Community Council Minutes - February 2020

Draft Minutes Fossoway and District Community Council
4th February 2020, Carnbo Village Hall

Attending: Community Cllrs Sarah Bruce-Jones, Trudy Duffy, Carol Farquhar, Carole Haigh, Michael Haigh and Graham Pye; P&K Cllrs Mike Barnacle, Callum Purves, Willie Robertson and Richard Watters; Seven Members of the Public (MoP).
Apologies: Community Cllrs Angus Cheape and Rob Young.
Declarations of Interest: None.

Police report: There were no incidents to note in our area since the last CC Meeting from the Commander’s Reports received via Perth and Kinross Community Watch. Two trays of rolls were recently stolen from outside the Crook of Devon shop.
No officer was present, but Trudy will ask them to come in future, since they are holding Surgeries elsewhere.
Cllr Cheape reported that the Police have been carrying out speed checks on the A977 and A91, and has spoken to the Officers involved.

Minutes of the previous meeting: The minutes of the previous meeting were signed off without amendment.

Matters Arising
Rumbling Bridge Gorge Bridge: CCllr Duffy reported that there will be another site meeting, probably at 10am on the 15th February, to ensure that the new design which increases the clearance above high water level is acceptable. CCllr Bruce-Jones suggested that we ask the local school children to hold a competition to name the bridge. A MoP asked about access for wheelchair users, and although this is intended to be part of the design, as far as possible, there may still be steps on one side – Cllr Barnacle will ask PKC’s Greenspace team if they can help.

Hydro Scheme Fund: There are hardly any applications from this area to both this and several other funds. The Hydro fund have three applications under examination at present, details should be available next month.

Powmill in Bloom: CCllr Farquhar reported that judging for this year’s Well Kept Village competition will be held in March. The group members are meeting to plan their preparations. An application has been made for a grant to fund equipment to be used by the group.

Crook & Drum Growing Together: CCllr Duffy reports that the group is also preparing for the Well Kept Village competition. In the summer they are planning to provide a planted up tub or hanging basket to every house on the main street – hopefully to then be maintained by the householder.

Fossoway Area Transport/DRT: Cllr Barnacle reported that there was a PKC wide transport forum on 16th January. Cllr Barnacle will set up another local meeting in February; this CC will be represented by CCllrs Farquhar and Michael Haigh.

Crook Moss Travellers Site: Cllr Barnacle, CCllr Farquhar and Mr and Mrs McGregor from the Traveller’s Site, together with representatives from the Police, PKC’s Planning and Community Liaison departments and SEPA attended a meeting on 14th January. The planners have two enforcement issues outstanding, one for drainage connection now proposed to be done by March. Cllr Barnacle is trying to co-ordinate the contractor to improve the chances of successful completion. There doesn’t seem to be much progress on the other enforcement issue. The Police were unable to throw any light on the problem currently in the hands of the CID; meanwhile the site is not currently occupied by any residents.

LDP2: The Supplementary Guidance on Landscape doesn’t include designation of Devon Gorge and the Cleish Hills; Cllr Barnacle has proposed an amendment to include them but this was defeated, however Cllr Barnacle is continuing with his efforts, and has some support from PKC’s CEO.

Blairingone War Memorial: A Listed Building application (19/01944/LBC) has been made and supported by this CC.

Vegetation on Aldie Road: Cllr Barnacle will ask for the ditches to be cleared.

Cemetery Extension: The Church is keen to progress this development, but it is currently held up pending identification of who would lease the land from the Church. Cllr Barnacle plans to drive creation of a Community Trust to resolve this. Other people expressed an interest in being part of the Trust.

Matters Arising with no update since last meeting:
A977 Mitigation, Ivy Cottage Powmill and Powmill Play Park: No information at present.

New Business:
Fossoway Gathering: Will be held on Saturday 23rd May, CCllr Duffy appealed for volunteers to help with preparation and on the day, details on the Gathering’s Facebook page. A fund raising whisky tasting event will take place on the 22nd February in the Crook of Devon Hall.

