Five quit Buchlyvie CC

A rural village is at risk of losing its community representation after five members of its community council quit last week.

Members of Buchlyvie Community Council resigned en masse at the monthly meeting, leaving the future of the community group uncertain.

The group was only formed at last year’s community council elections.

At the elections in October and November last year, Buchlyvie had eight people seeking to be voted on to the community group. In order to form it requires a minimum of six members and a maximum of seven. A ballot was then held to whittle the eight members seeking election down to seven.

The meeting, being held last Thursday, saw the five members quit for a variety of reasons.

Now the group doesn’t have enough members to continue and Stirling Council has placed it in abeyance pending an interim election.

A council spokesperson said:“Given that only two community councillors remain, the only course of action available is for Stirling Council to hold interim elections to fill the five vacancies.

“The community council will be in abeyance until the process is completed. The decision to hold an interim election and the timescale will be considered and communicated when confirmed.”

The five members who resigned were secretary Bill Keeping, vice chair Ian Bremner, Alison McGilvray, Val Brand and treasurer Ambreen Rasool.

The only remaining members were Anne Winther and chairman Evan McLean.

Following the suspension of the group Mr McLean expressed his disappointment, saying:“I’m sad that so many folk decided that they wanted to resign.

“Some members felt that they couldn’t continue because of other commitments and others felt that the community council just wasn’t working the way that it should.”

Forth and Endrick Tory councillor, Alistair Berrill, who attended the monthly meeting, said;“It’s such a shame but I do commend the outgoing members for their hard work on a range of issues. I hope that enough new people come forward to allow the good work of the community council to continue.”

Forth and Endrick independent councillor Robert Davies added:“It’s disappointing that the residents of Buchlyvie do not now have a community council to represent their views, especially on important issues like buses.“