- mocvillage
- Jul 3, 2014
MOC GREENBELT PRESERVATION
Steering Committee
Letter to Kirkintilloch Herald by email.
3 July 2014
The Editor
Kirkintilloch Herald
Dear Sir,
FIGHT IS ON TO SAVE MILTON OF CAMPSIE GREENBELT LAND
As your front page headline on the 2nd of July rightly records “Angry residents staged a protest outside the Council Chambers” before last week’s meeting which considered the Main Issues Report on the Local Development Plan – “Where We Live” Section.
It is proposed that 190 so called “affordable houses” are built on the Greenfield site at Redmoss Farm, representing 20% of the total and 42% of the Affordable Capacity for the whole of East Dunbartonshire. As the Report records “Redmoss Farm in Milton of Campsie was the only site that attracted a significant amount of opposition (during the consultation process) with 160 objections.”
Prior to the debate the SNP opposition introduced an amendment to exclude Redmoss Farm and two much smaller sites from “preferred” status and to “instruct officers to bring back to Council outline affordable options for all Brownfield sites in the Council ownership”
During the debate Labour, Liberal Democrat and Conservative Councillors from the majority coalition repeatedly referred to “pressure on this authority to deliver because East Dunbartonshire had no Plan in place” (Councillor Alan Moir) and yet the plan they were promoting delivers only half the required number of affordable housing units. It seemed to those of us observing that there was little in the way of constructive argument from the coalition some of whose members seemed more intent on interrupting their opponents with sarcastic remarks than genuine debate.
It was extremely disappointing for us to find two of our local Councillors, Dempsey and Welsh siding with their Labour colleagues in support of the proposals. That made us all the more grateful to have support from SNP Councillor David Ritchie who spoke of the strength of local feeling against building on Greenfield sites. He said there were issues at Redmoss concerning: wildlife, biodiversity, roads, public transport etc. In his opinion it was a “gorgeous site”. There were numerous Brownfield sites which are ideal for affordable housing including Tom Johnston House which is on a bus route, close to the train and across from the Sports Centre.
His colleague Councillor Keith Small pointed out that the proposal is against Council policy – “affordable housing should be integrated not stand alone.”
Independent Councillor Jack Young, referred to the late Cllr Kennedy’s long standing opposition to development on Redmoss Farm. He pointed out that the report considered 475 units on Brownfield sites and 477 on Greenfield. He said that it was “particularly important to look at Brownfield sites first”.
As you reported, despite support from the independent Councillors Young and Cumming, the amendment was lost by 14-10.
However, as Labour Group Leader Councillor Rhondda Geekie reminded Councillors they were “not considering a Planning Application” but the adoption of this report remits officers to develop the Council’s selected option for housing development in the Proposed Plan which will be brought back to the Development & Regeneration Committee for approval ahead of publication scheduled for spring 2015.
So we may have lost a battle but the war is a long way from over.
We have established MILTON OF CAMPSIE GREENBELT PRESERVATION with the objective of co-ordinating action to save and protect the greenbelt in Milton of Campsie. A Steering Committee has been formed and we will be liaising with the local and neighbouring Community Councils and other concerned groups. We have set up a basic web site http://mocvillage.wix.com/greenbelt and in due course this will be moved to the domain mocgreenbelt.org.
A public meeting will be called as soon as possible but in the meantime anybody who wishes to assist should please email me secretary@mocgreenbelt.org. We would be particularly interested to hear from anyone with experience in social media, publicity or fund raising.
Alan Harris
Interim Secretary
secretary@mocgreenbelt.org
- mocvillage
- Jul 2, 2014
Updated: Jun 17, 2021
MINUTES
of the
FIRST MEETING
of
MILTON OF CAMPSIE SAVE OUR GREENBELT STEERING GROUP
held at 18 Hillside Terrace, Milton of Campsie
on WEDNESDAY 2ND OF JULY 2014 at 7.30pm.
Present:
Jim Campbell (JC)
Morag Campbell (MC)
Liz Dempsey (LD)
Alan Harris (AH)
John Hinton (JH)
In Attendance
Brian Reid (Lennoxtown Group, Say No To Green Belt Building in Campsie)
Margaret Weir (Minute Taker)
Apologies
Apologies were received from or on behalf of Debbie Cronin, Andrew Mackenzie and Mary Marsh.
Both Sue Baxendale and Barbara McIntosh had indicated a willingness to help but did not wish to be part of the team.
