Johnstone Community Council
Minutes of the ordinary meeting of Johnstone Community Council held on Thursday 24th September 2009 at 6.30pm in Johnstone Town Hall.
Present
Elizabeth Cosgrove, Wilma Dean, Chris Gilmour, George Kennedy, Dennis Lavery, Gladys Marchbank, Valerie Reilly and Isabella Wishart.
Also in attendance:-
Councillors (Ward 7) – John Caldwell.
(Ward 8) –Neil Bibby and Bruce McFee.
P.C.s Craig Riddell, Chris Nedly and Laura Halliday plus Barrie Anderson of A.S.I.S.T.
Fourteen members of the public.
1. Apologies
Robert Campbell, David Higginson, Pamela Higginson, Rosalyn Gilmour and Ian McNaught.
Councillors Arthur, Hood, McMillan and McGee also tendered apologies.
2. Minutes
The minutes of the previous meeting were approved.
Proposed by Isabella Wishart
Seconded by George Kennedy
3. Presentation by Strathclyde Police and A.S.I.S.T.
PC Riddell spoke first, introducing himself and asking if there were specific questions or issues that anyone wanted to raise.
Issues discussed included youths running amok in the William Street area, parking on the High Street, fighting in Corseford and difficulties caused since the recent resiting of the bus-stop in front of Lidl. PC Riddell promised to keep these issues in mind and refer them to colleagues where appropriate.
There were some complaints that, since the reorganisation of community police into teams covering larger areas, it was more difficult to contact the right person. The inability to directly contact the local police as all calls are now prioritised at a call centre was also raised.
Chris Gilmour said that these concerns needed to be raised at a higher level and it was agreed that we would invite the Inspector in charge to a future meeting.
PC Riddell left the meeting at 6.55pm to return to his duties.
Barrie Anderson of the Renfrewshire Council Anti Social team then addressed those present. He described the procedures that would be taken with youths who were involved in anti-social behaviour and handed out examples of the Antisocial Youth Notice. Next step would be an Acceptable Behaviour Contract (ABC) and if that was broken it could go to an ASBO. If the behaviour continues then evictions can happen and when rehoused the families are only allowed short-term tenancies which are regularly checked.
Clr McFee asked what percentage of parents cooperated over their offspring’s behaviour. BA replied that about 90% did but these were generally not the hard core.
Dennis Lavery asked if those hard core cases could be moved away from parents in such circumstances.
BA explained that only the Social Work dept had those powers.
After a short discussion BA and the two local PCs left the meeting.
4. Matters Arising
4.1 Sub Group Reports
Roads
GK reported on a meeting to discuss dangerous junctions on Quarry Street. Renfrewshire Council is currently considering options.
Work on the drainage problems in the Arcade will hopefully go ahead on schedule in October.
A new Chief Official for the Roads dept will be in post soon and specific issues raised will be presented at the earliest opportunity.
Clr McF reported that there was a huge backlog of repairs and pressures on the budget. Also the standard of some repairs has been poor and to improve this a new machine has been leased by the Council that will do better work.
Band Stand and War Memorial
We have presented a wish list for spending the £250,000 recently awarded for town centre work in Johnstone which will include this work and new Christmas lights.
Clr McF warned that the money has to be spent before 31st March or it will be clawed back.
Johnstone Silver Band recently celebrated their 175th anniversary. The Community Council has purchased, and had engraved, a pewter Quaich to mark the occasion. The Band has agreed to do some spots at the bandstand.
Play Parks
Wilma Dean reported on a meeting held with Environmental services.
It was noted that some pieces of equipment from the area set aside for the smallest children in Shanks Park were missing.
Quotes had been received for the removal of redundant equipment from Corseford. These will be installed at no cost by Environmental Services.
DL asked if lighting for Shanks Park had been considered and was told that this is to be considered as part of a later phase of the work.
Clr McF suggested the establishment of a “Friends of Shanks Park” group that would be able to apply for sources of funding closed to local government.
WD said that she was willing to try and facilitate such a group.
4.2 Town Centre Walkabout progress report
GK reported that most of the items we are concerned about are already included in the wish list for Town Centre Regeneration.
4.3 Johnstone Town Centre Youth Projects.
The Centre Youth Club
26 in the 10-16 age group attended on 18th September. An article on the project has been submitted to the Gazette. A 5-9 age group will begin on 2nd November. GK is actively seeking funding for this from 5 different sources. Volunteers are required for a Morrison’s bag-pack session on 21st November.
Football in Houston Square etc
Football will be provided in Spateston (the Buddies mobile pitch + Youth Bus) and Howwood Road (MUGGA) from October to mid-December on Tuesdays.
The mobile pitch will be in Houston Square on Thursdays and Saturdays and at Morrison’s car park on Fridays. The latter is not ideal as it might detract from our Youth Club projects.
Clr McF noted that statistics show an enormous drop in youth crime on nights when these facilities are available.
4.4 Swimming Pool Proposals
Lorraine Brown of the JESS campaign group reported that a newsletter will be distributed to every household in Johnstone, Elderslie and the surrounding area.
The group has produced costed alternative proposal that will shortly be presented to the Council. Then it is the intention to reach as many of the population as possible through PowerPoint presentations. It was agreed that JESS would bring their PowerPoint to the October meeting.
JESS asked if the CC would be willing to make a donation to offset the cost of printing the leaflets.
The question was posed as to what figures have been produced about the impact of pool closures will have on town centre businesses.
Clr McF replied that economic impact studies had been done re. the opening of a Tesco store in Linwood, but that he had no knowledge of research on any additional impact that might result from this proposal.
Clr Bibby also reported that he had no knowledge of such a study.
Clr McF noted that the new pool would be a Renfrewshire Leisure Pool that the School had access to and not the other way around, that negotiations on improving public access were continuing and that he agreed that the local people needed assurances now about how the pool would operate rather than waiting until it opened.
5. Renfrewshire Community Council Forum Report.
In the absence of Ewan Finlay this item was held over.
6 Review of the Scheme for Establishment of Community Councils.
A short discussion revealed that JCC prefers the status quo, although there might be some merit in establishing a place for a youth representative.
7. Planning Report
There was nothing urgent to report.
8. Treasurer’s Report
In the absence of David Higginson no figures were available, but GK noted that the figures will be available for perusal at the AGM at the next meeting.
9. Secretary’s Report
Summer Music in Houston Square
GK reported that the programme was due to finish on 26th September and had been running successfully since June. A short programme will run prior to Christmas.
Funding for next year’s programme will come from a LAC grant of £1500. It was agreed that in light of the Town Centre Regeneration Grant the £12,000 originally set aside by LAC for the bandstand renovation could be handed back.
GK tabled an invitation for members of JCC to meet the local MPs and MSPs on 30th October
10. AOCB
A letter had been received from the Planning Department asking if there were any objections to the renaming of the lane behind the Quarry Street shops as “Quarry Lane” to avoid confusion over its address. No objections were raised.
Clr McF raised the question of the recycling mountain between Floors Street and the railway line, and asked if the name of the business was known. It was reported that the name was WRC and that they were bringing 6 lorries a day onto the site. Clr McF undertook to check that it was operating correctly and under the correct licences.
There being no further business the meeting closed at 9.00pm.
The next meeting will be held at Johnstone Town Hall on Thursday 29th October 2009.