Cleddens Residents Group

Town Centre Theme?

2012-02-07T06:54:00.000-08:00

There is an interesting High Street exhibition on at The Lighthouse in Glasgow just now questions a value on our High Street and looks to the future to see how to make them thriving and unique places. It is on until April 2012.

http://www.ads.org.uk/access/events/high-street-exhibition-2

Also here’s a link to an article about the exhibition that suggests that the way to get people back to our High Streets may be through adopting a theme for your High Street. Wigtown is Scotland’s book town, Castle Douglas is a foodie destination and Kirkcudbright is an artists’ haven. What could Bishopbriggs be?

http://www.scotsman.com/lifestyle/arts-blog/how_do_you_bring_people_back_to_town_centres_1_1993931

Jo Swinson met with Morrisons

2012-01-30T07:51:00.000-08:00

Jo Swinson last week circulated an update about the Placecheck event and Morrions town centre plans:

“Along with 120 other local people, I attended the placecheck, arranged by the Community Champions – a group of local people formed a couple of years ago to negotiate and discuss with the land owners (first Muse, now Morrisons). Six groups each visited five key locations around the town centre, with views and ideas gathered at each one. Tomorrow night the community’s views are being sought on which ideas are the most important.

As you may have read in this week’s Bishopbriggs Herald, Morrisons have confirmed that they are not going ahead with the proposals they put forward just before Christmas. Instead, Morrisons have said that they will engage with the community, and the Council will convene a forum of key stakeholders such as elected representatives, St Matthew’s Church, Derwent (formerly Caledonian Properties) and members of the community to form a masterplan for the area.

I’m pleased that Morrisons have recognised that their original plans were not acceptable to the local community and this is now an opportunity for local people to put their views across so that a community-led plan can be created for the good of everyone in Bishopbriggs.

Last Friday, I met with the Bishopbriggs Community Champions and then with Richard Bakes from Morrisons to discuss this. I made clear to Mr Bakes that from now on, Morrisons needs to engage fully with local people, in contrast to the pre-Christmas debacle when locals were left feeling isolated.”

Here’s a link to more information about the Town Team, the recent Placecheck event and the ideas that came out of it.

http://www.howsthis.co.uk/townteam.html

Have your vote

2012-01-26T02:21:00.000-08:00

A number of things have been happening on the Town Centre plans within the last two weeks.

1. A number of you took place in the recent ‘Placecheck’ – walkabout consultation of the town centre organised by the Town Team. Input from that day has now been collated, and the team is inviting as many residents as possible to review the suggestions and choose their preferred ones. The information will be available tonight in the Memorial Hall on Thursday, 26th January between 7pm and 9pm. It should only take each person about 10 minutes to record their preferences. This is open to all residents, not just those who took part on the day. We would encourage as many of you as possible to go along for a few minutes and record your views. Output from the exercise will be passed to Page and Park, the architects who are preparing the town centre report for us.

2. You will see in the Bishopbriggs Herald that Morrisons are rethinking the plans which they presented to us at the Memorial Hall in December. This is following the ‘massive public outcry’ which they received for those plans. We believe that very many of people who went along that day were from Cleddens Residents Group which shows that making our voices heard can have an effect. We are still waiting to hear how Morrisons plan to proceed.

The Town Team is still planning to go ahead with the work we have asked the architects to do to ensure that we have recorded what we want for the centre.

For both these reasons, we would encourage you to go along tonight to record your preferences. Can you please pass this message on to any neighbours who do not have e-mail. We will try to hand deliver this letter, but given the short time, may not get to everyone.

3. Finally, we would like to thank the many of you who contributed to our funds following our request. As a result, we have been able to commit the £500 requested for the architect fund, and have some left over for any future ‘campaigning’ needs. We hope to acknowledge the contributions individually in the next two weeks.

Town Team

2012-01-16T03:25:00.000-08:00

Last month retail expert Mary Portas was commissioned by the Government to put together an independent review into the future of our High Streets and Town centres. Here are some quotes:

“I want to put the heart back into the centre of our High Streets”

“They need to be spaces and places that people want to be in. High Streets of the future must be a hub of the community that local people are proud of and want to protect.”

For the full 28 recommendations for High Street and Town Centres click on the attached link:

http://www.maryportas.com/news/2011/12/12/my-28-recommendations/

Recently Donald MacDonald challenged Marty Portas on Facebook to come to Bishopbriggs and give some recommendations for our Town Centre. He was declined but instead the Community Champions have set up their own Town Team for Bishopbriggs, the first action being a Placecheck event last Saturday which will form the basis of a brief for a firm of Architects and Town Planners to put together some proposals for Bishopbriggs Town Centre.

Placecheck

2012-01-09T07:01:00.000-08:00

Bishopbriggs Town Centre still on front pages of the Bishopbriggs Herald last month with backlash to Morrisons latest plans after unveiling in the Memorial Hall. If more work is not done our Town Centre will die.
Bishopbriggs Town Centre is about to be redeveloped as part of Morrison’s plans to build a new supermarket on the site of the old High School.
The Champions Group need to find out what the people of Bishopbriggs want to happen in and around the Town Centre.
They are holding a Placecheck on Saturday 14th January at 10am, noon and 2pm.
It will start outside the library where you can walk around the Town Centre and have your ideas recorded to help form a brief for a firm of Architects who will be engaged later this month.
Everyone welcome!
http://www.placecheck.info/

Morrisons Plans

2011-12-16T01:28:00.000-08:00

Here is a photo of the proposed plans that Morrisons had on view at the Memorial Hall, Bishopbriggs yesterday.
Just looks like a supermarket to us and nothing shown to redevelop Bishopbriggs Town Centre. Poor display with about six Morrisons marketing boards, hordes of people crowded around one board with the proposed plan.
The main comments seem to be that completely different from the previous plan and major concerns about traffic generated plus combined vehicle(including deliveries)and pedestrian entrance off South Crosshill Road.
Let us know what you think by leaving a comment below or we can be emailed, just click on the following link
Morrisons also had some comment sheets to fill in-see attached for a copy.

