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.
A
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