Sunnylaw Meadow secured for the Community of Bridge of Allan
With huge thanks to the community of Bridge of Allan we are delighted to confirm that the community bid for ownership of Sunnylaw Meadow was successful!
As a result of the overwhelming community support we were able to submit a bid to the owners of the land at closing date on 27 March, and after a nail biting wait we were notified that our bid was successful.
The community purchase would not have been successful without the support of the residents of Bridge of Allan, whether that was offering words of support, completing and sharing our survey, offering a financial donation to support the purchase, putting up posters in the community or joining the action group who led the work. We also want to say thank you to others in the community who had considered making a private offer on the land as an investment opportunity, but decided instead to withdraw in support of the community purchase.
Our local lawyers, Mailers, are now working through details to finalise the purchase, and we’ll keep the community up to date with timescales for that. In the meantime the Sunnylaw Action Group will continue to meet and plan for the ongoing management of the land, based on the almost 400 responses we received to our community survey. One of our first tasks will be putting in place a regular maintenance schedule, so if you’re interested in helping with that please get in touch.
All decisions on the future use of the Meadow will be progressed through Discover Bridge of Allan, our local Development Trust, who will hold the land in trust for the community. To ensure you’re involved in decisions, and have the opportunity to have your say, please sign up for free membership if you haven’t already.
We’ll soon be launching the Our Bridge of Allan survey – keep an eye out for further updates.
Thank you again to everyone for making this happen
Thanks to the concerned and interested local residents who brought this opportunity to our attention, the members of the Community Council, Ward Councillors, Discover Bridge of Allan and local residents working together as the Sunnylaw Action Group who have shown what great results can be achieved by working together for the benefit of the community.
April Meeting Agenda
Our next Community Council meeting will be held on Tuesday 16th April in the Allan Centre GP room.
The meeting starts at 7.30pm and any member of the public is welcome to attend. We will be joined by people and organisations that work together for the people of Bridge of Allan, the community policing team, Friends of Bridge of Allan and elected representatives when their calender permits.
This month we have on our Agenda:
Police report – read it here Residents voice Tennis Courts – James from Stirling Council will be attending to answer questions about access and bookings to the courts Guala – Future of UCP Site Sunnylaw Land Bid – Success! see the latest update Local Place Pan Succession Planning/Co option Christmas Lights Weeding and litter issues Banking and post office provision Recycling Bin provision Well Road – Alexander Drive Footpath Planning Applications ReportReports from our position holders – Chair and Secretary.
Flood Protection Scheme moves to Notification Stage
The planning of the Flood Protection Scheme for Bridge of Allan has been ongoing for some time now.
See our updates from March 19th 2022, and March 4th 2022
The process has now reached the notification stage with Stirling Council proposing the pictured option to take forward. The notification stage is now open for 28 days to 23rd April 2024. The new defence aims to protect 87 properties and 700 meters of road from flooding, with the scheme providing a 50 year standard of protection level.
The scheme will cost £15 million to construct and has been awarded 80% funding from the Scottish Government, with the remaining £3 million from Stirling Council. Work is scheduled to begin in the summer of 2026 and will last an estimated 12 months.
Stirling council will be holding two in-person meetings and two online meetings and would appreciate your participation:
In-person drop-in events will be held at Bridge of Allan library:
- Tuesday 16th April 2024: 2pm- 7pm
- Thursday 18th April 2024: 9am- 1pm
Online information sessions will be held via Microsoft Teams:
- Wednesday 17th April 6pm- 7pm
You are asked you register your details for one of the meeting time slots by Monday 15th April. This will help Stirling Council to share meeting links and necessary materials in advance of the online session. To register for the meeting or to request an alternative time, please email flooding@stirling.gov.uk or call a member of the flooding team on 01786 404040
Interested in reducing flood risk on the Allan Water catchment? You might like to learn about what Forth Rivers Trust are doing upstream to implement Natural Flood Management https://forthriverstrust.org/project/allan-water-project/
Check your local flood risk on SEPA’s interactive map: https://map.sepa.org.uk/floodmaps/FloodRisk/Risk
Sunnylaw Update
We wanted to say a huge thanks to all of you who took the time to give your views as part of our sunnylaw survey, which closed last week.
Almost 400 of you fed in to the survey about future use and management of the land.
As we head ever closer to the closing date for the sale we are staying to plan (optimistically) how we will use and manage the land once it’s in community ownership. Discover Bridge of Allan, our local development trust, are the body who will hold ownership of the land on behalf of the community, but they will be directed by the views of their members. So we’re encouraging all Bridge of Allan residents to join if they’ve not already done so.
Membership is free and can be completed here: https://www.
February Meeting minutes now available
Our February meeting minutes were approved at our last meeting and are now available to read in full by clicking here
At the meeting we discussed
- February’s Police report covered 13th Jan – 19th Feb and is included in full in the minutes. 12 crimes occurred in the period including anti social behavior, theft and driving offenses. You can contact the Community Police team at: DunblaneBridgeofAllanCPT@scotland.pnn.police.uk
- Cornton Railway Crossing – We were joined by Network Rails Crossing Manager to talk about the recent incidences on and around the crossing and look for solutions to improve safety. Find out more here and in the minutes
- Road Safety – we looked over a summary of responses form Stirling Council on some recent road safety issues
- Sunnylaw Land Auction – The Sunnylaw Action Group has been looking into funding options to purchase the land. Thanks to everyone who has been sharing the survey. Take a look at the detailed update provided in the minutes, and recent updates on our blog.