Morrisons Proposed Plans

2011-12-11T11:01:00.000-08:00

Morrisons have now produced a set of proposed plans for the redevelopment of the former High School Site.

They have published an invitation in the Bishopbriggs Herald to all residents of Bishopbriggs to view these plans on Thursday 15th December between 3.00pm and 8.00pm in the War Memorial Hall in Balmuildy Road.

As your representative on the Community Champions Group, two of our committee viewed the plans last Tuesday Evening 6th December. We believe that they will have a major impact on our area and would urge everyone to view the plans and pass any comments to Morrisons representatives who will be there.

Can we ask that you also pass any comments on to the residents committee by entering them in the blog, e-mailing to cleddensresidents@hotmail.co.uk or handing them to any of the committee.

Please note that Morrisons have agreed to attend a residents meeting, present the plans and listen to our concerns in the new year. We will be arranging that and sending you information on it in due course.

Top Secret?

2011-11-25T07:22:00.000-08:00

We have nothing to report since we have no further news.

The last correspondence with Morrisons agent confirmed that traffic surveys were completed post summer holidays and that the associated traffic report would be available at the end of September and would allow progress to be made on indicative layouts.
“Once plans are available further consultations will be undertaken.”

We have also been told that negotiations are still underway with neighbours to the site to determine access arrangements.

Maybe it’s us but does everything seem Top Secret??

Morrisons or their team do not seem to be engaging with the community and keeping us up to date.

We’re nearly into December which will mean that we are coming up for one year since Morrisons have taken over the site. Very frustrating, no news or progress?

Town Centre First

2011-10-28T00:25:00.000-07:00

England has a planning policy in the National Planning Policy Framework which means that developers can build out-of-town schemes only if no town centre options are available, called “town centre first policy”. A pity that it does not apply in Scotland.

It’s great to see Strathkelvin Retail Park busy with major retailer Next on it’s way (due to open in December 2011), but at what cost to Bishopbriggs or even Kirkintilloch town centres?

We do not want to see a massive supermarket in Bishopbriggs town centre, in fact many of our Residents Group have told us that they prefer the existing size of Morrisons. They would also like to see other quality shops to enhance our shopping choice much like the town centres of Milngavie and Bearsden.

Butcher to Close Shop

2011-09-16T02:00:00.001-07:00

On the same week as the Bishopbriggs Morrison’s Store celebrates being 20 years, the attached article appeared in the Bishopbriggs Herald.

John M Steel butcher’s shop is to close after 58 years trading in the town. Trade has declined dramatically due to the number of supermarkets in Bishopbriggs. Ronald Steel says “The new Morrisons which is going to be built in the town centre will just make it impossible.”

Traffic Survey

2011-09-05T09:17:00.000-07:00

Looks like the traffic monitoring is now taking place. On Thursday morning last week, 1^st September, various black and grey boxes with video cameras appeared at some junctions in Bishopbriggs. One at the Eagle lodge traffic lights, two at junction of South Crosshill Rd, two at the Triangle traffic light junction, four at Bishopbriggs Cross and three at the mini roundabout on Wester Cleddens Road with possibly others about. They all have a company name on them MHC Traffic Ltd-here's a link to their website:

http://www.mhctraffic.com/surveillance.html

They would most likely be working for the Traffic Consultant/Engineers rather than working directly for Morrisons.

Whether this traffic survey is just a formality or it means that the road layout and design has still to be put together only time will tell.

The boxes and cameras must have been removed overnight Mon. 5th Sept.-this means that the monitoring took place for five days only-not a full week??

Summer over, what will Autumn bring?

2011-08-22T00:45:00.000-07:00

We haven’t updated the blog for a while since it’s been the summer holidays. But we have still been checking the weekly Planning lists for any applications that might quietly slip through the system when we are all busy during the summer break. Nothing so far.

One of our committee members earlier this month had a visit to Morrisons supermarket in Johnstone, which according to Smith Design Associates is 78,000 sq. feet with 490 car park spaces (with link to another council owned car park), a petrol station and car wash.

Although it was a visit to the car park only, the overall impression was that the shop had just “landed” on the site and it appeared to just be a massive car park with a supermarket at the end of it. It did have in it’s favour that it was positioned adjacent to a very busy dual carriageway and was bounded by a river on the other side. It certainly didn’t appear to have residential housing bordered on it’s site.

For further photos and information see this link to Smith Design Associates(Architects for the project)
http://www.smithdesign.co.uk/index.php?page=morrison-johnstone

Supermarket-led development: asset or liability?

2011-06-24T02:12:00.000-07:00

We were recently given a report called “Supermarket-led development:asset or liability?”.

Published by the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment(CABE) the report reviews around 30 major Supermarket-led developments around the country.

Here's a link to it:
http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20110118095356/http:/www.cabe.org.uk/news/supermarket-led-development

It gives examples of good and bad supermarket developments and their effects on town centres. One quote:

”What local communities tell us is that a lot of supermarket-led development amounts to a large plain rectangular building and car park in the middle of the town.”

Sounds familiar? Let hope Morrisons are taking note to work with planners, the council and their local community to ensure that the Town Centre scheme will be both commercially viable and enhance Bishopbriggs.

New Planning Laws

2011-06-13T08:15:00.000-07:00

New Planning laws called "Pre-Application Consultation" came into force in August 2009 and since the Bishopbriggs Town Centre application was submitted in May 2009 it means that Morrisons have no legal obligations to adhere to the 3 month community consultation period or hold a public meeting. At a recent meeting with the Planner responsible for the site, we were assured that the Council will push to get Morrisons to carry out this process anyway.

For more information about these Planning Laws see:
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Built-Environment/planning/National-Planning-Policy/themes/communities

Nothing happening that we can report just now except that the council's Transport Planner is speaking to the developers transport consultant. The Council believe that Morrisons is still in discussions with adjacent neighbours to determine access options, mainly with Derwent and the Catholic Church?

Site Working Hours

2011-05-29T13:26:00.000-07:00

There has been some activity on the site this week, with diggers and lorries and yellow gas pipes. Our understanding is that they are putting in a new gas pipe - it seems that there has been a smell of gas along Wester Cleddens Road.

