ST. MONANS AND ABERCROMBIE COMMUNITY COUNCIL

Minute of the ordinary general meeting, held in the Church Hall, Station Road on Monday 16th February 2026 at 7.30 pm

Present: Marjory Ashworth (Chair), Eileen Montador (Secretary), David Robertson (Treasurer), Katy Gall,Cllr Alycia Hayes, Diane Martin (Minute Secretary)

Apologies: Peter Peddie, Suzy Cheong

Members of the public: 7

1. 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. Reports from Community Groups

SMAKE – Marjory Ashworth (for Peter Peddie)
The first AGM of SMAKE will be held on the 24thFebruary in the Auld Kirk. This is open to all. Membership renewals were issued on 1st February at a cost of £10.

Pools and Pans – Marjory Ashworth (for Peter Peddie)
Persistent East wind and storms have affected the whole coastline, and the Pans have suffered some damage. The group are currently waiting for the initial Scope of Works to be completed and there is a meeting planned for this Thursday. This should provide an idea of the scale and cost of the works necessary.

Sea Queen – Vicky Roberston
There are no S4 girls willing to participate as the Sea Queen this year. The committee are now considering S3 girls and hopefully one, who is from St Monans, will take part. This year, Sea Queen Day will be held on 25th July. There will be no food festival but there will be a ticketed ‘Bongo Bingo’ event on Friday 3rd April which will hopefully attract more young people. On the night of the Sea Queen Andy Cheong has been booked to sing.

Larder – Alison Child
The numbers have reduced in the last few weeks, perhaps due to the weather? Still doing soup up until the end of March.

Arts Festival – Helen Marshall
The confirmed dates for the Arts Festival weekend for 2026 are 5th-7th September.

Floral Group – Katy Gall
200 plug plants and some replacement tubs have been ordered.

ENCEPT – East Neuk Community Emergency Planning Team – Marjory Ashworth
Marjory Ashworth gave a short presentation to the meeting outlining the work of ENCEPT. Leaflets and fridge magnets with emergency contact details were also distributed. In a community emergency, local people can phone 0800 999 6543 to report, for example, floods, pandemics, severe weather incidents and major transport incidents. ENCEPT can help the local community, not by replacing statutory emergency services, but by supporting the overall response. ENCEPT has provided all Community Councils with Emergency Bags, First Aid kits and shovels. In St Monans, these are stored in the church hall. For further information, this group can be followed on Facebook- East Neuk Community Emergency Planning Team.On the 11th of June 2026 there will be a Thursday night training event held in Anstruther Town Hall. Cllr Hayes welcomed the publicity about this group to ensure locals know about the service and assistance available.

4. Last minutes and matters arising
• Police were approached regarding the crime figures. There are many repeat callers but due to manpower, it is not possible to further analyse the calls received.
• Katy Gall has been in contact with Scottish Gas, who supply the electricity to the Heritage, and it will be at least 2 weeks before she can obtain an update here. David Robertson is looking into the water issue and is having difficulty making progress because the name on the account is the owner of the building which houses the Heritage. He has provided the meter number and is hopeful the situation can be resolved.
• Newsletter update – forward to next meeting due to Peter Peddie’s absence.
• 56 Newark Street – owners are submitting a retrospective planning application.
• Steet lights in Gourlay Crescent reported.The January minute was proposed by Eileen Montador and seconded by Katy Gall.

5. Police Matters and Report
Police model to change in the East Neuk. Paperwork was made available at the meeting for viewing.Contact email address: eastneuklandwardCPT@scotland.police.uk 2 calls from Abercrombie with 0 crimes recorded. 18 calls from St Monans and 1 crime recorded.

