging to keep to 20mph. - Elected Representatives Update
Lana noted a number of areas, in addition to some already discussed, where matters have been drawn to her attention.
- artwork on the roundabout is progressing
- Continuing to work with Shaun on the development of the pitches.
- There is to be a meeting with various parties concerning the problem of litter at Partick Interchange. This led to discussion about litter associated with McDonald’s in Crow Road; the poor state of the pavements in Crow Road; and the problem of red chips from a driveway spilling out onto the road.
- There was some discussion about the locations of food recycling bins.
- Police Scotland Report
No report was available in time for the meeting. - Community matters
- Bin hubs – update
According to newspaper reports (Glasgow Times and Glasgow Live)
“Opportunities to extend the scheme into other areas are being explored, but ‘no decisions have been made’ and residents will be ‘briefed prior to any additional installation.
[And with regard to parking]
They said: “The bin hubs have taken up one or two spaces. Pollokshields has had issues because it is a busier area compared to Haghill … I think we will potentially hit issues when we try to introduce it into other areas but we have had that experience.” - Gully cleaning – update
CP expressed his frustration at trying to get any answer from GCC despite repeated phone calls and repeated submissions via the contact form on the GCC website, which was the method of contact he had been told to use when calling on the phone. - Litter bin in Thornwood Community Park
It was noted that until relatively recently (2020?) there had been two litter bins in the park. The one remaining bin is often overflowing. It was suggested that the first step was to find out why the second bin had been removed.
- Bin hubs – update
- Treasurer Report
Jamie noted that TCC had received £320 from the Area Partnership Fund which had been requested for the Dandara Residents Association newsletter and that we had paid out £157 to Zurich as the premium for our public liability insurance. - AOB – none
Date of next meeting: 4th June 2024