10 Jun 10th June 2019 Meeting Minutes
Minutes of the Winchburgh Community Council (WCC) Meeting held in the Community Education Centre, Craigton Place, Winchburgh at 7pm on Monday 10th June 2019.
May Minutes: Proposed by Jim Somerville, seconded by Mandy Baird.
Attendance
Community Councillors:) Nick Knox (NK), Jim Somerville (JS), Sheila Sutherland (SS), William Honeyford (WH), Mandy Baird (MB) and Pete Nisbet (PN)
West Lothian Councillors: Janet Campbell (JC) and Diane Calder (DC).
Winchburgh Developments: John Hamilton (JH) and Penny Lochhead (PL)
West Lothian Housing Department: Katy McBride (KM) and Phylilis McFadyen (PM)
Scottish Water: Natalie Walker (NW) and Dave Bisset )DB)
Public: Chris McWilliams (CM), Donna Mabon, Trevor Spence, James McIlroy (JM), John Finnigan, Edith Small, Sue Scotland (SSc), Steven Scotland, Alan Russel (AR), Vivienne Brown, Wendy Grant, John Pride (JP)
Apologies: Pritchard, Graham Campbell, Irene Wallace and Peter Anderson
Opening Comments by Chairman
NK welcomed attendees and went straight to the agenda as it was to be a full meeting.
Scottish Water
NW and DB gave a presentation on handed the upgrade of water and Waste services to Winchburgh to cope with the growth from the development. They handed out copies of the presentation for reference. Between them they explained the planning process and the results of that for Winchburgh. A new sewage plant is to be built next to the present one and the Community Council stated that Craigton Place was not a suitable access for works traffic. DW noted that. A new water main is to be laid down Glendevon Road and the contract to install it is in place. There will be an extra reservoir adjacent to the present on e by the Fauchaldean Road at the Ecclesmachen end.
JM and DC raised the issue of current water pressure in Winchburgh and NW provided details of how to contact Scottish Water to report problems and undertook to investigate present concerns. NK requested that the Community Council was kept informed about progress of the project and asked for warning if there was to be any disruption to Winchburgh residents. NW undertook to do that.
Housing
KM and PM handed out copies of the West Lothian Housing Allocation Policy and then explained it to the meeting. They spoke about their problems with too few houses for the number of people needing them. To that end empty housing is filled as quickly as it can be made fit for re-use. PN stated that this seemed very lengthy on occasions. PM responded that they were often constrained by the need to complete the necessary legal process. JC asked for confirmation that damage to property was charged to the person responsible for it. PM confirmed that was the policy. KM explained the requirement to follow the points system in allocating housing but did confirm that new build council houses are allocated to existing council tenants. JH asked about the allocation of Wheatley houses and it was stated that West Lothian have a say in the allocation of about half of the Winchburgh new builds. DC and PN asked if housing for temporary lets always had to be the same house as some of ours seem to have been used for that for 20 years. PM said they could be changed and that our situation will be reviewed.
Winchburgh Developments Limited
JH stated that they have 5 planning applications active this month: the Marina in Block Q1, 4 houses to be built by Smart on the triangle opposite the Miller development, Block J, housing in Block O (including some bungalows) and the services for the new schools. CM asked how far the road behind Belway was to be taken this time and was informed that it was only just to cross the gas pipeline at present. PN asked what was to be done on the land where the new Holy Family was to have been built. JH said nothing could be decided until the decision to change the location of the school was formally approved. WH asked who was responsible for rubbish collection at new shops area. JH said it was expected that the council would adopt the area but he will have them emptied in the mean time. NK questioned if there were sufficient bins there. It was noted that the land on the side of the B9080 by the council houses was not landscaped. JH said that was council land and DC stated that the council we now only cut the grass once a year!
Winchburgh Garage
SSc stated that the Scottish Commercials garage continued to use the old Star and Garter site for their vans despite their planning permission lapsing last year. They have applied for retrospective Planning Permission but it is not yet granted. A survey conducted by SSc has reinforced the general view in the village that the garage causes unacceptable congestion in the Main Street and should not be granted Planning Permission. It was requested that the Community Council wrote to express their opposition to the granting of Planning Permission. NK asked for a vote and it was agreed to write to the Planning Department to express that view.
Winchburgh Community Development Trust
AR gave an update on progress and stated that funding was being sought for a Project Worker with a view to having one in post as soon as possible. NK stated that the Winchburgh Community Growing Group (WCGG) now have 48 planters in place. SS asked about putting flowers in planters but NK explained that the funding for the WCGG is for edible plants but that setting up a group for flowers would be a good thing. MB offered her support and AR asked SS to engage with the Trust to see if this could be accomplished.
Sports
Football
Winchburgh Albion are signing the lease on the Millgate pavilion and Niddry changing rooms and anyone wanting to hire the pitches will need to come through the club
The Teams have been presented with their new strips, sponsored by Winchburgh Developments Ltd.
Bowling
We’ve had a busy month since the new opening times came into force. On the Bowling side: increased our Membership overall by approx. 35%. The pairs are playing in the Semi Final of the District (Scottish) this Tuesday The County Rink is trying to retain their title this Friday in the final which we won last year. The green still needs a lot of work so we have a fundraising evening happening on 13th July with a comedian and live music. Everyone welcome. The Niven Pairs was held last month and won by Davie Gemmell Jnr and partner. We begin our schools work on Tuesday with both schools p7 classes coming across to take part in a fun and interactive introduction to bowls. On the social side: The new opening times are attracting lots of new customers through the door. The newly redecorated games room is now open, allowing the poker league to be held every Tuesday. We had a successful social media campaign during volunteer’s week celebrating the work that our members do.
Golf
Junior Membership has been capped at 44 although we will be starting a session for 5-to 6 year olds at 1.00 pm on a Saturday so there may be room for a few more in this age group. By the time of the meeting, Holy Family School P6 should have attended their 5th and final coaching session at the Golf Club. WPS attend on Wednesday 12th.
David Burns, Master Teaching Professional from Kingsfield Golf Centre, has been signed up for 4 consecutive Fridays 2-4 pm, starting on July 19th. This is sponsored by the Stephen Gallacher Foundation and is a consequence of their highly successful Junior event, held on May12th.
The Club will again host it’s popular Fun day on the afternoon of the Gala Day, June 29th.
Items for the Attention of the WCC
SS reported that she is still trying to meet with the head teachers of the Primary schools over continued traffic issues and hoped it would be soon. NK asked about the article in the press involving a child being taken out of school. It was reported that the issue is resolved and the child is back in school. MB asked for a path from Block K to the present Primary schools complex and JH said they intend to do that but have some issues to resolve
JS suggested he form a Classic Car Club in the village and stated there is already some interest. This was encouraged and JS said he would be happy to organise it. He was encouraged to take to Facebook and posters to gather members.
PN stated that the artist for the Skate Park will start work on it this month.
Communications to the WCC
NK informed the meeting that the Local Area Committee will be looking at allocations of the Town Centre Capital fund for this year at their next meeting and that we may receive about £60k. In answer to an earlier comment about improving the look of Main Street he suggested this might be the sort of thing we could use the fund for.
Next Meeting – 7pm, Monday 12th August
This meeting will be the Annual General Meeting
Minutes prepared by N Knox and Mandy Baird