Minutes of the Ordinary Meeting of the Burgh of St Monans and Abercrombie Community Council held on Monday 20^th February 2017 at 7.30pm

 

Present:

Peter Copland, Vicki Salvage, Bill Buchan, Vic Bland, Peter Peddie, Brenda Allan, Marjory Ashworth, Ena Hughes, Cllr John Docherty, Cllr Donald MacGregor and Cllr Elizabeth Riches.

 

1. Welcome and Apologies

P Copland opened the meeting and welcomed everybody

Apologies:  Elaine Porteous, Bill Porteous

15 members of the public.

 

2. Declarations of Interest

The Chairman asked anyone to declare their interest if that situation arose

 

3. Matters Arising
4. MUGA. Bill Buchan is putting together the formal opening of the MUGA. The St Monans Community Trust will be meeting soon to discuss the programme.
5. Dog Fouling. Nicola Wallace, Headteacher, together with P4/5 are doing a project and will also do a leaflet drop. Dawn Jamieson of the Safer Communities Team is happy to help. A small discussion followed on some well-publicized efforts from Boston CC, Liverpool CC and Ipswich CC involving rewards for people who are able to supply evidence of people not picking up their dog’s mess.
6. Overflowing Bins. Cllr Riches reported that FC is going to send letters to all owners of holiday properties to cover their duties on Health and Safety, as well as dealing with refuse. Advice will also be available on Fife Direct website. Nearly half of all properties that are let out have a contract with Resource Solutions to recycle and remove waste. A programme of visits will be carried out to check what information is left for visitors and, if necessary, contact will be made with individual owners. Obviously, this will be a lengthy process! After Easter, areas will be visited to assess the use of public bins and to check whether rubbish is left out unguarded for refuse collection day.
7. Abercrombie Potholes. These have been assessed again and, apparently, do not constitute a safety hazard. They will continue to be monitored and may be considered for patching in the future. Marjory Ashworth told us that the potholes closest to the verge have been filled in, but not any others. Cllr Riches added that Abercrombie speed check was still to be undertaken as there is quite a backlog.
8. Plerick Railing. Still nothing has happened yet.
9. Abandoned Cars. Cllr Docherty has nothing further to report.
10. Overhanging Hedge. A Drummond, FC Roads Network, has dropped in a line to the property
11. Traffic at Minimarket. Stuart Goodfellow has seen the difficulties and as a result has drawn up a plan to extend and repaint the existing double yellow lines; to install bollards on the pavement on the west side of the road and to replace and renew the school crossing signs. It was decided not to erect railings on the east side of the road, in front of the shop, as this would not deter most drivers as they are usually pointing down the hill and so the drivers would not be impeded by railings. This will not happen before the new financial year. The Chairman asked about extra enforcement by traffic wardens and Cllr Riches agreed to ask about it.
12. Incidents in East St. Cllr Riches reminded everybody of the crimestoppers no, 0800 555111.
13. Harbour Smell. An excavator is in the harbour now to dredge out the silt – 1.1m in the East and 1.6m in the West Harbours. Should take 6-8 weeks.
14. Light with No Number. Has been sorted quite quickly. Some discussion followed about the heritage lights at the harbour and whether they are being replaced.
15. Cemetery Seaweed and Leaves. Cllr Docherty to investigate further. Brenda Allan informed the CC that there is a new barrel at the cemetery for water.
16. Land at the Dawsie. Ownership has been proved.
17. Gardener’s Question Time. This was a great success and a sell-out.
18. Scots Language Project. Nicola Wallace informed us that 1 person came in to help, but this was enough for the project at this stage.
19. Beautiful St Monans. The next meeting of BSM is Thursday 16^th March at 6.30. The profit from the calendars was £129 and from the Welly Boot Garden £70.

 

Previous Minutes Approved

Proposer Vicki Salvage     Seconded Vic Bland

 

 

 

 

4. Chairman’s Report

83 people enjoyed the Burns Supper. The Chairman thanked the speakers, organisers and The Mayview for all their help in making the evening so enjoyable. The Senior Citizens Tea Party is on Sat 11^th March.The committee is happy to transport anyone who needs a lift. Peter Copland, Vicki Salvage, Bill Buchan and Vic Bland will be happy to oblige.

The International Food Festival is on Sat 4^th March. Church hall, 6.00pm. £7.50 per ticket, £6.50 concession and £20 for a family ticket.

 

5. Secretary’s Report

No word on a new secretary

There was one bit of correspondence; the Scottish Government is holding a consultation on the future of the Planning System. Some events will be taking place about this. Date and venue to be advised. The letter has been circulated to CC members.

 

6. Treasurer’s Report

The new Treasurer thanked George Brown for all his hard work over his time as Treasurer. The accounts seem to be in very good health.

The financial report, which has been circulated, lists all transactions from 1^st September, as that was the last report given to the CC.

Notable entries include: Burns Supper £727.60; Calendars £129.13 and Welly Boot Garden £69.17.

George applied for a grant of £5,000 from the Common Good Fund instead of the usual £3,000 to prevent us sailing too close to the wind with our finances.

 

7. Planning.

Jim Brown, architect and agent for the development at West End for Mr. & Mrs. R Marr, came to speak to the CC about the development. Robert is hoping to build a house for his retirement and has owned the site since 1980 and has been negotiating with planning since 2008. He ran through his response to some of the objections which have been raised; they have provided 3 parking spaces. The Right-of-Way Officer is happy with the 3m wide R-o-W at the side of the house. The site has had permission for a house since 1972. They have done their best to limit the size and height of the house. He conceded that it is a large house but it needs to be to justify the amount of work on the sea defences that needs to be undertaken. The Chairman then invited questions from the public. Mr. Brown was questioned on the loss of vista from the harbour and on the scale of the new build. Mr. Brown pointed out that there had been buildings there before and he had, as far as possible, tried to keep the scale in-keeping with what had been there before. Chairman pointed out that the new did not match the footprint of the old. He further asked about materials etc. in a conservation area. Mr. Brown that he was intending to use red pantiles and white roughcasting. Other questions included the sewerage infrastructure (Scottish Water problem) and the substantial glass wall, which is visible from the sea (awaiting a planning decision on that issue).

The Chairman told the CC that he had asked FC to delay any further action till after Feb 24th to allow for any more comments, positive or negative.

 

8. Public Questions

NONE!!

 

9. AOCB

Bill Buchan asked about trees planted at the Burn. Ian Barbour of FC to be asked. Brenda Allan noted that hawthorns had been donated by Miss Mitchell, a former district nurse.

Cllr Riches congratulated Brenda Allan on the Jimmy Braid Garden.

Beach Clean. Marjory Ashworth asked for an April/May date with a receding tide and Gordon Bell said he would liaise with her to find a suitable date. Best to avoid the weekend before the 1^st May, as this is a school holiday so some pupils may be away. The school usually does the village and east and the CC does west.

Coastwatch Peter Peddie let the CC know that Steven Gethins MP was visiting Coastwatch on Sat 4^th March to learn more about what they do. PP commended Coastwatch for looking after the Windmill and keeping it open more often now than had been the case in the past.

A member of the public asked about the future of the Bowling Club. A discussion followed on the Bowling Club and the member of the public was advised to speak to Damon Creevy.

 

10. Date of the Next Meeting

Monday 20^th March.

 

There being no further business, the Chairman closed the meeting.