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Blane Valley Inn Jan 2020

Blane Valley Inn change of use halted by Planning decision

| 21st June 2020

Following our post of 9 May 2020 highlighting the proposed change of use of the Blane Valley Inn to a house, several villagers wrote to Stirling objecting against the loss of this important amenity for this part of the village, and as a source of employment, too. The Community Council discussed the application at its first online meeting on 8 June 2020 and decided that it, too, would oppose the loss of the pub. We know that the business has been difficult, but there was an interested buyer, and such a long-standing keystone of village life should not be lost forever, without proper justification. The pandemic environment does not make it a good time to decide such things in a hurry.

The planning department has now refused the application 20/00252/FUL for lack of justification, and unsuitable design. Referring to various parts of the Local Development Plan, the decision concludes:

  • “The proposed change of use is likely to diminish the range of community facilities on offer in the village much to the detriment of the local community and no evidence has been submitted in support of the application to justify change of use.” …
  • “The proposed rear extension by virtue of its scale, flat roof and external finishes would have a negative impact on the character and integrity of the host building.”

The detailed “Report of Handling” is here on our website. Full details and history including the submissions by the Community Council and others can be found here on Stirling’s public access planning portal.

The applicant of course has the option to appeal, and/or to submit a new application with different design and evidence to support the change of use. And of course, this does not mean that we have an open pub…

 

We'll meet by Zoom

Community Council meeting via ZOOM – Monday 8th June 2020

| 24th May 2020

While the Coronavirus emergency prevents us meeting in person, we have decided to resume meetings, via Zoom.

This will not be a full public meeting, so please let us know well in advance if you would like any particular points discussed.

AGENDA

Meeting on Monday  8th June 2020  7.30pm on Zoom*

  1. Welcome from the Chair and declarations of interest
  2. Minutes of February meeting and matters arising
  3. Update on Village Volunteer Group
  4. Update on the Resilience Plan
  5. Update on the library project
  6. Feedback on Mugdock Community network
  7. Elected Member’s Report
  8. Planning and Licensing
  9. Finance

Contact us at contact@strathblanecc.org.uk . Also on our website

www.strathblanecc.org.uk Telephone numbers for Community Councillors are on the notice boards, in the library and in the Blane Valley Bulletin.

Blane Valley Inn Jan 2020

Blane Valley Inn – From Pub to private house?

| 9th May 2020

Residents will be aware that the Blane Valley Inn sadly closed its doors in February. New owners have filed a planning application to convert the pub into a private house. The planning application is number 20/00252/FUL and the related documents can be viewed online here. A clip of the proposed site plan is shown below.

Any comments you wish to make should be filed by email to planning@stirling.gov.uk and please copy the community council at contact@strathblanecc.org.uk when you do. You can also file comments online – we would love to receive a copy at the same time. The application has been advertised some time ago, so please file any comments as soon as possible, and by 18 May 2020 at the latest. Normally we would also invite comments and discussion at a community council meeting, but those are on hold.

The pub is (was?) of course a precious asset for the community, used as a gathering place by young as well as old, and a valuable place of employment too.

What do you think of this loss? Some view the loss of the pub as inevitable. Others recognise the difficulties but fear the consequences.

There was reportedly at least one offer to buy the pub as a going concern, when it was sold for a house. Can we sustain two pubs? Can we gamble on only one…? We can hope that (as far as we know), the Kirkhouse Inn will thrive again after the lockdown, but the hospitality industry is so precarious, nothing can be taken for granted. Both pubs had opened and closed a few times in recent memory.

Clip from the Site Plan in application 20/00252/FUL

Station Road closure 10-12 May 2020

| 9th May 2020

Station Road, Blanefield will close from its junction with the A81 (Glasgow Road, Blanefield) to its junction with the A809 from 0800 hours on SUNDAY 10-5-20 until 1800 hours on TUESDAY 12-5-20 to facilitate BT Broadband Upgrading works. Access for emergency services will be maintained Please note that this is a change to the previously advertised dates of 18 – 20-5-20 which were advertised in the Stirling Observer on 1-5-20.Alternative Route: via A81, B834, A809 and vice versa.A COPY of the Order can be provided by e-mailing traffic@stirling.gov.uk.www.stirling.gov.uk or www.tellmescotland.gov.uk

Station Road Diversion 10-12 May 2020Download

Community Council meetings suspended due to Coronavirus.

| 19th April 2020

Community council meetings across Stirling District are cancelled until further notice.

However, your community councillors are of course in touch with one another and can be reached by email to contact@strathblanecc.org.uk

Stirling Council information and services can be contacted through their website at www.stirling.gov.uk/

Our Stirling councillors (“elected members”) are:

Alistair Berrill , Graham Lambie and Robert Davies

 

 

Community Council Meeting 2 September 2019

| 17th August 2019

The next meeting of Strathblane Community Council will be on Monday 2nd September 2019 at 7.30pm in the Village Club.

