Find out what was discussed at the August meeting of the Queen's Park Users Group!

GLASGOW CITY COUNCIL : LAND & ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES (PARKS AND OPEN SPACES)

NAME OF MEETING

MINUTES OF MEETING HELD IN QUEENS DEPOT OFFICE

ON TUESDAY 14th AUG 2007

Present: Neil Riddell NR G.S.S.M.S.
Bob Marshall BM CARA
Gordon Morlan GM G.S.S.M.S.
Stephen Egan SE GCC Land & Environmental Services (LES)
James Paterson JP LES
David Kennedy DK Strathclyde Police
Matt McGhee MM Strathclyde Police
David Halliday DH LES
Evelyn Silber ES Camphill, Battlefield, Camphill Com Council
Alistair Burt AB Sothside Happenings

Apologies June Bell
B Marshall
M Smith

ACTION
1.0
MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETING

1.1
The Minutes of Tuesday 3rd July were approved.

2.0
MATTERS ARISING

2.1
Urns.
Oglive Engineering have been contacted regarding quote for replacement Urns. Representative from the company visited the park approx 2 years ago. They will check records to see if they still have details on file and report back in due course.

JP

3.0
Police Report

3.1
From 01/07/07 till 14th August there had been 53 persons reported for drinking alcohol within the park.
The police have also been involved in plain-clothes duty to target car crime, predominately at goals soccer centre.
The police are aware of youths congregating between the boat shed and Goals and also at the rear of Langside Halls, where there is a large log lying on the ground, which is getting used as a bench.
SE asked what action was taken when people were caught drinking alcohol in the park?
First offence name taken and alcohol removed. Further offences may result in a £30 fine being issued depending on actions of fiscal.

T Ross
3.2
NR raised concerns over youths throwing stones at boat club members and their boats and other anti social issues in the bushes close to the boat club.
DK advised that police visited the park regularly and would continue to do so.
NR showed copy of letter sent to police regarding youths and concerns over advice not to contact 999 but to report matters such as youths throwing stones to local police office.

3.3
ES advised that there are no community police in the Langside, Battlefield, Camphill Community Council Area

4.0
Queens Glasshouse Update

4.1
DH advised that the Café was now completed and open. A new coffee machine was due to be installed Fri 17th Aug.and a new menu with hot food would be introduced.
The Glasshouse Development Project estimated at £400,000 has been put out to tender. Glasshouses won’t be closed during development works but will have areas partitioned off for estimated 26-week period. No start date until tender process is completed.

Future events planned for the Glasshouses are the Halloween Event and the Christmas Cracker Events

ES advised on the proposed launch in October of the Langside Heritage Trail, which is to published shortly. Two possible venues are being looked at. Queens Glasshouses and the Library. ES will discuss with |DH at later date.

5.0
Maintenance Report

5.1
Soil retaining wall at flagpole
SE advised that the maintenance issues at the shrub area had been resolved and that pointing repairs will take place within the next 3 weeks.

T Ross
5.2
SE advised that vehicle damaged gate at Victoria Road has been repaired. Repairs to other gates were still outstanding.
SE advised that due to the problems with rabbits within the park the spring planting programme has been reviewed and that Polyanthus will be planted. Future plantings will also be reviewed as there seems to be no easy solution to the rabbit problem

5.3
Play Areas.
SE advised that some funding from the Parks development Fund will be available to carry out small improvements to play areas in park. The Balvicar Street play area will be upgraded with additional items and new safety surfaces where required. There may be some funding to make some changes to the Butterfly Play area but details are still to be finalised.
ACTION

5.4
Drainage
SE advised that works will be carried out over winter to try and resolve some of the drainage issues within the park. A camera survey of the drainage is due to be carried out near Balvicar Street.
Funding for drainage improvements is very limited at this time with no capital funding available.

TR

TR/JP/SE
5.5
Management Plans
SE advised on the classifications of parks. (City Parks and District Parks) Management plans for City Parks are due to be completed by end of 2007 and for District Parks such as Queens Park by end of 2008. JP advised group on likely content of management plan which will look at all aspects of the park.

5.6
Condition of railings
Group raised concerns over condition of railings around park.
Once forthcoming events are over JP will carry out preliminary inspection of railings.

JP
6.0
Model Boat Club Update

6.1
NR / GM advised that gutters had been replaced and that heaters had been installed..

6.2
NR advised that the Warship day had been very successful with a large number of visitors to the park. He further advised that everything was prepared for the 19th Aug event.

6.3
Rubbish Removal
Concerns were raised over the length of time it was taking for rubbish to be uplifted from the clubhouse despite repeated phone calls to depot.

T Ross
6.4
Power Supply
NR advised that he had been requested to open clubhouse before 8.00am to allow electrician access. No one came. When electrician finally turned up he had no tools.
JP advised that he has been advised by Mr Harper, that the Power Meter would be fitted the next day and that Mr Riddell would be contacted regarding keys. NR confirmed he had been contacted by B Harper regarding these arrangements.

6.5
GM enquired where future power bills will be sent to? SE advised that any electricity bill received at depot for power usage at the clubhouse would be passed to the club.

6.6
GM advised that they had received funding of £1080 from area committee towards purchase of events tables.

6.7
GM / NR discussed possible future purchase of storage container for use by boat club. SE/JP will get contact details of suppliers.

SE/JP

7.0
August 19th Event

7.1
JP provided draft programme for the event. Short discussion took place regarding content and marketing. JP advised that there was still some space available within the information marquee.

8.0
AOCB

8.1
AB gave details about Southside Happenings and advised that they would include items of interest to the South Side on the site.

8.2
ES advised that notification of events & meetings be sent to community councils.
JP

9.00
DONM

The next meeting will be held on Tue 25th September