Present:

Mr N Barrington* (Chair); Ms D MacLean*; Mr M Ellis*; Mr J Hunter*; Mr R Overend*; Cllr C Puthucheary; Mr J McKay; Mrs P Fennell

* denotes LCC member

Apologies: Mrs J Hunter; Mrs R Roy

Police Report

There was no police report as the new community police officer was unable to attend and we had not been emailed a current report. However, Neighbourhood Watch had not informed us of any local crime so it was hoped that no news implied no crime.

Minutes of the Last Meeting

These were proposed by Neil Barrington and seconded by Russell Overend.

Chair/Secretary's Report

There were various items which are detailed below or under other headings:

Exterior light at the Community Centre:

Cllr Langlands had informed Neil Barrington that the appropriate person to contact regarding a possible installation would be Mr Paul Sale at Johnstone Town Hall. The Chair will contact both Mr Sale and Mr Henry Grey of the Community Centre committee to find out if this could be accomplished under current funding.

.

Roundabout

There is no update on this matter and the Councillors have not received a reply to their joint letter from Transport Scotland.

Environment

It was confirmed that there were speed limit signs adequate to needs on Houston Road and within the village (at entry/exit points).

Planning

It arose during a previous meeting that two planning proposals had been requested for 'scoping opinion' and it was unclear exactly what this entailed. Cllr Langlands undertook to clarify this and wrote to the Chair to the effect that any major or sensitive application was required to a) produce an Enviromental Assessment (i.e. in consultation with bodies such as SEPA, Natural Heritage etc) and b) approach the Community Council to determine local opinion which would include holding a public meeting. This pre-application period would be twelve weeks.

Both the West Ferry and Haddockstone House proposers had been requested for 'scoping opinions'. Haddockstone House falls within Houston boundaries although road access would affect Langbank, and it is understood public meetings have been held concerning this.

To date, Langbank Community Council has not been approached by anyone regarding the West Ferry proposal, and it was uncertain what the status was for the site. (Note: Cllr Puthucheary has subsequently sent an update to members).

Although no one at the Community Council had received notice, a resident noted that on that day (January 13th) the applications for the dementia home and holiday cottages, both at Gleddoch, had been refused and this was later confirmed by checking Renfrewshire Council's website. The original application for 'A' frame houses had already been withdrawn and replaced by the one for holiday cottages.

Permission for the construction of a house on Main Road, on the river side, had previously been refused and the applicant is to appeal to the review body, under the new planning strategy now in place.

Communication

The next issue of Langbank Matters will come out at the end of May. It was decided that two issues per year were sufficient, given the other means of communication now available within the village, such as the Church Newsletter and the new and developing website.

The Community Council here wishes to offer sincere thanks to the owners of the local shop, Laura and Michael O'Neill, for their work and co-operation with the installation of the Christmas tree and the local event they organised to switch the lights on, which had a great turnout and was an allround success.