Minutes of the Meeting of Fossoway and District Community Council - Tuesday 3rd September 2013

Draft Minutes Meeting Fossoway and District Community Council
Tuesday 3rd September 2013, Fossoway Primary School

Attending: Sandy Morrison, Trudy Duffy-Wigman, Kevin Borthwick, Alastair Lavery, Sheila Anderson, Cllrs D Cuthbert and W Robertson and 16 Members of the Public (MoP).

Apologies: Angus Cheape, Rod Paterson, and Cllrs J .Giacopazzi and M Barnacle

Declarations of interest: None.

Community Policing: PC Sadie Allan reported recent crimes including a theft of a Massey Ferguson utility vehicle from Easter Muirhead, Blairingone. Rural thefts continue to be of concern. There is an on-going local initiative: Kinross-shire Rural Watch Launch, a local “neighbourhood watch” scheme for rural areas. Checks for speeding in the area are continuing.

Minutes of the previous meeting: There were no amendments so the minutes were signed off.

Matters arising:
• Glendevon / Rumbling Bridge Hydro Scheme: A public meeting was held in Crook of Devon Hall where there was robust discussion. Glendevon Energy acknowledged local concerns and were addressing them in the planning process. SEPA have said the scheme will not add to the flood risk. A noise study will be provided and the CC will review it when the report is available. MoP raised the question of extracting too much water, and affecting the river downstream. Mr Wallace responded that SEPA were setting the level of extraction allowed, and the scheme was modelled on a worst case scenario of only being able to operate 60% of the time, which still made it a viable proposition. Another MoP felt none of the concerns had been addressed and that blasting rocks close to houses and damage to services were still an issue. There was considerable discussion on this matter and Mr Wallace confirmed that experienced contractors who are used to dealing with these problems would be used. The scheme will be revisited by the CC but it can only comment on planning issues.
• Heads Hill Wind Farm – This is not in the planning process yet. The CC may wish to comment.
• Blairingone War Memorial: Cllr Barnacle, K Borthwick, A Lavery, G Pye, the Developer and a Council Official met to resolve the moving of the War Memorial. The meeting identified a place on the back wall of the cemetery for the Memorial and where vehicles could access the site. This will all go ahead soon. It proved to be a positive meeting.
• Crook of Devon Church Car Park: No news yet from the church about funding.
• Signposting Core Paths and Rights of Way: George Harley has still not had the meeting with D Stubbs.
• Travellers’ Site at Crook Moss, Crook of Devon: W Robertson is still investigating drainage issues. The mitigation measures involved a property which is on the border of Loch Leven catchment area, but the issue was where did the drainage go to? Nick Brian would be investigating the issue. The other area of concern was where the treated effluent was being pumped to a raised area, which was being created. The area concerned was on top of the original rubbish tip and it had not been part of the phase 2 site investigation. The CC had previously requested that if any development was to take place on this are that a full contamination investigation should take place.
• Glenquey Quarry: Application has still not been to the DMC.
• Glendevon Pollution Incident: No progress to report.

CC Business:

Community Workshops will be held in Powmill and Blairingone to discuss local issues. An initial meeting with the CC will take place on the 10th September to discuss the format for the meetings timing and location. The results will then be publicised to local residents.
Community Speed Watch: Cllr Robertson has had discussions with the Chief Inspector about the scheme and the police are encouraged with the results. They are hoping to see 6 speed watch areas with the communities sharing the equipment. The Police cannot bear all the costs and it was agreed that investigations should begin as it whether the Kinross Fund could be used. Capital costs could be met but on-going costs may prove to be a problem. Police are keen for the scheme to be rolled out. Trudy has had a letter from Emma Bowman apologising for the lack of information given to the Community after the project. 211 warning letters had been sent out, 93 fell within the scope of police enforcement. There were no repeat offenders.
Fracking: A meeting is to be arranged with Kevin and Sandy with Friends of the Earth to discuss the issue.
Bus Investment Fund: CC now on board as a partner. Final submission made.
Film Festival: JAM (Just About Movies) festival is planned at Tullibole Castle. Rod had attended the presentation day and based on his report the CC was supportive of the proposal.

PKC Councillors’ reports:

Cllr D Cuthbert: The poor HMI report of Fossoway Primary school was discussed and a plan for a way forward was agreed at a school meeting. The head teacher is moving on and the HT from Cleish will act as an interim. A presentation was planned to show how improvement would be achieved. MoP felt that teachers worked hard and should receive more support and encouragement. The HMI will re-visit in June 2014. Post meeting update, 8 Sep 2014: There has been a lot of excellent work done since this initial report from Councillor Cuthbert, which has seen huge improvements at the school and resulted in a very complimentary letter being written from HMI following their revisit in June 2014. The letter describes the high quality education being delivered at Fossoway Primary School.
Work on the U213 will be starting on 16th September. Road repairs and passing places would be carried out.

Cllr W Robertson: The last details of the Heritage Trail have been agreed and it is due to finish in spring 2014. Safe Cycle routes between Kinross and Crook of Devon are on-going. The idea of having the pedestrian traffic lights in Crook of Devon permanently on red (changing to green) to slow traffic will be explored.

Planning:

Items discussed at meeting:
A Lavery has had a reply from PKC regarding the Landscape and Wind farm Policy. It was a full and very useful document. Development on the Lomond Hills and the Benarty basin are likely to be limited.

13/01546/FLL. Removal of condition No 2 from planning consent 13/00159/FLL to enable agricultural unit to be used to house livestock. Cairnfold Farm Blairingone.
Recommendation. Object, on grounds of proximity to housing, contrary to Environmental Health guidance.

13/01438/FLL. Alterations and extension to dwellinghouse. Rosewood Naemoor Road Crook Of Devon Kinross KY13 0UH. No details available – defer to next meeting.

AOCB: Kevin went through the correspondence which was all available for viewing and highlighted a number of areas. E.g. a Dog Fouling Campaign by Keep Scotland Beautiful was highlighted by Kevin.
Please get in touch with Kevin if any areas were thought to be a priority for verge cutting. It was suggested that all junctions onto the A91, A977, B9097 and one junction on the A823 after Rumbling Bridge, should be prioritised.

Draft Agenda for Next CC Meeting
• Welcome and Apologies
• Declarations of Interest
• Community Policing
• Minutes of last meeting
• Matters arising: Rumbling Bridge Hydro Scheme, Blairingone War Memorial, Crook of Devon Church Car Park, Signposting core paths and rights of way, Travellers’ Site Crook Moss, Glenquey Quarry, Glendevon Pollution Incident, Friends of the Earth
• Community Councillors - Meetings Attended
• PKC Councillors’ Reports
• Planning Applications
• Correspondence
• AOCB

Next Meeting: Tuesday 1st October, 7:30 pm
Blairingone Primary School
All welcome!