Just for information and to remind everyone, when Planning permission in Principle was granted it was subject to 50 conditions, one of which was site working hours:

“During the period of construction and demolition, all works and ancillary operations which are audible at the site boundary, or at such other places as may be agreed with the Council, shall be carried out only between the hours of 8.00a.m. and 7.00p.m., Monday to Friday inclusive; 8.00a.m. and 1.00 p.m. on a Saturday and at no time on a Sunday, or on a Bank Holiday. (Bank Holidays are declared by Royal Proclamation & can be found on the Scottish Government web site at the address below:http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2005/01/bankholidays or as updated).”

Bishopbriggs Town Centre

2011-05-09T05:59:00.000-07:00

The following is a letter from our Chairman, Pat McBride who attended the recent meeting with Morrisons.

"The Community Champions group met with representatives of Morrison’s and their Agents in Scotland on Thursday, 21st April. Present also were Thomas Glen, East Dunbartonshire Head of Development and Enterprise, and Councillors McNair and Low.

The key items which I took from the meeting, in the absence of minutes, were as follows:-

1. Morrison’s told us that they did not have a plan which they had been working on for some time, but were just getting started now.

2. The first priority is to sort out the question of access. Morrison’s said that it was not in their interests to have an access to the supermarket which is regularly grid locked with traffic. I think that this is re-assuring for us. They will be talking to neighbours in the next few weeks - Derwent and the Church were specifically mentioned.

3. The gentleman within the team with responsibility for looking at traffic in the area described how they would do the road traffic assessment, covering key roads and junctions. Specific hot spots would be identified by the council for them to include. They assured us that the assessment would not be done during holiday periods, and would cover different times of the day / week. They were aware of the ‘rat run’ of Park Crescent / Road, Hillside Drive to Wester Cleddens.

4. As professionals, Morrison’s want to come in and enhance our town centre. We asked them to provide evidence of how supermarkets have done this in other areas as there are plenty of articles about the negative effect of supermarkets. They said that they would do this. They also said that we should have a look at the Morrison’s store in Giffnock which was a similar size to the one planned here and which had contributed to the local area.

5. The outline plan is for a store of 65k sq ft. Mention was made of 71k sq ft, but the final size was not clear. It is intended to have 36k sq ft of retail space – the current shop has 20k sq ft. Most of the rest of the space would be used for preparation of fresh food on site which they told us is a feature of Morrison’s stores.

6. As a result of changes in the Planning Laws, Morrison’s must consult with the local community for at least 12 weeks before submitting their detailed planning application. They fully intend to do this but gave no detail as to when or how it would take place.

7. I got a very strong impression that Morrison’s have 2 main priorities - build a supermarket and provide the hub as outlined in the contract. I don’t feel that at the moment they are looking at how to use the rest of the land, although if someone comes along and presents them with a full plan, they might be interested.

As mentioned before, this was my interpretation of what happened at the meeting. No plans have been made for a follow on meeting. We will keep you informed of any further contact we have with the development team or any further developments which we hear of with the site."

Proposed Supermarket 80% bigger than existing

2011-05-02T12:21:00.000-07:00

We have recently got together some statistics and information about the proposed size of the Morrisons supermarket and comparing it with other local stores.

The outline planning application includes a 64,000sq ft store for Morrisons which is gross floor space (measured externally) and will include all the ancillary things like offices, storage etc. The existing Morrisons is approximately 36,500 sq ft. which to our calculations make it nearly 80% bigger than existing. We previously thought that the proposed size was about 1.5 times(about 50% bigger.)

The Asda store size in Bishopbriggs including warehouse & office space is 52,000 sq ft. This store is classed as a smaller development whereas the Adsa store in Robroyston is 70,000 sq ft. Deliveries to the Bishopbriggs Asda store are 80 on an average week and 140 during the Xmas week. The residents around the store have enforced timing limits on deliveries with EDC and they are none before 7.00am and after 10.00pm.

Smith Design Associates-Morrisons Architect have a page on their website with 6 other Scottish Morrisons stores that they've been involved with. If you click on each store it give a sq. ft for each and are as follows:
Kilmarnock, Hamilton, Livingston each 85,000 sq. ft
Johnstone 78,000 sq. ft
Giffnock 63,000 sq. ft
Cardonald 62,000 sq. ft
This would make the Giffnock Morrisons store the nearest in size to the proposed one in Bishopbriggs.

Car Park Charges

2011-04-18T04:33:00.000-07:00

As reported in the Bishopbriggs Herald, the council is considering charging for all council car parks. The photograph now shown on the front pages over the last couple of weeks is the car park at the end of Kenmure Drive adjacent to Bishopbriggs Park.

We think that no one will want to park here if there are charges and this will mean yet more parking on our already congested streets particularly Kenmure and Brackenbrae areas.

This car park has approximately 55 spaces and is the main council car park in Bishopbriggs. As part of the proposed redevelopment of Bishopbriggs Town Centre, 60 “free” car parking spaces are to be provided-what implications will this have, since it will not be council owned but by Morrisons?

Morrisons meeting finally arranged

2011-04-07T01:18:00.000-07:00

It is now four months since Morrisons bought the former Bishopbriggs High School site. Just this week we have heard that a meeting to discuss proposals has now been arranged with Morrisons, the Community Champions and the Council for 21^st April. Whether the proposed boycott had any effect or Morrisons are just now fulfilling their Section 75 obligations, time will tell.

Dominic Notarangelo, chairman of the Champion’s Group is quoted in this week’s Bishopbriggs Herald, “We are pleased they have decided to open discussions with us, it is definitely a step in the right direction. The efforst of the community champions are starting to pay off. This will help us build the town centre the community needs and we are hoping it will be the first of many meetings.”

Newspaper Articles

2011-03-27T12:47:00.000-07:00

A few recent articles in the Bishopbriggs Herald regarding the proposed redevelopment of Bishopbriggs Town Centre.

http://www.kirkintilloch-herald.co.uk/news/local-headlines/speak_to_us_on_future_of_bishopbriggs_1_1529288

http://www.kirkintilloch-herald.co.uk/news/local-headlines/why_can_t_we_check_out_plans_for_new_store_1_1515742

http://www.kirkintilloch-herald.co.uk/news/local-headlines/packed_public_meeting_on_bishopbriggs_town_centre_plans_1_1477547

Land Sold for £8.5 million?

