CATHCART, MERRYLEE AND MUIREND COMMUNITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES
10 JUNE 2026
7-9PM
| Item | Notes | Action |
|---|---|---|
| Welcome and apologies | Present: Carolyn Lochhead (CL) – CC, Andrew Dewar – CC,, Yla Barrie – CC, Lynn Thomson – CC, Tommy Petillo – CC, Ross Taylor – CC, Pauline Kelly – CC, Kim Van Deere – CC, Kate Lonergan – CC, Louisa Maddison – CC, Fiona Linton – CC AdminCllr Catherine Vallis – GCC, Imran Masood – GCC, Karen Venables – GCC, Luke Stronach – Gordon McKee MP’s office, Margaret Crawford – Resident, Clarkston Road, Elliot Matthew – Local Resident, Josephine Fisher – Local Resident, Ellen Hamilton – Local Resident, Jim Thomson – Local Resident, M McMillan – CDHAOnline: Cllr Stephen Curran – GCC, Beth Hamilton – CC, Baillie Morgan- GCC, Kevin McGarrigle – CCApologies: Steven McCann – CC, Irene McCann – CC, Mhairi Taylor – CC, Councillor Paul McCabe, Cllr Sean Ferguson – GCC, Cara Wightman – Cathcart Baptist Church, Councillor John Carson – GCC | |
| Actions and matters arising from last meeting | Defib issue at Merrylee: pupils fundraised some years ago for a defibrillator that has still not been installed. Councillor Ferguson due to be giving some info in connection with one that is already sited at Kings Park Secondary School. A suggestion for potential siting of defib at St Gabriel’s church. Karen Venables from GCC will speak to Education department re potential issues. Barriers at See Saw at Newlands road — loose since they were repaired – Karen from GCC will check on progress. CC members all need to stand down as it’s an election year – all can re-stand. Office bearers will be elected at the AGM which will be held in October. | KV – GCC KV – GCC |
| Approval of the minutes of last meeting | Proposed – Tommy PetilloSecond – Yla Barrie | |
| Police Report | No Police in attendance Craig Road / Clarkston Road – difficult parking causing issues. Issue becoming increasingly difficult. Police aware. Karen will check and join with police. Car free zone @ merrylee / OLA -Community Council agreed to reprint leaflets to be distributed to all pupils and nursery children. | KV – GCC CL-CCl |
| Chair’s report- Carolyn Lochhead | Priority area: Maintaining pavements and roads – barrier issue: corner of Newlands Road / Clarkston Road, plants overgrown at railway bridge. Deep clean required. Pavement -at Bowling Green / clarkston road – pavement disappearing into the gutter. Yla – broken bollard at Couper – trip hazard. Partial collapse at snuffmill bridge – bigger issue around properly maintaining the bridge / lights etc. Kevin noted he had been in contact with Baillie McCabe and there is a plan in place to start a clean up. Priority area: Merrylee Pitch. In early October 2025 Merrylee Primary School submitted an ENV2 expression of form to Glasgow Life, setting out the Community Council’s intention to use £50k of our allocated Neighbourhood Infrastructure Investment Fund (NIIF) towards the pitch’s replacement and requesting the remaining funding from ENV2 funds paid by building developers to Glasgow City Council. We continue to await news on the next steps from Glasgow Life. Karen will investigate. Priority area: Couper Institute: Difficult to make use of the system / booking / sound desk etc. At our March meeting we heard from Peter Sneddon of Reconnect Theatre, who is proposing to turn the Couper into a community theatre. Peter has now confirmed he intends to move forward with his application to Glasgow Life, under the People Make Glasgow Communities programme. Would CMMCC want to provide a letter of support ? Would like to wait and see what his actual plan is before giving support. Priority area: Holmlea park. We have submitted a Neighbourhood Infrastructure Investment Fund application for improvements to Holmlea Park, and are awaiting the outcome. We have been told that at the last Langside partnership funding was approved but no note sent to the CMMCC. Following last meeting – Fiona emailed – request does not include wildflower or bird boxes. Karen will can check what’s been requested for holmlea park – green space and bio diversity team – mid July deadline Priority area: Merrylee Park. Cala Homes has committed to giving us £12k to repaint park equipment: this will be given in 2027. We may also be able to use some of our NIFF funding for the park, but only if we don’t have to spend it on Merrylee Pitch. Fireworks control zone application – Members will recall that we submitted an application for a Fireworks Control Zone, following a community consultation in which 93% of the 220 respondents to our survey wanted us to do so. As we have previously discussed, we missed the deadline for doing so, due to confusing information on the Glasgow City Council website. Chair attended a meeting with Karen Venables from GCC who acknowledged our experience had been poor and that they have now redesigned the website. Karen advised that decisions are based on 3 years of data of anti-social behaviour. Reports from last year low. Info for this year being released soon. Doubtful local area would have been successful. All schools receive letters – and Police Scotland / Fire visit schools to reinforce. Firework fliers can be distributed. Karen will ensure letters are distributed to local residents reminding them of respectful behaviour. Is it worth writing to sainsbury re them selling fireworks. Luke Stronach: Meeting being arranged in July with Sainsbury store manager to primarily