Community Council Minute – 16th June
ST. MONANS AND ABERCROMBIE COMMUNITY COUNCIL
Minute of the ordinary general meeting, held in the Church Hall, Station Road on Monday 16th June 2025 at 7.30 pm
| Present: | Marjory Ashworth (Chair), Morven Syme (Vice Chair), Eileen Montador (Secretary), David Robertson (Treasurer), Peter Peddie, Cllr Alycia Hayes, Diane Martin (Minute Secretary) | |
| Apologies: | Mervyn Blank, Niamh Syme (Social Media) | |
| Members of the public: 6 | ||
| Welcome and apologies. Marjory Ashworth welcomed everyone to the meeting. Apologies were received and recorded. | ||
| 2. | Declarations of interest There were no declarations of interest. | |
| 3. | Place Plan A power point was shown at the meeting which detailed the questions and results of the village survey (see attached power point). A discussion followed regarding public transport to the village. Conclusions will now be drawn from this meeting’s discussions and the survey results which will feed into the new plan. | |
| 4. | Reports from Community Groups Heritage Collection – Mary Henderson There is currently a good pool of volunteers, lots of enthusiastic visitors and a published book available costing £5. There is, however, an issue with dampness in the building. This is causing a significant problem and a discussion followed regarding future options for ownership of a space for the Heritage due to the current building’s ‘repair lease’ and the associated unpredictable costs. ‘The Old Bank’ and the old Spar shop are up for sale and either could be a good site for the Heritage. Cllr Hayes will find out more information about how to progress purchasing a building for the Heritage. David Robertson will speak to Jim Parker from Fife Properties. Sea Queen – Vicky Robertson 12th July 2025 is Sea Queen day and all is going well. The Reaper is still going to appear on the day, weather permitting. Likely 2.30pm arrival time with the crowning at 3pm. There will be a disco at night, and more volunteers are needed to assist on the day. There will be a meeting with the parents of children taking part on Friday 20th June 2025. SMAKE – Pete Peddie Progressing well and currently waiting for legal work to be completed. Application to the Lottery Heritage Fund to be submitted in August for funds to do work to the tower, kitchen etc. Looking for letters of support for this funding application from official bodies etc. within the community. Memorial Garden – Mary Henderson Over £1000 was raised at the recent coffee morning, with other donations received from Jim Parker (Fife Properties) and from St Andrews University. There is currently good momentum, however, there is a delay with accessing funds from the Common Good Fund (CGF) of Fife Council. The application will be heard on 12th July, with no decision being made until 24th August. Initially the estimated cost was £30000, and the application to the CGF was for £15000. However, the new estimate is more in the region of £50000. David Robertson advised that we could change the amount on the application, but concerns were raised at the meeting about the increasing total for this project. There will also be a Memorial Garden run taking place on 22nd July (270 miles) to raise more funds. | |
| 4. | Last minutes and matters arising Overhanging trees/bushes on to the path along and across from number 11 in East Street and also George Terrace. This is the responsibility of Fife Council and private residents. Cllr Hayes/CC Secretary will contact the relevant parties.Double yellow lines requested for top of Inverie street/Queen Margaret Street by Cllr Hayes (in the meantime illegal parking on a bend can be reported to the police). M Ashworth will discuss parking issues with Cllr Dillon.Cllr Hayes has also requested a clean-up for the harbour area. The April minute was proposed by Eileen Montador and seconded by David Robertson. | |
| 5. | Police Matters and Report Community engagement at the St Monans nursery. Contact email address: eastneuklandwardCPT@scotland.police.uk 1 call from Abercrombie but no crimes recorded. 39 calls from St Monans and 4 crimes recorded. | |
| 6. | Chairperson’s Report – Marjory Ashworth There was no meeting in May as only 2 members of the CC could attend. The hall was opened in case people turned up. Thanks to all who turned up for the beach clean. Balcaskie provided assistance in collecting rubbish from the village. There was a huge number of tyres on the beach and a forklift assisted with removing them. Over 20 people assisted on the Sunday, and the school children helped on the Friday.Attended an engagement event which is currently on at Bowhouse from 2.30 to 7.30pm each day this week, showing the progress over the last 20 years from the original farm in 2005 to the current business and future plans.Pete and Marjory attended a zoom engagement meeting regarding funding available to do with the windmills in the Forth. This funding will provide the 6 CCs along the East Neuk coast with 20% of the funding being issued to the communities along the whole East Coast. For 3 years the 6 CCs in our area will receive a share of £54,000. Anstruther CC suggested that the funding could possibly be pooled with other CCs to fund a much larger project. No decisions made as yet.Hanging baskets are now up – 16 at the top of the village.CC requires more members on board. Advertising for new members to follow. Thanks were extended to Morven Syme who, after many years of help and service on the CC, has resigned due to time/work commitments. Morven was presented with a bouquet. | |
| 7. | Treasurer’s Report – David Robertson David has identified who now owns the old Spar shop building and will contact him in due course.David has also spoken to Hugh Wallace regarding the funding for the memorial garden.We don’t have the latest bank statement, but these are the projected balances:Cash flow account: last balance of £4025.03(minus £3150 for the memorial garden). Since then, £850 received from Billy Morris from the coffee morning fundraiser for the memorial garden. Also, an email received from Mary Henderson advising of bank transfers of £145 & £157, again for the memorial garden. Total for the memorial garden now at least £4302. David to attend bank van in Elie as he is now, thankfully, an approved signatory. He will seek the online banking option and obtain the new balance details.Floral account: £3012.52 – received a donation of £100 and welly boot garden £62.08. £3174.60 new balance. Bill for hanging baskets: £456 which is less than last year.Heritage account: £2453.06 – approximately £350 still to be deposited when received. | |
| 8. | Secretary’s Report – Eileen Montador Short term let control areas consultation – Cllr Hayes explained how Fife council will introduce the new measures. | |
| 9. | Members’ Reports Pete Peddie Salt Pans and Pool restoration project – looking for old photographs from the site to show how it used to look. Morven Syme 39 West End – removing a window and installing an extraction fan. Discussion followed about a property at the top of the Braehead and a property at the bottom of Burnside. Cllr Hayes will investigate. | |
| 10. | Councillors’ Reports Cllr A Hayes Cllr Hayes has attended the beach clean, the Bowhouse exhibition, the Auld Kirk and the NNG item. Alycia talked earlier about the short term let developments, and also advised how she has been involved in negotiations regarding the lease of The East Pier Smokehouse. | |
| 11. | Public Questions Step at top of Braehead & hedge at East Street already mentioned.Churchyard gate – barriers round it. CC will contact Liz Murphy from Fife Council to alert her to this issue.Johnston’s Close – rubbish outside Street sweeper regularly called away and taken off St Monans roads – concern about weeds – to be reported to the councillors.Other East Neuk towns have lots of seats – only two in St Monans at the harbour. Will be looked into.Heavy Good vehicle sign at top of Abercrombie Road/A917 junction has been disconnected and needs repaired. | |
| 12. | AOCB | |
| 13. | Close/date and time of next meeting The next meeting will be held on Monday 18th August at 7.00/7.15 pm. Marjory Ashworth thanked everyone for their attendance and brought the meeting to a close. | |
Comments
Community Council Minute – 16th June — No Comments
HTML tags allowed in your comment: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>