2011-03-17T02:02:00.000-07:00

Minutes can now be viewed from our meeting on 28th February in St James the Less Church, Bishopbriggs.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1lXp-FLXzZMY1ChVp4V6Bl1D09W5bYiQG1X60TQedY5Q/edit?hl=en

We also recently received details of the sale of the land for Bishopbriggs Academy.

This has been taken from the Our Property website.

"2010-12-24 South Crosshill Road, Bishopbriggs, Glasgow, G64 2NN
Commercial £8,500,000 "

What we don't know if this was the sale of the land from the Council to Muse or from Muse to Morrisons, since we've been advised that they both happened on the same day.

St James the Less Meeting

2011-03-04T03:09:00.000-08:00

Our meeting was held on Monday 28^th February 2011 at 7:30pm in the St James The Less Church Hall, Hilton Road and was well attended with 88 attendees and a further apologies from 19 people.

After an introduction by Pat McBride, Chair of Cleddens Residents Group with a reminder of our reasons to oppose the proposed development, a timeline of events that we have held over the past year including our Petition and our latest position also What next? and What can you do? Three out of the six Bishopbriggs councilors attended but could not comment on the Town Centre development itself, with apologies from two. Also in attendance were the development Planning officer to answer any technical queries, together with a consultant working with East Dunbartonshire Council on the development. Three of the current Community Champions also attended and a respresentative from Jo Swinson’s office and The Bishopbriggs Herald.

The floor was then open to a question and discussion session led by Derek Wood.

For full details, click on this link for minutes .

We certainly had a good turnout with lots of useful guests. We hope it all gets a good write up in the Bishopbriggs Herald(see link below) next week and something comes of it, like lots of letters to papers and some community contact with Morrisons. Time will tell !!

http://www.kirkintilloch-herald.co.uk/news/local-headlines/packed_public_meeting_on_bishopbriggs_town_centre_plans_1_1477547

Section 75 confirmation

2011-02-24T11:12:00.000-08:00

Finally found the following extract from East Dunbartonshire's new updated website.

This is from the minutes of The Planning Board Meeting held on 21/12/10, under

item 4 Planning Appeals and Other matters

"Bishopbriggs Town Centre
The Head of Development and Enterprise provided the Board with an update on the Bishopbriggs Town Centre. He referred to the Planning Board meeting of 22 December 2009 when the Board had agreed to Planning Permission in Principle, subject to negotiation of a Section 75 Agreement. He advised that the final Section 75 agreement had been reached on 21 December 2010 and that a land deal with the Developer had also been concluded on this date.
In response to a question from Councillor Walker in relation to consultation with the Local Community, the Head of Development and Enterprise advised that there was a legal requirement for the Developer to engage with the “Community Champions” and that officers would continue to stress the need for wider community engagement to be undertaken by the developers and outlined through an engagement plan. Various members expressed concern that engaging with “Community Champions” would not provide a wide enough consultation with the Local Community and requested that a wider consultation with the Community be undertaken, which was agreed by the Board.
Following consideration, the Board noted the contents of the Report. "

Two months on and we are still waiting for word on "consultation with the community"!!

Concerns

2011-02-17T04:08:00.000-08:00

The Cleddens Residents Group are holding a meeting on Monday 28th February at 7:30 in St James the Less Church Hall in Hilton Rd, Bishopbriggs. The purpose of the meeting is to discuss planned changes to the Town Centre, and how it might affect us. We would like to have a representative of Morrisons to be there- someone who can talk to us about their plans, listen to our concerns and where possible answer questions which we may have. (We have asked for a representative to be present but only response so far is that they will need “a lot of notice”) We will be their nearest neighbours if the plans go ahead as we have seen them and are, therefore, very much affected by what happens.

Also find attached a copy of a letter that we have sent to and has been published in the Bishopbriggs Herald this week.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-kJpux56tmADB4iap8BXbarVztQ68tX38-pxmqbuJNw/edit?hl=en

It is a copy of our main concerns from a year ago and we can see nothing in the plans so far which answer any of these points. We would also add that a petition with 3500 signatures stating that we did not want a large supermarket in the town centre was handed into the Council before outline planning permission was finally given in December, 2010. Our Council are obviously unconcerned about our views.

Affordable Housing

2011-02-06T13:38:00.000-08:00

The recent legal agreement Section 75 has revealed that 15% of the number of Residential Units on the proposed development shall be Affordable Housing Units. (which means a Residential Unit intended for the provision of Social Rented Housing by a Registered Social Landlord which may include the Council).

Figures recently obtained by the Scottish Lib Dems show that more than 70,000 properties are lying empty in Scotland, with 655 empty houses in East Dunbartonshire alone.

http://www.scotlibdems.org.uk/news/2011/01/lib-dems-reveal-there-are-70000-empty-houses-scotland

The Lib Dems claim that the total could half the people on the social housing list. They want the Scottish Government to find ways to bring the properties into use.
The government said they are already working with charity Shelter to identify empty homes so councils can take action.

http://scotland.shelter.org.uk/housing_issues/get_your_housing_facts/east_dunbartonshire

A spokewoman said ”This government’s number one priority is to make more affordable housing available and one of our priorities is bringing empty properties back into use.”

Supermarket Growth

2011-01-28T03:40:00.000-08:00

See attached article from the Daily Mail earlier this month.

We are living closer to supermarkets than ever-in Glasgow we are an average distance of 460 yards from a supermarket.

Latest figures show that the big four supermarkets-Tesco, Sainsbury's, Asda and Morrisons-are winning planning permission at the rate of one per working day. (They have been granted planning approval for 577 stores across the UK in the past two years).

One quote: "There are simple far too many supermarkets and it actually feels like saturation point. The supermarkets are essentially big vacuum cleaners because they wipe out all the independent trade."

Another quote"Supermarkets do have a role to play but....in many places they've driven local businesses out....Over a generation, the UK has handed control of 80% of our food chain to just four vast companies."

