http://wlacc.org.uk/murieston
MURIESTON COMMUNITY COUNCIL
MINUTES OF MEETING ON 10 NOVEMBER 2011
held at Williamston Primary School at 7 pm
web: http://wlacc.org.uk/murieston
- 1. Present:
Kim Vance, Ian Brown, Carol Hallesy, Davidson McQuarrie;
Chief Inspector Kevin Kerr, PC Alan James;
Councillor Lawrence Fitzpatrick, Councillor John Muir
Guests:
Dr. Edward Russell-Smith, Murieston Medical Practice;
Mrs. Gill Cottrell, Chief Nurse, West Lothian Community Health and Care Partnership (CHCP)
Mrs. Tania Armstrong, Mr. and Mrs. Cooper, Mrs. June Keddie
- 2. Apologies:
Arthur Marris, Frank Mustard, Paula Lee, Alex Hendry, Nick Lansdell, Kenny More
- 3. Minutes of the Ordinary Meeting on 8 September 2011:
Acceptance of the Minutes of the Meeting on 8 September was proposed by Ian Brown and seconded by Kim Vance. Carried.
- 4. Matters Arising:
Minor detail changes to the Minutes of 8 September were agreed.
- 5. Finances:
The account balance is as reported at the last meeting.
- 6. Funding and Expenditure:
Nothing to report.
- 7. Dr. Edward Russell-Smith, Murieston Medical Practice:
The Community Council has invited Dr. Ed. Russell-Smith and the Director of West Lothian Community Health and Care Partnership to our meeting as we want to provide our support in securing a permanent build for Murieston Medical Practice. Mrs. Gill Cottrell, Chief Nurse of the CHCP has attended in the place of the Director, Jim Forrest as he is on holiday.
Dr. Russell-Smith outlined the growth of the Practice. It is 8 years since the Practice was formed. The Practice has now some 4,000 registered patients with sufficient capacity to grow up to a further 50%. There are 4 GPs, 2 Practice Nurses, 4 Reception Staff, Midwife, Health Visitor. The Practice is also a teaching practice. It has a range of support facilities such as smoking cessation clinic etc. It provides GP support for the Limecroft and Peacock Residential Homes.
The Practice is accredited by the Royal College of GPs. Dr. Russell-Smith is the Chair of the Faculty of GPs in South East Scotland. The Practice is achieving Quality Practice Accreditation (QPA) which involves six modules with rigorous inspection.
Dr. Russell-Smith has been lobbying to obtain permission for a permanent build of the Practice on the adjacent land reserved for that purpose. Dr. Russell-Smith has a business plan for the development of the Practice and an agreement in principle from NHS Lothian for the permanent build, though final approval has not been given. Once approval is given, the Land Department of NHS Lothian will negotiate with West Lothian Council to buy the land.
It was agreed that the Secretary will write a letter to the Chair of the West Lothian CHCP expressing Murieston Community Council’s support for a permanent build and release of the land.
- 8. Community Policing:
PC Alan James and Inspector Kerr outlined last month’s policing statistics for Murieston. There has been a reduction in calls. Calls re. youths dropped from 8 to 1 in October; from 44 to 28 in the past 12 months. Calls re. Anti-Social Behaviour dropped from 12 to 6 this month; from 80 to 65 in the last 12 months. There have been 2 house break-ins locally. Residents are reminded to lock doors and windows to obviate opportunist crime. Investigations are ongoing into the shooting of the swan in Dedridge Pond. There is a substantial reward for information leading to an arrest. The Christmas anti-drink driving campaign will be starting soon. This will operate at night as well in December.
Livingston Police has introduced a diary system which enables appointments to be booked for response to low-level crime. A customer satisfaction survey indicates this initiative has been very well received. Inspector Kerr said that a working group has been set up to consider how social media can be adopted. Any ideas on the use of social media will be welcome. A multi-agency partnership approach to dealing with crime has been established in West Lothian.
The recent fireworks display at the Civic Square was planned in coordination with the Police. Any group planning a public event is encouraged to contact the events planning organiser based at Livingston Police.
- 9. Councillors’ Reports
John Muir:
The accounts of the Lothian and Borders Police Board have been scrutinised by Audit Scotland.
Crime is at a 35 year low. West Lothian Licensing Board is trying to address the over-provision of licensed outlets. There has been a 25% reduction in licences during the transition from the old to the new licensing legislation. Operation Floorwalk has been successful in reducing under-age drinking in public areas, but this problem may have been displaced into houses. The Police are looking for help in identifying houses where under-age drinking is taking place.
