DRAFT Minutes of St Monans and Abercrombie Community Council meeting held on Monday 21 February 2022

Present:   V Salvage (Chair)   S Bridges (Secretary)   W Morris (Treasurer)   M Ashworth  M Syme   V Bland   E Montador   Cllr Porteous  Cllr Docherty and Cllr Holt      

Apologies: B Buchan, S Collier, H Ironside and N Cowie.

Members of the public:  29

1.           Welcome and apologies

No declarations of interest were noted at the beginning of the meeting and the Secretary confirmed the meeting was quorate. 

2.           Minutes of previous meeting and matters arising

The minutes of the meeting held on 15 November 2021, were taken as read. Mrs Salvage noted that the last set of AGM minutes had not been available. Mr Bridges will circulate separately and arrange for a copy to be uploaded onto the website. Under matters arising:

2.1         Christmas lights in the village

Mrs Salvage expressed her thanks to Mr Collier for his efforts in erecting the Christmas lights on the trees at the entrance to St Monans.

2.2         Railings on Station Road

Mr Bridges noted the considerable frustration of local residents concerning the utter lack of action on the part of Fife Council to repair these railings. It had been raised at every Community Council for four years and nothing had been done. The frustration was shared by the Ward Councillors.

2.3      The old Post Office property

Ms Montador agreed to write to the current owners to ask for an update on their plans as there remains community concern about the commercial property status of the property.

2.4      The former Mayview hotel property

It was confirmed by the current owner that Fife Council have not purchased the property.

Mrs Syme proposed, and Ms Montador supported, the adoption of the minutes. The minutes were signed by the Chair.

3.           Plans for a food premises beside St Monans Sea pool

Mrs Salvage explained that Mr Darren Peattie had been invited to attend to present his proposals at the meeting, but had been called away unexpectedly on an urgent business matter and had sent his apologies. However, he had provided a summary to Mrs Salvage and Mrs Syme about this. He also left a book (‘The Seafood Shack – tales from Ullapool’) which is the basis of his model. From his brief discussion with her, Mrs Salvage advised;

–             There would be no vehicular access -all food and materials would be carried to and from the proposed site.

–             Mrs Peattie would be running the establishment and in charge of the catering

–             It will be situated at the old trampoline, next to the steps

–             It will be a wooden structure and would be removed at the end of each ‘season’

–             No alcohol would be served (and no need for a licence)

–             Opening times from 12 noon until 8pm every day

–             No electricity or drainage would be required. Butane gas will be the source of fuel. Everything would be self-contained.

–             Water would be carried onto the site and all wastewater removed

–             Would employ up to 15 local people, including a ‘litter picker’

–             Nothing of value will be left overnight

–             As there is no permanent structure nor infrastructure required, no planning application is necessary

Many questions were raised by the audience concerning the consultation process, trading and planning application status, proposed layout, health & hygiene issues, toilet issues, damage to the immediate vicinity, the tender process undertaken by Fife Council and Fife Coast & Countryside Trust, ownership of the land and proposed timelines. Mrs Syme and Mr Bridges took a note of these questions and will send these onto Mr Peattie.

It was agreed that the Community Council couldn’t make an informed decision about the proposal until the unanswered questions had been addressed and it was agreed to defer making a decision until the next meeting when Mr Peattie would be invited back to answer these questions.

4.           Chair’s Report

The Burns Supper was a great success and Mrs Salvage expressed her sincere thanks to Pete Peddie, the children from St Monans primary school and the seventy-two guests for making it such a special night. Thanks were given to the children who were keen to recite and sing in Scots. She also expressed her thanks to the inspirational guest pianist, Jessie Lyon who played throughout the evening and to Val McDermid for giving the immortal memory.  The event covered the costs and provided a surplus to cover the purchase of books for the P1- P7 Burns competitions held in the school.

The arson at the community re-cycling centre and public toilet. Unfortunately, this damage was in excess of £2,000. In addition, vandalism was reported down at the harbour, including the safety belt and securing ropes being thrown into the harbour.  The Harbour Master is very keen to have the culprits caught for this stupid and potentially life-threatening act. The police are aware of both incidents and Mrs Salvage urged anyone with information to contact the police. Cllr Porteous also noted that anyone could report their suspicions to a Ward Councillor on an anonymous basis.  He also noted that local Facebook pages had suggested some additional vandalism in cutting farm fencing towards the coastal path. 

Mrs Salvage and Mr Morris have been informed by local residents of concerns about a young, tall, male approaching householders in the Forth Street/East Street area and begging for money. He was also asking for bank cards. Mrs Syme agreed to inform the police of these incidents.