Dunning Glen Forestry: A large area of land (approximately 1000 hectares/2500 acres), known as Coulshill Shoot, near Auchterarder has been acquired by the pension fund of one of the electricity companies. They intend to create a new woodland on the site, which is to the north-east of the Green Knowes wind farm. The developers expect to publish concept design proposals shortly. The woodland is expected to be mostly coniferous, but include significant open spaces and native broadleaves.

Great British Spring Clean: will be held between 20th March and 13th April, although Scotland has its own campaign in April and May, see https://www.keepscotlandbeautiful.org/ for details.

Community Council Business
Sports Hub: CCllr Farquhar was unable to attend the last meeting, but has received the minutes.
Treasurer: The annual top-up grant of £351.24 from PKC has been received.

P&K Councillors’ Reports
Willie Robertson: The Community Investment Fund was approached to finance equipment for Community Speedwatch but this was turned down, so another source of funding is being sought. Fly tipping appears to be increasing, all should keep an eye open and note registration numbers of culprits and pass them to the Police. The Budget process in currently in progress.

Mike Barnacle and Callum Purves: Nothing not already described above.

Richard Watters: The scheme to finance Wi-Fi provision in Village Halls is well under way. A Climate Change Partnership between the Council and Businesses is to be set up – it would be good if CCs were also involved.

Planning Matters
19/02066/FLL Erection of a dwelling house (plot 1) at Land 30 metres south of Crook of Devon House, Main Street, Crook of Devon. This application only arrived on the afternoon of the last meeting so was subsequently discussed by email. The CC did not comment.

20/00073/IPL Renewal of permission 17/00029/IPL (Erection of a dwelling house (in principle)) at Land 50 metres north of Craighead House, Drum. No CC Comment

20/00074/IPL Renewal of permission 17/00947/IPL Erection of a dwelling house (in principle) at Land 60 metres north-west of Craighead House, Drum. No CC Comment

Decided Applications
19/01881/IPL Residential development (in principle) Land 80 metres north-east of Powmill Milk Bar, Powmill. The Application was refused – the CC had objected.

19/01651/IPL Renewal of permission 16/01450/IPL (Erection of a dwelling house) (in principle) Land 30 metres north-west of Firs of Viewfield, Drum. Approved – the CC did not comment.

19/01921/FLL Alteration and extension to dwelling house and formation of raised decking area (in part retrospect) 3 Riverside Lodges, Main Street, Crook of Devon, Kinross, KY13 0UQ. Approved – the CC did not comment.

19/01539/FLL Erection of four dwelling houses at Land 30 metres south of Easter Muirhead Bothy Blairingone. The CC had objected to this application, and the planning department responded to our objection, however not all of their responses are satisfactory: The CC sought clarity on the ownership of the land, however it’s still not clear who the existing conditions will be held against. Clearly Scottish Water must have infrastructure in this area, otherwise there would be no supply, and hence the concerns expressed by neighbours are relevant.

Correspondence - All correspondence was available for viewing: The CC has been invited to a consultation on Future Policy Development of Sexual Entertainment Venues, as licensing of these venues has been devolved from the Scottish Government to Local Authorities. Comments can be sent to civiclicensing@pkc.gov.uk.

The proposed 40mph limits at Crook of Devon and Blairingone described last month are likely to go ahead following support from this CC.

AOCB: A MoP asked about the continuing problem with rubbish at the Devonshaw quarry. Cllr Barnacle has made attempts to contact the owner but with no success, and in the absence of such contact there is little that can be done.
Following the planned closure in the Kinross branch of the TSB in May, closure of the Bank of Scotland branch in Kinross has now also been announced. This will mean that there are no permanent bank branches anywhere in Kinross-shire, with only two ATMs outside premises. The CC will write to our MP asking for action to preserve branches in the area.

Draft Agenda for Next CC Meeting

Welcome and Apologies, Declarations of Interest, Community Policing, Minutes of last meeting.
Matters arising: Rumbling Bridge Gorge Bridge, Powmill in Bloom, Crook & Drum Growing Together, Fossoway Area Transport, Crook Moss Traveller’s Site, A977 Mitigation, Blairingone War Memorial, Community Land Trust.
Community Councillors: Meetings Attended, PKC Councillors’ Reports, Planning, Correspondence, AOCB

Next Meeting: Tuesday 3rd March 2020 at 7:30 pm
Fossoway Primary School
All Welcome