Community Council Minutes - January 2017

Draft Minutes Fossoway and District Community Council
10th January 2017, Blairingone Primary School

Attending: Community Cllrs: Cameron Brown, Angus Cheape, Jennifer Donachie, Trudy Duffy, Carol Farquhar and Graham Pye; Cllrs Mike Barnacle and Joe Giacopazzi; Five Members of the Public (MoP).
Apologies: CCllr Graham Kilby; Cllrs Dave Cuthbert and Willie Robertson (both attending Portmoak CC.)
Declarations of Interest: None.
Police report: Unfortunately no Officer was able to be present at the meeting. There was one incident to note, received via Perth and Kinross Community Watch: A large tub containing an evergreen shrub was stolen from Church Road, Crook of Devon between 7th and 15th December. Sergeant Amanda Nicholson is no longer the Community Co-ordinator for Perth and Kinross, and the role will not be filled. Instead, our point of contact is the local Community Sergeant – Sergeant Nichola Forrester for Kinross who can be contacted on: taysidekinross-shirecpt@scotland.pnn.police.uk. There is also going to be a new Inspector, replacing Inspector Pettigrew.

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

Matters Arising
Crook Moss Traveller’s Site: New chalet appeared at the site – Cllr Robertson asked PKC’s enforcement officer to investigate, however it turned out that the chalet is intended for one of the approved pitches and is only in its current position temporarily. Cllr Barnacle has received a response from Scottish Water, stating that investigations into extraneous surface water joining the waste have revealed some problems that can be fixed. This means that the Drum processing plant does have a small amount of spare capacity, which will allow the Traveller’s site, and several other sites that had applied earlier, to be connected, although the applicants will still need to fund the connection themselves. Cllr Giacopazzi noted that the Scottish Government are proposing that retrospective applications will in future attract a higher fee.
A977 Defects and Mitigation Measures: Cllr Cuthbert raised the issue of missing white lines and cats-eyes with Stuart D’All who replied explaining that painting white lines between October and March is generally unsuccessful, however they will try and repaint the longer sections that have been resurfaced. Mr D’All noted that edge lines are no longer being painted as only statutory lines are now painted due to budget restrictions. The cats-eyes will be replaced when the A832/A977 junction is (hopefully) resurfaced later this year.
Local Cllrs met Chic Haggart this week during which it emerged that the officer working on the plan for the A977 measures is no longer employed by PKC, hopefully they will be replaced shortly.
Rumbling Bridge Hydro Scheme: The Community Benefit Group are still finalising their organisation and preparing for the community engagement exercise in the next few months. Cllr Barnacle suggested that it might be possible to combine this exercise with a proposed survey of sports requirements in Fossoway, although this has not yet been agreed with PKC. There is the potential for some of the scheme’s contingency fund to be passed on to the Community Group; however the amount is not yet known.
Crook and Drum Growing Together: CCllr Duffy reported that one of their tubs had been stolen (see Police report above.)
Powmill Bloom Group: CCllr Farquhar reported that another plant tub has been stolen, this time from the display on the bridge, which is very frustrating and demoralising for the group, nevertheless, the group is determined to continue and remain enthisiastic. More funding is being applied for, and 100 saplings have been donated by another charitable group.
The phone box at Gartwhinzean Feus, Powmill is scheduled for removal, but BT has a scheme whereby unused phone boxes can be purchased by the community for £1. The Bloom Group have expressed a desire to adopt this box, however BT will only pass them on to recognised local authorities, so the CC have asked BT if they can purchase it and then pass it on to the Bloom Group. There is a small issue that the CC is not allowed to spend its administration grant on this sort of purchase, so the necessary funds will have to be donated to the CC, which should not be a major problem!
Station Road Adoption: Cllr Barnacle reports that the Roads Department and Church Committee are awaiting an updated list of frontagers, as some properties have changed hands. Once this is available, then the letters can be sent out and the contract set.
Blairingone War Memorial: Cllr Barnacle has now had confirmation that the developers did originally agree to fund the removal to the sum of £2000. The next step is to get a qualified mason to confirm that it is possible to move the monument without damaging it or the building.
Ivy Cottage, Powmill: Cllr Barnacle will investigate whether the notice has been served on the owner.
Craigton Lane Adoption: Cllrs Barnacle and Giacopazzi both believe that this is a private matter and the council can’t do anything to make the developer complete the work.
Sports Hub: CCllr Farquhar attended a meeting of the hub on 15th December at which the member clubs reported on analyses of their members’ interests and the strengths and weaknesses of their clubs. Generally there is considerable enthusiasm and amongst other events a Junior Park Run is planned for later this year, and volunteers will be sought to help organise this.

