ARDENTINNY COMMUNITY COUNCIL MEETING

www.ardentinnycc.co.uk

Minutes of the ordinary meeting held on Tuesday 10th September 2024 at Ardentinny Village Hall at 7.30p.m.

Present: John Brint (Convener), Keith Wood (Treasurer), Danielle Markey and Brian Hillesdon

Public: Dougie Menzies, Neil Robinson

1 Welcome and introductions

John Brint (JB) thanked everyone for attending the meeting

2 Apologies

Received from Mark Rowthorn (Secretary ACC), Helen Rowthorn (ACC), Bill Tierney (ACC), Gordon Blair (Councillor) Nik Cox and Steve Gillen (FLS), Anna Williamson, Jim and Jeannie Urquhart, Elsbeth Brint, Dee Robinson

3 Declaration of Interest

No declarations of interest declared

4 Minutes of last meeting (11 June 2024)

Minutes of the last ordinary meeting were made available on the various notice boards, the Ardentinny Community Council (ACC) website and all those on the Community Council email list had received a copy. Hard copies were made available in the hall for information on the night.

JB asked whether there were any comments, issues or matters arising regarding the minutes: None were made.

JB asked for a proposer and seconder for the Ordinary meeting minutes;

Proposed: Danielle Markey Seconder: Brian Hillesdon

5 Treasurers Report

A detailed breakdown of the financial activity from 1st April to 8th September 24 was presented by the Treasurer Keith Wood (KW)

· Money Credited to account.

ART toilet contribution £1242.00

ART Walkie Talkie contribution £137.67

Totalling £1379.67

· Money Debited from the account

6 payments to Out Of Your Hands toilet cleaning £972.00

1 payment to village hall hire £20

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 J Brint Walkie Talkies £137.67

1 Payment Toilet donation boxes £75.98

1 Payment squirrel signs £34.46

Totalling £1542.11

· Closing balance on 8th September 24 £3515.21

6 Police Report

No report received

7 Councillor’s Report

Councillor Blair provided us with a note which was read out;

Councillor Blair is not making public comment in relation to the Wind Turbines which he knows causes some angst among folk but as he is vice Chair of the Planning Committee, he needs to keep that as a priority and any comments he makes will be wearing that hat.

The Business Day held in Bute went very well with Roads staff and other officers. Councillor Blair intends, as area Chair, to hold one in Strachur Village Hall for access via Wi-Fi for all community Councils out with South Cowal area at the end of October. He was delighted to hear the confirmation from officers that the traffic issues in Ardentinny are a priority and things should start to move sooner rather than later.

Councillor Blair will be pushing for a review of bus provision and then opportunity for ABC to take on contracts but that will be some time until fruition. Given Westminster cuts and the knock-on effect he fears for many services in the next six months as budgets get chopped.

8 Forestry and Land Scotland Report

FLS have started the road and car park repairs on the way to the beach. Nik Cox of FLS provided the following report which was read out;

The Civils team have been overseeing the contractors working on the Ardentinny picnic area – this work includes fixing potholes and improving the surface of the road around the car park and the parking areas.

Once this work is completed the work will start on the access road – this work includes carrying out pothole repairs, tarring and drainage improvements. During some of these works the access road will need to be closed – there will be machinery in operation so we would ask that everyone obeys any onsite signage and instruction from the machine operators and banksmen on site.

It has been agreed that the gate and barrier at either end of the track across the nursery fields will be left unlocked and open once the riverside road is out of action in order to facilitate access for immediate residents requiring access to and from their properties. These will be closed and locked again once the riverside road is accessible again.

9 National Park Report

No report received

10 Update on Ardentinny Residents Survey

i) Road Safety in the village

Pleased to say that the Roads Dept at Argyll and Bute Council have prepared a programme of works for the village, which it is hoped will improve road safety. This is as a result of over a year of pushing by the Community Council which with the recent intervention of Councillors McNeilly and Sinclair has finally resulted in this package being planned for implementation, though no fixed date has been provided yet. The residents survey had this topic as the highest ranked issue that needed to be addressed. We have not been able to get all the improvements we wanted but this first package of work will include improved signage at the entries to the 30 mph sections of the village, along with red panels on the ground with rumble strips and “SLOW” road markings. They plan to refresh the SLOW sign at Rock Cottage. We were asked to comment on the package and did request additional “dragon teeth” white marking around Rock Cottage corner to try and encourage drivers to slow down. The SLOW sign is having limited impact to be honest.