6. Chairperson’s Report – Marjory Ashworth
• Thanks were extended to all who attended the Burns Supper which was a great community night. There was difficulty selling tickets, but money was raised through raffles etc., which will be put towards the cost of the prizes for the Burns Competition held at the primary school. A warm letter of thanks was received from Oliver Peltier, and this was read out to the meeting. There were also warm thanks received from Ian Greig, and from Fiona Pollock of Ardross (via Facebook). There followed a discussion about the CC holding its own bar for future events to help raise more money for funds.
• Beach Clean – following the recent storms the beach needs cleaned. It is important to get the help of strong men/young people (scouts? Men’s Shed? Larder?) as strength is needed to move some of the large tyres/creels etc. washed up. A skip will be kept at Bowhouse with quad bikes/trailers transporting the rubbish from beach to skip. A date has yet to be arranged.

7. Treasurer’s Report – David Robertson
Cash Flow Balance – £2006 paid in to the account from the sale of Burns Supper Tickets. However, the caterer and hall booking have still to be paid. Memorial Garden Balance – £2,332.61 – application in for funding from Fife Council for £10000. 24/25 admin grant – asking for more info. Floral Garden Balance – £651.84 spent this month. Balance remaining £2230.65. Heritage Balance – £1915.53 paid to the electricity supplier. £107.19 to the water supplier. Balance remaining of £1492.93.

8. Secretary’s Report
• Email received re sea wall at the West End. 43 West End – further issues re sea wall below last year’s repair. CC to pass on to FCCT, Michael Anderson of Fife Council, and also copy in Cllr Alycia Hayes.
• Proposal received from Fife Council for A917 to B942 for a 40mph speed limit, and asking for comment from the CC. A discussion followed with mixed views and opinions. Cllr Hayes advised the meeting of Fife Council’s approach to traffic calming/safety in the East Neuk and highlighted that it is worth people submitting any objections/opinions directly to the authority. The meeting was consulted and this topic was quite controversial. Marjory Ashworth will consult Peter Peddie for his views, as the road concerned is directly adjacent to his property.
• Letter received from Fife Licensing Board regarding an application for the Harbour Food Shop. No objections from the CC and the secretary will reply accordingly.

9. Members’ Reports
• Planning reports – Amendment received from 26 Braehead for porch/timber fence.
• David Robertson updated the group that NNG wind farm fund money was available and that they hope to receive grant applications for this money.David Roberston highlighted that an amendment to the planning application for Le Sonas in Abercrombie, which was received by Fife Council on 23rd December, was apparently granted permission on 5th January despite the local authority being closed for the Christmas period at this time. This amendment was for the felling of a mature tree and the tree was removed very quickly thereafter. Concerns were raised at the meeting about the planning process here, especially as the CC had already raised an objection to the initial application for the erection of a garage. The CC will send a letter to the Council regarding concerns about the process followed here. Cllr Hayes will also look into this.

10. Councillors’ Reports
Cllr Alycia Hayes
• Extended her thanks for the invitation to do the Immortal Memory at the recent Burns Supper and commented positively on the success of this event.
• Gritters will be out tonight at 4pm and in the morning at 4am.
• Requested a speed survey at Inverie Street• Reported the play furniture in Newark Street park.
• Regarding the comment about the sea wall repair, £250000 is the total annual FC budget for repairs to the entire Fife coast. Michael Anderson is person responsible at Fife Council, and Cllr Hayes has requested that a further 0.5 million is added to the annual budget.
• Has held meetings with key officers of the Council to encourage that they take into account the opinions of Community Councils.
• Disabled parking places – FC months behind in making decisions.

11. Public Questions
• mechanical road sweeper was out after last meeting.
• Dog fouling is a continual problem in the village – Cllr Hayes advised that photos/evidence is required to enable further action.
• New video game coming out which was filmed around St Monans – village called St. Amelia -Silent Hill on the BBC website. Possible donations from the production company?
• Query re new noticeboard – will be erected in the next phase.
• Query re the public art/sculpture in the new housing estate? To be followed up.

12. AOCB
• Gritter pattern – still putting all the salt to one side of the road. Also, it is no longer going up the street where the fire station is.
• Council’s new gardening dept – are cutting excessive amounts at side of the road and also not in the correct place to enable the water to go down the drains.

13. Close/date and time of next meeting
The next meeting will be on Monday 16th March at 7.00/7.15 pm. Marjory Ashworth thanked everyone for their attendance and brought the meeting to a close.