Here are pictures of three of the new benches now in place on Holmehill.
They were carved from some of the trees which had to be taken down and were designed by children at the local Primary Schools - the theme is Scottish Wildlife.
This High Street building, that was brought back from the brink by local community action, recently transferred ownership and the three flats are now for sale. The future ownership of the shops is presently unclear.
The building at 22 to 24 High Street had been owned for many years by a Stirling-based landlord with many vacant properties around Central Scotland. He has now died and executors for his estate put the building on the market just before Xmas and it was sold. In their turn, the new owners have put the three flats up for auction.
The owners' intentions in relation to the two shops is unclear; one is presently occupied by Morgage Advice Brokerage; the other was until relatively recently occupied by Sew Marvellous
Through the Community Council, the community secured funding from Tesco Bags to undertake essential repairs to the building and get its facade newly painted - read the article published at the time
Forth Valley COVID-19 Partnership: Funding Open
The Forth Valley COVID-19 Partnership has launched a new grants programme, distributing funds to support communities and people affected by COVID-19 outside of hospital.
The Forth Valley Covid-19 Partnership consists of the NHS Forth Valley Endowment Fund (better known as Forth Valley Giving), the three Third Sector Interfaces (CVS Falkirk, SVE and CTSI), and both Health and Social Care Partnerships operating in the Forth Valley.
Together they will oversee the new Community Partnership Grants Programme, which will distribute £126,000 of local grants, and is open to any registered charity, community interest company (CIC), community or voluntary group with a bank account delivering services in the Forth Valley area.
The grants are only open to organisations offering support to the following types of work:
* support for unpaid carers
* people affected by drugs and alcohol
* people isolated and lonely
* groups helping with wellbeing and mental health community support
* suicide prevention
* bereavement and end of life support
Phase One will offer seven grants up to £15,000 each with Phase Two offering small (up to £2,000) and micro grants (up to £1,000).
The closing date for Phase One is Monday 1st February. The launch of Phase Two will start on Tuesday 2nd February and close on Friday 26th February.
For more information, see the full guidance notes which include details on submitting an expression of interest
Time is running out to have your say in helping Stirling Council set next year’s budget through the Big Budget Conversation.
The local authority launched its budget engagement process for 2021/22 on 23 December, 2020 with the stark message that services must change to meet an £8million funding gap. Transformation of how the Council delivers services will continue in the years ahead, with a further £30million needing to be saved over the four years to 2024/25.
Residents are being asked to tell the local authority what matters most to them through an online survey on the new Engage Stirling platform, which closes on Sunday, 24 January. Responses from the survey will be coupled with officer proposals and added to the responses from the recent Residents Survey and Locality Action Plans that have been developed throughout the year to provide a comprehensive package to inform Councillors’ budget plans in the coming months.
Residents have until midnight on Sunday, 24 January 2021 to get involved.
Convener of Stirling Council’s Finance and Economy Committee, Cllr Margaret Brisley said: “We’ve had 100s of response so far and would ask everyone who can to get involved and take part in the survey. Help us understand what matters most to you by engaging in this Big Budget Conversation.
“We face a substantial budget gap of at least £8million next year and options for closing it are more limited than normal, given services are already not operating as usual due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The Council has also incurred significant additional costs and loss of income in the current year because of the virus, and this is likely to continue into next year.
“Residents must be under no illusions - significant budget reduction measures will have to be considered to set a balanced budget for 2021/22 and time is running out for the public to have their say.”
Vice Convener, Cllr Alison Laurie, said: “Our staff have shown remarkable resilience and adaptability to deliver essential services to the people of Stirling in the most challenges of circumstances.
“That challenge is now greater than ever before as a result of the financial pressures we are facing so we must continue to transform and adapt the way we deliver for the people of Stirling.
“It’s crucial that the people who live and work here have their say in guiding how we do that.”
From the Secretary, Dunblane Community Council
The Community Council has received comments/complaints from a number of people
about the lack of salting/gritting of the pavements and footpaths around
the town Certainly some of those I use are quite icy The road gritter
seems to have been round but pavements seem to have a lower priority.
We were not sure if the pavement gritter has been out - there is not a
lot of evidence that it has been. Our chair, David Prescot, asked
Graham Houston, our elected member of the administration of SC and posed
the questions:
* What has happened? - has the Council changed its priorities?
* Given the priority being given to Active Travel and the critical
importance of avoiding fall injuries to reduce the load on our hospitals
(and reduce the risks of people catching Covid in hospital) then
gritting and salting the pavements seems like a critically important
task.
* I understand that some community volunteers have been out in places,
especially where there are vulnerable people but there is not a lot of
grit for them to use - and with DIY stores shut less chance of getting
some.
Alan Booth
From: Councillor Graham Houston
I also have had some people in touch with me and I did notice that the
pavement on the High Street just at the library was particularly bad.
The pavement tractor has been doing the usual route in the early
mornings but I think it did miss one day last week and I am still
waiting to hear the reason for that. I reported it at the time to Bruce
Reekie.
We moved to priority 3 treatment on Wednesday and as of yesterday we
will have had a period of 120 hours adverse weather and a 5 day weather
forecast predicting severe weather wintery conditions which means the
treatment moves to priority 4 routes.
Priority 4 routes cover the remainder of the public road network. Within
Priority 4 routes; priority will be given to locations such as difficult
junctions, gradients, bends or short, sharp incline, together with
reasonable lengths of carriageway adjacent to these specific problems.
I have asked Bruce Reekie if a drop of salt/grit mixture could be
deposited at the Millrow Car park for the public to help themselves as
it looks like this cold spell with be with us for a few days yet.
I attach the detailed policy covering the implementation of the various
priorities which I hope Is helpful.
Graham Houston
The death has been announced of local silversmith Graham Stewart. Graham will be greatly missed by the whole community of Dunblane.
Dunblane Area Maps – Update time!
Please complete the User Survey - https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/DunblaneMaps
The printed maps are running out, and need to keep up with local developments – e.g. the new trails on Sheriffmuir, new housing and road crossings etc.
Funds have been secured via ‘Paths for All’, from the ‘Smarter Choices Smarter Places Open Fund’, and the project is co-ordinated by volunteers through Dunblane Development Trust.
The new printed maps will be given to schools and public, and continue to be available online at Dunblane.info on the local walking, cycling, running pages. The station map posters will also be updated. The User Survey will provide information on how people use the maps, and help to update the Walking and Cycling Improvements report which highlights local issues.
The remaining 2016 Maps are now available from;
• ‘Weigh Ahead’ Dunblane High St
• Doune Information Centre (Post Office)
• Recyke-a-bike at Causewayhead
• Also some poster Index Street maps in A2 size are available – contact 01786 825741
You can read more about walking, cycling and running around Dunblane on this website here.
User Survey link : Survey link
QR code for survey : 
Coffee to go served from Stockbridge Garden Nursery in Dunblane
A new £1 million ‘Scotland Loves Local’ fund will provide grants of between £500 and £5,000 to hundreds of projects to promote town centre and online businesses.
The funding aims to support small scale improvements that will help motivate people to shop, eat and relax within their community whilst ensuring public health safety.
Grants can be put towards providing safe shopping information for residents and tourists, the installation of public health infrastructure such as protective screens, physical distancing markers, hand sanitising equipment and PPE.
Applications close November 25th. More info here : https://www.gov.scot/news/new-grant-for-local-projects/