We received a revised proposal yesterday where they propose to install red panels at the corner rather the dragon teeth, which is a good measure as the white dragon teeth markings are considered to make drivers move into the middle of the corner, which is not what we want. So, this sounds a good solution. We will continue to ask for further improvements in the future.

Two speed monitor sites have also been installed, which was part of our first request to the Roads Dept, but we were not informed that they would actually set them up.

We have been asked to make any last requests for this package of works by this Friday as thereafter the works package will be passed to the teams that will carry out the work.

ii) Defibrillators update

We have now purchased and received two defibrillators and their cabinets with the funds received from the Highgate Hall Trustees. A local electrician will install one at the village hall, and Forestry and Land Scotland’s contractor will install the other one at the Beach Toilet Block after the road repairs to the beach are completed.

We will register the defibrillators on “The Circuit” website so that Emergency Services and people needing to use them can either see the exact location and find the passcode to open the cabinet.

It was agreed at the meeting, that in the interim, we will set up the defibrillator inside the Village Hall so that it is available, and transfer it to the external cabinet when ready. Action JB

iii) Emergency Team Update

The emergency team is back up to full strength of 7, thanks to Stuart Gray volunteering to fill the vacant position. We will be issuing cards to all residents in the coming weeks with the contact information of all members of the Ardentinny Community Emergency Team. The ART has funded the team with walkie talkies for use in an emergency, where the mobile phone networks/broadband is down. This is greatly appreciated. Also, thanks go to Stuart Gray for showing the team the best practices for using the walkie talkies.

iv) Beach Appearance/Benches/Waste Bins

Both Danielle Markey (DM) and JB have approached Councillor Sinclair with a request for help as we have been unable to get a positive response from the Amenities team on our outstanding request for three dog waste bins to be located at appropriate points in the village. We will follow up with him as there appears to be no movement on this request. Action JB/DM

DM plans to hold a beach clean end September/early October as well as a general roadside tidy up. We would be grateful for your help. Dates to be advised. Action DM

The Community Council would like to thank residents who regularly pick up rubbish when they are out for walk and so help keep our village tidy, it is appreciated.

v) Charge Point/Climate Change

Nothing to report on this topic at present

vi) Community Council Web Site/Facebook/Instagram/Fridge Magnets

Helen Rowthorn (HR) continues to maintain our website, facebook etc. Most recently we have updated the information on all the Hydro Schemes that operate in the area. If you are interested do have a look on the ACC webpage under Ardentinny Renewables Trust.

vii) Donation Boxes for Church Car Park Toilets

We will be installing donation boxes at the Church Car Park in the coming weeks, in the hope that users of the facilities may be encouraged to give a donation that will help us maintain the toilets. We will be getting a QR code attached to it so that people can give a donation digitally.

Action KW and HR

We have been disappointed to see the increase in vandalism at the toilets in the past months, with spray paint in the gents and the breakage of the toilet roll holders (in both toilets). The A&BC Amenities team have been quick to make repairs which is appreciated.

viii) Report on MoD meeting

Clyde Local Liaison Committee (CLLC) meeting 2024

On Friday morning 30th August 2024 Brian Hillesdon (BH) attended the 2024 Clyde Local Liaison Committee (CLLC) meeting at Faslane.

As a reminder, this is the committee that meets once a year to provide a forum for discussion of environmental, safety and social issues associated with the Clyde naval base that are of joint interest to the MOD and its neighbours in the community, with a particular focus on nuclear and radiological issues and emergency planning.

Its functions are to communicate and discuss issues concerning:

1. Plans for the protection of the public in the event of a serious accident

2. The scale of the hazards involved in operating nuclear submarines

3. Conventional health and safety related to the naval base

4. Wider social issues related to operations

5. The committee also receives reports from regulatory and advisory organisations such as the ONR and SEPA

The meeting was again chaired by the Clyde Naval Base Commander, Commodore Sharon Malkin, supported by various MOD personnel. Also in attendance were representatives of the fire, ambulance, coast guard and police services, Scottish Water, SEPA, ONR, NHS, Clyde Port operations, and the local Ward councils and local Community councils.

The meeting lasted 3 hours and the official minutes will be issued by the MOD in due course and will include a PowerPoint presentation used in the meeting. In the meanwhile, here is a short summary of a few of the points of interest discussed.

Operations

1. During the last year there have been less visits by nuclear powered warships and submarines (NPW) than in 2022, but they have tended to stay longer for more maintenance.

2. There are 44 NPW visits compared to 75 the previous year. Of these 37 were British ships and 7 were foreign, from the US and France.

