At tonight’s meeting we were joined by constable Dougie Shaw who attends all of our meetings. We discussed the use of the mobile CCTV unit and agreed that its presence in the High Street on occasion would be beneficial. It is good to have a police officer committed to liaison with business owners and managers and we thank Dougie for his input. BfD is to write to the Chief Constable to ask for an explanation as to why all crimes are now processed at Clydebank, thus using valuable police time and meaning that the town centre is left short of cover.
We thanked John Corcoran for his magnificent efforts in putting together an advertising leaflet to be distributed to every home in Dumbarton. John called on every single business to sell the advertising which was excellent value. Thank you too to West Dunbartonshire Council for their support in this venture.
We discussed the proposed Masterplan and we had a guest, Peter Porteous who is involved professionally in the field and has recently been concerned with the improvements in Lochgelly, Fife. It was interesting to hear his thoughts on planning from the ground up rather than from the top down.
We discussed the formulation of our Action Plan. We hope to be able to produce a list of achievable objectives which we would like to see implemented in the short term. The approval of the traffic management plan (see below) was almost unanimous. One member abstained because he felt he hadn’t had enough opportunity to form an opinion. Concern was expressed at the possible loss of convenience to bus users and it was felt that their safety and security was an issue. It was also noted that at times in the afternoon, buses were speeding along the High Street.
We will now proceed to a 21 day consultation period where our full membership will be given the opportunity to give their views. Of course we would welcome the views of any interested parties. At the end of that process we hope to ratify the plan and present it for consideration by West Dunbartonshire Councillors.
