11 Feb 11th February 2019 Meeting Minutes
Minutes of the Winchburgh Community Council Meeting held in the Community Education Centre, Craigton Place, Winchburgh at 7.00pm on Monday 11th February 2019.
December Minutes, Proposed by William Honeyford, seconded by Pete Nisbet
Attendance
Community Councillors: Nick Knox (“NK”), Graham Campbell (“GC”), Mandy Baird (“MB”), William Honeyford (“WH”), Sheila Sutherland (“SS”) Gary Allanach (“GA”), Pete Nisbet (“PN”), Irene Wallace (“IW”), Paul Milne (“PM”), John Pritchard (“JP”) and Peter Anderson (“PA”).
Public: John Pryde (“JP”), Donna Mabon, John Finnigan, Edith Small, Vivienne Brown, Abbie Hardie, Chris McWilliams (“CMcW”), Douglas Ross (“DR”), Ian Edgeler, Rhian Thomas, Nick Davis, James McAvoy (“JM”), Simon Sweeney, Brian Ross and Sarah Ross
Winchburgh Development Trust: Alan Russell (“AR”)
Winchburgh Developments: John Hamilton (“JH”) and Penny Lochhead (“PL”)
West Lothian Council: Janet Campbell (“JC”), Diane Calder (“DC”), Angela Doran and Chris Horne
Edinburgh Airport: Louise McIntyre (“LM”)
Apologies: Jim Sommerville
NK opened the meeting by advising that there was again no Police presence or report available. GC advised that he had spoken to Angus MacInnes , but had received no further update. PA to email Chief Inspector to provide update.
Winchburgh Developments Update
JH thanked everyone who had turned out for the recent event at Winchburgh Parish Church detailing the proposals for the next stage of the development.
JH advised that a civil engineer will be appointed in the next week to deal with the regeneration of the Auldcathie site, with the first phase of work to be complete by Christmas 2019.
JH added that some Sports and Recreational facilities will be built into the school campus. There are still retail and other spaces to be filled in the plans, and ideas for any community services are encouraged.
NK asked whether the issue with the power capacity would be resolved soon. JH advised that a quote had been received from Scottish Power for the upgrade, and this will be accepted in the coming weeks.
JM raised issues with the quality of the water supply since the beginning of the development. JH advised the supply will be updated along with the power. Other attendees raised issues with the water supply in their area, across a wide range of areas within the village. JH and NK advised that these issues should be highlighted to Scottish Water. JH added that an upgrade to the current supply is due in May. SS to pick up with Scottish Water on behalf of the Community Council, and ask if they are able to attend the next meeting.
NK asked as to whether there was any update as to the progress of the currently empty retail units beside Sainsburys and Dominos. JH advised that the rent for the units is being paid, and he has no explanation for why they remain empty.
PA asked where the reported figure in the press of 4,000 houses has come from. JH advised that this figure also included the Broxburn Core Development Area.
PA also enquired as to the pathway from Station Road to Beatlie Road being unavailable. JH advised that Taylor Wimpey are still working at the site, and that replacement trees for those lost will be planted in the next season.
PA asked how long the public right of way at the Landfill site will be out of use for. JH advised this should be 12 months.
GA asked around the current assessment of roads in the village. JH advised that there is ongoing assessment of the roads as the development continues. JH added that the new main road being delivered will open shortly after the opening of the M9 motorway junction in Q1 2021.
A question was asked around whether the bus services would continue to service the current Main Street following the opening of the new road. JH advised that would be down to the bus companies to decide.
PL added that a planning application would be made for the small triangle of land to the west of the village and also for the second phase of housing at the town centre. PL added that there will be a Toucan crossing installed beside the new Bellway development.
SS asked whether Glendevon Road was a public right of way. This was confirmed as being so.
Airport
GA advised the meeting that due to his current role and work commitments, he would be stepping down as a Community Councillor with immediate effect. NK placed on record the council’s appreciation of the work GA had carried out, especially around the airport.
LM introduced herself as the Community Engagement Officer for Edinburgh Airport, adding that she had been in the role for around 4 months.
LM advised that her role encompasses both Community and Charity work, and the role is to gather questions from the community, take them away and provide answers when available. LM added that she would be happy to attend any meetings going forward.
PM asked why the fare for the 600 bus going into the Airport has been increased. LM advised that it was up to the individual bus company to set their fares, and it may be down to commercially sensitive reasons. LM agreed to take this away for further investigation.
