Community Council Minutes 16/11/15
Minutes of the Ordinary Meeting of the Burgh of St Monans and Abercrombie Community Council held on Monday, 16 November 2015 at 7.30 pm.
Present:
P Copland (Chairperson) | V Salvage (Vice Chairperson) | G Brown (Treasurer) | |
M Ashworth | V Bland | W Buchan | |
Cllr D Macgregor | B Allan | Elaine Porteous (Minute Secretary) | |
Members of the public: 6
1 | Welcome and Apologies
P Copland opened the meeting. Apologies: P Peddie, Cllr J Docherty, Cllr E Riches, E Hughes |
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2 | Declarations of Interest
None |
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3 | Last Minutes and Arising
3.1 (3.2) (7.3) Bill for Plerick Railings The bill for the Plerick railings has been paid from the Common Good Fund directly to the Council. |
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3.2 (3.3) (7.4) Heritage Collection
G Brown said that he had heard nothing about this until he received an email from Fife Council that day regarding the marketing of both 6 Station Road and 8 and 8A West Shore. The email stated that they had been instructed by the Holding Service to offer the properties to the best offer received. The Community Council (CC) was the under bidder for both properties. The date of entry for the purchaser of 8 and 8A West Shore is 30 November. The email went on to say that the sale/lease of 6 Station Road is still with the Holding Service. Despite being the under bidder, the Holding Service had a preference for the St Monans CC to lease 6 Station Road St Monans. Nonetheless any transaction must comply with the Disposal of Land by Local Authorities (Scotland) Regulations 2010 plus Section 12 of the consent of the Housing (Scotland) Act 1987. If considered appropriate the area management and/or the funding and monitoring teams could consider the community and other non-financial benefits to justify this case. The proposal then has to proceed through the local area committee and report back to the executive committee the way in which the terms have been met. G Brown clarified that basically we have not got the old Post Office. We may or may not get 6 Station Road. We have to have everything out of the store next to the old Post Office by the end of the month. It can go in the Heritage Collection as it is closed just now; and if we get 6 Station Road we can move it round. If we do not get 6 Station Road, the Heritage Collection is no longer viable. P Copland asked G Brown if he wanted to arrange a date for the movement of the stuff. G Brown said that he was awaiting information on another appointment. |
G Brown P Copland |
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3.3 (3.5) (9.1) Scottish Water and Drainage
(Regarding water at the end of Rose Street.) A message had been received from Cllr J Docherty. Scottish Water engineers will come on the week commencing the 23rd in the afternoon and then we have to email Cllr J Docherty. Cllr J Docherty had previously said that that if we have to meet the afternoon would be best. M Ashworth said that since that conversation, Cllr J Docherty now has another job and has to be in Dundee every day. G Brown said that we need to find someone to meet him in the week commencing the 23rd. M Ashworth, V Salvage and W Buchan all said that they could perhaps find a date when they were free. M Ashworth said that she would email times she would be available when she had had a look at her calendar, and that she would include V Salvage, and W Buchan in the email. Then G Brown would be able to go back to J Docherty who would email the engineer. |
M Ashworth V Salvage W Buchan G Brown J Docherty |
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3.4 (6.8) Distribution of Meeting Information / Beautiful St Monans
G Brown said that he had put the audited accounts on the CC website, so that we can be seen to be open and transparent in our financial dealings. W Buchan asked, regarding trying to get money for Beautiful St Monans, whether we could buy feeding for the plants for the Serenity Gardens and the gardens up at the Station. G Brown said that they get a lot of work done to them, but he said that he did not know what they got in the way of feeding. V Salvage remembered that at the last meeting that Cllr E Riches suggested we rephrase our application. What Cllr E Riches was talking about was trying to get more than one Community Grant. G Brown said that the snag is that we are asked for the copy of our insurance when we apply for that grant. If we have Beautiful St Monans apply so that we get a different grant, we would have to have separate insurance. The last time we got a quote for insurance it was about £160. In our application for the Common Good Fund we could ask for more without altering the wording. We may or may not get a knock back. We kind of assume that the other Councillors will pay more attention to our Councillors votes regarding this. Cllr D Macgregor said, “Exactly.”
