Community Council Minutes - June 2023

Minutes for Fossoway and District Community Council (FDCC) meeting

Tuesday 6^th June 2023, Moubray Village Hall, Powmill

Attending: Community Councillors (CCllrs) Sarah Bruce-Jones, Graham Pye and Nicola Marchant (Chair); Assoc. CCllr Carol Farquar; Perth & Kinross Councillors Dave Cuthbert, William Robertson and Richard Watters; 23 members of the public (MoP);

Apologies: CCllr Trudy Duffy; Assoc. CCllr Angus Cheape; PKC Cllr Neil Freshwater

Declarations of interest: None

Police report: A caravan was set on fire on the A977 between Blairingone and Powmill on the 6^th May. Investigations continue.

Speed checks have been carried out throughout the area, including Carnbo, but no tickets were issued this month.

Minutes of the previous meeting: The minutes of the previous meeting were reviewed and signed off.

Matters Arising

• Road Safety in FDCC Area (Including A977 Mitigation and Carnbo) CCllr Marchant had requested a report from Cllrs on the recent traffic surveys in our district. Cllr Cuthbert received a report from Daryl McKeown that the Carnbo survey showed just under 3500 vehicles per day with a mean speed of 43.9mph and a the 85^th percentile speed was 52.7mph. A further survey will be done once the 30mph limit is in place. Cllr Cuthbert has asked Mr McKeown to look into more mitigation measures, perhaps including a Puffin crossing, also to investigate the small size of the bus shelter and the difficulty of accessing it safely.

Cllr Freshwater had passed on a complaint from a MoP about damage to cars due to stones flying from grass cutting machines, however the responsible officer has assured him that guards are permanently fitted to their machines and they have not received any reports of such damage.

The Carnbo school bus driver has been told to turn in Pitcairn Lane rather than the previous place for safety reasons, and this was implemented within a couple of days.

• Community Speedwatch We still only have enough volunteers for one team which is disappointing. For our district we need at least 12 volunteers. There are continuing reports of speeding through our villages, and this would surely help. CCllr Duffy had a meeting with members of Milnathort CC. They have some interest from members of the public in their area to commence the Speed Watch Programme. Glenfarg has also expressed interest. As the equipment should be either in Kinross or Milnathort to make it accessible to the other areas in Kinross-shire, it was thought to make sense if Milnathort would take the lead on this. They will start with an information morning for all those in the whole of Kinross-shire who are interested.
• Wind Farms The Developers of the proposed Brunthill site, E Power Ltd, have notified this CC of the dates of their public exhibitions and we encourage everyone to attend:

28^th June 3:30pm – 6:30pm Milnathort Town Hall

The developer has also sent us a map of the proposed turbines.

https://www.energyconsents.scot/ApplicationDetails.aspx?cr=ECU00004654

Mike Barnacle has been trying to get NPF4 modified to resolve inconsistencies with other plans, but it’s too late now. He has also spoken to Friends of the Ochils about safeguarding the landscape, however Cllr Robertson responded that the problem with controlling Wind Farms in the Ochils is that there are already turbines operating and so a precedent has been established.

• Community Development Trust: The Trust has been incorporated and established its charitable status. Membership is also increasing without any further advertising. An anonymous vote is being held to decide whether the Trust should continue to consider leasing or renting Blairingone School or to let it go to a third party. Cllr Cuthbert noted that the Kinross Local Committee has oversight of Community property purchases; Mike Barnacle said that the Trust is cognisant of the timescales.
• Local Place Plans: The final face-to-face event will be held on 11^th June from 13:00 to 16:00 at Moubray Hall, Powmill. We encourage everyone to attend as this is your chance to contribute to the development of LDP3. To date we have hosted two events which highlighted the challenges of living and working in a rural location with limited infrastructure, unfortunately they were not well attended. We also met with pupils of Fossoway Primary School who wanted more open spaces with trees to play in and build tree houses. They also wanted a sheltered area for when weather is bad.

There will be a further online meeting on 28^th June between 18:30 and 20:30. Email developmentplan@pkc.gov.uk for connection details.

