News & Minutes
Draft Minutes for Fossoway and District Community Council (FDCC) meeting
Tuesday 3rd October 2023 Crook of Devon Village Hall
Attending: Community Councillors (CCllrs) Sarah Bruce-Jones, Angus Cheape, Nicola Marchant, Tony Lamb and Graham Pye; Assoc CCllr Carol Farquar; Perth & Kinross Councillors Dave Cuthbert, William Robertson and Richard Watters; Eight members of the public (MoP).
Apologies: PKC Councillor Neil Freshwater.
Declarations of interest: None
Police report (In the absence of Officers):
From 5th September 2023 (the last CC meeting) there had been 38 calls to the Police from the Fossoway area and two crimes recorded on Police systems. Between 5pm, Wednesday 13th and 8:30am, Thursday 14th September, a set of golf clubs in a black Calloway bag were stolen from a black Ford Fiesta parked in Station Road, Crook of Devon. This is subject to a live investigation.
MoP noted that there had been a serious accident in Powmill since the last meeting, although the Police had said that speed was not a factor. Cllr Robertson suggested that Community Speedwatch would help address speeding, but there have still not been enough volunteers to operate it in Fossoway.
Cllr Watters confirmed that the school Road junction in Crook of Devon will be set to green on the Main Road and will not be used to deliberately stop vehicles. The new Drum traffic lights will be similar to Blairingone and will be set to revert to red with the aim of slowing vehicles.
Minutes of the previous meeting: The minutes of the previous meeting were reviewed and signed off.
Matters Arising:
Wind Farm
After careful consideration the CC decided not to attend the meeting organised by the Friends of the Ochils (FOTO). Before attending such meetings, it was agreed that the CC should seek to obtain the views of our entire community on proposed windfarms. However the CC has received the minutes of the meeting – in summary it was recognised that FOTO was still at the information gathering stage and was not making any decisions yet.
Hence, we have decided to carry out a community online survey. PKC have agreed to fund leaflets. The leaflets will detail the reason for the survey, survey questions and a link to an online survey. The leaflets will be delivered to all residents. Residents can either complete the paper survey and drop off in named places or complete online. Cllr Watters was worried about multiple submissions from the same person, but the CC replied that the purpose of the survey was to collect views rather than take a vote.
E-Power had hosted two community engagement events in Crook of Devon and Carnbo
Community Development Trust:
A business case for the Community Asset Transfer of the Blairingone School is being prepared by a working group led by Marion Anness. The proposal focuses on creating a venue to initially promote health and wellbeing with the potential of creating a Business Hub in Phase 2.
Local Place Plans:
CCllr Marchant is working with PKC officers on the development of both a Local Place Plan, including demographic information provided by PKC, which would be considered as part of LDP3 preparation. After LDP3 comes into force, any planning applications must be considered in the context of the Local Place Plan. The Local Place Plan will be co-developed and consulted on with the Community. Additionally a separate Community Action plan will be prepared to define projects to be carried out in the area.
Road Safety in FDCC Area (Including A977 Mitigation and Carnbo):
On the 27th September 2023 Carnbo village finally became a 30mph zone! A resident noted that it would be useful to have countdown markers when approaching from the west.
PKC had provided an update for the School Road Junction. The main construction work has now been completed with only a couple of small outstanding jobs still to be undertaken, including new road markings and general site tidying. The aim is to have all of this work completed and be in a position to switch on the traffic signals on the afternoon of 6th October.
The start date for the Drum junction signalisation has been pushed back to 30th October to ensure that the works do not conflict with nearby A977 drainage improvement works being carried out by Roads Maintenance. It is expected that the works will take approximately five weeks, which will include the time required to install the traffic signal equipment and switch on.
PKC intend to install hardstanding areas around the junction for maintenance purposes. The existing pedestrian crossing will remain as PKC feel that this is the best place for a crossing point across the A977. These lights will be set at red if a vehicle is approaching too fast.
Cllr Cuthbert pointed out that there is still some money left in the A977 mitigation pot, but this will be used once the current schemes have been assessed.
The CC had been notified of plans to resurface part of the A977 to the west of Powmill. The works are programmed to commence on Monday 16th October 2023 and will take five days to complete, weather permitting. To undertake the works safely and efficiently, temporary traffic lights and a convoy system with a 10mph speed limit will be used during the working hours (7.30am to 4pm). Outwith the working hours the temporary traffic lights will remain in place for safety.
Fossoway Area Transport incl. Transport group and Bus service:
CCllr Lamb reported that the significant problem with the 202 service is caused by the very old vehicles used which struggle to climb hills and reach 50mph over the long straight runs. Two buses with more efficient engines have been promised and hopefully this will help. It could be considered that Stagecoach would have broken their contract on numerous occasions. It would also be reasonable to assume that the contract could be terminated. However, PKC’s Margaret Roy has consulted other bus companies and none have enough spare capacity to take over the service from Stagecoach.