We have reached saturatiuon point and do not need another supermarket in Bishopbriggs.

Controversial Phone Mast

2011-01-13T00:53:00.000-08:00

A controversial planning application was submitted to East Dunbartonshire Council on 21/12/2010, just before Christmas at a time when we're all distracted with other things.
At the junction of Wester Cleddens Road & Angus Avenue, at the corner of Bishopbriggs Academy, Vodafone/Cornerstone propose to install a 14.8m high telecommunication monopole.

Please help our fellow local Woodhill Residents Group. For further information or making an objection see their website .
http://www.woodhillresidentsgroup.org.uk/phonemast.html
or click on the link on our "Useful Links" page.

2010 Timeline

2011-01-04T13:19:00.000-08:00

The Community Champions Group, which was set up to give community input to the development, was not informed beforehand about the recent news that the responsibility for taking the development site forward now lies soley with Wm Morrison Supermarkets plc . A meeting of the group with a council representative has been set up for the second week in January.

Our understanding is that before Morrison's can do anything with the site they will still need Detailed Planning Consent.

We propose to call a meeting of our Residents Group late in January, after the meeting with the Council representative mentioned above, to decide how to move forward. We will send out details early in the new year. If anyone has any comments for input to the Champions meeting, please forward them to us by 10th January-either by email or leaving a comment.

Please find below a timeline of activities which we have carried out over the past year since we started and planned activities which was prepared previously and is hopefully still relevant.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1thU86yzd9ytQ3Vi6gjM2l7Lk8P6br-qFZTreEHRLAZQ/edit?hl=en

Latest News

2010-12-24T02:14:00.000-08:00

The council have done it again. Christmas is a traditional time to announce controversial decisions in the hope that most people are distracted and don't see it. Unfortunately we have just found out that on Tuesday 21st December, the section 75 was signed, the outline Planning Consent issued, the sale of the site to MUSE concluded and the sale of the site by MUSE to Morrisons concluded.
What has been sold is the entire site, including Crosshill House and the former janitor's house. Muse have no further interest in the site.
Morrisons now own a site with outline consent for the uses applied for. When they wish to develop it they will have to submit a detailed application.
Our key task will be to work out a strategy for when the detailed Planning application is submitted.

Petition Council Minute

2010-12-16T00:48:00.000-08:00

At the council Planning Board Meeting on 7th December 2010, the minutes were issued for the previous one held on Tue, 26th Oct., where our Petition was discussed. This is the extract from the minute:

“Other Matters
Petition – Proposed Development – Bishopbriggs Town Centre
Members noted that a petition signed by over 3000 people and addressed to the Chief Executive had been received by the Council on 6 September 2010. The petition was headed “We strongly object to the inclusion of a large supermarket/car park in the above development”. Councillor Hendry referred to the above Petition and sought confirmation that it would be included within the consultation and objections relating to the Planning Application. The Head of Development and Enterprise advised that there was not a current application in place, however, he confirmed that when any relevant Application was submitted, the Representations would be considered as part of the Site History.
In response to a question from Councillor McNair, the Head of Development and Enterprise was heard in relation to the progress being made in relation to the Section 75 Agreement, and advised that the Legal Teams were due to finalise the agreement and move towards signature. H. Raphael, Planner, was heard in relation to the legal agreement and its relation to the Relief Road.
Following consideration, the Board noted the contents of the Report”

If you want to read the full report, this is the link to the 94 page document, the above extract is on page 7.
http://www.dbs.eastdunbarton.gov.uk/Web%20Site/Live/Online%20Services/edccmtt.nsf/fa9df2db7b29111380256ac4005b6bf3/3C0CF27894D46986802577EB003F3743?OpenDocument

Although not much was said, the council have confirmed that our Petition will be considered as part of the site history when the detailed application is submitted.

We are still getting a few signatures added to our e-petition. See attached link for all comments
http://cleddensresidents.blogspot.com/p/comments.html

TRAFFIC Chaos!!

2010-12-06T02:09:00.000-08:00

This morning traffic was at a gridlock in South Crosshill Road. The weather had a major part but it just proves that the road is unsuitable for a major supermarket. Vehicles were backed up all the way to Woodhill Road, Bishopbriggs Academy and beyond.

Impact of supermarket on community

2010-11-21T03:46:00.000-08:00

Attached is a report from Friends of the Earth on the impact of supermarkets on local areas. We found interesting that they do not bring more trade to an area, people who shop in supermarkets are more likely to come by car and they actually bring less jobs to an area.

http://www.foe.co.uk/resource/briefings/good_neighbours_community.pdf

Town Centre Showdown

2010-11-15T08:31:00.000-08:00

See attached article from the front page of last week’s local paper Bishopbriggs Herald dated 10 Nov. 2010. Further to recent resignation of one of the Community Champions John Dickson owner of Poppies and Bishopbriggs Post Office, MP Jo Swinson has written to Muse requesting an urgent meeting.

Cleddens Residents Group will continue to fight our campaign against the supermarket and will concentrate on the detailed planning permission which has yet to be submitted to the Council.

Section 75 Legal Agreement

2010-11-09T02:34:00.000-08:00

Our Petition has now been noted on the council minutes of the Planning Board Meeting on 26th Oct. It will be taken into account and considered when the detailed Planning Application is submitted.

We were also told at the meeting that the “legal teams” are to meet shortly to thrash out the Section 75 agreement. The outline Planning was approved at the October 2009 Planning Board meeting subject to agreement of a legal agreement.

See the attached Planning Board document for more information.
-pages 35 to 53.

http://www.dbs.eastdunbarton.gov.uk/Web%20Site/Live/Online%20Services/edccmtt.nsf/fa9df2db7b29111380256ac4005b6bf3/1532D155CE635E3A80257658004E1072?OpenDocument

Petition on Council Meeting Agenda

2010-10-25T00:29:00.000-07:00

Our petition was delivered to the Chief Executive of East Dunbartonshire on 6th September. We have been informed that it is on the agenda for the next Planning Board meeting which takes place in Tom Johnstone House next Tuesday, 26th October at 17:30.

