ARDENTINNY COMMUNITY COUNCIL MEETING

www.ardentinnycc.co.uk

www.ardentinnycc.co.uk

Minutes of the Ordinary meeting held on 3rd December 2024 at Ardentinny Village Hall at 7.30p.m.

Present: John Brint (Convener) Mark Rowthorn (Secretary), Keith Wood (Treasurer), Bill Tierney, Helen Rowthorn, Danielle Markey and Brian Hillesdon.

Public: No members of the public attended.

Welcome and introductions

JB thanked everyone for coming.

Apologies

Received from Elsbeth Brint, Linda Naismith, Jim and Jeanie Urquhart, Neil and Dee Robinson, Dougie Menzies, Alison Simpson (Police) Gill Walker (FLS).

Note: No Apologies received from other A&BC Councillors, National Parks Authority or Ardentinny Outdoor Centre.

Declaration of Interest

No declarations of interest declared.

Matters arising not covered on the agenda

None

Minutes of last meeting (10th Sept 2024)

Formally adopted.

Proposed: Keith Wood

Seconded: Helen Rowthorn

Matters arising from minutes

No matters arising.

Treasurers Report

A detailed breakdown of the financial activity was presented by the treasurer, Keith Wood (KW). He stated that the following had taken place:

Financial Activity From 1st April to 1st December 24

Opening Balance £3677.65

Money Credited to account.

ART toilet contribution £1242.00

ART Walkie Talkie contribution £137.67

A & B Council Contributions £731.00

Payment into account from K Wood £12.49

Totalling £2123.16

Money Debited from the account

8 payments to Out Of Your Hands toilet cleaning £1260.00

3 payments to village hall hire £240

2 payments to Hostworld/Spanglefish web costs £102.00

1 payment McCuaig Hygiene Services sanitary disposal £150.00

1 payment South Cowal Community Council (DEFAG) donation £50.00

2 payments Walkie Talkies £137.67

1 Payment Toilet donation boxes £75.98

1 Payment squirrel signs £34.46

1 payment Remembrance wreath £24.49

1 payment Ardentinny Christmas party donation £40.00

5 payments for Local Place Plan items £757.27

1 Rectify wrong payment £12.49

Totalling £2884.36

Closing balance on 1st December 24 = £2916.45

JB explained that while money had been expended towards preparing the Local Place Plan, National Parks have confirmed that they will refund £600 of the costs which will improve the CC account balance.

He also identified that to date £50.87 had been received in free will donations in the newly installed public toilet donation boxes.

Police Report

JB read out a written report on behalf of Alison Simpson of Police Scotland.

We have received multiple reports over the past few days that people are being contacted over the phone by someone claiming to be a police officer. This person has been making false claims that people are the victims of credit card fraud in an attempt to obtain personal information.

You can verify the authenticity of any contact from Police Scotland by taking a note of the officer's name and shoulder number and contacting 101.

Police Scotland officers will never:

• Ask for your bank card PIN number

• Ask you to transfer money from your account

• Ask you to withdraw cash or buy foreign currency

• Ask you to hand cash or bank cards to a courier or anyone else

• Ask you to pay a fine or fee to them or a third party over the phone or online

• Ask for remote access to your phone, computer or any other device

• Ask you for online banking login details including passwords

• Ask you to enter your personal details into an attachment they send you or a website they direct you to

• Ask you to assist in an investigation by doing any of the above

• Ask you to keep their contact with you a secret and not tell anyone

• Ask you to memorise lines to say if bank staff ask you any questions

• Be threatening or abusive towards you.

If you experience any of the above, or anything else which makes you feel uncomfortable, seems unusual, unexpected or simply doesn't feel right, stop.

You should take note of the officer's details and contact 101 to authenticate these details.

JB then went on to read the summary of incidents and crime reports in the Ardentinny area:

Dates Between: 10/09/24 – 02/12/2024

Location Beat: Ardentinny LB49

Reporting Officer: PC Alison Simpson

Between the dates above the number of Incidents and Crime Reports respectively are as follows:

Serious Organised Crime - There have been 0 crimes recorded

Acquisitive Crime - There have been 0 crimes recorded

Road Safety and Road Crime - There have been 0 crimes recorded

Violent Crime - There have been 0 crimes recorded

Public Protection - There have been 0 crimes recorded

Useful Links/Contacts

Crimestoppers – Crimestoppers in Scotland | Crimestoppers (crimestoppers-uk.org)

Distress Brief Intervention - Connected Compassionate Support - DBI.scot

Forestry and Land Scotland Report

In the absence of an FLS representative JB read out the report from Gill Walker FLS – 28th November 2024

• Scottish Woodlands are currently carrying out vegetation control and road upgrade operations in Lairds Grave and Soldiers Rock. This is in preparation below pylons which is currently awaiting approval. We will be able to update with timeframes after Christmas.