3. Vessels remained alongside for a total of 1809 days compared to only 1,224 the previous year.

Future programs

The base has a 2070 vision which covers all aspects including operational support, skills pipeline, community involvement, sustainability, and efficiency.

Currently ongoing & future works include:

1. Refurbishment of the existing jetties at Faslane and Coulport to take the new Dreadnaught class submarines. [As part of this, the Coulport Infrastructure Continuous Availability Project which will run until 2013 will see nearly £300M spent at Coulport with the further £550M at Faslane.]

2. Work at Coulport will include infrastructure refurbishment - taking facilities offline, refurbishing them, and putting them back online, general security updates and continuing to provide safe and secure operations at the EHJ (Explosives Handling Jetty) including an upgrade of an internal crane.

3. Completion of the nuclear support hub, which is a new building at Faslane to deal with waste arisings, and the decommissioning of the old waste buildings

4. There is a project, currently in the planning stage, to upgrade Glenmallan which currently handles ships so that it can also handle submarines.

Emergency response

There have been several emergency exercises to test various aspects of the planning. These all received an “adequate” rating, which means pass in MOD speak.

The exercises included:

1. A full level 2 exercise at Faslane, which means as well as the staged emergency on site the off-site centre was also fully manned with civilian services as well as MOD personnel. This was held on the 24th August this year. The people running the exercise throw unexpected twists, which this year included a fire in Garelochhead, a road traffic accident blocking one of the roads, a pregnant lady trying to get through to the hospital, and other such twists. They also test how they would communicate with the media including social media - they have offline social media platforms which they have to respond to. The previous day to the exercise the mains power went out across the Faslane site and there was talk of cancelling the exercise but the Commodore insisted they carried on and used the unexpected power outage as part of the exercise.

2. A key party to this exercise was the Argyll & Bute Council (ABC), represented at this meeting by Susan Donnelly. The interface between their emergency plan and the MOD’s plan was tested. The ABC emergency plan deals with non-military emergencies and has been successfully proven previously in real case emergencies including when transport on the Kintyre Peninsula was blocked, and when the river Tay burst its banks.

3. The navy praised ABC's emergency plan as being exceptional compared to some of the others they must deal with in other areas of the country.

4. Some of the community councils suggested ABC hold an online meeting to update us all on how we would be involved should such an emergency occur in our areas.

Other exercises this year included:

1. Bowline 24 - this was a Coulport level 1 (on-site only) exercise which dealt with a weapons issue, held in May 2024. There were no requirements for extra protection to the public.

· As a reminder, Ardentinny sits just outside the Detailed Emergency Planning Zone (DEPZ), a zone which extends 1.5km from Coulport. Residences within the zone are eligible for public information leaflets and other items (iodine tablets, etc).

· Beyond the 1.5km DEPZ there is a 5km zone called the Outline Planning Zone (OPZ). Ardentinny sits approx 1.7km from the closest part of Coulport so sits entirely within the OPZ. Occupants in the OPZ will be alerted only if there is an incident that could affect their direction of the OPZ, for example a plume coming our way, and would be alerted by the local police in accordance with the ABC emergency plan.

2. Strathclyde 24 - a level 1 test involving a reactor failure at the QinetiQ facility on Lock Goil

Waste management

The MOD radiological advisor gave an update on discharges over the previous year. The relevant one for Coulport is the amount of gaseous tritium 50 they released as part of their operations - this was 4 Giga-becquerels which amounts to only 8% of the 50 GBq limit they are allowed to discharge.

Discharges from Faslane were also well below legal limits.

Regulator Responses

Updates were given by SEPA, DNSR (the Defence Nuclear Safety Regulator) and the ONR (Office for Nuclear Regulation).

SEPA, who interestingly only have 4 staff to cover the bases, monitor the discharges mentioned above (as do the MOD) and publish them online in their RIFE (Radiation In Food & the Environment) report. RIFE 29 which covers 2023 is due for issue in October 24. SEPA said discharges are all similar to last year and well within limits.

The DNSR visit the Clyde sites for one week in every month and stated the findings are similar to other such sites and enforcements have trended downwards in the last year.

SEPA agreed to alert the CCs when the new report is issued.

ONR were not present but gave a report which did not highlight anything different to SEPA or DNSR.

ix) Report on Gourock Ferry

Ferry timetable meeting – 5/9/24

Attended by CalMac, Ginny Baird - Constituency Caseworker to Jenni Minto MSP, West Coast Motors, Cllrs Daniel Hampsey & William Sinclair, reps from Dunoon, Hunter Quay, Strachur, and Ardentinny CCs.

