BALFRON COMMUNITY COUNCIL NEWS
Coronavirus – Support and Information
Local Support Available
If you are self isolating or need support if you have to self-isolate any time in the future, there is a group of Balfron volunteers who are happy to help with errands such as shopping, dog walking, urgent supplies and posting mail (for free). Please call Michelle Conway on 07540 667260 if you need assistance or if you want to join the local volunteer group.
Stirling Council Community Support Available
You can also contact Stirling Council if you are vulnerable, know of somebody who is vulnerable, self-isolating and has no immediate support available on 01786 404040 or email communitysupport@stirling.gov.uk. They will be contacted and one of our Local Co-ordination Teams will look at the most appropriate way of getting support to them, through the local Community Response Groups, Third Sector organisations, a local volunteer or more formal support if they require it. General information on local services is available on the Council website and advice on Covid-19 is available on the Government and NHS websites. People can still volunteer to support this effort through the www.investinstirling.com/key-sectors/volunteering site.
Balfron Resilience Group
Keep up to date with the latest local information about the Coronavirus on the Balfron Community Resilience Facebook page. Balfron has its own resilience plan, and the volunteers behind the plan are now working closely with Stirling Council to ensure our village needs are understood, and what we as a community can do to support Stirling Council to ensure the most vulnerable are looked after.
Balfron Bank of Scotland Closure
We continue with our campaign to get the Bank of Scotland to reconsider their decision to close the Balfron branch on 17 August 2020. We feel that the alternatives being offered are totally inadequate to the needs, not just of Balfron, but of all the communities of West Stirlingshire. So far we have had over 1,300 signatures on our petitions and the Community Council have written a formal letter to the Bank of Scotland to express the communities concerns. Our elected Councillors, MPs and MSPs are all actively supporting our campaign. Please continue to share our online petition as widely as possible. And please add your comments and concerns to our Facebook page.
A Space for Living – Latest Update
Work on our Space for Living project has been suspended as a result of the Coronavirus outbreak. Please see this message from the Balfron Active Places project manager at Stirling Council:
“First of all we would appreciate you passing on our sincere thanks to the community for taking the time to work with our consultants to develop detailed proposals for the five key sites within Balfron – Printers Row, The Clachan, Buchanan Street North, Buchanan Street South and Station Road, as well as the area wide Active Travel Strategy.
Due to Covid-19 instructions we are unable to display hardcopies of the proposals, Active Travel Strategy and consultation report, we have therefore uploaded all this information onto the Balfron CommonPlaces website, which can be found here: https://balfronactiveplacesproposals.commonplace.is/
During the financial year 2020/21 (1st April 2020 – 31st March 2021) we will be taking forward The Clachan and Printers Row final designs to construction, dependent on Covid-19 instructions.
As part of this pre construction work we will be advertising the Traffic Regulation Order (TRO), which is the legal process that must be followed prior to making any changes to the public highway.
The advertisement will be live from Friday 3rd April 2020. If you, or any member of the community, would like to comment during the statutory three-week consultation on this TRO, please click on this link for more information: https://www.stirling.gov.uk/…/road…/road-regulations-limits/“
Balfron Community Council Meetings
All Balfron Community Council meetings will be cancelled for the foreseeable future due to the Coronavirus. We will continue to keep you informed via this website, our Facebook page and via the Balfron Community Resilience page. We will also share information on our 2 noticeboards in the village. If you have an issue you want to raised, you can contact us via the Facebook page or by emailing us at hello@balfroncc.org.uk
Community Council Meetings
We meet on the first Thursday of the month (except for January and July) at Balfron High School. Our next meeting is:
Community Council MeetingBalfron High School (TBC)Cancelled due to coronavirus |
About Us
The Community Council is a body consisting of local residents, who meet on a monthly basis to discuss and progress issues affecting the local community, and represent the views and concerns of the Balfron residents to Stirling Council and other relevant groups.
Members
- Colin Cameron, Chair
- Robert Young, Vice Chair
- Bill Noblett, Treasurer
- Christine Wilson, Secretary
- John Nicholson, Planning
- Fraser Allan
- Laura Elder
- Alison Lamont Chalmers
- David McGowan
- Luci Rooney
- Our Minute-Taker is Carsten Mandt
Recent Posts
Keep up to date with community news through the Community Council website balfroncc.org.uk
Please see this message from the Balfron Active Places project manager at Stirling Council:
First of all we would appreciate you passing on our sincere thanks to the community for taking the time to work with our consultants to develop detailed proposals for the five key sites within Balfron - Printers Row, The Clachan, Buchanan Street North, Buchanan Street South and Station Road, as well as the area wide Active Travel Strategy.
Due to Covid-19 instructions we are unable to display hardcopies of the proposals, Active Travel Strategy and consultation report, we have therefore uploaded all this information onto the Balfron CommonPlaces website, which can be found here: balfronactiveplacesproposals.commonplace.is/
During the financial year 2020/21 (1st April 2020 – 31st March 2021) we will be taking forward The Clachan and Printers Row final designs to construction, dependent on Covid-19 instructions.
As part of this pre construction work we will be advertising the Traffic Regulation Order (TRO), which is the legal process that must be followed prior to making any changes to the public highway.
The advertisement will be live from Friday 3rd April 2020. If you, or any member of the community, would like to comment during the statutory three-week consultation on this TRO, please click on this link for more information: www.stirling.gov.uk/roads-transport-streets/roads-pavements/road-regulations-limits/
Have your say on the future of Balfron
balfronactiveplacesproposals.commonplace.is
Comment on the design options for Clachan and Printer's Row.Hope you're all staying safe through these strange times. Just a wee update on the bank campaign: we are still pursuing it, even though the bank is currently showing as 'temporarily closed' on their website. We don't want Bank of Scotland to use this as a further excuse to close permanently. We have got interest from Money Which? in helping publicise our story and I'll give more info on that when I can. Here's a link to a previous story they wrote about whether Post Offices are an adequate replacement to closed branches which I thought you might find interesting:
www.which.co.uk/news/2018/11/can-the-post-office-really-plug-the-gap-as-bank-branches-are-shut-down/
Can the Post Office really plug the gap as bank branches are shut down? – Which? News
www.which.co.uk
Banks have closed down thousands of high-street branches over the past three decades and instead ploughed millions into the Post Office to serve people’s basic banking needs.This just in from Stirling Council - please share:
Update on brown bin collection from the weekend: We would like to apologise to residents in some areas of Stirling who didn’t have their brown bins collected over the weekend. This was due to significant resource challenges during the current national emergency. To continue operating essential household waste and recycling services over the coming weeks, from today (30 March), we have moved to a new temporary timetable. This means that grey bins only will be collected this week and we are unable to pick up uncollected brown bins. Affected residents have two options: transfer easily retrievable waste to their grey bin, or store waste in their brown bin for the time being. Some materials in your brown bin could also be used for composting, with updated information on this available on the Stirling Council website. We understand this will be an inconvenience for affected householders, and we would appreciate their patience amid this unprecedented and fast-moving situation.
If you have any other queries on this issue, please contact us via www.stirling.gov.uk/contact-us/general-enquiries/
Please see the following for details of changes to the uplift of our bins during the Covid-19 crisis:
www.stirling.gov.uk/news/2020/march-2020/covid-19-temporary-changes-to-household-waste-collection...
COVID-19 - Temporary changes to household waste collection services
www.stirling.gov.uk
Due to the developing Covid-19 situation, Stirling Council is making necessary changes to household waste and recycling arrangements.Elliot Smith