Information gathering will continue until July, and will then be collated by FDCC. The next phase is Finding Solutions (September – October) which will lead into creating the Local Place Plan.

• New Business
• Temporary prohibition of driving, parking and loading - U238 Drum

In order to permit Scottish Water works on the above section of road a temporary traffic regulation order effective from the 3^rd July 2023 for a period of six weeks will temporarily prohibit driving, parking and loading (both sides) on the U238, Drum from its junction with the access to Ashgrove to its junction with the access to Ashbank. Pedestrian & emergency vehicular access to premises will be maintained.

• Sainsburys ATM

CCllr Marchant** has confirmed with Sainsburys that the ATM is staying.

Matters arising with no update since last meeting:** Fossoway Area Transport incl. Transport group - Meeting is planned for 22^nd June; CCllr Duffy will attend.

Consultations

PKC: The Big Place Conversation – Let’s Talk Transport

PKC are currently developing a Mobility Strategy that will set out their vision for managing and developing the transport network over a minimum period of 10 years. Stage 1, commonly known as a main issues report, highlights the current issues and opportunities. It is open for comment until 11^th June 2023. https://consult.pkc.gov.uk/communities/lets-talk-transport/user_uploads/lets-talk-transport---main-issues-report-2.pdf.

The CC will make the following comments:

• As the strategy is not planned to be finalised until the end of 2024 implementation will not start until 2025. We are concerned that any actions may not be in time to impact the Scottish Gov 2030 net zero target.
• One issue is the complex and large number (over 30) of policies and strategies across PKC and Scottish Government that all have different timelines. Not consolidating and streamlining these would be a missed opportunity.
• Table 6 shows that commuting is the main reason for travel but this data predates Covid and hence may now be incorrect.
• Table 7 shows information regarding railway station car parks but does not indicate daily spare capacity which is a known issue at some stations and could discourage commuting by train.
• The majority of data infers that people shop and use healthcare within P&K, however as a rural community on the edge of Fife and Clacks many of our residents use facilities in other local authorities. A known issue is connectivity of transport across local authorities.
• Willie adds that there is a no overall public transport strategy for Scotland so that, for example, buses don’t connect with trains, and different bus companies can’t enter bus stations owned by different companies. Cllr Watters notes that it’s because they have to pay.

Local Living and 20 Minute Neighbourhood: Draft Planning Guidance Local living and 20 minute neighbourhoods are intended to help to deliver the healthy, sustainable and resilient places required to support a good quality of life and balance our environmental impact. This guidance has been published to assist anyone with an interest in these local living and 20 minute neighbourhoods. It provides further detail to support the National Planning Framework (NPF4) policy framework on these items.

The guidance sets out the benefits and context, what local living looks like and the key considerations, and the ways in which to support it. It aims to encourage, promote and facilitate the application of the Place Principle and create connected and compact neighbourhoods which prioritise liveability, and environmental, social and economic sustainability.  The closing date for responses is 20^th July 2023.

Scottish Government Review of Permitted Development Rights – Phase 3

The Scottish Government is carrying out a review of permitted development rights (PDR) as part of our wider planning reform programme. The PDR review is being taken forward in phases, with each phase focussing on specific development types. Phase 3 of the review considers PDR in relation to renewables equipment, thermal efficiency improvements, development by electricity undertakers, reverse vending machines (Money back on bottles) and the temporary use of land for shooting ranges.  https://www.gov.scot/publications/scottish-government-review-permitted-development-rights-phase-3-consultation/ Closes 23^rd August 2023

Second review of Scotland Boundary Changes Cllr Watters said that there are no changes in P&K

Meetings attended

• CCllrs Duffy and Marchant attended Big Place Conversation events with PKC at Fossoway Primary School, Wilkie Hall Crook of Devon and Carnbo Village Hall.
• CCllr Duffy attended the Kinross-shire meeting, standing in for CCllr Bruce-Jones. The three main points discussed were the Road Safety Update; provision for cemetery expansion and the use of commuted sums for affordable housing. The Carnbo 30mph is still on track to commence by July – August. The Roads department will work with Community Councils to get the correct priorities on the top of the list. There are currently 950 projects on the list.