The entry for the item on the agenda reads as follows:

6.1 Petition – Proposed development – Bishopbriggs Town Centre
A petition signed by over 3,000 people and addressed to the Chief Executive was received by the Council on 6th September 2010. The petition is headed “We strongly object to the inclusion of a large supermarket and car park in the above development”. A copy is available for inspection in the Members’ lounge. The Planning Board agreed to grant planning permission in principle for this site on 27th October 2009 subject to conclusion of a legal agreement. There is in these circumstances no locus for the Planning Board to consider the petition as a further representation. Applications to fulfill matters specified in conditions have yet to be received.

While these words are not very encouraging for us, we believe that if a large number of residents attend the meeting, it will help to make our point to the councillors. We would, therefore, encourage you, if you can, to attend the meeting. We can only observe proceedings and are not allowed to input to the meeting, however those taking part will be aware of our presence.

Site Value Dropped?

2010-10-24T01:23:00.000-07:00

Following the submission of a Freedom of Information request to the Chief Executive Officer of East Dunbartonshire Council, the following information was received in late September 2010 relating the capital receipts position regarding the former Bishopbriggs High School site:

“The most recent update of information regarding the estimated capital receipts is made available to the public in the minutes for the meeting of the Council’s Special Audit and Risk Management Sub Committee on the 16th September 2010. For ease of reference I have enclosed the appropriate section providing information on the former Bishopbriggs High School site”

Planned receipt £11.520m

Borrowing remaining £3.770m

Status: £11.52m payment made in 2009/10 and borrowing incurred. Report D&I (Development and Infrastructure) 086 – 10 to Council on 30 June 2010 approved revised sale arrangement anticipating achieving £7.75m for Council. Shortfall will remain as borrowing.

The item on the Council minutes for the 30 June 2010 regarding the above excludes the public as noted below:

EXCLUSION OF THE PUBLIC

It is recommended that the Council pass the following Resolution:-
“That under Section 50A(4) of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973, as amended, the press and public be excluded from the meeting for the following items of business on the grounds that they may involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Paragraphs 1, 8, 9 & 11 of Part 1 of Schedule 7A of the Act”.
….. 8524 16 Disposal of Former Bishopbriggs High School Site – Report by Director of Development & Infrastructure. (Copy herewith) 65-70

Our interpretation of the above is that East Dunbartonshire Council anticipated at one time making a capital receipt of £11.52m from this site, but that estimate has had to be revised downwards to £7.75m.

Petition Publicity

2010-09-07T03:06:00.000-07:00

We’ve made it to the front page!!
Great publicity on the front page of this week’s Bishopbriggs Herald which is out today.
A picture and article about us presenting our petition to East Dunbartonshire Council last Friday.
See also letter’s page 14 for a resident’s letter with some good ideas for the town centre development.

Demolition works & Petition

2010-09-03T05:32:00.001-07:00

Today the site of the former Bishopbriggs High School was officially cleared with demolition works now completed. See the attached article from this week’s Bishopbriggs Herald which highlights that there is a problem with the main road-South Crosshill Road that runs along the boundary of the site. Large vehicles have found it difficult to drive into the site and particularly near the mini roundabout.

We also delivered our Petition this morning to the Chief Executive of East Dunbartonshire Council at Tom Johnston House in Kirkintilloch. The Bishopbriggs Herald was there to take photos and comments.
We have also been told that the petition is being passed to the Legal & Democratic(?) department who will review it and decide which committee it should be passed to for consideration. We will be able to go to that committee to hear it being discussed – but will not be able to take part or comment. When we find out more we will let you know.

Handing in our Petiton

2010-08-28T05:40:00.000-07:00

We are now in a position to hand in our Petition formally to the Chief Executive of East Dunbartonshire Council. Together with our online e-petition we have achieved a fantastic list of 3506 signatures. Our main objection is the inclusion of large supermarket in the proposed Bishopbriggs Town centre development. All these signatures have been gathered in Bishopbriggs by local residents, local shopkeepers and by ourselves out at strategic points eg: Bishopbriggs Farmers Market, The Triangle, Asda, Strathkelvin Retail Park. Whilst collecting these signatures, we have talked to many people in the area and find that over 90% do not see the need for a large supermarket.

We are due to hand in our Petition this week, Friday 3rd September at 10:30am to Tom Johnston House in Kirkintilloch. Why not come along and support us, if you can? The Bishopbriggs Herald will also be along for a photo.

Tesco to Appeal

2010-07-30T12:52:00.000-07:00

As reported in the local Milngavie press, Tesco are going to appeal our council's refusal of the plan to build a monstrosity in Milngavie.
"We Like Milngavie", the local opposition group to this, now has a constitution and a committee of local people dedicating their time to help our council defend their refusal at the appeal.
(For more details please see their website: www.welikemilngavie.org).
The following is an extract from an email sent on behalf of Eve Gilmour:
"We believe that the Council's refusal is based on very strong planning grounds: the effects the giant store would have on
1) existing shops and jobs in Milngavie and Bearsden,
2) the resulting traffic congestion and
3) the visual effect on the character and appearance of Milngavie's Town Centre and its most significant historic buildings.
The Council will engage expert consultants in retail and traffic to support their refusal. "We like Milngavie" believe that independent professional experts should also be asked to assess the visual effects of such a large scale building. The highly regarded Land Use Consultants (LUC) who advise Local authorities and government bodies throughout the UK, have offered to undertake a visual impact appraisal at a cost of just over £4,000. We are now asking those opposed to Tesco's proposal to express willingness to help meet this cost. We are giving our time to fight this monstrosity. Can you give money for this report? We have details of LUC's quote and brief which we could forward to those who wish to see it.Time is of the essence. Can you please pledge money before the end of July. Please reply by e-mail (either by return or to info@welikemilngavie.org). Please pledge anything from £10 to the full amount!"

Workshop Results

2010-07-12T01:19:00.000-07:00

Just found this link, which gives more information regarding results from the Memorial Hall workshop meeting held on 24th June.

http://bishopbriggscc.blogspot.com/p/first-community-consultation-results.html

If you have any other ideas, you can leave a comment here or email us-see contact page at top.

