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KILMUN COMMUNITY COUNCIL

Facebook - @shoresweepersandKCC Website - www.kilmuncc.co.uk

MINUTES OF MEETING
13 th August 2024 @ 7.30PM.
Blairmore Hall Kilmun
Meeting Start -7.30pm

The secretary asked the audience if there were any last-minute items to be added within the
agenda. None were submitted.

PRESENT; Diane Nicholson (Convenor), Janet Holm (Secretary), Graham Revill, Lachlan
Macquarie, Mandy Grout, Mark Borland, Lyndsey Greer, and Kerris Bone.
Advisors to KCC - Steve Abbott (Defibrillators), Mike Burke (Windfarm), Gordon Holm (Geology).
Also Present: Councillor William Sinclair, David Brewster, Pauline Brewster, Andy and Anne
Caroline Munro, Lorraine Ashcroft, Liz Robertson, Janice Hampson, Barbara Robertson, Graham
Thompson, Jean Thompson
APOLOGIES: Lindsey McKenna (Vice Convenor), Peter Hunter Douglas, Russell Humphreys
(Treasurer), Councillor G. Blair, Councillor Y McNeilly, Malcolm Bird, Fraser Macdonald (Forestry
Land Scotland).
This session was recorded for the minutes.
Diane Nicholson said that KCC vice convenor Lindsey McKenna has notified us that she wishes to
resign from the committee because of work and family commitments. Thus, KCC has a vacancy for
vice convenor. Mark Borland and Kerris Bone expressed an interest in the position.
Mark Borland was nominated by Janet Holm Secretary and seconded by Kerris Bone
Thus, the new Vice Convenor for KCC is Mark Borland.
2. DECLARATION OF INTEREST:
None
3. MINUTES OF LAST MEETING:
The 11 th June 2024 minutes were:
Proposed: Diane Nicolson
Seconded: Mark Borland Carried
4. TREASURER’S REPORT
Carried forward £2219.12
Expenditure
Donation to South Cowal CC £50.00
Bank charges 0.35
Gardening £10.00
Totals.
General fund £2208.77
Overall total £2208.77
KCC is now on online banking, but we now have bank charges however, the convenience of bank
charges outweighs that disadvantage.
5. POLICE REPORT

2

Reporting officer PC James Convery
Report from between 10/6/2024 to 6/8/24PC
No of Incidents 23
Crime reports 7
 There have been 2 crimes reported regarding acquisitive crime
 1 crime report – a trailer was stolen from an address in Kilmun and was traced and returned
to owner
 A report was made of a theft from a motor vehicle, but the item was found so no further
inquiries
 As part of one incident, 4 crime reports were raised regarding a speeding driver near to
Midge Lane, further enquiry revealed the driver to have no insurance, driving out with the
accordance of their license and not having permission to drive the vehicle from its owner.
  There has been 1 reported vandalism regarding plant machinery on the forestry track near
to Midge Lane having been damaged. Enquiries are ongoing

Diane Nicholson said that she was concerned that she had occasion to try and visit the police
station in Dunoon but was shut. There was discussion about the difficulties about finding the police
station in Dunoon open.
Janet Holm suggested that perhaps the best way is to call 101 or go online and there is reporting
forms online.
William Sinclair has suggested that we contact the Area Committee re the concerns about why there
is difficulty accessing the police and that the notices on the door say the office is open, but it is not.
6. PLANNING APPLICATIONS
None
9. COMMUNITY MATTERS
The Shore Sweepers / Graham’s Point
Funding has been received from the Highgate Hall funds and hopefully the work at the Strone Brae
Garden can start soon.
A question was asked about other work the Shore Sweepers do. JH says that several people in the
community do lots of work in the area beach cleaning, tubs etc. The resident asked about the high
point in the cemetery which has become quite overgrown. JH say that this belongs to ABC and the
area has been deemed to be unsafe. If residents want to volunteer to clear the cemetery ABC could
be asked if this could be done.
Hole in right of way path / Flooding issues
Mark said that he was part of a site visit from FLS, and Councillor Blair ABC who took a detailed
look at the whole area going from the culvert to where the water would enter the loch. He said that
there is considerable work needing to be done and that it would cost a lot for this to be done but the
system is not fit for purpose.
Gordon Dalgleish of FLS is trying to sort out the ownership of the land and ABC have got back to
Mark to say that their legal team is still trying to work out the ownership of the path. Until this is done
apparently nothing can be progressed.
Mark got a follow update from Gordon Blair just before the meeting to say that he is starting the area
business days as part of the area committee, and he will raise this issue there.

