St Monans & Abercrombie Community Council

MINUTES for the Monthly General Meeting Monday, 21^st November, 2022 ~ 7.30pm
Church Hall, Station Rd, St Monans

Present: 4 Members of the public

CC members: V. Salvage (Chair), M. Ashworth (Vice), B. Morris (Treasurer)

                          M. Syme, M. Blank, R. Crocker

Apologies: CC members T .Hardie, S. Bridges, E. Montador,

                      Councillors: Cllr A. Hayes, Cllr F. Corps, Cllr S. Dillon

(With no councillors available tonight the Annual General Meeting (AGM) was postponed until December.)

Mrs Salvage welcomed everyone and thanked those who attended especially when so many are ill with flu, covid and nasty colds.

There were no declarations of interest.

Matters Arising:  A special meeting was recently arranged by Councillors and CC members and seemed to be generally accepted as a success by most Gourlay Crescent residents. Some residents were disappointed because not all the invited specialists/agencies attended, however others felt that there was at last some recognition and appreciation of their difficulties, and some real hope that there will be improvements, albeit not perhaps as quickly as they would all want.

In attendance at the special meeting were our three Fife Councillors, three Housing Officers and a Safety Officer, 2 members from the Residents Association and 5 CC members. A further meeting was proposed for February as a follow up, as we need to ‘keep everything in sight’. Plus a general Clean Up of Gourlay Crescent was proposed and accepted as a springtime project.

One positive outcome was information giving residents a dedicated phone number to use when reporting problems and trouble to the police. The police also reinforced the need for ALL incidents to be reported, as they can only act when crimes and antisocial behaviour etc is actually reported by those who witness it.

Since the meeting the reporting of such incidents has increased allowing the police to patrol more often.

At the CC meeting a member of the public reported that one problem house had since been emptied.

There is also a hope that one of the problem addresses may be ‘returned to the mainstream housing list’ in the near future.

Minutes were accepted/Proposed by Morven Syme. Seconded by Mervyn Blank.

Police Matters: There was no Police Report received in time for the November CC meeting.
V. Salvage explained she made efforts to contact PCs Wallace and Cook by emailing the email address she had received, but no reply was received in time for the November meeting.

Chair’s Report:  
CC Secretary Vacancy: V. Salvage explained to the meeting that as no one has shown any interest in taking the CC Secretary office ~ everyone on the CC should be prepared to take their turn in minuting a monthly meeting and typing up the minutes. It’s too much to expect the Vice Chair, Marjory and the Chair, Vicki, to be responsible for this every month. Last time there was a period of time without a CC secretary almost every member of the CC was gracious enough to take their turn! (We are still willing to pay a non-CC member to attend and minute our monthly meetings and type up the minutes afterwards ~ please spread this info to anyone who might be willing.) There is also a vacancy on the Community Council. If any resident is interested in joining our CC, please contact the Chair.
Allotments – There was a rumour that a chairperson had been appointed to head an allotment committee for the forthcoming allotments on the new estate, however this was and is untrue. Anyone interested in having an allotment in Fife should apply to Peter Duncan at Fife Council. It is not guaranteed that you will be offered one of the new allotments, but it would be wise to apply sooner rather than later. We are due to have a speaker to talk to us about Tree Planting in St Monans in January.

Burns Supper: Our annual CC sponsored Burns Supper will take place in early February. The date for your diaries is Saturday 4^th of February. As always the programme looks very interesting ~ more about that to come in January.
Other St Monans Events for 2023: The present small St Monans Sea Queen Committee hopes that there will be volunteers willing to become new committee members. If you would like more information please contact Steve and Linda Collier, or leave a message on the ‘St. Monans Sea Queen’ facebook page. Other familiar events include The Senior Citizens’ Tea Party (aka The Old Folks’ Treat) and the Annual St Monans Beach Clean both of which are sponsored by our Community Council. Treasurer Billy is also hoping we can sponsor a fundraiser for The Heritage Collection. Lastly, it is expected that CC members will join with others in St Monans and Abercrombie to arrange a village event to celebrate the Coronation of King Charles III on 6^th May, 2023.

Treasurer’s Report:  B. Morris circulated accounts and raised questions about a Cash Management Account. Billy wishes to discuss this with the previous Treasurer and to find out more about signatures. Apparently, money has been going into the wrong accounts due to errors concerning Fife Council. Months later this is still a problem despite Billy giving FC all necessary details last March. Some of this will be tabled for discussion during our next CC meeting, in January 2023. We also need the Councillors involvement due to previously difficult questions about the CGF. Surely the value of this should be given to the CC on a regular basis? B. Morris has other difficulties due to work completed, and still required, inside and outside the Heritage Collection premises. One tricky issue is the water charge that is demanded for the Heritage Rooms, even though the building was closed up for over two years. Treasurer B. Morris has suggested applying for CGF money to help pay for the Senior Citizens’ Tea Party, to repair a damp wall inside the Heritage premises and to pay the outstanding water bill which has gone up since the first demand. After spending a lot of time on the phone to a debt collecting firm it was agreed that an interim payment of £500 of the £1300 bill would stop the stream of demands for a short time before the other £800 is demanded, as this was apparently an SNP imposed tax/charge, Billy would like to know why all premises were charged as being alike, when they clearly are not! As the Heritage Collection survives only on donations and small grants, finding that money is a worry our Treasurer does not need. We also need FC’s legal team to effect a change in what is now only an annual rolling lease. This really gives our much-loved Heritage Collection no real security of tenure ~ especially as the owner of the building is very elderly.

Secretary Vacancy:  We still require a secretary. This was also mentioned under the Chair’s Report above.

Members’ Reports:  None

Councillors’ Reports: No Reports as no councillors were present.                                                                (Also Matters Arising!)  Cllr Hayes has been unable to circulate any information about the cemetery – or any information about her visit to Bankhead Central. We hope these can be followed up in due course.

Public Questions:  NO public questions ~ first time ever!

AOCB: A statement was read out from the Kirk Session of St Monans Church of Scotland about St Monans Auld Kirk. There was news of a Presbytery Meeting coming up in Dunfermline to which members of the congregation were invited, but could not speak. It is hoped there may be further information to report soon.

Thanks & Close of meeting: Mrs Salvage Thanked all present for their attendance and wished everyone The Compliments of the Season!

The next CC meeting will be on 16^th of January 2023 ~ as December is a CC holiday month.