274 July 2017 - Gryffe Advertizer
The Advertizer - Your local community magazine to the Gryffe area.
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@<strong>Gryffe</strong>Ads www.advertizer.co.uk july <strong>2017</strong><br />
35<br />
kilbarchan - howwood - lochwinnoch - elderslie<br />
Lochwinnoch Flower Power!!<br />
There was a fine<br />
turn out of the<br />
community garden<br />
group and other<br />
volunteers on<br />
Saturday the 3rd<br />
June to plant out<br />
more containers<br />
and hanging<br />
baskets around the<br />
village.<br />
In the morning<br />
the Renfrewshire<br />
Council Unpaid<br />
Work team arrived<br />
at 9.45am to move 30 containers to 5 locations. The Library, McKillop Hall, War<br />
Memorial, Calder Church and Lochbarr Services. In addition, they moved tons<br />
of soil to fill the containers. A huge thank you to them for a massive effort over<br />
the day!<br />
Planting round the village over Saturday was blessed with very good weather, all<br />
the helpers were supplied with tea, coffee, rolls and cakes from Sean at Heitage<br />
Farmers Market.<br />
Furthermore, Grame Lait has supplied<br />
many baskets on lamp posts to add to<br />
the colour over the summer and will<br />
keep the baskets watered.<br />
We plan to add more containers and<br />
baskets to the village year on year.<br />
Please feel free to come and help<br />
in the Autum when we will be taking<br />
out annuals and putting in the Spring<br />
bulbs! There will be announcements<br />
in the CC newsletter, community<br />
garden facebook page and posters in<br />
shop windows in the village.<br />
In addition, we also ran a plant stall<br />
at the Gala on Saturday 10th June<br />
to raise some money for the planters<br />
and flowers which was very a huge<br />
success.<br />
kilbarchan - howwood - lochwinnoch - elderslie<br />
It is inevitable that now we are a four member ward that much<br />
of the comments and reports from Ward 9 councillors will be<br />
much the same. With four Community Councils attended by<br />
all four Councillors, any issue raised is very much the concern<br />
of all four Councillors. So if you feel you have ‘’Heard this all<br />
before’’ please bear with me. I will try to retain your interest by<br />
giving you snippets, that can be made public, from the Boards<br />
that I sit on, which are: Audit, Risk & Scrutiny (Convener).<br />
Communities, Housing & Planning Board. Education &<br />
Children’s Services Policy Board and Infrastructure, Land<br />
and environment Policy Board. I am also a Member of the<br />
Johnstone & the Villages Local Area Committee.<br />
One of the big issues which concerns all four villages is the lack of consultation<br />
and input with regard to local developments. Some while ago I took part in a<br />
research study into The Barriers to Community Engagement in the Planning<br />
System. The report was commissioned by the Scottish Government and the<br />
research was conducted by an independent consultancy team. The subsequent<br />
report from this consultation is five pages long but I quote just a few of the<br />
recommendations.<br />
1. Creating the conditions that will give communities the confidence and<br />
motivation to engage with the planning system.<br />
2. Learning from experience and good practice. Going the extra mile to help the<br />
seldom-heard have a voice.<br />
3. The independent review panel was highly critical of the quality and effectiveness<br />
of community engagement in the Scottish planning system and that the third<br />
sector leaders have an overwhelmingly negative perception of the system.<br />
I hope that these few details will indicate that we are trying to ensure that we<br />
have a bigger say in matters concerning our villages.<br />
My surgeries are as follows:-<br />
First Monday of the month at 6pm /7pm HOWWOOD Village Hall<br />
Second Monday of the month at 6pm/7pm KILBARCHAN Steeple Hall<br />
Third Monday of the month at 6pm/7pm JOHNSTONE Town Hall<br />
Fourth Monday of the month at 6pm/pm LOCHWINNOCH McKillop Institute<br />
Email: cllr.bill.binks@renfrewshire.gov.uk phone: 0300 300 1423<br />
kilbarchan - howwood - lochwinnoch - elderslie<br />
I have written to the new Leader of Renfrewshire Council<br />
asking him to look at options for the cancellation of the £7<br />
million Sports Amphitheatre in Paisley proposed by the last<br />
adminstration, and transferring that £7 million into upgrading<br />
the McKillop Institute, the Steeple Hall, and Howwood Village<br />
Hall. This technically should be viable as although RLL now<br />
run the service, the three buildings are still owned by the<br />
Council.<br />
Constituents will be aware that the prospective developers for<br />
the Johnshill development have appealed to DEPA against the<br />
decision of Renfrewshire Council to refuse the application, and<br />
I intend to write to DEPA upholding the decision of the Council<br />
to refuse, and explain in detail why to grant would be detrimental to the interests<br />
of Lochwinnoch. I also intend to speak at the DEPA Planning Hearing on 18th <strong>July</strong><br />
to oppose the Branscroft Development proposed for Kilbarchan. I also wish to<br />
make my Howwood constituents aware that there is a new prospective planning<br />
application to build on Old Howwood Road between Spateston and the village.<br />
It was agreed at the end of March to keep the campaign going to upgrade the<br />
A737 by organising an A737 Partnership Group, which would include all local<br />
Ward Cllrs for Wards 8 and 9, and have all local CC’s represented. I have spoken<br />
to those Cllrs at that meeting who have been returned, and we wish to continue<br />
this on an all-party basis, which it was before. As an Independent I have agreed<br />
to convene the Group and have recently sent an invite out to all the new ward Cllrs<br />
asking if they wish to join.<br />
My advice surgery in Kilbarchan is on the 2nd Wednesday of the month in the Steeple Hall<br />
at 7.30pm, and my advice surgery in Howwood is at 6.30pm on the 4th Wednesday of the<br />
month, and then in Lochwinnoch the same night in the McKillop at 7.30pm, all excluding <strong>July</strong><br />
and Christmas. But I am also always available to constituents who can call me on 07534<br />
148224, tweet me on CllrAndy4Ward8 or e-mail me at cllr.andy.doig@renfrewshire.gov.uk.<br />
kilbarchan - howwood - lochwinnoch - elderslie<br />
Scottish Country<br />
Dance Classes<br />
Tuesdays in the McKillop Hall,<br />
Lochwinnoch at 7.30pm.<br />
We always have great fun and it's<br />
good exercise too! Phone Lorna Black<br />
01505 843048 for more info.<br />
kilbarchan - howwood - lochwinnoch - elderslie<br />
Knitting Bee<br />
Knuts4Knitting<br />
Meets fortnightly on a Tuesday<br />
from 7pm to 9pm at Knit Knax, 37<br />
High Street Johnstone, also weekly<br />
Thursday from 2pm to 4pm.<br />
Contact details: Pamela 07743156738<br />
or email bknitting@hotmail.co.uk.<br />
kilbarchan - howwood - lochwinnoch - elderslie<br />
Howwood Community Council<br />
Meetings of the Community Council are held on the second Tuesday of each<br />
month at 7.30pm in Howwood Village Hall. Please feel free to come along - all<br />
welcome.<br />
kilbarchan, howwood, lochwinnoch & elderslie
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