3

A resident asked if we could ask FLS if we could have information / safely measure on how they are
managing the culverts, and could we have a map of the drainage and how they have been
maintained
Councillor Sinclair said that the area committee could look at KCC’s concerns from re - flooding and
clearing issues.
Defibrillator(s) / Training
Steve Abbot reported that 3 defibs are now registered to KCC with Janet Holm as the primary
guardian and Tracey Whitfield and Steve Abbott as supporting guardians. Fortunately, none of the
defibs have been used since the last meeting in May. There was an incident when someone called
999 and the ambulance crew asked for the wife to go and get the defibrillator, but she wouldn’t do it
and refused to leave her husband. Steve is hoping that this kind of situation can be addressed when
we start to do training schedules in the Autumn. Fortunately, in this incident everything was fine in
the end. Steve said that they have got the money from Highgate Hall Fund and have the option of
getting 2/3 further defibs. Steve has been able to speak to Doctor Tittmar and he is going to push
NHS Highland to try and get the defib at the doctor’s surgery put outside on the wall. He has also
agreed to work with him to come up with recommendations where to site the defibs for maximum
coverage of the population of our area. Steve says he needs help with talking to the local
businesses to chip in £20 or so a year to a fund to help with the maintenance of the defibs. He
needs a list of local businesses in the area so he can start to do this work. He is hoping in the next
few weeks to get the defibs in place and getting a donation fund started and get some training in
place.
Kerris volunteered to help gather the information on the businesses.
Bus Timetables
The next meeting of the Transport Forum is on the 22 nd September. Kerris spoke about the
difficulties that have been encountered with trying to have the timetables adjusted.
Highgate Hall
All the money has been sent out to the charities that were successful and the monies have been
distributed to the individual projects. There will be an announcement in the Dunoon Observer
detailing which charities the money is going to and also will have a section on the history of David
Highgate to highlight the work he did in the area. The trust will be wound up in the next few months.
The hall is now in private ownership.
A question was asked if there is a registered right of way. Graham was not sure if this has been
decided however, he said that the new owners are sympathetic to those who want to use the path.
This item will be removed from the agenda.
Tyneshandon/Stables at Dunselma
Mark Borland said that he will speak to Councillor Sinclair re the options that could be available.
Councillor Sinclair said that ABC structure team have looked at the building and they say that the
building is not a danger. Councillor Sinclair has challenged this and pointed out that it is next to a
primary school but so far that fact has made no difference. A resident said that he considers that the
biggest danger is the acrow prop that is holding a wall and if that fails a whole wall come down. The
resident also suggested that a sonic check could be done on the bar.
10. DISCUSSIONS A&BC LOCAL COUNCILLOR AND NATIONAL PARK REPRESENTATIVE,
42
Argyll & Bute Council
Councillor Sinclair said that they are looking at how they can use the Area Committee to specifically
involve community councils in decision asking.
He said that many councillors are looking to see if they can get more young people involved in the
work of community councils that perhaps the Grammar school could see if this is something that
could be done. Kerris said that she would look and see if this is possible.

4

Councillor Sinclair described the problems with trying to get the companies involved with the
disconnected timetable of Calmac, Scotrail and the bus companies. He is trying to get connectivity
improved as this is unsatisfactory at present. Councillor Sinclair is continuing to work hard towards
getting this situation improved.
Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Representative
NTR
Forestry and Land Scotland – Fraser MacDonald
Very little change to previous updates.
FLS did have machines vandalised at Kilmun within the last month which was very frustrating, and
Fraser considered it was out of character for the area. Police have been dealing with this but no
resolution at present.
There will be further tree cutting in Kilmun Arboretum which will result in some path closures over
next few weeks.
D Nicholson will write to Fraser MacDonald to see if there could be a report about the flooding
issues and mapping of the drainage that is in place to mitigate flooding issues coming off the hill.
Strone Primary School and Strone Primary Parent Council
Kerris reported that Julie Fish, headteacher is doing induction for the p1's this week.
Younger Hall
NTR
Blairmore Hall
NTR
Historic Kilmun
GH reported that there have been quite a few visitors over the summer including a couple of bus
parties. The fund-raising book sales have also gone well.
11 CURRENT ISSUES
Giants Burn Wind Farm
JH said that she has put in a community response on behalf of KCC’s residents to the Energy
Consents scoping site on the meeting from our meeting on the 11 th June. This has been
acknowledged and the response has also been sent to Statkraft and is published online.
Save Cowal Hills, an action group that has been formed have organised a public meeting on the 22 nd
August at the Burgh Hall, 7 pm for 7.30.
We have also been notified that Dunoon Community Council have invited Stakraft to the meeting on
the 9 th September at the Queen’s Hall at 7pm. This will only be a presentation by Statkraft.
Convenor Diane Nicholson has said that she has contacted Statkraft on several occasions to invite
them to come to a question-and-answer session with KCC and our community, but this has not yet
been answered.
SSE power lines Dunoon 132kV Overhead Line rebuild Project.
Tory Manual, Kirsty Manual daughter, passed an email they have sent to the SSE Exec board,
highlighting contradictions she has noted in their pre application document for the proposed
Overhead Powerline rebuild. She will notify KCC with any responses she receives.

5

DGFAG – Dunoon – Ferry Group
At present called Cowal Community Councils Ferry Group. Mark and Diane have attended all the
meetings to date. The next meeting is Monday 19 th August and Mark and Diane will report back.
Tourism
An email was received from a resident expressing concern about tourism in the area and he
considers that tourism is detrimental to the area. He would like to know the views of the permanent
and indigenous residents.
There was general discussion about tourism in the area, provision for mobile homes, second homes,
visitors etc. It was agreed that tourism is an industry in Cowal that provides a lot of employment.
Councillor Sinclair said that councils can now double council tax for second homes and that can be
reevaluated in areas which have a particular problem.
Meeting end: 9.04pm
Next Meeting:
Tuesday September 10th @ Younger Hall @ 7.30pm.
Meetings held Second Tuesday each month alternating between Younger & Blairmore Halls.
Kilmun Hall – January, March, May, July (Recess) September, November
Blairmore Hall – February, April, June, August, October, December

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