Community Council Minutes - January 2016

Draft Minutes Fossoway and District Community Council
5th January 2016, Blairingone Primary School

As mentioned in last month’s minutes we omitted some agenda items from the EGM, so another one was held before the start of the normal meeting:
Election of Vice Chair: Richard Nesbitt; Proposed: Trudy Duffy; Seconded: Graham Pye.
The Constitution, Standing Orders and Code of Conduct were adopted.
The treasurer gave a brief financial statement: The current balance is £148.10.
Dates of the meetings for the rest of the year are as follows: 2nd February, 1st March, 5th April, 3rd May (AGM), 7th June.
There were no outstanding training issues.
This concluded the EGM, and the normal meeting followed.

Attending: Community Cllrs: Trudy Duffy (TD), Graham Pye (GP) and Graham Kilby (GK); Cllrs Mike Barnacle and Joe Giacopazzi; 13 Members of the Public.
Apologies: CClrs: Kevin Borthwick (KB), Angus Cheape (AC) and Richard Nesbitt (RN); Cllrs Dave Cuthbert and Willie Robertson.
Declarations of Interest: None.
Police report: Sgt Hughes and PC Sturgess attended the meeting. No report had been received by the time of the meeting, although the officers present had a copy of the report and will email it. Recent crimes in our area include the theft of a money box from Crook of Devon, for which a suspect has been arrested. The CC complimented the Police force for their increased presence, especially on the A977, during the Forth Road Bridge (FRB) closure and for their management of the resulting increased traffic. The increased presence will continue during the restriction of HGVs over the FRB. MoP asked if the Kinross Police station was still open – yes, it is still in use by officers 24/7, although there is no longer a constantly manned public desk. KB had asked for his concern about the number of incidents (at least 12) in Kinross-shire in the last few months, PC Sturgess pointed out that the majority of these incidents were not in our immediate area, which continues to be fairly safe. It’s not clear why the number of thefts is increasing, but the Police will continue to maintain vigilance, including night patrols, within the limits of their available resources. MoP asked if there had been any increase in accidents during the FRB closure – the three incidents known to the Police all involved drivers who would have been using that route anyway, but possibly the increased traffic resulted in more congestion during the handling of the events which made them more obvious.
Minutes of the previous meeting: Minutes were signed off without amendment.

Matters Arising
Crook Moss Travellers’ Site: Councillor Giacopazzi noted that the review of the compliance with the 2012 permission will be at the DMC meeting next week. The paper to be presented at that meeting reports that all generators have now been fitted with acoustic housings, and there are no new noise complaints; SSE are working on an electricity supply and discussions continue with Scottish Water on how to address the drainage issue. Councillor Barnacle reported a conversation with Nick Bryan who said that there was currently an enforcement notice in place, but it was not clear which condition this applied to. Councillor Barnacle also pointed out the inconsistency in the current planning application (see below) in which Neighbour Notifications had been made to six addresses on the site, even though the existing consent only allows five.
Rumbling Bridge Hydro Scheme: Work has started, but is held up by the weather.
Lambhill Chipping plant: At the 8th December meeting of the Local Review Body (LRB) it was decided that the Appeal would not be decided until the applicant had attended and made a presentation. The LRB will inform the applicant what they wish to be covered in this presentation. A MoP stated that it seemed only fair that local residents should also have a chance to make such a presentation, and Councillor Barnacle has contacted the LRB convenor with the same request. The LRB are being scrupulous in ensuring that there is no bias in their deliberations by not allowing any local councillors to sit on the LRB, and the Convenor, who has declared an interest in this application, is handing over the chair to another councillor during this appeal’s review.
A977 Defects and Mitigation Measures: Cllr Barnacle notes that progress towards re-trunking will be a very long process. Once the FRB is fully re-opened, PKC Roads department should check for any damage to the A977 as a result of the increased traffic during the diversion, and apply to the Scottish Government for funding to repair it.
Community Sport Hub: GK will attend the next meeting on 14th January.
Cuts in Inter-City Bus Services: Cllr Giacopazzi reports that there is to be a new X56 service leaving Edinburgh about 5pm to carry commuters back to Kinross.
Station Road Adoption: Cllr Barnacle wrote to all the residents on 17th December; he reported that the funding gap of £800 has now been met by the Village Hall Committee, who have set up a sub-committee to take the adoption forward. The first event to raise the funds will be a Burn’s Night Supper on the 5th February.
Landscape Areas – Kinross-shire: There is an opportunity to ask for change in a meeting this month.

Matters Arising With No Update Since Last Meeting
Blairingone War Memorial, Lambhill Forestry Site, Safer Route to School – Drum, Ivy Cottage Powmill: No update.
Signage at Vicar’s Bridge Road: Has been ordered.
Bollards Opposite Crook Village Hall: Awaiting a report from PKC Roads Department on how the safety of this section of road could be improved.
Crook Moss Community Involvement: Ongoing.
Boundary Commission: Awaiting decision after our comments.

