ARDENTINNY COMMUNITY COUNCIL MEETING

www.ardentinnycc.co.uk

www.ardentinnycc.co.uk

Minutes of the ordinary meeting held on Tuesday 4th March 2025 at the 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: Elsbeth Brint, Sophie Jaquel-Bennet, David McDowal, Dougie Menzies, Neil Robinson.

1. Welcome and introductions

JB thanked everyone for coming.

2. Apologies

Councillor Yvonne McNeilly, Anna Williamson (Walled Garden), Gill Walker (FLS), Colin and Renee Birks, Jim and Jeannie Urquhart, Neil Bennett, Mike Loochin, Susie Robertson.

3. Declaration of Interest

None.

4. Matters arising not covered on the agenda

Sophie Jaquel-Bennet requested that the meeting discuss the size reduction of Dunoon Library and Sewerage leakage from septic tanks at the Swedish Houses. JB agreed to discuss these under AOB together with Defibrillator location maps.

5. Minutes of last meeting (3 Dec 2024)

Formally adopted

Proposed: Keith Wood

Seconded: Brian Hillesdon

6. Matters arising from minutes

None.

7. Treasurers Report KW

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 24 to 28th February 25

• Opening Balance £3,677.65

• Money Credited to account.

ART toilet contribution £1,242.00

ART Walkie Talkie contribution £137.67

A & B Council Contributions £731.00

Payment into account from K Wood £12.49

Loch Lomond NPA Donation £600.00

Totalling £2,723.16

• Money Debited from the account

11 payments to Out Of Your Hands toilet cleaning £1,728.00

4 payments to village hall hire £290.00

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

1 Payment Stuart Grey Emergency Team Costs £19.25

1 Payment Parish Online Mapping £60.00

Totalling £3,481.61

• Closing balance on 28th February 2025 was £2,919.20

8. Police Report

JB read out a written report on behalf of Police Scotland:

The number of Incidents and Crime Reports respectively are 12 and 0. The majority of these calls are in relation to Road Traffic Matters and planned shoots.

JB said that separate to the Police report, one of our local stalkers spoke to me and told him that it was not them who left shell casings at the side of the road last month (reference the FB post), but a contractor for FLS who shot 3 deer.

9. Councillor's Report

None received.

10. Storm Eowyn and recent power outages (Ardentinny Community Emergency

Team feedback)

JB explained to the meeting that subsequent to Storm Eowyn, the Ardentinny Community Emergency Management Team held a meeting to assess what went well and what did not go well from our perspective. We identified improvements on how we operate as a team, e.g., better communication protocols with the walkie talkies, plus we took feedback from residents who felt that they could have benefitted from additional support (in the form of visits). We also identified additional equipment for the team and that could be used at e.g. the village hall for residents to make use of - these include small powerbanks, larger portable power stations, portable gas stoves, an LPG generator, kettles. The EMT submitted a request for funding of these items to ART, which was supported. We would like to thank the ART for their help to the purchase of such equipment that will be of benefit to all residents. All equipment will be held by the Village Hall Management Team.

We are also looking at longer term options of upgrading some facilities in the village. As a first step we asked what sort of equipment would be required at locations like the village hall, the Outdoor Centre or The Ardentinny, such that they could operate to a level that provided a warm space and basic cooking facilities in the event of a lengthy outage.

Also, Stuart Gray drew up a questionnaire which was dropped through all residents' letter boxes asking for their perspective on household requirements in the event of a power cut. The purpose of the list is to allow the Emergency Team to establish the needs of individual village households in the event of a power cut of various durations. We are reviewing the feedback and will make recommendations to residents for specific items that may be of help to them.

The feedback also provided help in creating a list of future purchases we may need. We are planning an open session at the Village Hall to show the equipment we have bought, and also if residents have further questions on what else they would consider purchasing for their own resilience, then we will provide advice where possible.

We contacted SSEN and FLS to see what could be done regarding the damage to the power network which was primarily through the proximity of the trees that took down the power lines. FLS are conducting a review of the damage in our area and developing a forward plan. We will engage with them to see what can be done to minimise the risk from the trees in the future, which is of course asking them to take them further back from the power lines. We will also approach SSEN to see if burying the power lines is a viable option.

We have also informed FLS of specific houses/properties at risk from trees after requests from some of the residents. If anyone else has concerns over trees on FLS land falling on to their property please tell us so we can talk to FLS. They are open to a discussion on this topic.

There is a tree resting on the telephone lines near the radar point - I have asked FLS for an update on when or who will address this, as it is in danger of pulling down the nearby telephone pole and falling on to the road.

Note: subsequent to the meeting Deb Hillesdon has been successful in getting Openreach to remove the tree.

It is not clear who is responsible for the clear up of the trees that are lying at the side of the road, whether it be A&B Council or another. Plan to talk to A&B Council to get some clarity. Action JB

Note: subsequent to the meeting John Brint was informed by FLS that they are working with A&BC on a plan to uplift the trees lying at the roadsides across the area.

MR informed the meeting that the resilience items for the Emergency Team have now been ordered.