Effect of a Supermarket on a Town Centre

2010-06-28T01:21:00.000-07:00

The following article has some excellent links and statistics to show what a bad thing a supermarket in a town centre is.

http://www.monbiot.com/archives/2009/08/10/tesco-opted/

Newsletter Update

2010-06-18T09:38:00.000-07:00

A newsletter will be delivered and emailed to our local residents this weekend.
To get an update of what we've been up to see attached link

http://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0B6bVIJMWhtcUZGYxZjE1NGUtYjI4Yy00M2MxLThjNWItZjc0ZDgwNjY5MTBk&hl=en

It gives details on the latest Planning, Petition News, Demolition of existing school building, Community Representative Group(formerly the Community Champions).

Workshop Meeting

2010-06-17T00:48:00.000-07:00

The Community Champions Group (which was set up in January) is made up of five local representatives to speak for the views of the community so that they can be considered in the town centre development. They have organised a Workshop Meeting next Thursday, June 24 between 7-9pm in the Memorial Hall, Bishopbriggs, so that they can gather information for meetings with Muse.

The format of the workshop will be split into about four different groups to cover topics such as Community provision, Pollution, Traffic, Detail Design, Youth Provision, Retail. The event will be chaired by Dominic Notarangelo who will also sum up the feedback received to those attending.

Cleddens Residents Group hope to be well represented at this meeting and we would ask you to come along.

Petition

2010-05-21T00:39:00.000-07:00

We are still waiting for detailed Planning to be submitted by Muse developments.
In January we were told that this would be Spring 2010 but this week we heard that it might be much later on in the year.
In the meantime we are pushing on with our Petition since we feel that about 90% of people that we talk to are still against the proposed new supermarket.
We will be at strategic points over the next couple of weekends: at Asda, The Triangle and Strathkelvin Retail Park, all Bishopbriggs, collecting signatures and explaining the outline planning proposals.
See our Petition page and please send our e-petition on to anyone that lives, works, travels through or visits Bishopbriggs and will be affected by the proposed new Supermarket being built.

Skatepark & Other Ideas

2010-05-04T01:38:00.000-07:00

Bishopbriggs youngsters have set up a Facebook campaign for a Skatepark to be built on the site of the old high school in Bishopbriggs.
It's called "Campaign for Bishopbriggs Skatepark" and today it had 193 signatures.
The view the link you may need a facebook account:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Campaign-for-Bishopbriggs-Skatepark/104698796235207

We are actively looking for other ideas to build on the site of the school instead of a supermarket. Leave your ideas and comments here.

Demolition of Sports Hall

2010-04-26T12:58:00.001-07:00

Today, demolition works started on the former Bishopbriggs Academy Sports Hall.This new building cost approximately £800,00 to build and has only been up for a handful of years-a shameful waste of public money.

From Jo Swinson's website..."Sports hall demolition would be a ridiculous waste"

In a survey of Bishopbriggs residents released by Jo in 2008, 93% of respondents said they would like to retain the existing sports hall. (the majority also want to keep the school on the High School site)

Jo says "it shows either an amazing lack of creativity or total disregard for the views of local people"

OUR VILLAGE LIFE MUST BE RETAINED

2010-04-23T06:56:00.000-07:00

A local resident has penned a poem for our cause.
Click on the attached link to read

http://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0B6bVIJMWhtcUY2E4NzI2ZGUtNzk4ZC00MzY3LWE1Y2ItNDA1OTE2ODM4Mjc2&hl=en

With thanks to Brian Markey.

Many comments and views have been added to our e-petiton, see our Comments page for details.

Tesco Milngavie Rejection

2010-04-15T02:37:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we learnt the great news that despite East Dunbartonshire Council Planning recommending the Tesco, Milngavie expansion for approval, it was rejected by councillors at the Planning Meeting held on Tuesday night, see attached article from yesterday's The Herald

http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/home-news/plans-for-milngavie-tesco-rejected-1.1020505

Well done to "We Love Milngavie" and all their efforts http://www.welikemilngavie.org/
We can hopefully learn something from them and are inspired to keep pressure on our campaign.

Following on from our successes in meeting people at strategic points in Bishopbriggs, we have planned further activity over the next few weeks. This Saturday, April 17th, a team at will be at Asda, Bishopbriggs from 11am till 1pm to collect signatures for our petition.

Stop the Supermarket

2010-04-01T02:24:00.000-07:00

If you live, work, visit or travel through Bishopbriggs you will be affected by the proposed supermarket development on the the old Bishopbriggs High School site.

With just over 2,000 signatures in our petition, we are trying to get to our target of 5,000 and have now started an e-petition. If you have not yet signed our petition, maybe you can support us by signing our online e-petition, see the petition button link top right of the blog page.

You can also hand sign our petition at many of the local shops in Bishopbriggs, see here http://cleddensresidents.blogspot.com/p/minutes_17.html

Minutes from our Public Meeting held on March 18th in Oregano are now available to view
http://cleddensresidents.blogspot.com/p/minutes.html

Supermarkets Taking Over

2010-03-27T01:50:00.001-07:00

Another town in East Dunbartonshire is fighting to save it's community from being dominated by a large supermarket.
Tesco in Milngavie has applied to demolish and expand it's existing store in the middle of Milngavie.
If you care about Milngavie, help STOP Tesco's huge expansion.
See http://welikemilngavie.org/ for further information and details of how to object.
The development is due to go to East Dunbartonshire's planning meeting in April 2010.
Hundreds of objections have been received but hundreds more are needed.
Help Milngavie community by objecting before March 31st.

Public Meeting

2010-03-23T01:42:00.000-07:00

We delivered about 7,000 leaflets to households throughout Bishopbriggs to notify them of our Public Meeting.

It was held last Thursday 18th March 2010 at 7pm in the Oregano, Hilton Road and was well attended with 250 attendees. After an introduction by Pat McBride, Chair of Cleddens Residents Group with a recap of the development proposals and our reasons for opposing, we had two guest speakers MP Jo Swinson and MSP David Whitton. Five out of the six Bishopbriggs councilors attended but could not comment on the Town Centre development itself. Also in attendance were a couple of council officials including the Head of Planning and the Head of Development, East Dunbartonshire Council.