• Scottish Woodlands will also be carrying out vegetation control on forest roads in Knap over the next few months.

• There will be an uplift of timber stacks from Lairds Grave before Christmas. This will be a couple of loads max.

• Improvements have been made to car park area including surfacing repairs, new signage, a new path keeping pedestrians off approach to be top dressed and there are plans to improve trail waymarking in the new year.

CC Comments – We have asked for someone from FLS Civils Team to come to walk the road to the beach and review the passing places which FLS do not plan to scrape back, but to date there appears to be no interest from them to engage with us in this matter. We will continue to follow this up.

10 National Park Report

No report had been received from National Parks Authority; however National Parks news can be found on this link: https://www.lochlomond-trossachs.org/park-authority/blog/

11 Councillor’s Report

None received.

12 Update of Ardentinny Residents Survey

i) Local Place Plan - JB

JB reported that the CC held successful drop-in sessions to obtain input and feedback to the development of our Local Place Plan. Many Thanks to the residents and those who also contributed from the perspective of Clubs, businesses and charities, it represented around 25% of the village population. It was also good to see Councillor Blair at the session.

The way forward is for MR and JB to collate and capture the input from everyone and initiate the start of a draft document. First though in December we want to

form a Steering Group who will advise and review the document as it develops in the coming months.

Many Thanks to those who have offered to help, but we are still looking for a few more members, particularly from the Charities and Businesses in Ardentinny. We will finalise the steering group membership in December and then agree a way forward through a consultation with those who put their names forward in January.

We will share feedback and the draft material on the CC website, as agreed by the CC members and the steering group.

Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park have agreed to reimburse the CC for the majority of the costs of developing the posters, this is £600.

Roads - JB

JB confirmed that he had spoken to the Roads department regarding a time frame for the road safety works package that is planned for Ardentinny (i.e. mainly new signage around the village). Work plan should have started by the Operations Team, so they promised to get back to him asap with an updated schedule, but no reply to date. He will follow up.

They did however say that funding was in place.

Update on Church Car Park Toilets - JB

The CC had asked for the pipes to be lagged in the toilets in case of leak this winter, Amenities have advised they have no budget left over to do this, but are looking for funding from another A&BC department who may cover the costs. We await a reply.

Some minor vandalism in the ladies, with a soap dispenser broken open, this was reported to the A&BC Amenities Team. Should we consider putting up CCTV signs? It was agreed that JB would seek local reaction by suggesting this in the CC weekly news first before making a final decision.

The two donation boxes are a welcome source of funds thanks to the generosity of users with £50.87 to date.

Defibrillator Sites - JB

The two new defibrillators and external cabinets that were funded by a grant from the Highgate Hall Trustees are in place at the Beach toilet block and the

Village Hall. We plan to issue a pdf to all residents which will be a map showing the locations and detailing the codes to access all three cabinets in the village (rather than having to phone 999 for the cabinet code). All three defibrillators are registered on The Circuit, so emergency services are aware of their locations, the CC will monitor and check the three defibrillators regularly. (We can call this a closed item).

Beach Appearance and Waste Bins - DM

DM confirmed that a beach clean in conjunction with the Marine Conservation Society and coinciding with ‘The Great British Beach Clean’ had successfully taken place Sunday 29th September and that information on the materials collected had been returned to the Conservation Society. The society had then returned a summary for information and thanked us for taking part. She also confirmed that Marion Norris had now passed over the Litter Pick tools and waste bags (which are now being stored in the Village Hall). As the Community Council will be arranging future beach cleans. We would like to thank Marion for all she has done for the beach cleans in the past.

Regarding Waste bins she said that she had put in a request to A&BC for Dog Waste Bins at 3 locations around the village. Councillor Blair has now stepped in to help and the Amenities Team want to visit the village to discuss the proposed locations. This would be to install ‘multi-use’ bins that are suitable for both general waste and Dog waste. We await a visit.

Charge Point/Climate Change

DM said that there is currently nothing further to report on this item at present.

Community Council Web Site

HR stated that regular additions are continuing to be made on the Ardentinny Community Council web site, Facebook and Instagram pages.

Please have a look.

https://www.instagram.com/ardentinnycc/

https://www.facebook.com/search/top?q=ardentinny%20community%20council

HR confirmed that the Emergency Cards with all the emergency contact details had now been distributed to every residence in Ardentinny. If anyone requires additional cards please contact Helen on the CC email.

