General Meeting 6th November 2023
GOVAN COMMUNITY COUNCIL
GENERAL MEETING MONDAY 6 NOVEMBER
Held in the Board Room, Elderpark Workspace at 7 p.m.
Present: Esme Clark, Daniel O’Neill, Hannah Salome, Reinhild Gorniak, John Foster Ruby Kelly representing Maslows, Robert Preston and Gina Preston (representing Govan Reminiscence Group) Cllrs Richard Bell and Dan Hutchison and Alistair Shaw (representing Chris Stephens MP) In attendance: Gordon MacKay, Andre Vidola.
Apologies Betty Ross, Annie Morgan, Cllrs Alam and Dornan, Chris Stephens MP, and Alan Bell
Minute taker: John Foster
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MINUTES OF THE OCTOBER MEETING
These were moved as correct by Hannah Salome and Esme Clark -
MATTERS ARISING
a) Night bus services: McGills had withdrawn some of the night services citing disorder on the buses.
b) Grass tippings in Elderpark Our Secretary had not noted any further tippings. We should monitor in the spring. It was felt that the £50 brown bin charge would lead to new levels of dumping and we should monitor.
c) Housing and Rents in Central Govan and additional charges for boiler maintenance: JF reported he had contacted George Lavery of Living Rent and asked for a representative to attend the meeting and then also sent an email confirming. It was agreed to make a further effort to ensure representation before the December meeting.
- PROPOSED CLOSURE OF THE BANK OF SCOTLAND’S GOVAN BRANCH
Our chair reported that he had received the very useful LINK briefing sheet from Gordon MacKay as well as Gordon’s notes. He had also secured the Bank of Scotland’s own report.
He felt our strongest case was that the BoS report was a) out of date in terms of population, did not include the 300 additional residents reported by Royal Mail nor the new residents likely to be housed in the new housing at the Cross within three months b) did not include the new passing trade resulting from the new Bridge nor the shops and businesses likely to result c) its own report of only 314 ‘regular customers’ a month did not tally with local experience of queues in the bank d) if, as the BoS report claimed, most customers were in the 35-55 they would have to pay up to £5 in fares to access the alternative bank branches in Cardonald or Partick.
In discussion it was also noted that a major loss would be the BoS cash machine – which was very actively used (again in contrast to claims in the BoS report) when the only alternatives were those in the Shopping Centre (not available when the Centre was closed) and that the old Clydesdale cash machine was positioned at the back of the shopping centre with very poor security and, much of the time, not serviced and without cash.
Our chair would draw up a response from the Community Council that would cover these points and send it to the Bank of Scotland, to Link, the Banking Ombudsman, Lloyds Bank (BoS owner) and to the press. Tea in the Pot was sending a separate representation and Chris Stephens’s campaign had generated a large number of signatures and press publicity.
- THE NOVEMBER GOVAN LETTER AND OUR 13 NOVEMBER PUBLIC MEETING
Our Chair had been liaising with the Royal Mail and it appeared that on this occasion the distribution was going smoothly – with some members reporting they had already received copies that day. The rest of the Govan Letter would go out over the following week. Additional copies had gone into the Govan Health Centre surgeries, some charities and to pubs.
The speakers for the meeting were confirmed as Inspector Bob Anderson, Kevin Burke from Youth Information and Ruby from Maslows. The booking for the Pearce Institute would be double checked immediately.
The focus would be on alerting the community to further cuts in provision, and the need to mobilise against them – while at the same time celebrating those who continued to provide services in both public and voluntary sectors in the most difficult of conditions. Danny would chair.
In terms of developing the membership and wider community impact of the Community Council Ruby and Hannah proposed that consideration be given to holding an afternoon surgery once a month which would enable attendance by those who could not manage evening meetings and where the objective would not be to duplicate Councillor’s surgeries but to gather information about general concerns and to direct issues to those who could respond – perhaps particularly on housing issues. It was agreed to return to this issue at the next meeting.
