Clydebank East Community Council

Venue - Centre 81 at 7pm

Minutes of meeting Monday 13th May 2024

Present

J Henry - Chair, A Conarty - Treasurer, Yvonne O'Neill - Secretary, Emma McColgan - Social Media, Anne Jennings - Community Walk rounds, Maureen Flynn - Community Walk rounds, Suzanne Marshall - WDC Housing, Craig Wilson - WDC Repairs, Alan Karas – WDC Communities Team, Alison Mailey - Centre 81, Lynette Lees - CHA

Apologies

Anne Ross - Community Walk rounds, WDC - Anti Social Behaviour team, Cllr L Oxley

No Response to emails:

Cllr D Lennie, Cllr J McElhill, WDC Greenspace, WDC Cleansing Dept, PC Lee McWhinney - Police Scotland

Members of Public present: 51

Meeting opened at 7pm, Chair welcomed everyone and explained fire drill.

Minutes of previous meeting

Read and approved by -

Proposed by - AJ, seconded by - EM 

Treasurer Report

£1008.87

Secretary Report

N/A

Councillors Report

N/A

Police Report

NOT PROVIDED

AOB

Alison Mailey of Centre 81 announced that they are looking for ideas for the Muga Area in Braes Avenue (The Pitch) they will then shortlist ideas to 5 max., they have requested that people in the area put their ideas on the notice board within Centre 81.

She also explained that they have recently refurbished the garden room and the art room as well as revamped the community garden at the side of the centre.  They plan to continue to seek funding to improve the Muga area but have promised this will be discussed with the people that it may affect before anything goes ahead.

Residents complaining about the raised beds in braes Ave and the state of the plots.

Craig Wilson gave a brief talk on how to help prevent dampness within your home, i.e., open windows, put heating on, clean and dry off any water before it turns to mould, he also explained about the new air sensors that are currently being fitted in homes by WDC. Also, the ventilation systems being fitted in damp homes.  WDC are also introducing fans for bathrooms and kitchens.  The main cause of dampness is the shower and cooking.

Some residents spoke to Craig regarding repairs that have been marked as completed and haven’t been done, a house in White Street roof leaking pouring in bedroom and living room, one house in King Street waited in for housing inspector who didn’t turn up.

John Knox Street Front and back close doors are broken, and gutters need repaired.  Longden Street, tenant is waiting on a new door WDC have text him and said its completed, this has not been done.  Angus Street, fence and gate to be repaired, text says its completed which it hasn’t been.  Braes Ave waited on inspector who again didn’t turn up. 

Dampness within cellars in Braes Avenue are still causing problems.  McDonald Crescent, roof has been leaking since February which has still not repaired.  St Andrews Way, fence required due to anti-social behaviour.

The use of withheld numbers by council staff needs to stop.

Fencing required at King Street

Wheelchair users have requested that all corners of the pavements in Whitecrook to be lowered for them to get from A to B safely. 

Anti social behaviour issues in Braes Ave, graffiti and fighting.

Anti social behaviour issues in St Andrews Way, this was brought up by residents themselves and the Old Whitecrook TRA, it appears these issues have been going on for some time. Not much has been done to tackle this by Anti-social behaviour team, Police or housing team. One man explained he opened the kitchen blind to find a grown man doing the toilet. The way these people are having to live is totally unacceptable.  Suzanne Marshall, WDC Housing said they are going to install CCTV to try and combat the Anti-social behaviour.  Residents said that wouldn’t work and its time these families who have been causing the Anti-social behaviour should be removed. The new housing is very un-welcoming, and it’s treated like a tip. It is not a current safe place, with good homes being mistreated by residents who have no respect for their community, other residents, and the environment. It was motioned by the public that the WDC housing vetting scheme is not up to scratch regarding prioritisation e.g. local families and medical circumstances.   

Houses in John Knox Street have raised their concerns that their homes may have been built with a particular concrete known as RAAC which is causing concern. Residents have asked for information regarding this on several different occasions. Cllr McKay has enquired about this. She was told that this type of concrete was not used on buildings in question. However, there has never been any proof of this in terms of documentation. We have asked for documents to be provided and residents to be contacted as soon as possible. Craig Wilson informed the meeting he would investigate this further.

Old Whitecrook RTA, explained that they are struggling to get council staff and elected Cllrs to turn up to their monthly meetings and that its completely unacceptable

Whitecrook Community Action Group have started a foodbank, early days yet but, hopefully it will be a good thing for our community

Meeting closed 8.45pm

Date Of Next Meeting

Next meeting will be on the Monday 3rd June 2024 at 7pm.

