Issue - meetings

The Committee heard from Stewart Campbell who provided a progress report on the 2 ponds which have recently been put into the wood.  The ponds were dug with assistance from the Amphibian and Reptile Conservation Trust.  The majority of the costs had been covered by the Trust, but the remainder had come from FODW.  The path at the bottom end of the rugby pitch is much improved, but the upper pond path is not yet surfaced due to problems with access for the equipment and the proposed work to sort out a new culvert.  The upper pond had held water immediately and this had remained constant with tadpoles being moved into this pond.  Special clay liners had been purchased for the lower pond, but it had not held water despite the special lining.  The pond has now been filled with assistance from Scottish Fire and Rescue and is slowly holding more water as time passes.  Most of the manual work had been done by the Community Payback Team.

There is still an issue with dogs swimming in the ponds, to mitigate this temporary construction type fencing has been put up around the ponds with notices around the area to advise of the reason for this.  It is intended that appropriate plants and shrubs will be purchased and these will be planted to create a more natural barrier.  It was suggested that this would be a good article for the Helensburgh Advertiser.

Decision

The Committee noted the update.