The multi-agency partnership approach in West Lothian is being adopted throughout Scotland.
Lawrence Fitzpatrick:
The planning application for the rebuild of the Co-op store has been granted. CWS Manchester are considering opening the store instead in the former Purple Sage Restaurant and letting out the original site as two or three shopping units. This would be a simple change of use which does not require further planning permission. A decision will be made soon.
The owners of Bankton Retail Centre have been asked to lay a short path between the Station entrance and the Centre car park as there is currently no pedestrian access.
The replacement of the Edinburgh Sick Children’s Hospital is overdue. A site is available next to the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary. This needs to be pressed.
Two new head teachers have been appointed at Dedridge and Bellsquarry Primary Schools.
2012 will be the peak year for demand for nursery places. There is currently no requirement to allocate places via a local catchment area which would mean that children would live within walking distance of their nursery.
- 10. Autumn Cleanup Initiative:
It was agreed this had been a great success. Some 70 plastics bags of rubbish and litter had been picked up by over 40 community volunteers on Sunday, 16 October. There had been great coverage in the Courier and excellent feedback. Paula Lee has put photos of the event and volunteers on websites – https://www.facebook.com/MuriestonCommunity and http://murieston.info/latest-news/
Another community Cleanup will be organised in the Spring and this time will include Campbridge Pond.
- 11. Campbridge Pond at Skivo:
Kim Vance updated the meeting. Kim and Paula Lee are working with June Keddie as a sub-group on advancing the Project. Kim has contacted Nick Benge of WaterGems for a breakdown of the £50,000 + VAT cost of his proposal. Evidently re-planting forms a considerable proportion of the restoration costs. The Project becomes markedly more manageable and affordable if we concentrate on infrastructure work.
- 12. Community Allotments in Murieston:
Ian Brown updated the meeting on further progress re. the proposed field behind Albyn Drive overlooking Murieston Water The field is 11,586 m2 which should provide between 12 and 24 plots.
Ian has met with the Council NETs team and the Land Contamination Officer. Development Control and NETs confirm that the field must be tested for contamination in the field although there are no records that this particular area was subject to dumping and spreading of incinerator ash from Edinburgh. The Scottish Agricultural College offer a soil testing service, priced at £100 a test sample. Ian will try to get funding as the Council will not fund this sampling. The South Livingston Allotment Project has been registered with the RBS Community Force charity which can provide funding up to £6,000 and everyone is asked to vote for the Project at - http://communityforce.rbs.co.uk/project/263
The NETs Team would like to quantify the interest in allotments and Ian has created a survey tool to gather notional interest in south Livingston. Options for allotments are 75, 150 and 300m2.
The survey is on website - http://www.screator.net/showform.php?f=1160744406
- 13. SESplan Strategic Development Plan – Call For Sites:
The Scottish Government expects West Lothian to provide an extra 1,750 houses by 2024 (500 units by 2018) in addition to the 22,000 units already allocated and agreed. 225 notices of interest for development were made by May covering a potential 30 – 40,000 units. 19 notices of interest have been made for sites in the Livingston South Ward. 8 proposals cover Murieston sites. At this stage these are expressions of interest and no details of housing numbers, density, type etc. have been submitted.
A public notice asks for responses by mid-December. Some of these sites have featured in previous versions of the Local Development Plan, extending back some 10 years. The Secretary has circulated copies of relevant MCC correspondence and will prepare a draft response re. the Call For Sites.
- 14. Murieston Trail and Environment:
Nothing to report.
- 15. Options for Christmas Lights:
Nothing to report.
- 16. Correspondence:
Nothing to report.
- 17. Publications received:
Circulated.
- 18. Planning Applications:
Councillor Fitzpatrick noted that a mobile telecommunications monopole was being erected on Alderstone Road at the Wilderness Roundabout. Lawrence has previously written to the National Radiological Protection Board pressing for the setting of better standards requiring cooperation of network operators on siting and co-location of telemasts.
West Lothian Council’s weekly updates on planning applications are being emailed to all community councillors for information, providing there are planning applications of public interest relevant to Murieston.
- 19. Any Other Business:
None.
The Meeting closed at 9.00 pm
The next Community Council meeting will be on Thursday, 8 December 2011 at 7 pm in Williamston Primary School