G Brown went on to say that we buy fertilisers from Pathhead for the hanging baskets and the tubs. (A member of the public commented that they bought for the East Street Garden and it comes out of their own pockets.) G Brown went on to say that the only fertiliser that we pay for as a CC is the fertiliser that goes in the tubs and baskets. A member of the public asked which gardens the CC were responsible for. G Brown said that Fife Council is responsible for the 2 at the top of the Village. The rest are CC. The East Garden, the Jimmy Braid Garden, the West End Garden and all the beds. About 90% CC to 10% Fife Council. Fife Council does grass cutting in parts of the village. The only grass cutting that we have been doing is the bit round the entrance to the railway station and the industrial estate. A member of the public said that that is a fairly onerous task. G Brown added that the person who has been doing the cutting of the grass this year will not be able to cut the grass next year. The ground belongs to Muirs and will remain uncut in future. |
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3.5 (7.3) Flytipping; (6.7) Pothole Patching
V Salvage said that she had received some updates from Cllr E Riches: Flytipping Cllr E Riches contact with Muir Homes has passed on our request for some action to Stewart McPhail of Hermiston Securities. As far as she knows nothing has been done, and she asked for us to please let her know. Pothole Patching What was carried out was what is known as safety pothole repairs. These repairs fall into 2 categories. The first are referred to as High Quality repairs where the repair should be cut and squared off prior to compacting the asphalt. The second type are referred to as infill only and, as their name implies, the material is compacted into the hole after the removal of loose material. Generally we seek to specify High Quality repairs as the first option, but this is dependent on the condition of the road around the pothole being sound enough to tie in to. To allow any comment on the recent work it will be necessary to provide a specific location to allow the inspector to check if the type of repair specified has been provided and whether this is of an acceptable standard. A member of the public said some repairs had been done in East Street and down by the Dawsie. |
All
All |
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3.6 Money for Old Folk’s Treat
V Salvage said that Cllr E Riches thinks that the CC should be able to use the Common Good money for the Old Folk’s Treat and that we should apply for this. |
V Salvage |
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3.7 (6.2) Molehills in Churchyard
W Buchan said that he had Googled ‘molehills’ and you can get a container of pellets to scatter on the ground to get rid of molehills. V Salvage said that the mole man has been asked for; and said that she would get back to them. |
V Salvage |
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3.8 (6.3) Fence at Graveyard
M Ashworth said that she had ‘phoned the Factor who, because it is a boundary fence between the graveyard and the field said that I have to contact Fife Council. She said that she was advised to contact Liz Murphy and ask her if it is her jurisdiction. We have to locate who is responsible. A member of the public said that it is to do with a fence between the graveyard and the carpark, where the seats were broken. A Ashworth said that that sounds like it is either church property or Bereavement Services. M Ashworth said that she would try Liz Murphy. |
M Ashworth |
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3.9 (7.2) Playpark – Possible Financial Contribution from Muir Homes
A member of the public pointed out a mistake in the previous Minutes regarding a possible way to get funds for Beautiful St Monans. The entry “Section 601 Agreement” was entered in the Minutes incorrectly; and should be corrected to “Section 106”. |
G Brown |
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Previous Minutes Approved:
Proposer – W Buchan Seconder – G Brown |
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4 | Chairperson’s Report
P Copland said that as it was his first meeting as Chair he was afraid he did not have anything to report other than he was proud to represent the community at the laying of the wreath and was pleased to see such a large turnout. V Salvage laid a wreath on behalf of Fife Council; also wreaths from the Sunday School and the Lodge were laid; and the RNLI, the Cub Scouts and Fire Service were there as well. |
All |
5 | Secretary’s Report
G Brown said that Cllr D Macgregor had told him that he should advise William Welsh that he is now Secretary of the CC. P Copland asked if G Brown could also advise William Welsh that he (P Copland) is now Chair and that V Salvage is now Vice Chair. G Brown said that we received an email regarding action planning for ENCAP (East Neuk Community Action Plan Programme); setting out what can be done. Last time we discussed this we were dubious whether we wanted to take part, so this is probably a discussion for another meeting. As this email only came in today and there was not time to circulate it, G Brown suggested that the CC put it on the agenda for next month. The Secretary said that the only other thing he wanted to say was that he has taken on this post as temporary acting job and did make the proviso that if E Porteous was not there that he would not do the Minutes, as he has enough to do with his other roles. Other than that, he said that he would take on the job that R Craib was doing, with the exception of the communication job. R Craib had two jobs: one was Bereavement Services and the other was Waste Water. We also have to allocate A Anderson’s jobs. P Copland said that he could perhaps take on some of A Anderson’s jobs. B Allan agreed that she would take on the jobs regarding waste water, bins and dog fouling. P Copland said that they would compile a list of what the job covers and of the main contacts within Bereavement Services, Waste Water and Environmental Services. Cllr D Macgregor advised to go to the alphabetical list on the Fife Council website.