Finally, Mrs Salvage encouraged residents to look at the recent local transport consultation documents published by Fife Council. The consultation is very important and wasn’t simply about buses! For example, it highlighted potential sites for outline planning permission zones. The website can be found at:

http://www.fife.gov.uk/transportstrategy

5.           Secretary’s Report

Mr Bridges read out the January report from the Community police. 

25 calls to the police, consisting of various types including noise complaints, disturbance, false call, concern for person, road traffic matters, communications incident, intruder alarms and dropped 999 calls. 1 crime recorded in this period.

In addition, it was noted that PC Wallace had traced a vehicle in St Monans being driven without a valid insurance policy. As a result, the drivers’ vehicle was seized and they were issued with a £300 fine and had 6 points endorsed on their licence.

It was also noted that an alcohol licence application had been received for the Giddy Gannet on Station Road. It was subsequently withdrawn due to a technical issue regarding its issue. A revised application will be resubmitted next month.

The next Community Council elections, due in October 2022, has been postponed by twelve months at that request of the Scottish government.

Finally, Mr Bridges read out the following report from the Beautiful St Monans team:

“Over winter our gardening group have managed to meet almost every week and do a bit of tidying, planting, replacing broken barrels round the village.

We have noticed that one of the large carved wooden structures in the Serenity Garden has rotted at the bottom and is on its side. It is quite heavy and would need cemented in (we think) if it was to be erected again safely.

The group was approached by Jayne Wilding with the offer of some Silver Birch trees to plant in the village.  Peter Peddie has said that planting a few Silver Birches should be possible along the Sandy Kirn. (Another possibility thought of was by the new playpark.)

Hugh Wallace has kept in touch with our group regarding the garden area for the proposed memorial garden and has asked for an estimate of how much the plants would cost.  (We will give a rough estimate of what we think the plants would cost.)

Thank you to Pathhead Nurseries for all their plants, help, support and advice over the years. And thank you too to Tom Swankie, whose watering helped to keep all the annuals in the hanging baskets, tubs, boats and barrels flowering for longer than ever last year.  Our thanks also to everyone who has donated money, which all goes towards paying for plants and their watering. We really appreciate your support in our efforts in trying to make the village look tidy and beautiful.

Towards the end of last year, we planted the two beds in front of the school with mostly perennials (from East Neuk Perennials and Cambo).  We hope that this will provide colour and interest in summer and continue to grow for several years.

Also, thank you to our gardening group of volunteers who meet every week – when they can – and do a bit of gardening round the village.  And thank you too to everyone else who does a bit by them – or sees something needing weeding or watering and does it. It all makes a difference to the village.

Dillon – the boat by the East Pier – is old and, sadly, crumbling. Dillon was patched, painted and planted by two of us, and looked great, but if anyone knows of a boat that would make a good replacement for Dillon we would be very grateful.

If anyone would like to join in with our weekly village gardening meet ups, we meet on Wednesdays at 1.30 pm, (unless the weather is really dreadful) at the Serenity Garden. You would be made very welcome”.

6.           Treasurer’s Report

The current bank balance is £2,803.52. However, approx. £3,500 is due to be paid out for plants and associated watering costs. Mr Morris expressed confidence that funding will be provided to fund the difference.

Internal repairs to the Heritage Centre to allow the building to remain watertight   will cost £1206. It is expected that the Common Good Fund will be approached to help in funding for the Centre.

7.           Members Reports

i.            Planning matters:  Mrs Syme noted there was nothing of significant concern in any planning applications.

ii.           Heritage Centre: On behalf of the Community Council, Mr Morris expressed condolences to the family of Mr. Jack Marr a strong supporter of the Heritage Centre. The plan is to open the Centre up in summer (and not April as previously hoped).        

Mr Morris also mentioned that 8 members of ‘Remembering the Accused Witches of Scotland (“RAWS”) had visited St Monans to go to the Heritage Centre and the Auld Kirk. Through its recent street naming, St Monans is the first village in North East Fife to recognise the injustice of a young   local woman for being executed for “witchcraft”. Maggie Morgan Drive on the Lochay Homes development is dedicated to the memory of this young woman.

iii.          Proposal to change leadership structure within the Waid school cluster group: Mr Bridges read out the following statement from Mrs Ironside:

“Fife Council have announced that they would like to change the leadership models for the East Neuk Cluster. The cluster also known as the feeder schools for the Waid Academy covers Lundin links, Upper Largo, Colinsburgh, Elie, St Monans, Pittenweem, Anstruther & Crail.