New Business
Emergency Support Centre: During the FRB closure, the CC was asked if they would help set up a centre to receive people stranded as a result of accident or bad weather. Several of the CC members have agreed to be contacts and a request has been made to use the Village Hall, although we have not yet had a response from the Committee.
Waymarking of Core Paths in Blairingone: Consultation documents have been sent out to affected parties. It appears that the proposed signs are acceptable.
Broomhill Cottage to Aldie Road Multi-Use Path: George Lawrie was present at the meeting and reported that a contractor has been appointed and work on this path will start shortly. The surface will now be tarmac, and the existing railway ballast will be re-used for the path founds meaning that only tarmac will need to be brought in. Self-closing gates will be installed at each end of the path. Over the next three years, the path will be extended to Kinross. George recommended that the CC should consider setting up a “Paths Group” to help maintain existing paths and champion the creation of new paths – similar groups have been very successful in other CC areas.
LDP2 MIR Consultation: The Main Issues Report (MIR) has recently been published. This document contains proposed variations to the Local Development Plan (LDP) which defines where, and how, development can take place in Perth and Kinross-shire. Comments on the MIR must be made before the 16th March, preferably on the form obtainable at http://www.pkc.gov.uk/mainissuesldp2. There will be consultation events at LLC on Saturday 16th January from 11am to 3pm and Tuesday 23rd February from 3pm to 8pm. Main items of interest in this area are: Proposals to review infrastructure (roads, sewage provision, etc.); Additional development site at Crook of Devon (to get community benefit to provide roundabout and to trigger Sewage plant expansion); Development proposals in Blairingone (to elicit community comment).
Road Closure Fossoway School: The road will be closed to allow works by BT from 11th to 25th January.

Community Council Business
Meetings Attended: None this month.

Councillors’ Reports
Mike Barnacle: A constituent has approached Cllr Barnacle to request a traffic direction priority sign on the bridge at Naemoor Road. It’s possible that some works to the A977 in Blairingone will be in this year’s budget.
Joe Giacopazzi: Cllr Giacopazzi is attending a meeting with the Scottish government planning department next week, and will raise the issue that the current rules for neighbour notification of 20m radius rather than the old rule of adjacent landowners don’t seem to be working.

Planning Matters
15/01971/FLL Erection of stables at Kingswood, Drum, Kinross, KY13 0UN. No Community Council comment.
15/02078/FLL Change of use from paddock to form 3no gypsy/traveller pitches and erection of a fence (in retrospect) at Crook Moss, Fossoway. Object due to insufficient capacity in sewage system and noise pollution.
15/01997/FLL Erection of a dwelling house at land at Blashieburn, Vicar's Bridge Road, Blairingone.
Comments for this application were due by the 21st December, but the CC obtained an extension until the 8th January. However, the applicant submitted a revised block plan on the 5th which seems to be a material change to the application. Substantial local objection to this development was voiced at the meeting. Cllr Giacopazzi said he would speak to Nick Bryan on the 6th to clarify whether there would now be a further opportunity for public comment, and indeed whether the application needed to be resubmitted. The CC will decide on its position once these matters have been clarified. Cllr Barnacle pointed out that the proposed changes to the Blairingone settlement boundary in the MIR would have a bearing on this application.

Correspondence: All the correspondence was available for viewing: Tracy Ramsay of PKC has sent extensive details of funding opportunities for local groups; the annual “Better Place to Live” fair will take place at LLC on 5th March from 10am to 2pm.
AOCB: When will the Rumbling Bridge car Park be ready for use? Cllr Barnacle explained that the responsibility for constructing this has passed from Thomson to another developer, but that the Planning Department are comfortable with this arrangement and expect the work to be completed in due course.
It appears that the work on the Kinross roundabout has been suspended during the FRB diversion.
Some time ago it was suggested that road signs could be cleaned by the Unpaid Work Team, but this was ruled out for H&S reasons. However, the signs are still not getting cleaned and this is becoming a serious problem. Are PKC going to do it? Cllr Giacopazzi explained that this is one of many services that are no longer financed.
Water is coming off the Tom Thumb road in Carnbo presenting a possible road hazard were it to freeze. Cllr Giacopazzi will investigate.

Draft Agenda for Next CC Meeting
Welcome and Apologies, Declarations of Interest, Community Policing, Minutes of last meeting.
Matters arising: Crook Moss Travellers’ Site, Hydro Scheme, Lambhill Chipping Plant, A977 Mitigation, LDP2 MIR Consultation.
Community Councillors: Meetings Attended, PKC Councillors’ Reports, Planning, Correspondence, AOCB

Next Meeting: Tuesday 2nd February 2016 7:30 pm
Fossoway Primary School
All Welcome