P Copland said that when M Ashworth has determined the situation regarding the fence at the graveyard she will pass the information to B Allan so that she can contact and liaise with Liz Murphy. |
G Brown
G Brown B Allan P Copland
M Ashworth B Allan |
6 | Treasurer’s Report
G Brown said that the Income and Expenditure Report distributed shows the current state of affairs. Floral Display – We have received the Common Good money in for the floral display, so everything is now paid on the floral display. We have £262.60 in the bank, but that is all bills paid. Cash Flow – The Cash Flow shows that we have £1900 in the bank. Heritage Collection – Everything is paid. As I touched on last time, I had 3 proposals to get some money in for the Cash Flow Account, which is the main account. We have £1500 in the Defibrillator Fund, of which £555 was coming from the Cash Flow – the rest was raised and really has to be ring-fenced, but I feel that we could claw back the £555. Basically, we are spending more than we get in. We used to run a Ceilidh on Burns night that was a good fundraiser. We did not do that last year and we are not doing it next year as we have not got it organised. We need to do fundraising to the tune of £1,000 per annum in order to continue doing what we are doing at the moment. G Brown went on to say that he had 2 suggestions. The CC could do a Ceilidh; or a band night. He said that he had spoken to his band and they are happy to do it for free. There is another band in the village – Morven, Martin and Mills. Perhaps they would want to join in. You will recall we did a band night last year and we chose the filthiest night of the year and not many people turned up. V Salvage said that an article has gone into the Loaves and Fishes suggesting that we have more regular coffee mornings; the first one to raise the money for the Old Folk’s Treat. We have said in the Loaves and Fishes that we would need local people to support this. V Salvage said, regarding having a Ceilidh, that E Hughes had suggested that some time in February we could have a Scottish night with stovies and that would be a way of raising funds. Again it would be either with a Ceilidh Band, as we had in the Arts Festival, or with different groups entertaining. G Brown said, in reply to a question by a member of the public, that the MUGA could not be used as a revenue stream, as one of the conditions is that it has to be free. There will be no revenue from that. The only thing we can charge for is electricity. Also, it is not going to be a CC project – it is the Trust. A member of the public said that it says that the tender is going to be signed shortly. G Brown said that the money is all in place – on paper. The last he had heard was that there was a slight question mark about the Fife Environmental Trust funding. We had to justify what we were getting from them, balanced with the amount from us going in. If everything is OK it will start in the winter. It was stated (in answer to M Ashworth’s question) that it was thought that the International Food Festival would be on the first Saturday in March. P Copland said that if we were to have an event at the beginning of February it would still clash with a lot of Burns’ Night celebrations, so perhaps, as G Brown had suggested, April could be a better time. M Ashworth said that you could have a band night and have stovies. A member of the public said that something that they had tried in another village was an art and photographic competition, which could be formally judged and then create a calendar. G Brown said up until now that there had been a local calendar produced through the Post Office. G Brown said that he knew that the church is producing their own calendar this year. M Ashworth asked if there was something that you could tie in with the Arts Festival. P Copland said that we would then be looking at 2017 before it would become part of the revenue, unless you use some of this year’s entrants. G Brown said that, to be honest, if the church is wanting to do a calendar on an annual basis, he did not think the CC can justifiably compete with that. Every organisation needs money, and there is a limited number of ways that we could do it. The member of the public said that rather than just focus on a calendar, you could have a competition for any art work and photographic work just as a one off event at one point in time. G Brown said that they have Open Studios twice a year, which is all local artists. A member of the public said that they have their own calendar for Beautiful Pittenweem, which they sell for £5.50, and added when festivals are on people like something to take away with them. P Copland said that he thought we should all look at any opportunity to raise money for the village. G Brown said that he thought that the other thing that we have to be aware of if we are selling things like calendars is that we will be selling to the same group of people. It is hard to be constantly asking the same folk. V Salvage said that one of the things that was discussed was to do something like Elie’s Scarecrow Festival. Elie’s Scarecrow Festival is successful and local businesses do well. G Brown said that, to be honest, if we could go back to having a Burns Night every year we would not have to do anything else. B Allan said that she thought the Scottish night with the stovies is a good idea. P Copland said that he thought we should have a word with E Hughes when she comes back from holiday. G Brown said, on the subject of the Common Good Fund, he had jotted down a few figures. What the floral display has cost us this year (excluding the Jimmy Braid Garden) is