discuss shoplifting – fireworks can be raised at the same time ? CL will send email to Luke email re shoplifting she received from sainsbury Friends of Linn Park – inclusion of Linn Park golf course to build homes on part of the golf course. Cllr Vallis met with Friends of Linn Park last week – car park included in the building zone. CMMCC will support the friends of linn park proposal to remove the park and car park from the local plan. Meeting tomorrow re entrance to linn park – Steven & Kate attending In April, the Chair attended a meeting with other community councils, convened by Frank Plowright, Chair of Dennistoun Community Council. He is seeking to create a Federation of Glasgow Community Councils, to strengthen our collective hands when seeking action from the Council on matters of shared interest. Members agreed we would join the Federation but were reluctant to nominate two specific members since this puts more pressure on individuals. AGM – Wednesday 14th October – members agreed to change to Wed 7th October to avoid school holidays – venue tbc | KV – GCC KV – GCC CL- CC KV – GCC CL KV – GCC CMMCC CL-CMCC |
| Events Plan – Pauline Kelly | Chair yoga – 6 sessions in couper / cartvale care home / muirend retirements flats.Youth event – games afternoon / evening during summer holidays Summer Fete / Couper Doors Open Day / Discovery Trail (for younger children) – first 2 weeks in August. 22nd August – fete – will be held at Merrylee Parish church. Some entertainers confirmed – rest at the end of the month. September – Doors Open Day – couper registered – 17th sept & 19th sept – free film screening – ticketed even via eventbrite – Micro talk – 5th September Christmas family movie – December Christmas tree light switch on – DecemberBig Band night – January Looking to have a second author event again – funding to be sourcedCommunity lunch – regularly done in other communities – community policing fund funds this – Yla attending the next one in Auldhouse to get more detailsAvailability for community councillors on fete day – let Pauline know if you are free to attend and assist | YB- CMMCC |
| Area Planning Partnership report – Mhairi Taylor | Nothing to report | |
| Summary of Councillors’ written updates: | Muirskeith – merrylee – £23k Holmlea park – spring 2027 – £14,500 | |
| Licencing report – Steven McCann | No updates – no applications | |
| Planning report – Louisa Maddison | No new planning updates Ongoing application for 47 craig road – 8 flats with associated access road – pending. Parking issues – 12-15 cars parked every night and sometimes during the day – 4 parking spaces for the new 8 flats. Police regularly attend and parking attendants have been around. Where will they park ? 12-15 cars parked on CDHA land and are parked illegally. 4 spaces are correct for 8 flats. Obviously a big issue – lots of concern among tenants. Ongoing application for 7 years – no resolution yet. CDHA to have walk round Planning on Tankerland Road – 6 storey high – it’s now 7 storeys. The Land adjacent to the car park is owned by the 22 owners who live there. Planning Officer did not know this. Proposal to chop down trees to use land for more flatted developments. Looks like permission has been granted. Louisa Maddison looked into proposal – Planning report includes note stating nothing to be done with the trees on the land. Illuminated sign on Clarkston Road – at Vape Shop and Chemist – check permissions for both Cathcart Train station – accessibility – Gordon had site visit in April with contractor who assessed the site (and had looked at Bellgrove previously) – lift – approx £1m. Old Castle Road entrance option – and ramp at current entrance. Contact Dept of transport with options already decided. What does the community want ? second busiest station on the cathcart circle.Rail – via UK government but recommendations via Scottish Government.Old Castle Road would be his preference – less intrusive to bring to the platform. Where does cathcart fit in non-accessible stations ? Community needs to have more thought around what is required / looked into for ease of use / tech specifications Place Plan update – after the summer | CDHA CMMCC |
| Treasurer’s report – Kim Van Deere | Healthy Balance £10,157.20 – £5451 GCC grant received £3k unrestricted budget: £550 – chair yoga£800 – permanent treeOther thoughts: – additional venue costs for summer event – bench at Devlin road corner – noticedboard at couper – cathcart heritage trail – Carolyn meeting SGHET to discuss updating the Cathcart Heritage Trail Level 2 food hygiene catering courseFirst aid coursesPlantersPrinterPost box toppers – subsidise materialsSmall donations for catering supplies to Santa’s visit to Merrylee Costs to be obtained for current unknowns | CL |
| AOCB | Suggestion box – nothing Food Waste Bins – complaints re grey bins – contacted GCC – not being emptied regularly. Issue raised. Bins at Cartvale Care Home full to over-flowing. Karen will check and see what the issue is – servicing schedule. Karen happy to meet with CDHA also. Karen happy to discuss ongoing issues with Imran / Ops team Lynn – food bin and graffiti under bridge – Karen will action with a team. Yla – Devlin Road at Rhannan Road – can we influence sequencing of lights – Traffcom team – Karen will chat and see if we can survey current situations. Anti graffiti paint – pass details on. | KV – GCC KV – GCC |
| Date and time of next meeting: | Wednesday 9th September at 7.00pm |