 

Clydebank East Community Council

Venue - Centre 81, Monday 4th March 2024

Minutes of meeting

 

Present

J Henry - Chair, A Conarty - Treasurer, Yvonne O'Neill - Secretary, Emma McColgan - Social Media, Anne Ross - Community Walk rounds, Anne Jennings - Community Walk rounds, Maureen Flynn - Community Walk rounds, John Wallace - Anti social behaviour team, Gareth McInally - Anti social behaviour team

Apologies

Cllr J McKay, Cllr Lauren Oxley, Cllr D Lennie, Cllr J McElhill, PC Lee McWhinney, WDC Housing Suzanne Marshall, WDC Repairs Craig Wilson, CHA Lynette Lees

Members of Public present: 20

Meeting opened at 7pm, Chair welcomed everyone and explained fire drill.

Minutes of previous meeting

Read and approved by - Proposed by AC, seconded by AJ

Secretary Report

Since this meeting I have been notified by Sinead Farrel of CHA that funding for the new pitch was unsuccessful at this time but that they have secured £25000 which they intend to use to tidy up the area

Two complaints from residents regarding the housing inspector not showing up and then having to wait 2 weeks each time for a new appointment with no explanation or apology for this.

Damp property in Angus Street

Break in at St Margarets Chapel, priest has now left due to ill health.

G81 kids club - I have exhausted every avenue and I can’t find anywhere local to accommodate them leaving parents with no childcare facility and leaving people with no jobs.

Also, our thoughts are with committee member Anne Ross who is ill at the moment.

Treasurer Report

£1529.56

Councillors Report

Cllr June McKay has arranged to meet with greenspace again and do a walk about and note any trees that are obstructing the pavement, she will be accompanied by committee member Maureen Flynn on 12/03/24 this will be discussed at next meeting.

Cllr McKay also asked for us to post on fb about the street signs we believe some of these were getting renewed, this will be discussed at next meeting also.

AOB

  • The use of withheld numbers from WDC is a hinderance to people who may have withheld numbers blocked on their phone
  • Complaints regarding WDC repairs office workers cheeky and hanging up on people
  • ASB say they have had no reports of anti-social behaviour this month, a resident argued that on 2 separate occasions ASB had been called regarding temporary tenants in homeless accommodation.  WDC ASB Team waited outside after discussion for residents to go speak to privately.
  • Clydebank East Community Centre, confirmation that newly formed group named Whitecrook Community Action Group have submitted a note of interest on the centre to be discussed further next month
  • Street sweeper is badly needed to tackle dog fouling on the pavements in particular Brown Ave
  • Complaints regarding Centre 81 upkeep of the land in Braes Ave, residents say the pitch area has not been touched in the last 2 years its full of weeds rubbish and broken glass it’s an eyesore and should be maintained properly the same as the railings at the pitch and community garden have lay broken now for the last 10 years again this is an eyesore

People trying to book the hall at centre 81 but it’s never available.

Teenagers from the community being turned away from centre.

No consultation with residents particularly in surrounding streets of any plans for new pitches as a result the residents themselves have started a petition against this, Alistair Conarty speaking on behalf of centre 81 explained that the pitch would be similar to the set up over at goals on great western road but without the parking facilities the pitch would remain the same size as present and would be locked at all times due to the cost of it he explained it’s a lot of money so would need to be protected,  when asked about how it would affect residents with noise and parking not to mention that it was now going to only be for teams and not local kids in the area he replied it’s only a couple of hours at  a time and residents can park elsewhere for that time.  All this contradicts what we were previously told by Lynette lees, that the pitch would be extended to accommodate 3 7aside pitches and would open to local kids and only locked up at nighttime, this will be discussed later.

  • Requests for a community skip
  • Wheelie bins lying out in the streets all the time and people can’t get past and pavements are a mess with them

All the above were raised by the residents present tonight.

Requests to be made for people to be invited to our next meeting:

  • All the above named in attendance tonight
  • Police Scotland
  • All councillors
  • WDC Cleansing dept
  • Greenspace
  • WDC Repairs
  • WDC Housing

Meeting closed at 8.20pm

 

Clydebank East Community Council

Venue - Centre 81, Monday 5th February 2024

Minutes of meeting

 

Present

J Henry - Chair, A Conarty - Treasurer, Yvonne O'Neill - Secretary, Emma McColgan - Social Media, Anne Jennings - Community Walk rounds, Maureen Flynn - Community Walk rounds, Cllr June McKay, Cllr Lauren Oxley, Suzanne Marshall - WDC housing, Alan Karas - WDC community projects, Jacqueline McIlroy - WDC Anti social behaviour, Lynette Lees - CHA, Sinead Farrell - CHA, Andy Devine - CCF (Tree Planting), Gillian Barrie - CCF (Tree Planting)

Apologies

Cllr D Lennie, Cllr J McElhill, Craig Wilson - WDC Repairs, Anne Ross - Community Council walk rounds

No Response to invitations:  PC Lee McWhinney - Police Scotland, Environmental Health, Homeless support team, Housing officer for Whitecrook, Greenspace - WDC

Members of Public present: 49

Meeting opened at 7pm, Chair welcomed everyone and explained fire drill.