11 Forestry Land Scotland Report

In the absence of an FLS representative JB read out the report from Gill Walker FLS dated - 03.03.2025:

Both the Laird's Grave and Birchwood Trails are currently closed due to windblown trees as a result of Storm Eoywn. Our Stewardship team are working hard to prioritise sites throughout the Argyll Forest Park. This work is ongoing with recreational trail works due to begin later in March.

Works are due to begin to clear roadside vegetation by Scottish Woodlands for SSEN in advance of road upgrade and harvesting for SSEN Pylon project. This is to be focused in the Birchwood trail vicinity. There may be a minimal delay to members of the public during this work.

Works are due to begin near the Laird's Grave trail to carry out work including road maintenance and upgrade, culvert installation and construction of harvesting facilities for SSEN Pylon project coupe.

Haulage via Ardentinny and along the consultation route is ongoing. Due to be complete by the end of April 2025.

12. National Park Report

None received.

13. Update on Ardentinny Residents Survey

JB updated the meeting on the progress being made for the Local Place Plan, Roads, Church Car Park Toilets:

i) Local Place Plan work is ongoing, but we need to hold a meeting with the steering group, to see how we progress with the output of the open days and start developing a draft document. Mark Rowthorn and I first need to review the status and then will I ask Mark to organise a meeting with the Steering Group.

Roads Dept - has indicated that they are procuring the equipment needed to undertake the works packages for safety improvements in the village, plan is to have this done by 31 March.

ii) Beach Appearance/Benches/Waste Bins

DM thanked those who came to help at the recent beach clean.

She then confirmed that the Community Council’s request for additional bins has been refused by the Roads Dept. as they said that they cause a mess.

iii) Charge Point/Climate Change

DM confirmed that she had nothing to report.

iv) Community Council Web Site/Facebook/Instagram

HR confirmed that she is still regularly updating these and asked the meeting if anyone wanted further information adding to let her know.

v) Gourock Ferry Meeting

BH gave an update to the meeting:

Recap:

The last time a new ferry service was put to tender (several years ago) there were no responses from ferry companies. One of several reasons for this was that the terminals at Dunoon & Gourock are owned by others and were therefore out of the control of the potential ferry operators. The terminal owners, particularly in Gourock, charged very high berthing rates which made cost effective ferry operation financially difficult.

To try to overcome this problem, the Ferry Action Group has a plan to use the Community Empowerment Act to transfer ownership of the 2 ferry terminals to the local councils, who would then be in a stronger position to tender a contract for a new ferry service.

At the last Ardentinny CC meeting in December 2024 we reported that despite CMAL being 100% owned by the Scottish government it does not appear in the publicly owned company list included in the Community Empowerment Act. The Act therefore 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.

Update:

Since December 2024, the Ferry Action Group has requested a meeting with Jenni Minto MSP to ask for CMAL to be added to the list in the Act. This meeting has not happened yet but is hoped to occur this month (March 2025). The plan is therefore still alive, albeit slow moving.

vi) MOD update

BH said that at the last Ardentinny CC meeting in December 2024 he reported that he had written to the MOD and SEPA on behalf of the CC to ask the reasons why tritium discharge levels have been increasing over previous years, noting that the increased levels are still only 8.3% of the allowable.

We 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 further asked SEPA to comment on why it is deemed not necessary to take samples from Loch Long.

We have now received a response to these 3 points from SEPA (but not the MOD) as follows:

"In designing our environmental monitoring programme, we consider all discharges from the sites, the local environment, prevailing weather conditions and information obtained from our habit surveys (covering local consumption of various foods and areas of occupancy) which are conducted approximately every 5 years and reported on our website. This information is used to pick the best and most representative sampling locations. In the case of HMNB Clyde it is not considered necessary to sample Loch Long. It should be noted that there are no significant radioactive discharges made directly to Loch Long.

Also, to clarify, SEPA will continue monitoring the locations at Holy Loch and results will continue to be reported in the RIFE report. However, the dose assessment at Holy Loch will cease as results are at the lowest threshold of our assessment method.

There has been variation in the emissions from Coulport, however emissions remain low and well within the limits agreed between MoD and SEPA as detailed in our Letter of Approval (LOA).

Emissions are expected to vary because of normal operational requirements, and l am content that the variation seen in recent years is typical of this."

On another point, SEPA have now issued a new permit for the operation of the Clyde Naval Base which includes Faslane and Coulport.

14. Updates from groups

i) Ardentinny Renewables Trust

Dougie Menzies reported to the meeting that the Ardentinny Renewables Trust (ART) had recently approved the funding for the purchase of the Emergency equipment that had been recommended by the Emergency Team after the recent storm. He also confirmed that ART currently has in excess of £36k in funds available so there is still plenty that can be applied for. Further money is due into ART from the Hydro schemes in April.

ii) Ardentinny Hall Management Team

MR Thanked Keith Wood for undertaking repair work under the hall floor recently and also Stuart Gray who checked for water ingress in the hall roof void.

MR reported that the hall had received a request from Rob Brakes to install a battery storage unit at the village hall. The main purpose of the installation would be to allow the hydro to provide grid support services to the network operator.