- DEVELOPMENT OF PROVISION FOR SAFE CYCLING
Hannah led this section of the meeting with backing from Andre Vidola and Councillor Hutchison.
Hannah called for coordinated support and training for bike users and potential users now that the bridge was about to open. We should invite - to an early meeting - representatives of relevant charities as well as Jim Ellis – particularly in light of the loss of much potential local cycle provision during Covid. Ruby was willing to make Maslow’s a hub for information. At the later date we should return to the issue of a bike pump at Govan Cross.
Councillor Hutchison outlined plans by the council to pioneer in the G51 area the City’s provision for the comprehensive development of full and safe cycle lanes and to do so to complement the new Cycle Bridge from Partick. It was hoped to have the new lanes available by the time of the Bridge opening. A Plan would be completed in December. Training programmes for bike users were being discussed with Galgael, the Kinning Park Complex and Ibrox Primary.
In discussion issues were raised about e-bikes operating without lights or licenses. It was reported that the Police were starting to confiscate illegal bikes and that all bikes were legally required to have lights.
- CHAIR’S REPORT
Danny had no further issues to report
- SECRETARY’S REPORT
Our Secretary raised the issue of fireworks. Although Govan had been relatively quiet compared to some other areas on the south side, there had still been a significant level of noise, severely upsetting to small children and pets. Councillor Hutchison reported that discussions were ongoing in the City Council about securing further amendments to legislation, better enforcement and, in the longer run, restriction of fireworks to publicly organised displays (as was the case in most other countries).
- TREASURER’S REPORT
Reinhild reported that with current transactions completed we had a balance of £6002.58 in the bank.
- COUNCILLOR’S REPORTS
Clr Richard Bell raised the following issues:
a) Current dispute with staff and relevant unions in schools – this had been complicated by the existence of three unions. Scottish government was seeking to mobilise financial reserves.
b) Council Tax freeze and proposals for a three year budget: the Scottish government’s announcement of a Council Tax freeze was likely to result in a further shortfall in income. The Council, in response, was investigating a three year budget that would draw additional funding from the surplus currently existing in the Strathclyde Pension Scheme.
c) UK government’s asylum ‘speed up’. As announced, and if achieved, the plan would convert a large proportion of asylum seekers into refugees with status to stay but no right to housing support by the end of this year. The estimate was that an additional £50m would fall on local authorities across the UK. The consequences in Glasgow would be particularly acute as the local authority nolonger has status as a housing provider.
d) Ensuring that Govan was able to take full economic and social benefit of the new bridge. Currently there was little indication that there would be a major expansion of economic and commercial activity simply as a result of the bridge opening. The Council was therefore examining the opportunities that existed for creating a major entertainment hub. O^2^ had indicated interest.
Councillor Dan Hutchison
a) Criminal activity: the death on Friday of a 31 year old male had been followed by an arrest
b) The Area Partnership was meeting the following day: this would make final plans for the Christmas Tree at the Cross (likely to have lights switched on 6 December at 6.30 – and costing £3,600). The Partnership would also initiate local surveys for the Neighbourhood Infrastructure Fund
c) Equal pay dispute at Asda: action by GMB was ongoing at the Govan shop and members were asked to show solidarity.
Alistair Shaw representing Chris Stephens MP
a) Bank of Scotland Chris Stephens has sent letters to Link, the Banking Authority and would be presenting the petition to Lloyds Banking Group
b) Refugees He was sceptical that the Home Office could accomplish their target of Christmas for establishing all refugee status claims. Chris was investigating additional sources of funds.
c) Unity Centre Ibrox Street This was closing at Christmas due to lack of funding.
- AOCB
Hannah reported on the "Mapping Govan" initiative to investigate potential uses of empty houses and vacant and derelict land in Greater Govan area, to be led and undertaken by residents and community projects.
Ruby noted the break-in at Elderpark Workspace premises for Bikes for Refugees and the need to improve security.
- OUR NEXT GENERAL MEETING: MONDAY 4 DECEMBER at 7 pm in ELDERPARK WORKSPACE