Discussion was on various options for ferry timetables. In summary, since the reduction in trains from 4 per hour to 2 per hour (in 2019?) connections have been difficult.

Various options have been worked up to change ferry times to optimise waiting times between ferry & train. These can either equalise the waiting time for people going from ferry to train and from train to ferry, or, as was generally agreed (option 3A), to have morning ferries optimise the wait for ferry to train passengers and evening ferries the train to ferry passengers, to match the general rush hour direction of passengers.

Cal Mac are going to look at resolutions for the staff break required for 3A and West Coast Motors will align their service according to the timetable.

While this is what was discussed, no option has been agreed upon yet. It was agreed that to give community council reps time to liaise with their councils and communities and to give time to those who were unable today, that we wait a few weeks before looking to agree to anything final. Cal Mac have confirmed it would only be a matter of weeks to implement a new timetable when it was agreed upon.

Improved Dunoon-Gourock ferry service

Work is still ongoing on in the background regarding options on the best way to achieve this. There was a hic-cup with support from one of the key parties, but this seems like it could be resolved soon. The people concerned (being led by South Cowal CC) would then like to issue a press release to update everyone on the ides. Watch this space!

x) Beinn Reithe Fish Farm

We have been advised by David McDowall (AFFtheClyde) that there are no updates regarding Beinn Reithe Fish Farm to report.

11 Local Place Plan

We are progressing our Local Place Plan documentation with support from the National Park rep. We have recently requested financial support so that we can have a couple of open sessions for residents, businesses, clubs and charities. At these sessions we will explain the purpose of the Local Place Plan, and it will be an opportunity for the invitees to help steer its content and delivery. We will also seek to form a Steering Group who will advise on the content of the Local Place Plan and its delivery. We intend to hold open drop-in sessions in the Village Hall in November.

Currently we are gathering updated background information and statistics for the document (i.e. population, no. of households etc).

12 Updates

Ardentinny Renewables Trust

Dougie Menzies (Chairman ART), advised us that the ART funds stand at £41,000, with £800 to be paid to the Ardentinny Bowling Club to help with clubhouse repairs.

He also advised that Rob Brakes (Brakes hydropower) who operates the Schoolhouse and Coul Burn hydro schemes is looking into setting up a Local Energy Club (essentially a possible opportunity to sell electricity at a lower price to residents, but does require a Smart meter). He has spoken with other Community Trusts, so Dougie has invited Rob to give a presentation to ART to help understand the options and requirements to make a Local Energy Club work. It is noted that it would need a paid administration position to run the Local Energy Club.

Ardentinny Hall Management Team

Brian Hillesdon (Secretary of the Village Hall) advised that further meetings have been held between the Village Hall Chairman and Secretary and the electrician (Mark Holmes) to upgrade the heating in the hall. They are currently waiting on final equipment quotes. Infra-red heaters are planned in the main hall and convector heaters in the toilets.

Ardentinny Community Trust,

The harvest fair will be held on 22nd September 12 till 4pm.
Also the usual attractions, live music, burgers, teas and cakes etc, and much more.
We would be very grateful for any bottles of alcohol for our famous tombola!
Also I’ve heard that there are some very good bakers among the bowling ladies (and maybe some gents), so any baking would also be appreciated.
These can be handed in to Linda Naismith, Jeannie Urquhart, Anna Williamson or the walled garden. Hope we will see lots of you there.

Ardentinny Conservation and Heritage Group.

No report received

13 AOB

Neil Robinson asked if there were any plans to have a defibrillator training session. JB confirmed that this was the plan and he needed to arrange for a session with Steve Abbott from Heart Start. We hope to run this in conjunction with the Bowling Club who also want a defib/CPR training event. Action JB to make arrangements with Steve Abbott.

14 Date of next meeting

The date of the next public meeting is Tuesday 3rd December at 7.30pm in the Village Hall

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

/file/community-council-minutes/minutes-2024/Minutes-Ordinary-Meeting-5-Mar-2024_v1.pdf

/file/community-council-minutes/Minutes-Ordinary-Meeting-5-Dec-2023_v2.pdf

/file/community-council-minutes/Minutes-Ordinary-Meeting-5-Sept-2023_Rev-B.pdf

/file/community-council-minutes/minutes-acc-ordinary-meeting-6-june-2023.pdf

/file/community-council-minutes/minutes-meeting-7-mar-2023_v1.pdf

documents/community-council-minutes/minutes-acc-20th-september-2022.pdf

documents/community-council-minutes/minutes-acc-12-april-2022.pdf

documents/community-council-minutes/minutes-acc-16th-nov-2021.pdf