Community Council Minutes - May 2019

Draft Minutes Fossoway and District Community Council
7th May 2019, Fossoway Primary School

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

Police report: Unfortunately PC Dougie Stapleton was unable to attend the meeting.
There was one incident to note in our area since the last CC Meeting from the Commander’s Reports received via Perth and Kinross Community Watch: Between 9am, Sunday 14th April and 9pm on Wednesday 17th April a number of baskets and plants were stolen from outside a property in Main Street, Blairingone.
A MoP described how his CCTV had detected a minor theft from his skip by occupants of a white van, which turned out to be unregistered and uninsured; the details of the vehicle were reported to the Police.

Minutes of the previous meeting: No printed copy of the minutes from the previous meeting was available so they will be signed off next month.

Matters Arising
Blairingone School Estate Transformation: Cllr Purves reported that the local councillors have written to MSP Richard Lochhead and MSP John Swinney asking for the closure decision to be called in. The CC contacted the same MSPs and also MSP Roseanna Cunningham. No reply has been received as yet. The decision by the Scottish Government should be made by 21st May.
Meanwhile Cllrs McDade and Barnacle’s motion to the full council to change the voting rules so that religious representatives no longer had a vote was passed by 21 to 19. Cllr Barnacle added that he had sent a further note to Richard Lochhead to add weight to his previous message pointing out that this motion had been passed. Cllr Watters explained that the important thing about the motion was not that it was a religious issue, rather a question of accountability of non-elected members.

Powmill in Bloom: CCllr Farquhar passed on the news that the Bloom Group plans a working party on Sunday 12th May.

Crook & Drum Growing Together: CCllr Duffy reported that the group was working on planting and other activities with daffodils and soon tulips appearing as a result.

Hydro Scheme Fund / Rumbling Bridge Gorge Bridge: CCllr Duffy reported that a site visit had taken place on the 4th April where two possible locations had been identified. Plans will be drawn up for both locations and presented to the public once SEPA has agreed them.
Cllr Barnacle explained that the previous location of the bridge might be problematic for funders unless it could be made resistant to any further floods, and it would also be more difficult to make disabled friendly, although the designs are still to be finalised.
Sandy Morrison, from the floor, noted that the £45k figure for installing the bridge reported last month seemed too low, CCllr Pye explained that this was a very rough estimate that only covered the purchase and installation of the bridge and did not include any path works, etc. Full quotations will be sought before the project is given the go ahead.

Fossoway Gathering: CCllr Duffy reported that planning is going well, with funds being topped up with proceeds from a quiz in February. There will be a central arena with demonstrations and music, surrounded by stalls from local businesses and community groups. Cllr Barnacle noted that some equipment used in previous Gatherings has already been moved from the Hearse House to other locations, but the remainder will need to be cleared by the time of this event.
Cllr Barnacle also said that he was about to send a letter to Crook of Devon residents on another matter and would include the suggestion that they walk to the Gathering in order to reduce pressure on parking spaces there.
The Gathering will be at Waulkmill on 25th May from 12 noon onwards.

Fossoway Area Transport/DRT: The survey received over 200 responses and they are currently being analysed prior to the results being presented to local councillors next week.

Carnbo VAS: A MoP reported that the VAS has now been fixed to correctly indicate 40mph as the target speed, but it’s now not working again. Cllr Robertson was reported to be already progressing this, but CCllr Duffy will forward an email received by the CC about this problem to Cllr Robertson.

Blairingone War Memorial: Cllr Barnacle is still to arrange a site meeting with Profile Project, the mason and other interested parties. A new planning application to move the memorial needs to be made as the previous one granted in 2012 has now lapsed.

A977 Mitigation: Cllr Barnacle has been in contact with PKC Engineer Lachlan MacLean who said that the majority of Blairingone work was done except for the signals. Cllr Barnacle will forward the details to the CC. As far as the School Road junction is concerned: Scottish Water’s issues have been resolved, but there are still problems completing BT’s changes. It has been suggested by PKC Engineering that delaying the start of the work so that it can all be done in one visit would make sense, and in fact it might be better to delay it altogether until the school holidays.
A MoP asked about problems with the surface breaking up, Cllr Barnacle replied that he is trying to get the whole area resurfaced.
Brian Glennie, from the floor and previously by email to the CC, noted that the new 40mph limit on the section of the B9097 leading to the A977 is being ignored by some people, the long straight stretch encourages speeding – can the CC get the Police to do some enforcement on that road? Mr Glennie has had a reply from Police Scotland and they have agreed to do speed checks. The CC will also ask Police to do checks, although it was generally agreed that these only have a short-term effect. Mr Glennie and other MoPs asked if PKC could make some changes to the road layout to discourage speeding. CCllr Duffy said that Bloom Groups may in future fund raise to construct village entrances. Cllr Barnacle says that there is an action plan for the B9097 and he will contact the people working on it to try and add something in.
Sandy Morrison said that the problem is that the 40mph sign is in the wrong place and should be further out of the village. Cllr Purves said that they will ask for this to be changed, but the officers would likely give this more weight if there was a budget for it. Cllr Watters wondered if there might be some money left from the A977 budget that could be used for this.

Crook Moss Travellers Site: Cllr Barnacle had previously met with a PKC Officer and suggested that it would help local acceptability of the site if the residents kept it tidier. Since there has been no action in response to this request he will escalate it to the PKC Chief Exec.

Matters Arising with no update since last meeting:
LDP2, Ivy Cottage Powmill and Powmill Play Park: No information at present.