CMcW asked whether there were any timescales for the launch of the new flight path consultation. LM advised that there were no timescales set as yet, and that a new process will be put in place meaning more pre-consultations prior to any wider plans.
DC raised that previous complaints system did not work, and a large number of complaints data went missing during the last consultation process. DC asked whether in future all complaints could be diverted towards LM. LM advised that the whole process for complaints was under review, and hoped to be able to share more information soon.
LM added that the scale of the future development within Winchburgh would not be overlooked.
DR asked whether members of the public will be able to feedback on issues with last consultation. LM advised that the scope of the review has not been defined, but that is part of the plan.
GA added that he would be happy to hold a handover meeting with the future Community Council liaison with the airport once identified.
Transport
The meeting was advised that Horsburgh were no longer running the buses to take Linlithgow Academy pupils to and from the village.
The 38 bus has resumed it’s previous timetable, and its usage will be monitored over the year.
PA raised that there were still issues with a number of buses not turning up.
NK advised the meeting that the Night Bus service remained under threat if low usage continued.
PM advised that there was still confusion on the buses regarding prices for child tickets. PM noted that compensation had been paid recently for a previous complaint regarding this.
PM agreed to look into reinstating copies of timetables at the stops within the village.
Education
NK & PN met with both head teachers before Christmas.
NK advised that an area has been created for parents to congregate at the end of the school day to avoid congestion.
Road lines outside the school are to be repainted.
It was noted that the lollipop lady for the school has been off sick, and no replacement has been put in place. JC agreed to pick up within WLC and revert.
NK added that there have been suggestions made regarding walking buses and car share schemes.
PM advised the meeting that he had spoken with the police regarding parking on the pavement, and that the police had advised that anyone caught doing so would be fined £60.
IW noted that parents were not allowed to use the teachers’ car park for events outside of school hours. JC advised that she has written to the head teachers asking them to look into this.
DR advised that the recently painted yellow lines outside the school gate were mostly being ignored.
PN added that ‘Parksmart’ banners would be put up soon.
Sport
JP advised that 60 children were now members of the Winchburgh Albion football club.
JP added that Broxburn United are now running ASD/Autism football sessions at Albyn Park at 5.00 pm on a Thursday.
Finally, JP added that representatives from Niddry Castle Golf Club met with WDL regarding having a Corporate Golf Day later in the Summer and negotiations went well. Niddry Castle Ladies will also be advertising for new Members soon.
Winchburgh Development Trust
AR advised that the draft action plan for the village is now ready to be unveiled, and will be done so at an event on Saturday 2nd March. The event will be held in 2 sessions, between 10am and 12pm, and 2pm and 4pm. Presentations will be held at 11am and 3pm.
Housing
IW raised that there were a number of issues being experienced with people in council housing, regarding anti-social behaviour.
JC advised that there were no easy answers to the issue – WLC have strict criteria regarding allocation of housing, and no discrimination is allowed on their part.
All Anti-Social behaviour is to be reported to the dedicated hotline. GC agreed to post details on Facebook page.
Health
It was noted that Winchburgh Health Centre will be undergoing a refurbishment over the coming 3 months.
Communications from Public
NK noted that an email had been received regarding distribution of minutes for previous CC meetings.
GC advised that previously these would have been added to the CC website, which has not been updated recently, due to the regular updater of the site being non-contactable.
GC added that he had created a ‘OneDrive’ site for hosting the minutes as a stop-gap measure, and that posts were made on Facebook when updated.
NK added that there is a planned web portal to be created as part of Winchburgh Development Trust which may be able to be used going forward.
AOB
GA raised the increased volume of fly-tipping taking place across the village. It was suggested that this was due to the increased costs in bulk uplifts and uplift of commercial waste. NK advised the meeting to continue reporting any instances seen.
PA raised the issue of cars parking on the pavements outside the new houses at the town centre. This has already been raised at previos meetings, and the police are aware.
PA added that the number of dogs using the kickpitch was increasing, and that the pitch also was in need of resurfacing. PN raised a query regarding who was in charge of the pitch, and was advised that it should be the Community Centre management.
SS noted that dog fouling throughout the village was increasing. NK advised the meeting to keep reporting the issue.
JP added that the Community Growing box at Bennetswood looked somewhat out of place, and asked whether it could possibly be moved.
NK advised that a quote was required for improvements to the War Memorial urgently in order to submit an application for funding from the Village Improvement Fund by the deadline of 28th February.
Next Meeting – 7:00pm, Monday 11th March 2019
Minutes prepared by G Campbell