Winchburgh Community Council
MINUTES of meeting of Winchburgh Community Council to be held in the
Community Education Centre Craigton Place, Winchburgh, West Lothian at
7.00pm on Monday 10th November 2014.i
1.
Apologies: Jim
2.
Minutes approved by Mandy and Irene
3.
Winchburgh Public Arts Strategy
i.
Camille Archer (Public Arts, West Lothian Council), David Pierce, and
John Dallas (artists) presented their work on the “Big W” project that is
currently being undertaken in Winchburgh.
ii.
£45,000 from Creative Scotland and the development companies has
been put in place to pump-prime a public arts strategy for the village
that will unite the old and new sides of WInchburgh as it moves through
this period of change and transition
iii.
In the first year, research is being undertaken by the artists to find out
what people feel about living in Winchburgh and what they would like to
see in terms of art. Consultations with members of the community will
focus on theme and location of artwork. Artists are seeking personal
stories as well as historical narratives about the area and would
welcome ideas about the future community members envisage for the
area. They have already contacted schools, community groups,
churches, etc.
iv.
There will be a creative consultation event on Saturday 13th December
at the church 10-12 and the community centre 2-4pm. Advertising will
be done via word of mouth, posters, and direct email contact.
v.
Raymond suggested that the open days and consultation events have
a visitors book so that there is a record of who attended and
participated
4.
Winchburgh Health Centre
i.
Claire has done some research into the policy of requiring all patients to
give a reason for their request for a GP appointment. She presented her
findings at the WCC meeting as follows:
o Claire called 7 health centres in the West Lothian area. These were
Whitburn Health Centre
Fauldhouse Health centre
Ashgrove Health Centre, Blackburn, Bathgate
Blackridge Health Centre, Bathgate
Stoneyburn Health centre, Bathgate
East Calder health Centre
Dedridge Health Centre
o She spoke mainly to practice managers who all said that, for a
routine or emergency appointment, they do not ask patients what
their medical problem is.
o Several health centres do, however, have the policy of asking
patients to give an indication of their symptoms if they are asking for
a house call, or if they are asking for a medical appointment after
the 8am-8.30am window has closed. This is to enable GPs to make
decisions about triaging the appointments or to decide to advise the
patient to go straight to Accident and Emergency. They all said that
if a patient suggested that they felt uncomfortable giving an
indication of their condition, this would be accepted and a note
would simply be put to the doctor that the patient wished this
information to remain private. This would never be taken any
further.
o When asked if they had a similar policy to the one at Winchburgh
Health Centre, practice managers said:
“Absolutely not”
“We would never ask patients to reveal over the telephone what the
problem might be. I would never allow my receptionists to do that”
“We can’t start asking what’s wrong with people; we’re not trained
for that, we are trained in admin, we have no medical training”
“We wouldn’t be happy doing that”
ii.
All Councillors agreed that we would invite the Practice Manager, Morag
Carnall, and the appropriate person from WLC to the February meeting to
discuss these issues as well as anything else that gets raised between
now and then. Raymond offered to act as mediator at this meeting. WCC
plans to elicit the community’s feedback on the NHS service via social
media and at meetings before January 2015 meeting. At the previous
meeting, a member of the public suggested that we contact Jim Forrest,
the Director for West Lothian Community Health and Care Partnership for
advice on how to approach the Practice Manager in an official capacity
and to convey some of the community’s concerns. Claire will follow this up
.
iii.
Issues regarding waiting times for appointments were raised.
iv.
We need better communication about the doctors who are practising at the
health centre – locums etc.
4. Declaration of Interest
i.
ii.
iii.
iv.
v.
vi.
The issue of the bus stop that has been placed in a dangerous position
next to the Murco garage was raised once again and Wendy McCorriston,
who was present, agreed to look into this and have it reassessed.
There was further discussion about the sharp bend in the new road and
Wendy explained that this was in the original plans for the redevelopment
area and would change as the development continues
Member of the public raised an issue about the new food refuse collection.
A refuse collector made a mess of the road while collecting this and
refused to clean it up. Member of the public placed a call with WLC re this
matter and they are looking into it.
“New Winchburgh Village” signs are still up. Wendy agreed to look into
this.
Dougie Grierson attended the meeting and explained that we could use
the Village Improvement Fund for the notice board and memorial seat.
Claire will work on the funding application for the money
Member of the public suggested inviting a representative from Scottish
Waterways to a meeting to discuss the problem of how the canal paths are
being used (by motorbikes and quad bikes). It was also suggested that
developers should be involved in that conversation. All councillors agreed
we would follow this idea up.
5. Business matters raised by the public
i.
The matter of the Horsburgh bus not turning up on time or not turning
up at all was raised once again and further information suggests that
some services have been removed. We can respond to this via
www.westlothiancouncil.co.uk/yoursay14 but there is a short deadline
of 21st November to add comments.
ii.
The Alliance is to be folded as there is no interest in continuing the
group.
6. Police report
i.
There was Police attendance at the meeting and a brief report was given.
There has been one break-in in Glass Road and a number of domestics
and assaults reported.
ii.
Raymond asked Vince if he could email him with any problems and these
could be reported in this way.
7. WCC website
i.
Claire raised the issue of building a WCC website again. Pete was
concerned about the cost implications of using a web development
company (Freeola). He wishes to continue with the “Winchburgh Past,
Present, and Future” website, which has already been started and has
a section for the Winchburgh Community Council.
ii.
iii.
Claire felt that it was important to standardise the website in line with
other community councils. The web address www.winchburghcc.org.uk
is available and reasonably priced (£5.99 for first year). We were
advised by an attendee at the meeting to get in touch with Gordon
Machen of Ecclesmachen Community Council as he may be able to
help us set up a website for free.
If we get funding from the Village Improvement Fund for the bench and
the notice board, however, we will be able to use existing funds to have
the website professionally built and hosted.
8. Correspondence
i.
Claire has received a letter re: the new West Lothian Community
Councils website www.communitycouncils.org.uk which we should be
able to link up to once our website is ready.
9. Addendum
None
10. AOCB
i.
Raymond has contacted the developers in the area to seek funds for
Christmas lights in the next few weeks and Hunter Demolition has
agreed to pay for the Christmas tree and lights
ii.
John Hamilton has agreed to give WCC £1,000 for next year
iii.
The Christmas tree lights will be switched on Saturday 6th December
2014. Time tbc.
iv.
Raymond has now been supplied with contact details for all the
developers working in Winchburgh so that we have all of this
information together and to hand.
11. Date of next meeting 8th December 2014
i
This meeting was well-attended with 23 names on the register. Notable attendees included Diane Calder,
Janet Campbell, Douglas Grierson, and Wendy McCorriston