Dunblane Development Trust - General News

Community View - May 2004

COMMUNITY COUNCIL HAS ANOTHER INJECTION OF NEW BLOOD, BUT WE NEED MORE.

Following the elections in March, three new Dunblane Community Councillors have been elected. They are: Ward 1, Terence O’Byrne; Ward 2, John Alexander; Ward 5 Sandy Hall. We thank them for offering their services.

We were, of course, disappointed that the other vacancies were not filled, but rest assured we will do our best to cover those areas not fully represented. The Community Council is now :-

Ward 1 Argyle & Braemar Tony Ford and Terence O’Byrne

Ward 2 Royals John Alexander and one vacancy

Ward 3 Primary School Gordon Boyd and Peter McCusker

Ward 4 Kilbryde Sandy Mackay and Craig French

Ward 5 Town Centre Sandy Hall and one vacancy

Ward 6 North Ken Geddes and one vacancy

Ward 7 East Mike Seal and Duncan Taylor

Ward 8 Landward One vacancy

Although there will be no more election for three years, we are able to co-opt into the vacant positions. If anyone living in the areas where a vacancy exists wishes to join us at any time, please contact the Secretary, Sandy Mackay on 822765.

The main duties of the Community Council are:

• To respond to Stirling Council with the Dunblane community view on anything that may or will have an impact on our community, including planning applications, changes to infrastructure (roads, parking, schools, health centre, etc.), changes to legislation, changes to policies or procedures, changes in waste collections, recycling, roads gritting, cleaning, etc.
• To proactively bring to Stirling Council’s attention any matters from within the community where we would like some action, including play areas, parks, footpaths, waste and dog bins, leisure facilities, litter management, etc.
• To liaise as required with the other organisations in Dunblane on matters of particular concern to them.
• To work with the Police in dealing with concerns within the community - vandalism, litter, alcohol and drug abuse, etc. and to assist them with any communications or relationship problems between themselves and the community.
• To work with other agencies such as Scottish Enterprise Forth Valley , Historic Scotland, Scottish Natural Heritage, the water, gas and electricity companies, etc. where we are experiencing problems or where we believe improvements can be made.

Apart from trying to fill the vacancies as shown above and to further develop our contacts with the community as a whole, we are still trying to put some extra effort into engaging with the young, where we feel that we are weak. We recently attended a meeting of the Pupil Council at the High School and were given the chance to explain why it is so important that the young have their say in our activities. We explained that we are able to appoint up to two youth members of the Community Council who must be under 18 years old and that, once appointed, youth members are considered to be full members of the Community Council and have equal rights to speak and vote. Apart from serving the community and getting the youth voice heard, it is an excellent introduction for a young person who may be interested in a career in Local Government or related professions. However, to date, we do not have any volunteers. I appeal to parents and leaders of youth activities to help us crack this problem.

To end on a happy note, we are delighted that the problems at Newton Park have been dealt with, at least for now. In the last edition, we highlighted the problems and asked for widespread community support, particularly from parents in trying to deal with this. If you did play a part in helping achieve the improvement, we thank you. We also thank Inspector Brian Rennie and his Police team for their excellent response. Not only did they deal with the incidents as they occurred but they were very proactive in working with ourselves, representatives from Stirling Council and local residents through a series of meetings that resulted in the formation of a local residents group. We put this group into contact with the Environment Group of Dunblane Development Trust and they have jointly started to make physical improvements to the park and its adjacent woodland. This is a very good example of community effort and it could be the blueprint for dealing with any further problems of a similar nature should they occur again.

Mike Seal.

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