HR confirmed that she had a discussion with Marian Norris as to who may be able to take the Conservation and Heritage Group forward in the future. She will continue to liaise with her on this to work out the best route forward.

Report on the Gourock Ferry - BH

BH updated the meeting on the situation regarding the proposal for an additional new vehicle ferry between Dunoon and Gourock.

Unfortunately, despite CMAL being 100% owned by the Scottish government they have confirmed that CMAL are not regarded as a publicly owned company, this means that the Community Empowerment Act couldn’t be applied to anything in their ownership to be transferred to the community. This is a very disappointing and unsatisfactory outcome but there appears to be little else that can be done. The Action Group are trying to pursue this through Jenni Minto MSP, but there currently appears to be limited scope for a way forward.

[Post meeting note: The new Dunoon-Gourock ferry timetable is now implemented, to provide better connection times between ferry and train. Thanks to all Ardentinny residents who replied to the timetable survey / questionnaire.]

Beinn Reithe Fish Farm appeal update

This is still with Scottish Government to make a decision – Nothing to report.

13 MOD Update - BH

The latest Radioactivity in Food and the Environment Report (RIFE 29) was published on 7 November, which reports on radiological discharges from all UK nuclear sites for the 2023 calendar year. Overall, this report shows that levels and concentrations of man-made radioactivity measured in the environment during 2023 were well within international dose limits.

The discharges that are perhaps most relevant to residents of Ardentinny are the tritium gas releases from Coulport. These are shown in the tables appended to the RIOFE reports to have risen by 22% between 2022 and 2023. However, these are still only 8.3% of allowable levels. Some residents had expressed their concerns on this reported increase when it was reported in the news. Therefore, BH has written to the MOD and SEPA on behalf of the CC to ask the reasons why this has risen but has not had a reply to date.

BH also reported that while SEPA has been testing radioactivity levels in the water in Holy Loch since the Americans left, they plan to stop this monitoring as the levels are so low. We have also asked SEPA to comment on why it is deemed not necessary to take samples from Loch Long.

14 Updates

Ardentinny Renewables Trust

In the absence of a formal report from ART JB confirmed that ART had submitted its required return to OSCR.

Ardentinny Hall Management Team

MR reported that as a result of having successfully obtained funding from Highgate Hall Trust and the Ardentinny Renewables Trusts work has commenced on implementing the heating replacement and upgrade. Six new radiant panel heaters have been installed in the main hall and the electrical switchgear has been completely replaced and upgraded to include a new 3 phase board. This now enables us to be able to isolate the electric supply within the hall (in case of an emergency) something that wasn’t previously possible.

We have also created a new and separate heating circuit that has been installed complete with new trunking and wiring. This will allow the new circuit to be extended into the ancillary areas in the coming weeks for the Phase 2 heaters.

After a fault was found in the external lights temporary lights have been installed. Mark Holmes will repair these and continue to install Phase 2 of the heating into the ancillary areas when he returns from holiday on 17th December.

It’s important to recognise that the hall is very old, drafty and damp. Adding heating doesn’t instantly resolve all of its issues and we intend to work towards improving this over time by insulating the flat roofs over the toilets. Reinstating the kitchen doors and draftproofing/replacing the under-stage access doors so that the howling draft no longer blows through. As I said its a work in progress – there is a lot of work needed – it’s for this reason that Helen set up an account with Paypal.me/Ardentinnyhall so that people can give towards the ongoing refurbishments. We want to thank all of those in the village who have already made donations and also those who have signed up to regularly give on a monthly basis.

Helen Rowthorn has set up an interest earning savings account so that we can make the best use we can of any monies prior to us being in a position to carry out refurbishment works.

MR reported that the village hall currently has £13,681.84 in the bank accounts plus a further £1,094.52 that is being held for the CC for the ongoing maintenance of the village defibrillators.

Note: The Weekly News updates are available on the ACC website: www.ardentinnycc.co.uk

Ardentinny Community Trust

No report received.

14 AOB

No other business.

15 Future Meetings

JB confirmed the dates for future meetings as:

Date of next meeting

The date of the next public meeting is Tuesday 4th March 2025 at 7.30pm in the Village Hall

Minutes Ordinary Meeting 3rd December 2024

/file/community-council-minutes/minutes-2024/ACC-10-Sept-2024-Minutes.pdf

/file/community-council-minutes/minutes-2024/Minutes-Ordinary-Meeting-11-Jun-24_v3.pdf