by Communications TEAM | Mar 17, 2025 | announcement, announcementspage, Current Issues, News
We have received notification from BEAR Scotland about the M9 Knockhill Bridge Refurbishment works , an extract follows here:
“ It remains our intention to commence work below this structure in April 2025. Our provisional start date is currently Monday 14th April, however we will provide further confirmation of this nearer the time. You may notice some minor mobilisation activities taking place to set the site up before this date.
We expect the works to be completed by the end of November 2025. For the majority of this period the road will be limited to a single lane of traffic controlled by temporary traffic lights. The maximum width of road that will be left open to vehicles will be limited to approximately 3.5m.
In the interests of workforce and road user safety, it will remain necessary to undertake certain operations with the road fully closed to traffic. However, these closures can now be limited to occasional overnight periods only, in order to minimise disruption. We will provide residents and other stakeholders advance notice of each of these overnight closures as and when their exact dates are known. ”
The full text of the notification is at this link: Bear_Scotland_Knockhill_Bridge_Stakeholder-Update-March-2025
by Communications TEAM | Mar 13, 2025 | announcement, announcementspage, Current Issues, News
Do you want to get involved in making things great in your local community?
We’re looking for Bridge of Allan residents to join the Community Council to help with:
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protecting local greenspace
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promoting our history and heritage
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progressing community priorities
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prioritising community views.
We are looking for three new members to join the Community Council as co-opted or associate members until full elections are held in 2027.
We have been actively working on many different community projects and initiatives, so it is more important than ever that all sections and voices of Bridge of Allan are represented on the Community Council. We are particularly looking for people with skills in communications, social media and web content creation. The role involves keeping up to date with community issues raised, working together to find solutions and helping communicate resident’s views to local organisation such as Stirling Council, Network Rail, developers and businesses. We have 10 meetings a year usually held at the Allan Centre ( our meeting minutes are here )
Though a lot of the activity involves raising resident’s issues and concerns with the appropriate authorities we also organise the Christmas Lights in Henderson street with a Switch-On event, other events such as the annual Service of Remembrance at the memorial park; we worked with Discover Bridge of Allan to purchase the Sunnylaw meadow and undertake maintenance of it; members have been engaging with the community seeking views to incorporate in the Local Place Plan which will feed into the forthcoming Stirling Council Local Development Plan. See our facebook page:
Facebook
Who can become a member ?
You can put yourself forward if you live in the Bridge of Allan area , are over 16, and are on the electoral register.
Although currently there is only 1 space for a Co-opted member on the Council, we can also appoint associate members with particular skills or knowledge seeking to broaden both representation and expertise for specific projects/issues. See more here about different types of membership.
To find out more about community councils in general and how they are run see here .
To find out more about the Bridge of Allan Community Council please email chair Amanda or one of the members ( email addresses are on our webpage ‘Your Community Council’) and ideally come along to a meeting!
Next Meeting: Tue March 18th, 7.30pm at the Allan Centre
by Communications TEAM | Feb 27, 2025 | announcement, announcementspage, Current Issues, News, webpage
Stirling Council have issued this press release on the approval of the council’s 2025-26 budget today.
Links to the budget papers and the recording of the meeting are included in the story.
Stirling Council approves 2025-26 budget
Stirling Council has approved a budget for 2025-26 that addresses a significant budget shortfall, protects key services and delivers major investment towards achieving council priorities.
At a meeting of Council today (27 Feb), councillors agreed the revenue and capital budget for the next financial year, informed by the feedback from the council’s Big Conversation with residents and communities.
The budget gap will be bridged by an 8.8% increase in council tax and a range of savings totalling £7.67 million – policy (£125,000), efficiencies (£5.9 million) and non-recurring (£1.6 million).
This additional revenue will also support the council’s revenue budget which funds the running of day-to-day frontline services such as schools and nurseries, libraries, community centres, waste collections, maintaining the road network, and social work and social care services to protect and support vulnerable people.
A £471,000 investment fund will be created from a portion of the non-recurring savings to support the delivery of the council priorities – decisions on how this will be spent will be taken by the finance, economy and corporate support committee.