The floor was then open to a lively question and discussion session led by Derek Wood followed by a session of proposals of what we would want for the development site in place of a Supermarket.

For full details, minutes which will be inserted here at a later date.

The meeting went a lot better that we had hoped for, was especially well attended and we believe we gave a real strong message to our council. Lots of discussion groups were lingering after our meeting and only time will tell if we have had any effect.

Our petition now sits in excess of 2,000 signatures, but we are still only half way to our target of 5,000. Watch this space for further details.

Historic Buildings Demolition

2010-03-13T05:50:00.000-08:00

Crosshill House, 4 South Crosshill Road is presently a NHS clinic but used to be the Headmaster's house for Bishopbriggs School (presently Bishopbriggs Library) which was opened in 1896. We assume that the house was built around about the same time as the school which would make it 114 years old.

2 South Crosshill Road was built between 1857 and 1880. The building sits on a very prominent crossroads and has been part of the architectural ‘skyline’ or street scape of Bishopbriggs for approximately 140 years. Presently owned by the Archdiocese of Glasgow, it was left to the Catholic Church by a parishioner.

St Matthews Church opened in 1950, 60 years ago.

There are two listed buildings within the proposed Bishopbriggs Town centre development site: Bishopbriggs Library (Category B) and St. Matthews Church (Category C). Bishopbriggs Library will be retained however, the submitted outline plans show the potential demolition of St Matthews Church together with the above two properties in South Crosshill Road, Bishopbriggs.

Petition

2010-03-09T05:03:00.000-08:00

Further details of our petition can be found here
http://cleddensresidents.blogspot.com/p/minutes_17.html
or see the Petition page at the top.

If you haven't signed our petition it can also be found in the following local shops in Bishopbriggs:

Forbes Chemist
The Hermitage
John Steel(Butchers)
Timpsons
Village Cafe
Forbes Optician
Semple Travel
Oops-a-Daisy
Cafe Trevi
Estetica Beauty Care
Poppies

Traffic

2010-03-03T02:50:00.000-08:00

Just some examples of 'normal' bottleneck traffic jams in and around Bishopbriggs during February.

This is before the proposed new supermarket is to be built in the Town Centre which will certainly increase traffic.

Residents all set for a fight

2010-02-23T04:15:00.000-08:00

We've made the front page headlines again!

See the Bishopbriggs Herald 24th February 2010 and click on image to read about our petition and Public Meeting to be held on Thursday 18th March at 7pm in Oregano(Eagle Lodge), Hilton Road, Bishopbriggs.

Front Page Headlines

2010-02-18T01:44:00.000-08:00

Look, we've made the front page of the Bishopbriggs Herald on 17th Feb 2010.

Click on the article to read about town centre development traffic and air pollution.

See also various letters to the Editor regarding the Town centre redevelopment

http://www.kirkintilloch-herald.co.uk/your/Letters-to-the-Editor-.6079270.jp

HAVE YOUR SAY!

2010-02-17T11:32:00.000-08:00

Bishopbriggs Redevelopment Implications
· Increase in Traffic
· Safety for Pedestrians
· Pollution
· Losing the Village feel
· Local traders losing business
· Bishopbriggs does not need another supermarket

PUBLIC MEETING
Next meeting arranged for
Thursday 18th March, 7pm
Function Room, Oregano, Hilton Rd, Bishopbriggs

February 1st Meeting & Petition

2010-02-05T08:59:00.000-08:00

Our second meeting was held on 1st February 2010 had 74 attendees with 15 apologies.
The main action point was to raise awareness of Bishopbriggs Town centre development and our objection to the inclusion of a large Supermarket and Car Park.
Attendees of the meeting were urged to write letters or e-mails to their councillors, the Bishopbriggs Herald, attend their local Councillors Surgeries, post comments on our blog and obtain as many signatures as possible for our Petition.
All petitions to be returned to the committee members as noted on your invitation sheet in 1-2 weeks, certainly by 22 Feb 2010.

For full details see attached link for copy of meeting minutes.
http://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0B6bVIJMWhtcUZGQxNzc4ZjAtOWNhNS00M2NjLTkyZTEtM2ZhMjI2ZWFiMDc4&hl=en

If you missed our first meeting on 14th December click this link
http://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0B6bVIJMWhtcUNmRkY2Q0MmUtMTI5YS00ZDM1LWJhMWMtMzlmMThlMTZlZmQ4&hl=en

Spare copies of Petiton can be obtained here
http://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0B6bVIJMWhtcUMDNhYmJmNTEtMDk0My00ZTI2LWI3YTMtMjZlODQ0YTA4MmU2&hl=en

Watch this space for e-petition.

Bad Air Pollution

2010-01-23T01:52:00.000-08:00

A report published recently by Audit Scotland has identified 21 hotspots for bad air pollution in Scotland. One of these is Bishopbriggs Cross on Kirkintilloch Rd, Bishopbriggs, with one of the main causes being nitrogen dioxide from Road Transport. The report states that ‘poor air quality reduces life expectancy and affects human health’. This is before a new Supermarket is to be built-is this really what we want for Bishopbriggs?

See article from the Scotsman newspaper 14th Jan 2010
http://news.scotsman.com/health/Revealed-21-hotspots-for-air.5980727.jp

and the Audit Scotland Report January 2010, click on link for article and actual reports
http://www.audit-scotland.gov.uk/media/article.php?id=123

We would like to invite you to a further meeting of the Cleddens Residents Group on Monday, 1st February at 7 pm in the Katrine Room which is on the lower level of Woodhill Evangelical Church, Wester Cleddens Rd. If you are coming by car please use the car park at the rear. The entrance on Wester Cleddens Rd will be open for those walking to the centre.

We plan to give you an update on our activities so far, including feedback from the Community Council meetings. We would like to go through the next steps as we see them and obtain your input, suggestions and support to them.

After the formal part of the meeting, there will be tea and coffee provided for us to have a more informal chat. We will also be asking for a small donation to help towards the costs of the group.