about £6,500 per annum. We got a grant of £370. Last year it was over £400. This year, due to the efforts of Bill Porteous we received sponsorship of £2,000. Somewhere we are short of £4,000. This year, G Brown said that he thought we should put in an application for up to £5,000. He said that he was looking for agreement that that is what we should do. He said that he personally felt that it is money well spent. We are using the village’s money, which we cannot use for much else and the village looks good and the businesses benefit from it. P Copland said the entrance to the village was stunning and said he thought it was worth it. A member of the public said that in time you may have to cut your cloth according to your income, and you may have to downsize the display to balance your income. G Brown said that he was very aware of that. P Copland said that a lot of people do visit the village because of it, and he said that he was sure the smaller businesses benefit from it. Without this money we could not make the display a possibility. G Brown said that some of the businesses that do benefit like the Smokehouse, Diving Gannet and Craig Millar’s, do contribute quite a sum of money towards the display in total. He went on to say that he did think that if we do want to go in for Beautiful Fife and to get a Gold Medal, we do need to do that. The only way to do it otherwise would be if people were to grow the plants themselves. A member of the public asked whether Beautiful St Monans got discount for buying so much. G Brown answered that they get a 30% discount on plants, and we get the baskets planted up at cost. £6,500 includes the watering used, adding that whether they get enough fertiliser is an issue. It is a constant battle to ensure that the fertiliser is used sufficiently. G Brown said that he thought that this year the baskets did better because of the change to begonias. P Copland said that the consensus was that G Brown should put the application in. |
P Copland
G Brown |
7 | Planning
G Brown said that there was nothing to report under Planning, but he did get a comment from the Council regarding requests for consultation and it is really just a re-iteration of what the procedure is. We have a right to request to be consulted for planning permission. We can ask for an extension of time to get back to them. We currently do that. |
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8 | Public Questions
8.1 Water Board Mess A member of the public said that there was a lot of stuff lying from the Water Board across from the garden at East Street. It is to be uplifted. |
J Docherty |
8.2 Rough Track at the Back of Miller Terrace
A member of the public complained that the heavy rain has highlighted the major issues. He said that he came along to the CC because he thought the CC was the forum to address this. He asked if he should take this to another forum. The member of the public said that it has become unusable; a vehicle will get stuck in it. P Copland said he would get to someone from the Council before the next meeting. The problem is to do with who pays for what. The member of the public said that he thought that we had got to the point where it was decided it was perfectly feasible to do, it was just who was responsible for the cost. |
P Copland |
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8.3 Drains
A member of the public asked about the problem with the drains – saying it was the sewers: in the top part of Queen Margaret Street; also in King David Street; one on the Braehead; and one along Castle Street. P Copland said that you are aware that it is a pump system and that everything comes down to the bottom of the village and then gets pumped back. Peter asked if no-one had contacted Scottish Water about that. Cllr D Macgregor suggested to try both Fife Council and Scottish Water. |
P Copland |
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8.4 Mess in Johnston’s Close
A member of the public said that when you come down from Braehead to Johnston’s Close the mess at the railings is disgusting. It is behind the bins. P Copland suggested that initially B Allan could contact Waste Aware. If we get no joy from them we could go to Community Payback to see if they could clean it up for us. |
B Allan |
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9 | AOCB
9.1 Signs W Buchan said that Colinsburgh Straight had works done on it 2 months ago and the signs are still there. Cllr D Macgregor said he would look into it. |
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9.2 Light
V Salvage said that the light at the top of the Plerick is now working. |
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9.3 Steps to come up to the Plerick
V Salvage said that Cllr E Riches had looked into a complaint that there is nothing to hang on to when coming up to the Plerick. Cllr Riches had said that she was not sure what is to happen regarding the steps, and said that a rail cannot go into the building or into the wall. However Cllr E Riches is going to try to have it sorted and funded. |
Cllr E Riches |
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9.4 (3.7) (9.3) Old Sleeper at Bottom of the Plerick Banking
V Salvage said that they have taken away the old sleeper. They do not have anything that is suitable so they are waiting to see if the bank falls down. |
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Close and Date of Next Meeting
P Copland thanked everybody for coming. The next Ordinary Meeting will be on Monday, 21st December 2015 at 7.30 pm in the Mayview Hotel Function Suite. |
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