Among the savings proposals rejected were the removal of school music tuition and school counselling; the removal of kerbside glass collections and garden waste concessions; a 25% reduction in library services; and a 25% reduction to Stirling’s Citizen’s Advice Bureau.
More than 4,300 people of all ages had their say on the detailed savings proposals and other areas of the budget such as changes to council tax in two surveys in this year’s Big Conversation.
Over £81 million has been allocated for next year’s capital budget – the funding of long-term projects such as new roads, schools and buildings.
A total of £5 million of this will be spent on road infrastructure improvements, with substantial investments in major projects across a wide range of service areas including new schools in Callander and South Stirling Gateway, the flood alleviation scheme in Bridge of Allan and new digital technology for schools.
Specific projects in the programme include the restoration of the Christie Clock over the next two financial years, £800,000 for two new pieces of road machinery and borrowing of £2.17 million to complete the redevelopment of The Peak at Stirling Sports Village.
Stirling Council Leader, Cllr Gerry McGarvey said: “I would like thank everyone who took part in the Big Conversation surveys and for providing such constructive and considered feedback. Be in no doubt – your views have shaped the decisions we have made today.
“Increasing council tax and making further savings, principally efficiencies, has enabled us to set a balanced budget that protects vital frontline services and gives us scope to invest in projects that will drive economic growth and secure a better future for all the people of Stirling.
“This commitment to deliver lasting benefits for our communities is also evident in our wide-ranging capital programme with significant investments in new infrastructure, facilities and equipment that will also support the transformation of our services.
“I would like to express my gratitude to everyone involved in setting this year’s budget and to acknowledge our hard-working and dedicated staff who deliver these services we rely on day-in, day-out, even during extreme weather events such as the recent Storm Eowyn.”
Like many Scottish local authorities, the council faces an unprecedented financial challenge with the budget report listing the main pressures. These include the use of one-off reserves in previous years, pay inflation, rising costs, increasing demand for services and grant allocations.
Almost 79% of the council’s budget comes from a Scottish Government grant and share of the Government’s non-domestic rates or business rates, with the rest raised from council tax.
The report on the council’s budget says that once ring-fenced grants and new funding which come with spending commitments were removed, the council’s core grant allocation from the Scottish Government for 2025-26 only increased by £4.2 million (1.8%) from last year.
The council’s recently approved medium term financial strategy has forecast that its cumulative budget gap will rise to £50.7 million by 2029-30.
Cllr McGarvey continued: “The serious financial pressures on the council and local government as a whole will result in more tough choices in the years ahead. To meet these challenges, we must continue our meaningful conversation with our residents, communities and staff on how we redesign our services and do things better and more efficiently.
“The budget also shows we have lots to look forward to over the coming 12 months with work progressing on transformative projects such as Forthside while the exciting finale celebrations of Stirling’s 900th birthday will take place at the end of March.
“Innovation, creativity and resilience have been associated with Stirling’s communities over the past 900 years and these same strengths will ensure we can overcome challenges and embrace the future with confidence and optimism.”
The budget reports, including the revenue budget and proposed capital programme, as well as the political motions, can be downloaded here.
You can watch a recording of the budget-setting meeting and to find links to the agenda papers on the council’s online broadcasting platform.
More information
For more information, please visit stirling.gov.uk/bigconversation.
by Communications TEAM | Feb 20, 2025 | announcement, announcementspage, Current Issues, News
SSRS have had a reported sighting of a sick squirrel in Bridge of Allan, and have initiated a plan to endeavour to find out more information to determine what the illness was, and hopefully to eliminate squirrelpox.
Please help us with this by following the requests as detailed on this poster.
Primarily
Take in ALL wildlife feeders for 3 weeks.
Disinfect all feeders before restarting their use – Ideally use an antiviral such as Virkon S.
If you see a sick squirrel report it on the SSRS website and try and get a picture.
If you find a dead red squirrel post it using the proper procedure to the Royal Dick in Edinburgh where we can conduct a proper post mortem.
Call SSPCA if you spot a sick squirrel.
All the details are on this poster “Sick Red Squirrels Alert”