Matters Arising With No Update Since Last Meeting
Safer Route to School – Drum, Dunning Glen, Speeding Through Villages: No update.
Bollards Opposite Crook Village Hall: We are still awaiting a report from PKC Roads Department on how the safety of this section of road could be improved, however local Cllrs are pressing them for a prompt response.

New Business
20s Plenty for Us Campaign: The CC has received a suggestion from this campaign that we should start a group in this area. CCllr Duffy has looked into this scheme, and it seems more appropriate for urban areas. Cllr Giacopazzi reports that PKC already has a policy of only implementing 20mph limits in carefully chosen places.

Community Council Business
Meetings Attended: CCllr Farquhar attended a meeting of the Sports Hub (see above.)
CCllr Cheape attended a meeting of the Kinross-shire fund in January, but there were no grant applications to consider. The next meeting, in February, will concentrate on fund-raising.

Councillors’ Reports
Mike Barnacle: Cllr Barnacle is attending a meeting to discuss a proposed Biomass plant at Westfield with Fife and PKC councillors – this scheme would use the B9097 as a haul road, which may affect the B9097 action plan.
There is to be a review of UK Parliamentary Constituencies in 2018, and the Boundary Commission has published initial proposals suggesting that Kinross-shire should be combined with Cowdenbeath. Cllr Barnacle has strongly objected to this proposal on the grounds that the two areas are of completely different rural vs urban character. Additionally Cllr Cuthbert has produced detailed population figures for alternative ward groupings suggested by PKC.
There is to be a public consultation about how the Local Development Plan will affect Blairingone, Crook of Devon, Drum and Rumbling Bridge. The event will be on Feb 18th between 11am and 2pm in the Crook of Devon Hall. It’s not clear how this can best be publicised, although the suggestion by PKC that this CC would be able to deliver leaflets to 650 houses is certainly not realistic, however the CC will assist with displaying posters and announcing the event on its Facebook page and website.
Joe Giacopazzi: It’s going to be a tough year for budgeting, with a further grant cut from central government, however there is some good news in that the Council is now going to be allowed to keep all of the Commercial Council Tax income, and to make an increase in Domestic Council Tax rates which improves things somewhat.
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Planning Matters
16/02132/FLL Erection of a dwelling house and 2 no garages at Land 50 metres west of Easter Cockairney Farm, Kinross.
No CC Comment.
16/02209/IPL Erection of a dwelling house (in principle) at Thornybrook, Fossoway, Kinross, KY13 0UP.
No CC Comment.

Cllr Barnacle notes that conditions imposed by an outline application seem to disappear when a full application is granted. Local Councillors intend to discuss this anomaly at the next Member Officer Working Group.

Correspondence: All the correspondence was available for viewing: PKC will no longer be issuing Bin Collection Calendars; instead you have to print your own from: http://www.pkc.gov.uk/bindates
From 9th January, a yearly permit will be required to take a van, whether liveried or not, or a trailer longer than six feet to PKC’s rubbish dumps. Private individuals can apply for a (free) Domestic Exemption Permit. A MoP pointed out that meeting the criteria to actually obtain a permit for a private individual seems to be very difficult. Cllr Barnacle will look into this.
The 40mph speed limit in Carnbo is being extended from the A91 into the U221.

AOCB: John Anderson asked the local councillors to look into the lack of enforcement of planning conditions. Cllr Giacopazzi said that this would be a good topic for discussion at the next MOWG.

Draft Agenda for Next CC Meeting
Welcome and Apologies, Declarations of Interest, Community Policing, Minutes of last meeting.
Matters arising: Crook Moss Site, A977 Mitigation, Rumbling Bridge Hydro Scheme, Crook and Drum Growing Together, Powmill in Bloom, Station Road Adoption, Blairingone War Memorial.
Community Councillors: Meetings Attended, PKC Councillors’ Reports, Planning, Correspondence, AOCB

Next Meeting: Tuesday 7th February 2017 7:30 pm
Fossoway Primary School
All Welcome