The optimal size for a battery storage installation would be 180kW/720kWh which could be housed in a 20ft container. The container would be placed at the end of the car park next to the existing container and a buried cable laid between it and the grid connection cabinet by the hall.

The inverters which convert the DC battery power to AC for export to the grid are able to operate in off-grid mode. This means that we could plug the hall into the inverters allowing it to operate off-grid in the event of a power cut. The transition to off-grid mode would be seamless and so would the transition back once the grid returns. 720kWh is enough to power the hall about a month is winter and several months in summer, so essentially the hall would never experience a power outage again and could be used as a hub in the event of an outage like we had last month.

This would be a very good thing for the hall and the village so the Management Team would be progressing this with him.

MR also reported that although the hall currently has 4 Trustees, 3 have notified the Team of their intention to stand down at the next AGM. The hall constitution requires a minimum of 3 Trustees for a quorum. In the event of there being insufficient Trustees coming forward then the hall will have to close and the building and assets sold. Surplus funds would then be transferred to a charitable body who would administer the funds in pursuit of the same objectives as the Hall Association (i.e. to benefit and improve conditions of the life of the inhabitants of Ardentinny).

The Team will now start to make the community aware of the urgency of the situation and request that people come forward to stand as Trustees going forward.

Neil Robinson asked whether the Community Council/ART or Walled Garden couldn’t take over running the village hall. MR said that as the hall charity was an unincorporated association (i.e. it can’t buy or sell anything in its own right as it has no legal personality) the existing trustees are all personally liable for any debts etc. incurred. The Community Council isn’t allowed to own assets itself so it might only be possible to transfer the hall to the Community Council if the hall charity status were changed to an incorporated organisation. This would then require the CC Councillors to become Trustees without them having to personally carry the existing liabilities. BH is investigating the change in charity status but this may not happen before the next hall AGM. BT also advised that a Community Council is a voluntary organisation set up by statute by the Local Authority, so it is unlikely that it could take on a dual role.

iii) Ardentinny Community Trust (Walled Garden)

JB read out a report on behalf of Anna Williamson:

In November 24, Sandbank Gaelic primary classes 2-4 had a great day filming in the garden. Well worth watching and can be viewed on the org. Or garden FB.

We are continuing to work with neurodiverse volunteers and Anna gave a talk on this subject at the Burgh Hall. It is continuing to be working well for all.

The garden is getting spruced up for the Easter event.

iv) Ardentinny Conservation and Heritage Group

HR said that she had been in conversation with Marrion Norris who was going to pass over historic information from the group. HW said that the Groups web site was no long operating and would ask Marrion whether she was prepared for this information to be published on the Community Council web site.

DM asked whether some of the historic information may be suitable for passing onto the Dunoon Museum. HR said that in the past the Group had around 25 members listed but there is no current information.

JB informed the meeting that Stuart Patterson had offered his services free of charge (for the benefit of the community) to assist in any way required such as clearly or cutting vegetation/trees etc in Coronation Wood and Hillary’s Wood. The trees at Coronation Wood are under a Tree Protection Order, so any major work that involves felling trees will have to be discussed with Argyll and Bute Council.

15. AOB

Defibrillators

John Brint confirmed that defibrillator location maps identifying positions of defibrillators had been produced with the intention of being distributed to all Ardentinny residents. This is to let people know where to find the defibrillators and also to inform them of the codes required to access them. He said that the Community Council had been advised by the British Heart Foundation not to put the codes on the defibrillators to reduce theft. He confirmed that the Community Council will be distributing these leaflets to each household.

Sophie Jaquel-Bennett raised the issue of the Dunoon library being downsized. HW said that she understood that it was still being retained and was just moving to another space. She said that she understood that they were downsizing the number of books held and therefore the library would occupy a smaller area. If books hadn’t been loaned out in the last 5 years, then they would no longer be held by the library. If people want to borrow any books that are no longer there, then they could still be requested. Sophie said that she accepted this principle but expressed concern that this had been done with no public consultation. She also said that she understood that even the staff weren’t consulted but simply informed that it was happening. Dougie Menzies said that he had a contact at the library and that he would speak to them to see if he could get more information.

Sophie also raised concerns that sewage in the septic tanks in the front of the Swedish houses currently overflowed in the event of heavy rainfall. Discussion took place as to whether they should be emptied by Scottish Water, or whether the work should be carried out by a private contractor. Neil Robinson confirmed that if these are communal tanks, then they should be emptied by Scottish water.

BH said that he would follow this up with Scottish Water.

Neil Robinson raised the issue of residual tree debris clearance, and said that since the trees that had blocked the road had been removed after the storm, the debris still remained to along the verges – particularly at the caravan park. Tree debris now blocking the water courses which is becoming a hazard. JB said that he would raise this issue with Argyll and Bute Council and also that he will try to get the other ditches cleaned along the main road especially in front of the Swedish Houses

JB confirmed the dates for future meetings as:

Date of next meeting

Tuesday 3rd June 2025 AGM @ 7pm, Ordinary Meeting - 7.30pm in the village hall.

Files of previous meetings below:-

Minutes Ordinary Meeting 4th March 2025

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

/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