- Succession Planning – Our member Bill has decided to step down from the role; thanks Bill for all your hard work over the years.
- Update from Local Place Plan group– Community Enterprise have been commissioned to carry the community engagement which will begin in Spring. The LPP steering group meet monthly and will provide an update after each meeting.
- Christmas Lights – The Christmas Lights planning group met to set out a timeline and tasks for fundraising and switch on events form Dec 2024.
- Tennis Courts -The refurbishment will be finished around April/May. Booking of courts will be via an app although no details about the system, pricing or community arrangements are known yet.
- GoForth BID – We talked about past efforts to have a similar BID in Bridge of Allan which would rely on support from the local business community
- Hawes Park defib– The CC voted to fund replacement of parts for the defib to ensure it remained operational. Causwayhead CC shared their experience of being defib guardians and the responsibilities entailed.
- Planning report – nothing significant identified for discussion
- Reports form our Chair, Secretary and Treasurer.
Minutes for the latest March meeting will be available after their approval at the next meeting. However news on the progress of projects and local issues will also be shared via our website and social media accounts, so sign up to our mailing list or follow us to find out our news.
Minutes from all our past meetings can be found on our meetings page
March 19th – Meeting Agenda
Our next Community Council meeting will be held on Tuesday 19th March in the Allan Centre GP room.
The meeting starts at 7.30pm and any member of the public is welcome to attend. We will be joined by people and organisations that work together for the people of Bridge of Allan, the community policing team, Friends of Bridge of Allan and elected representatives when their calender permits.
This month we have on our Agenda:
Police report Common Good Fund Asset Transfer Residents voice Sunnylaw Land Auction – see the latest update Local Development Plan – Evidence Outcomes Tennis Courts Local Place Plan Succession Planning/Co option Christmas Lights Planning Applications ReportReports from our position holders – Chair, Secretary, Treasurer
Cornton Road Rail Crossing
At our February meeting we were joined by Tracy the Network Rail Level Crossing Manager to talk about recent issues using the crossing. Problems in this are not however new, see our post from 2022.
Tracey had responsibility for 56 crossings. She reassured us that the Cornton Road Crossing (No1) was inspected every 16 weeks. They are encountering approximately two incidents per week, which are caught on the cameras. Drivers caught remaining on the crossing, or entering when they should not, could face penalty points and fines. Check out this RAC guide to level crossings for everything you need to know.
The Cornton Road crossing is extremely busy with 4,000 vehicles a day (double the average) and 431 pedestrians using it.
Should you become stuck on the crossing you are however safe, due to the crossing being equipped with the latest obstacle detection technology that scans the area of the crossing to ensure that it is clear before trains are permitted to approach. If vehicles or pedestrians are within the crossing area, only the entry barriers will be activated so that no further vehicles can enter the area and trains will be instructed to stop. Only when the crossing area is clear will the exit barriers be activated and trains allowed to approach the level crossing.
We would like to remind you that it is very important that when driving this route you do not enter the railway crossing without knowing that your exit is clear. So please be patient and be aware that vehicles in front of you may not move until they are sure they can safely exit the crossing.
Sunnylaw Road remains closed
Sunnylaw Road has been closed since a garden wall collapsed into the road in April 2023. A temporary road closure order is in place until April 2024. The closure is regularly reviewed by Stirling Council who risk assess if the route is safe to be open.
Many residents have been in touch with us and the Ward Councilors about the inconvenience the closure is causing them. Requiring diversion on via a busy Henderson street, steep Ferniebank Brae and the occasionally flooded Blairforkie drive. Alternatively some are enjoying the reduction in traffic on the route.
The remaining part of the wall at the corner is unstable and barriers are there to protect people from this risk. Unfortunately the situation to resolve the problems with the wall are legally and technically complex. While the road remains closed and the barriers in place please be patient and respect the risk management and do not interfere with the fencing.
Be assured that all parties want this resolved as soon as possible. If you are being adversely affected by the closure please pass your comments on to your ward councilors who are working with Stirling Council and the property owner.
Sunnylaw Action Group Update – March 2024
Lots has happened since our last update in February, with the action group meeting fortnightly to ensure we’re in the best possible position to secure ownership of the Sunnylaw land for the community.
As well as launching our community survey, https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/CCBOASUNNY which is open until Friday 15 March, we have been working on our bid for the purchase. We want to tell the owners of the land more about our community and why selling this land to us would mean so much. The responses we’ve had to the survey so far have helped us tell that story – so thank you to the 350 of you who have already responded. If you haven’t had a chance to respond yet, please take a few minutes to complete the survey – the more responses we have the stronger our case is.
We heard this week that we can’t use the Common Good Fund to buy the land – this was always a possible outcome, and while it’s disappointing, it’s not the end of our bid.
A number of very generous local residents have pledged financial support to allow us to privately fund a bid on the land, which will give us the funding to make an offer as planned. If that’s something you’d be interested in discussing please get in touch with the group through amanda@ccbridgeofallan.org.uk before the 18th March.
Not only do we have the funding to make an offer but our very own Development Trust, Discover Bridge of Allan, is in a position to act as the holder of the land for the community. This means that the future management of Sunnylaw would be co-ordinated through the trust, and that any decisions about how to use it would be made through the community.
Everyone who lives in Bridge of Allan can become a member of the trust for free, ensuring you’ll have a say in any decisions about Sunnylaw once its in community ownership.
We’ll update you again closer to the closing date for the land – get in touch through this page if you want to find out more.