All over Kinross-shire we need more places for burial. Bereavement Services is looking at the current provision of cemeteries; what we will need in the coming decades and where that may be.

When developers build, the expectation is that 25% of the properties are affordable. Current expectation is that they will be built on-site. If it that is not possible, off-site and if that is impossible, a commuted sum (related to land value) is paid to the council, to be used for affordable housing. Currently all this is built in Kinross and Milnathort; however, the rural areas also need affordable housing to enable young people to stay in the area and older people to stay in the community. The Council has around £0.5M for this purpose; suggestions for sites and projects are very welcome.

• CCllr Cheape attended a meeting of the Kinross Fund on 5^th June. Grants were awarded to Portmoak Film Society and King George V Playing Fields. There were no Applications from Fossoway.

Community Council Business

• As announced at the last meeting, Angus Cheape was co-opted to the CC – Proposed: CCllr Pye; Seconded: CCllr Bruce-Jones.
• CCllr Duffy has announced her intention to retire at the next AGM. Currently we have five voting members (including CCllr Cheape) but with the departure of CCllr Duffy we will be down to four, which means that Fossoway CC urgently needs new members. We need a minute-taker (who could be an associate member, only responsible for the minutes) but we also need a person who will look after the email, the correspondence and the Facebook Page. Without your commitment we will struggle to do the work necessary.

P&K Councillors’ Reports

Cllr Cuthbert: Kinross is 15 years ahead of the rest of PKC as far as development is concerned, but now it’s spreading elsewhere, so there is an increasing number of planning applications outwith Kinross-shire.

Cllr Robertson: Reminded landowners that hedges next to roads need to be kept cut back, to make it easier for pedestrians. The Aldie Road path has thistles growing through the tarmac – Currently there is no paths group in Fossoway and they would be able to look into this. Mike Barnacle replied that the CDT will hopefully spawn a Path Group shortly.

Cllr Watters: A paper on grass cutting and rewilding has been created – more areas will be allowed to re-wild with paths cut through. Collecting grass cuttings helps to improve the quality of the grass relative to weeds. It would be great if communities could help with this. PKC are developing a strategy for Electric Vehicle charging.

Planning matters

DPEA Appeal 21/02133/AML, PPA-340-2151 https://www.dpea.scotland.gov.uk/CaseDetails.aspx?ID=122826 No decision yet.

Planning Applications

23/00491/FLM Formation of leisure development comprising erection of 124 holiday accommodation units, community hub with reception/leisure/retail areas.

There was an extensive and lively debate about this application. The community is split on whether this development is completely unnecessary and will have a serious impact on the SSSI and the surrounding landowners, or whether the site is an eyesore, creates traffic and litter problems and the development will address those issues. The CCllrs were consequently unable to determine during the meeting how the CC should respond and will seek further information and formulate their response after the meeting.

Cllr Watters said that during the PAN he had asked for a study of the rare orchid that is found in the SSSI and wondered if this was covered in the application.

Planning Decisions

23/00290/FLL Formation of equestrian arena and associated works at Kingswood, Drum, Kinross KY13 0UN. The application was approved the CC had made no comment. There were several conditions including that the riding arena hereby approved shall be for private equestrian use only and shall not be for commercial use.

AOCB: A MoP asked if a direction sign could be installed on the A977 pointing to Craigend Road, which lies just to the west of Powmill. Cllr Robertson will request this to be added to the works list.

Draft Agenda for Next CC Meeting: Declarations of Interest,** Community Policing, Minutes of last meeting. Matters arising: Community Development Trust, Fossoway Area Transport, A977 Mitigation, Crook Moss, Carnbo Speeding, Speedwatch, Community Council Business, PKC Councillors’ Reports, Planning, Correspondence, AOCB

The CC’s Facebook page can be found at https://www.facebook.com/fossoway N.B. anyone can access the content on this page, and it is only necessary to have a Facebook account if you wish to post comments

No Meeting in July!

Next Meeting: Tuesday 1^st August Crook of Devon 7:30pm

All are welcome!

Correspondence May 2023