Community Council Minutes, January 2025

MINUTE OF THE MEETING

   held at 7.00pm on Wednesday 8th January 2025 in the Murray Hall Annexe   

1. In Attendance & Apologies:

Present: Simon Brooke, Chair (SB); George Makins, Treasurer (GM); Adam Turnbull, Secretary (AT); Paul Jardine (PJ); Shameen Syed (SSy); Jane Burton (JB); Pamela Vaughan (PV) and Susan Small (SSm). 

Apologies: Rosie McClure (RM)

Visitors: James Tollan (JT)

2. Approval of the Minute(s) of the Previous Meeting and Matters Arising:

The draft Minute of the December meeting had been circulated, but not sufficiently far in advance to allow it to be considered.  

3. Police Report

No police report had been produced this month.    

4. D & G Council

No councillor was in attendance. AT had contacted D&G Council to confirm the scheduled times for future meetings, which would hopefully result in a councillor attending future meetings.

5. Planning

It was understood that D&G Council had directed the owner of 63 Main Street to paint the exterior of the property due to it being listed. SSy would talk to the owner to confirm the position and to ask them whether they wanted ACC to make any representations on their behalf.  

6. Finances

GM provided a review of the income and expenditure since the last meeting. £660.60 had been received in Murray Hall rental income (although that figure covered more than a month of rentals) and £60 received from the AI as a further loan repayment. There was currently a balance of £14,046.69 in the Murray Hall Account; and £9,720.78 in the current account.

7. Auchencairn Initiative

Consent had been given to proceed with the installation of solar panels on Heughan House. Work was due to start in the next month.  

8. ACT Feedback

ACT was to become a SCIO and SB had attended a meeting of the prospective trustees (of which he was one).  ACT will no longer be organising bus provision for children’s day trips after March 2025 as they have decided it is not in their remit going forward.   

9. Village Matters

a. Murray Hall Public Meeting

Arrangements had been made for the public meeting on 18th January. JH would acquire two donation boxes, one for the Annexe and one for the main hall. SSy would address the meeting on the process for fixing rental fees in the absence of SSm. There had been unhappiness about the hall not having been tidied up after the school concert. The recruitment of volunteers for hall cleaning would be one of the topics for the public meeting, with the intention of giving the hall a deep clean. JH would look at installing a timer on the hot water tank in the kitchen, to try and avoid it being left on after a let.

b. Local Place Plan

SB was liaising with representatives in other local communities who had assisted in the preparation of their Local Place Plan to see what could be incorporated into Auchencairn’s.

c. Acoustic treatment for the Murray Hall

As discussed at the last meeting, three quotations had been obtained to improve the acoustics in the Murray Hall, all in the region of £7,500. It was agreed that, subject to JH checking on the physical state of the roof (should any work be required prior to the acoustics being addressed), the Koru Acoustics quote was accepted. RM and JT were thanked for their efforts in sourcing the quotations.

##10.  AOCB  The public toilet block adjacent to the Murray Hall had been closed permanently.  It was agreed that SB would contact D&G Council to explore whether they would still be prepared to sell the toilet block for £1, as had been contemplated previously. JH would assess the state of the roof of the block when looking at the roof of the Hall itself. A suggestion made to refurbish the block with a toilet, shower and coin operated washing machine. 

11. Date and time of next meeting

Wednesday 12th February 2025 at 7.00pm

  Meeting closed at 8:06pm.