Name of Campaign Group
AH distributed a list of names that had been suggested by email. MC said “Campsie” should be used in case it becomes necessary to join with the Lennoxtown Group but LD pointed out that Campsie was a parish in its own right which included Milton of Campsie. It was generally agreed that the word “Greenbelt” should be included. After considerable discussion it was agreed to name the group MILTON OF CAMPSIE GREENBELT PRESERVATION.
Aims & Objectives of the Group
After a brief discussion it was agreed that the object of the group was To Coordinate Action to Save and Protect the Greenbelt in Milton of Campsie.
Membership of Steering Group
It was agreed that in order to facilitate discussion and decision making the Steering Committee should be restricted to 10 - 12 members. The quorum would be 50%+1. MC and JC said that one of them would drop out should it become necessary.
Appointments:
AH suggested that interim appointments be made to be confirmed at the next meeting. This was agreed.
Convener/Chair:
The majority view was that the term Chairperson would be the most appropriate.
JH proposed Morag Campbell, seconded by Liz Dempsey and agreed unanimously.
Secretary:
JH was asked if he wished to fulfil this position but declined.
JC asked AH if he would be willing to take the position and he agreed. Morag Campbell as Interim Chair then proposed Alan Harris as Interim Secretary and this was agreed unanimously.
JH proposed that a Minute Secretary be appointed but it was felt that the group was not large enough to warrant separating this function from the Secretary.
Treasurer – deferred until more people were present.
Publicity Coordinator - deferred until more people were present.
Bank Account and Constitution
It was agreed that a decision on a bank account be left meantime but an account could be opened at Lennoxtown Mutual Bank if necessary.
JH offered to draft a constitution but this matter was remitted to the Secretary.
Coordination with the Community Council
It was agreed that it was very important to work with the Community Council but it was felt that communication was an issue as they did not use email or Facebook which were considered important in the this day and age.
AH was instructed to write to the Secretary of the CC intimating the formation of the Group and Steering Committee and asking for the use of space in the CC Notice Board to publish Minutes and other documents.
It was also agreed to invite a CC delegate to future meetings and to ask the CC for reciprocity.
MC would obtain a copy of the CC Constitution.
Consideration and response to East Dunbartonshire Council Meeting on 26 June 2014
AH spoke to his previously circulated Report of the Council Meeting, highlighting some of the contradictions in the Council documents and contributions to the debate from various Councillors. The Committee noted with satisfaction the support of Councillor Ritchie and the SNP Group and expressed regret at the lack of support from local Labour Councillors Welsh and Dempsey. The SNP amendment to remove Redmoss Farm from “preferred” status was lost by 14-10 despite support from the two independent Councillors Cumming and Young.
Consideration of future action:
It was agreed that it was important to purchase a domain name as soon as possible and mocgreenbelt.org was considered the most appropriate. AH undertook to set this up immediately after the meeting.
The Secretary would write to the Kirkintilloch Herald intimating the formation of the group.
Other agenda items were deferred to the next meeting.
Any other competent business
JH suggested that he write an article for Scottish Review. This was agreed but if the article was to be published in the Group name then it should be submitted to the Chair and Secretary for approval.
Date and venue for next meeting.
Sunday 13 July 2014 at 2.00pm in the Village Hall if available, failing which at 18 Hillside Terrace.
There being no further business the meeting closed with a vote of thanks to the Chair at 9.30pm.
- mocvillage
- Jun 26, 2014
Updated: Jun 17, 2021
On Thursday 26th at 5.30pm a group of 54 concerned residents staged a demonstration outside the Council Headquarters at the Marina.
This was aimed to get Councillors' support for protection of the Campsie Greenbelt and removal of Redmoss Farm from the planning officials' designated 'preferred site' status. The demonstration extended up to the start of the Council Meeting, after which local residents and Community Council members attended the meeting.
The main concern was agenda Item 12, which was to get approval of the Development & Regeneration Department’s massive report on the housing proposals in the MRI.
Before the meeting Councillor Duncan Cumming and Councillor David Ritchie courteously discussed outside with the group. Other Councillors avoided the front entrance and entered by the back door.
At the meeting, on behalf of Milton of Campsie, Councillor Ritchie sought the removal of Redmoss from 'preferred site' status. The SNP put an amendment to take this area and two other greenfield sites out of the 'preferred' status. The debate lasted 1 hr and 25 minutes. At the end it was made a party issue, with the Labour/LibDem/Con members all voting against the demonstrators' wishes.
Independent Councillor Cumming voted with the SNP councillors in supporting the amendment. The local Campsie Councillors, Dempsey and Welsh voted on party lines with their Labour colleagues. The Administration won the vote to accept the official's report without the amendments:14 against 10.