Each of the models sees the removal of the Head teacher from primary schools with one ‘super head’ covering all primary schools and potentially the Waid Academy as well. Many of the primary schools in the cluster already share a head teacher. St Monans is shared with Pittenweem which does bring with it a few issues, but each school would have either a depute head or principal teacher in the school on a full-time basis.

The general consensus across the cluster is that now is not the time to be implementing such a big change.  Education is still recovering from the disruption caused by the pandemic and these proposals feel too rushed especially given the time scale:

•            Parent Councils have until the end of February to respond to Fife Council with their thoughts on these proposals.

•            The outcome of what proposal has been chosen will be announced at the end of March.

•            Applications and interviews will be completed by the end of June

•            New leadership model will be in place for schools going back in August.

Community Councils are being asked if they could show their support and write to Fife Council Education Leadership Team and ask to postpone these proposals for at least a year to allow for proper consultation with all parents & carers and not just the Parent Councils of the individual schools.

Finally, I have to inform the Community Council that following comments made after the last parent council meeting, I have resigned as chair of the parent council with immediate effect”.

Ms Abbie Connors asked if she could address the meeting. She stated that she was now acting Chair of the Parent Council and distributed leaflets asking for resident opinions on the proposals. She supported the view that most parents did not believe this was the right time to undertake such fundamental changes.  Many children were struggling with issues post covid, including mental health related and Miss Wallace provided stability to the pupils of St Monans primary school.

She also mentioned that the press and television were coming to the school on Tuesday at 3.15pm to record the demonstration against this proposal.  Everyone was invited to attend.

Mrs Syme was fully supportive of the Parents Council and referred to her own experience in dealing with a similar management structure at Waid Academy, where there may be five or six different members of staff for a parent to talk to, but no-one central source to raise parent concerns.

Cllr Holt expressed the view that the North East of Fife was being used as a testing ground for this proposed structure, with the decision being taken by Councillors who did not live in rural communities. The proposal was unfair on both children and teachers.  Many teachers agreed with the concerns raised. She also suggested that it was a cost cutting exercise and directed people to her online petition to object to the proposal. She has written to the Chief Executive at Fife Council to express her objections.

Noting the inadequate consultation process with parents and the proposed implementation deadline, Cllr Porteous was fully in support of the Parents Council. Cllr Docherty was equally supportive and noted that he had been actively challenging his party’s convenor of the Education committee to delay this proposal and put it back out for meaningful consultation.

Mrs Syme agreed to draft a letter to Fife Council opposing the plans and expressing the Community Council’s support for the Parent Council concerns.

Cllr Docherty also mentioned that the East Neuk Forum was trying to organise a special emergency meeting to discuss this.

8.           Councillor Updates

Cllr Docherty advised that that Fife Council General Enquiries telephone number for reporting faults had changed to 03451 55 00 00. It had also changed its opening times to 9am to 5pm.

Cllr Porteous produced a copy of the CAP 2018 -2022 report and noted that it would soon be time to undertake an update. Referring to some of its positive projects, he hoped that community groups, including the Community Council, would take part in developing a new plan. He also noted that he continued to work on trying to get more 20mph zones within the East Neuk. Finally, he advised that discussions and work was still ongoing with Fife Council officials and residents concerning improvements to the area around the Broad Court area.

8.           Public Questions

Mrs Salvage then invited questions from the public.

i.            Queen Margaret Street resurfacing:  A resident asked whether Lochay Homes would undertake to resurface the entire street as it was in an atrocious state. Cllr Porteous has already taken this up with Lochay Homes and was looking for the pavements and roadway to be resurfaced.

ii.           Damage to pathway beside burn and new development: Another resident asked what Lochay Homes would do to tidy up this area. Other than concreting the bank. Mrs Syme did note that the developers had created a wider path and had added some new plants to the surrounding areas, but agreed a tidy up would be helpful. Cllr Holt asked for some pictures to be sent to her and she would follow up. Mrs Syme agreed to do so.

iii.          Lochay Homes donation towards a children’s community event: It was noted that in October, Lochay Homes had generously provided a donation of £50 following pictures on Facebook of some local children cleaning up Queen Margaret Street during construction works. The resident who had taken the donation (and lives on Queen Margaret Street) had then promoted a children’s community event. This was subsequently cancelled due to covid. The question was asked what had happened to the donation? It was noted that the event had not been Community Council sponsored and therefore couldn’t be answered by Community Councillors.

9.           AOCB

i.            Pittenweem temporary traffic lights:   Cllr Docherty noted that the traffic lights should be removed by the end of this week.  

10.         Date of Next Meeting

The next meeting of the Community Council will be on Monday 21 March 2021 at 7.30pm. 

There being no other business, Mrs Salvage closed the meeting.