Minutes of previous meeting

Read and approved by AC and AJ

Treasurers report

£1564.56

Secretary's report

N/A

Housing report

N/A

Councillors report

Cllr June McKay and committee member Anne Jennings are continuing to try and arrange meetings with the relevant parties at the same time to discuss further the removal of large tree stumps from pavements and it is proving to be difficult. They will continue to persevere for the safety of pedestrians.

Police report

NOT PROVIDED and no response to our emails, this is not good enough and Cllrs present will follow up on this.

AOB

CCF were invited to speak about their plans for planting trees in our local area and involving the community in planting them.  We have requested a copy of the plans once they arrive we will put them on social media for the residents to see exactly where they plan to put them.

Several issues regarding:

  • Trees on the pavements, outstanding housing repairs, the non attendance tonight from Police Scotland.
  • The Stand at OHR school has generated some interest and will be followed up by ourselves.
  • The closure of our local community centre Clydebank East Community Centre, unfortunately tonight is the first this committee has heard of this which is totally unacceptable, concerned parents attended tonight and told us of the plans to close it down with no alternative premises set in place for the after school care, G81 Kids Club, these kids have no where to go after this month therefore the parents are concerned of how they can work without childcare, some of which are frontline workers and one child in particular has special needs and needs trained staff to meet his needs while at after school care, something that not all providers can meet. This issue will be taken up by local Cllr Lauren Oxley.  This issue has also been raised with Martin Docherty-Hughes MSP by the parents themselves.
  • Bins set on fire again and youths fighting on Barns Street near Whitecrook park, the train station and bus stance at Alexander Street, these where highlighted as hotspots for the anti social behaviour team to monitor on certain nights, however Jacqueline McIlroy informed us tonight that the hotspots will only stay live for 6wks and therefore need to be re highlighted after the 6 week period.  It was also explained to us that the team cant always be there when needed because they could be in Dumbarton dealing with similar issues, which begs the question why aren't there two separate teams one for each area in order to make this work?  Note we have identified 3 hotspots tonight, Barns street at the shop at the park and the train/bus stance at Alexander Street we had reports tonight of a vulnerable person being left terrified after witnessing girls fighting out on the road. Also St Margaret's Chapel in Sinclair Street, we have been told the priest there is terrified due to thieves climbing onto the roof and stealing the lead, police have been informed and anti social behaviour. No one should be made to feel terrified in their own home.
  • Housing repairs, complaint about new windows needed in a property in , also a house in King street, housing inspector came out and said resident was only to get 2 windows replaced and not the full house.  Also a resident in braes ave that has recently moved into the house that appears to need lots of repairs in particular the window frames are screwed shut she feels all this should have been done by council before renting it to her.
  • Bin lorries breaking wheelie bins and residents having to pay for replacement bins.
  • Wheelie Bins left lying in the street for days on end and people struggling to use the pavement safely due to this.  Brown Ave is a huge problem with bins left on the pavements. Requests have been made that the tenants in question should be notified by letter from WDC that this is unacceptable due to safety.
  • Requests made for a community skip in Whitecrook for residents.
  • CHA regarding plans for new pitches in Braes Ave, this issue was raised with Lynette Lees of CHA, a brief discussion took place regarding access to the public and assured the public will still have access to it the majority of the time, also that there is not sufficient parking for the visitors of centre 81 at the moment and therefore if teams come to play a game of football there, where are they parking? Outside our homes and we the residents need to park elsewhere and walk to our houses.  Lynette explained it was early days but that no one had actually considered the parking situation in Braes Ave and Brown Ave. We hope to discuss this further. Lynette explained the layout and plans and approx costing and that it would be locked up at night time but again its all still in the early stages. We have requested that Lynette keep us up to date on this topic.

All of the above issues are from members of the public that are in attendance tonight. All where addressed by the appropriate people in attendance.

Requests to be made for people to be invited to our next meeting:

  • All of the above named in attendance tonight
  • Pc McWhinney, Police Scotland
  • Sean Dockery, WDC housing officer
  • Greenspace, WDC
  • Environmental health, WDC
  • Homeless Support Officer, WDC
  • Scottish Transport Police

Meeting closed at 9pm

DONM

Our next meeting will be held in Centre 81 at 7pm on Monday the 4th March 2024