Bridge of Weir Community Council

Forum of Community Councils

The September meeting of the Forum of Community Councils took place in the PACE Theatre Company Auditorium, School Wynd, Paisley on Monday 3rd September. Attending were Sandra Liddell and Jim Ellis.

The first speaker was Stuart Graham, Community Planning Manager, Renfrewshire Council.
During the summer recess a consultation document was sent to all community councils seeking views on what we would like to see included in the Community Plan for the future of our communities.We met on the 8th of August to discuss this. 5 Councils had replied and we were informed of the feed back so far, prior to the Community Planning Conferences scheduled for September. Bridge of Weir community council will be represented by 3 members at the conference being held in the Abercorn Centre, Reid Kerr College, Paisley on 14th September.

The second speaker was Aloson Ewing, Waste Strategy Officer, Renfrewshire Council.
This presentation was full of statistics, why certain areas in towns had different recycling bins to the rural areas. Penalties applied by the EU to non-compliance in reaching recycling targets etc. and what can be recycled by at the moment by Renfrewshire Council and what has still to go landfill.

The third subject was on the changes to community councils being proposed by the Scottish Government.This was presented by Alex Hewetson, Community Council Liaison Officer, Renfrewshire Council and Nick Walker, Chair of Howwood Community Council who is our representative on the Short Working Group.

The possible changes are community council boundaries in line with Ward boundaries.This was discussed at length on how this would work at a very local level with such a large area.The feelings of our Forum would be taken forward to the next Short Working Group meeting.