AGENDA

1.     Welcome from the Chair and declarations of interest

2.     Co-option of new member

3.     Police report

4.     Minutes of June meeting and Matters Arising

5.      Invasive Species – Loch Lomond Fisheries Trust

6.     Feedback from Neighbourhoods of Care

7.     Telephone boxes

8.     Elected Member’s Report

9.     Planning and Licensing

10.    Community Comments

11.     Finance

12.    Correspondence

13.   AOB

14. Date of next meeting Monday 7th October 2019, in the Village Club

Contact us at contact@strathblanecc.org.uk . Also on our website

 www.strathblanecc.org.uk Telephone numbers for Community Councillors are on the notice boards, in the library and in the Blane Valley Bulletin.

Gladman planning application for Campsie Road: Second appeal under way.

| 17th August 2019

The new appeal is under way with reference PPA-390-2060-1. The new Reporter invited those who had made submissions to the original appeal to comment whether anything has changed in the meantime, and the Community Council has provided a response .

SCC Comments on PPA-390-2060-1 – 15 August 2019Download

Particularly in light of the flash floods experienced on 31 July 2019, the concerns about flooding that were raised in our original objection appear even more pertinent.

More background is on our website here.



16 weeks road closure between Mugdock and Milngavie

| 22nd June 2019

Mugdock Road between Mugdock and Milngavie is closed for 16 weeks from 17 June.  This is to allow a new pipeline to link Burncrooks reservoir to the Milngavie water treatment works, in advance of closing the Burncrooks treatment works.  Initially the road closure is to avoid the public coming into contact with the heavy plant being assembled to complete the project, but in time a whole section of the road is being dug up to lay the pipes.  Drumclog car park is closed and walkers and cyclists are being told to avoid the route as well.

See attached map for the pipeline route.  For further information go to the Scottish Water website here.  Scottish Water contact names are available on the updates under “Burncrooks – Scottish Water”.

The contact for the sub-contractor construction team is:

Joanne Craig, Customer Manager 

Caledonia Water Alliance

Phone: 0141 212 5942

Mobile: 07921 308 483

E-Mail : joanne.craig@caledoniawater.com

Gladman WIN second bite at appeal…

| 17th June 2019

What feels like ages ago, Gladman Developments applied to build houses in the field on Campsie Road, and to bump the proposed cemetery extension further away from the village. The planning application was rejected by Stirling; an appeal to the Scottish Ministers was rejected by their Reporter, BUT Gladman made an appeal to the Court of Session, whose decision was issued on 14 June 2019. 

The Court of Session has quashed the appeal decision, raising the prospect that the development may go ahead. The court’s decision was based on a very narrow technicality about how housing land supply should be calculated, but their lordships decided this renders the whole of the Reporter’s decision invalid. 

The good news is that this court decision is just a limited “judicial review” criticising the appeal decision process. It does not mean Gladman automatically get their planning permission, or that the Reporter got the wrong result.

A copy of the Court of Session decision is here in which we have highlighted some relevant parts. According to the court, the main issue the Reporter had to decide was whether Stirling used the correct method to calculate their housing land supply. The court ruled that the Reporter had not examined the question properly. Furthermore they say that, because a different land supply calculation could tip the balance of all considerations, they must quash the whole decision.

What it does mean is that the appeal must be decided again by a Reporter at the DPEA and Scottish Ministers, taking more care to consider all relevant issues. The new Reporter will decide whether to call for new evidence, and the Community Council will input if there is an opportunity.

For all the reasons that were endorsed by the first Reporter, we would hope that the appeal will be rejected again.

Housing that meets the needs of our community is one thing, but proposals like this one put the interests of the developers and landowners above all else.

VOTING is OPEN until Sunday 23rd June. Your Stirling: You Decide – participate in council budgeting!

| 15th June 2019

Your Stirling: You Decide gives local people a direct say in how a portion of their budget is spent. For the Forth and Endrick ward, 36 voting proposals have been made out of the ideas submitted by the public. Residents now have the chance to vote.

VOTING IS LIVE here.

You MUST vote for EXACTLY 5 PROPOSALS or your vote won’t be counted. (We don’t make the rules…).

As it happens, there are exactly 5 proposals directly affecting Strathblane/Blanefield, which we have highlighted in the list here. Even if you don’t want to vote for all of those, there are worthy proposals for the other villages in the area.

There is a computer and help at the library for anyone who does not use the internet themselves. Share the link and get your friends and neighbours joining in.

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