Jordanhill Community Council

 

History

 

In the summer of 1975 when the concept of Community Councils was first suggested in Glasgow, a public meeting was held in St Thomas Aquinas School and a Steering Committee was formed.   Prior to 1975 an old system of local “ward committees” (based on electoral wards) had largely fallen into disrepute although some areas of the city had active residents’ groups.   Jordanhill had no such formal groups.

 

The first activity of the Steering Committee was to determine the boundaries for our new council.   Jordanhill is a well-defined residential area but at the outset there were approaches from many residents in Claythorn (the area east of Crow Road including Whittingehame Drive and adjacent streets)  who felt they should be part of our council.      This was understandable since Jordanhill School catchment includes Claythorn, many members of the Jordanhill churches live in Claythorn and there are close connections through scouts, and tennis clubs etc.

 

JCC area mapA well-attended public meeting was held in Anniesland College in 1976 to discuss this matter and it was clear there were mixed views.       Some residents felt that Claythorn should be a Community Council on its own even although there were only some 600 houses in the area, whereas others felt there would be strength in numbers by joining with Jordanhill  (around 2100 houses).     However the meeting agreed that each household should be sent a voting paper with options (including the possiblility of joining with Kelvindale) and the result of the referendum was to set up Claythorn Community Council on its own, totally separate from Jordanhill Community Council, (JCC).

 

Community Council Activities

 

Community Councils are statutory bodies which are formally consulted on matters such as planning applications and other public concerns.     However there is a general feeling within most community councils in Glasgow that although the City Council pays lip service to community councils by “consulting” them, any opinions expressed by residents are often ignored.   For this reason it is difficult to retain active public-spirited members.        Council departments often take many weeks to reply to formal correspondence.       Executive Directors of various Council Departments have been granted remarkable powers and elected City Councillors no longer have the control which existed in the past.

 

The elected City Councillors often attended the monthly meetings and the Police regularly sent officers to report on crime updates.     Meetings were open to members of the public but there were many occasions when only committee members attended.

 

In earlier years when the JCC constitution allowed for 21 members, all positions were filled and there were organised local activities including an annual Fun Run for charity, garden competitions, a swimming club and ceilidhs in Woodend Bowling Club Pavilion.       Gradually over the years however interest has waned and there was difficulty in attracting new members. The constitution was amended to include only 10 members.

 

JCC met on the first Monday of the month from September to June (i.e.10 times a year) in Jordanhill Church Hall.     

 

In 2004 I set up the first JCC website where local information and the minutes of meetings were available.     I was Secretary of the original steering Committee in 1975 and apart from a few years in the early 1980s, I was the Honorary Secretary of JCC for just short of 40 years.

 

Recent developments

 

In the autumn of 2015 there were only six active members in JCC so the City Council organised a recruitment procedure which resulted in four new members being elected and introduced at the November 2015 meeting.

 

Unfortunately the following two meetings in December 2015 and January 2016 were acrimonious, resulting in the six original long-serving members (including me).plus one of the new members resigning immediately after the January meeting.      This left just three members (each elected just three months earlier), but In order for a community council to function under the City Council’s rules, it must have a minimum number of four members.       JCC therefore ceased to exist.      I removed the website.

 

The City Council once again organised a recruitment procedure which resulted in a further six new members and a completely reinstated Jordanhill Community Council thus emerged on 4 March 2016.           

 

Updated 22 March 2016