New Business
Carnbo Bus Shelter Path: A MoP described the issue that the path next to the bus shelter where children wait for the school bus to Kinross High School is so overgrown it cannot be used. It has been suggested by PKC that the alternative route would be for the children coming down the unclassified road opposite Garce Cottage to cross the very busy A91, walk up the pavement to the bus stop, then cross back over the A91 to access the bus shelter. This is clearly not acceptable. The problem is determining whether the path belongs to the council or frontagers, and hence who is responsible. Cllr Purves said that the matter is being looked into.

Potential Car Park by Crook of Devon Church: There is a shortage of parking for the Church. In the past there was a proposal to create a new car park on land owned by PKC but reserved for a possible expansion of the cemetery. The CC applied for, and obtained, planning permission but the Church decided against going through with the project, possibly because of concerns that they would only get a ten year lease on the land. Cllr Barnacle has had a meeting with PKC’s Dave Stubbs and established that PKC would only want to keep a small strip of land. Consequently there is a proposal to resubmit the planning application to allow the project to now take place.

Aldie Road to Drum Path Gate: As previously discussed passing through this gate causes problems for cyclists and horse riders. Sandy Morrison reported that posts with catches will be installed by George Lawrie (TRACKS Project Officer) to temporarily hold the gate open.

Community Council Business - Meetings Attended
CCllr Young attended the Planning User’s Forum on 18th April, where attendees received updates on LDP2 and other issues including planning legislation changes. A report on planning department performance indicators was received, and a presentation about the Tay Cities Deal which suggested that £152M would be allocated to projects in Perth and Kinross over the ten year period of the Deal.

P&K Councillors’ Reports
Richard Watters: A new Housing MOG (Member/Officer Group) has been set up and Cllr Watters has challenged the Officers to investigate more use of renewables in housing. For example the previous policy was to encourage the provision of gas supplies to new housing developments, but this now needs to be superseded.

Callum Purves: At a previous meeting concern was raised about the absence of cats-eyes along the A977. Cllr Purves has spoken to the PKC Engineers and ascertained that the Balado House resurfacing scheme will include cats-eyes, and the Engineers will also look at older sections and see if they can be included there too.
Legislation allows for a lower rate of VAT to be applied to tourist expenditure; Cllr Purves explained that only three countries in Europe currently do this and we’d be the first council in Britain. This would hopefully encourage more visitors.
There is a Primary Care Improvement plan which aims to move some services away from GPs to other healthcare professionals. The plan would also increase the focus on prevention rather than treatment. The Scottish Government are providing some funds towards this.

Mike Barnacle: Most of Cllr Barnacle’s recent activities have already been covered above. Cllr Barnacle has had a meeting with PKC Forward Planning which raised some issues that he will be working through the Planning MOG.

Planning Matters
19/00427/FLL Erection of replacement garage at Cocklaw House, Powmill, FK14 7NP.
No CC Comment

19/00473/IPL Residential development (in principle) at Land 110 metres south-east of 3, Birkfield Park, Rumbling Bridge.
The CC objected to this application on the grounds that it was contrary to the local plan, would cause traffic issues, and the site is liable to flood.

19/00631/FLL Erection of a dwelling house and office (Class 4) at Land 180 Metres south-west of Powmill Cottage, Rumbling Bridge
This application was only received on the day of the meeting, and the CC will discuss it by email before deciding whether to object.

Decided Applications
19/00337/FLL Alterations and extension to dwelling house at Morvern Powmill Dollar FK14 7NS.
Approved – The CC did not comment

19/00082/FLL Change of use, alterations and extension to bothy to form a dwelling house and erection of a garage (revised design) at Former Bothy, Briglands, Rumbling Bridge.
Approved – The CC did not comment

19/00268/FLL Alterations to building at County Fabrics, The Water Mill, Crook Of Devon, Kinross, KY13 0UL.
Approved – The CC did not comment

Correspondence - All correspondence was available for viewing:
In conjunction with the Solheim Cup taking place at Gleneagles in September, there is a fund to help communities celebrate the event. 80% funding is available with grants up to £1250. Details from PKC’s Community Greenspace Team.
The Scottish Government Community Land Team is holding a free event on Community Rights to Buy in Perth on 3rd September.

AOCB: At the last meeting a litter pick request for the A977 between Crook of Devon and Gartwhinzean Loan was made, but this appears not to have happened, even though Cllr Robertson asked for it to be done. The CC will ask Cllr Robertson to look into this.
Cllr Barnacle has contacted Bruce Reekie to point out that that litter is not being cleared from the roadside. Perhaps it’s time for a “no litter” campaign?

Draft Agenda for Next CC Meeting
Welcome and Apologies, Declarations of Interest, Community Policing, Minutes of last meeting.
Matters arising: Blairingone School Estate Transformation, Powmill in Bloom, Crook & Drum Growing Together, Hydro Scheme Fund, Fossoway Gathering, Fossoway Area Transport, Carnbo VAS, Blairingone War Memorial, A977 Mitigation, Crook of Devon Church Car Park.
Community Councillors: Meetings Attended, PKC Councillors’ Reports, Planning, Correspondence, AOCB

Next Meeting: Tuesday 4th June 2019 7:30 pm
Blairingone Primary School
All Welcome

General Election 2010

I'm not sure i'd agree with the sentiment that our society is broken, however i whole heartedly agree that our democratic system is not just broken, but in ruins!

Through a Facebook group i have attempted to gather information about the forthcoming election, who the candidates are, what they stand for, how the process will work. I am doing this in attempt to help inform would be voters in their choice.

I will try to remain impartial! Hope its of use at least to a few people!

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