Glenfarg Community Transport Group operate the 55 service and a community bus and CCllr Lamb met with Drew Smart from the Group on 13th September to gather information about their operation. On 28th September CCllr Lamb attended a meeting with Glenfarg’s Drew Smart & Douglas Fraser, PKC’s Margaret Roy and Cllr Cuthbert, in which it was proposed by Drew that Glenfarg Community Transport assume, at some point in the future, the running of the 202 service as an extension to their Community Services.
Should a proposal be put forward and accepted then this would be an ideal situation where the Fossoway Community Development Trust could and should be involved and play a significant role.
MoP Questions and Answers
MoP reported that the 202 service has let him down on several occasions sometimes leaving him stranded in Kinross – as described above this is often due to the inadequate vehicles in use, hopefully this will improve.
MoP asked if a bus stop could be added at the east end of Powmill where the path meets the road. This will be passed to PKC.
Biodiversity
The Crook of Devon Bloom Group have been in discussion with the Tayside Biodiversity Officer at PKC about Crook and Drum becoming designated as a Biodiversity Village, which could then give access to funding for any projects to help nature. The area already has many natural locations, e.g., the corner of West Crook Way, the orchard behind the graveyard, the Drum Triangle, and Penney's Wood as well as many attractive and nature friendly gardens and paths around the village, with plants for pollinating insects, and a variety of native creatures.
The Group would like to find local people who are interested in enhancing the area and supporting biodiversity, and have an open meeting and mapping session in the Village Hall from at 2.30 on Sunday 8th October with refreshments.
Matters arising with no update since last meeting: Local Area Committee.
Consultations
PKC Consultations
Primary Care GP Services Patient Survey
Perth and Kinross Health and Social Care Partnership is keen to hear patients’ views about their GP premises. The survey is for people registered with a GP Practice in P&K – which for this CC area would be the Kinross practice. Closes 15th October.
Scottish Government Consultations
Mandatory training on planning for elected members Elected members have a crucial role in the decision-making process within the planning system, so it is vital that adequate training helps them make decisions that are robust and sound. Closes 26th October.
Democracy Matters Phase 2
Democracy Matters conversations have already started to explore whether far more decisions could be made by communities themselves. This is a key and connected part of the wider Local Governance Review which is looking across all of Scotland’s vital public services to consider how power and resources should be shared between national and local government.
https://consult.gov.scot/local-government-and-communities/democracy-matters/ Closes 28th Feb 2024.
Tackling the Nature Emergency: Consultation on Scotland’s Strategic Framework for Biodiversity
This consultation is seeking views on a range of topics and proposals related to biodiversity and tackling the nature emergency in Scotland. It covers three parts of the Framework: The Scottish Biodiversity Strategy, the first five-year Delivery Plan and the proposed Natural Environment Bill. https://consult.gov.scot/environment-forestry/tackling-the-nature-emergency/ Closes 14th December.
Community Council Business
Meetings Attended: As reported above; Also CCllr Lamb attended a meeting of the P&K Community Forum on 15th September.
P&K Councillors’ Reports
Dave Cuthbert: In discussion with PKC Officers he discovered that the Vehicle Actuated Speed Signs don’t actually record speeds – he has asked for the systems on the A977 and A91 to be upgraded so they do.
Richard Watters: The application for the Kinross Banking Hub wasn’t successful as the process assesses population in a 1km radius of a point – obviously Kinross’s geography means that very few people were included. Additionally in rural areas the 1km radius isn’t an appropriate measure anyway as it doesn’t consider farms, other villages, etc.
Planning Matters
The CC has been invited to join a Planning Forum being led by PKC. The initial meeting is on 25th October.
DPEA Appeal 21/02133/AML, PPA-340-2151 https://www.dpea.scotland.gov.uk/CaseDetails.aspx?ID=122826. No decision yet.
Planning Applications
23/01275/FLL Erection of 5 holiday accommodation units, a managers accommodation unit and workshop/garage, formation of vehicular parking areas, landscaping, and associated works at land 150 metres north west of 1 Barnhill Farm, Powmill. The CC objected as there was only a limited business case.
23/01313/FLL Erection of 8 dwellinghouses, formation of vehicular access, landscaping, and associated works at land 30 metres east of Honeysuckle Cottage Carnbo. The CC objected on the grounds that the development would alter the linear character of the village; properties not of varied design; no affordable properties; no greenspace or biodiversity.
Planning Decisions
23/00938/FLL Change of use of agricultural land to form extension to garden ground, extension to driveway and associated works (in part retrospect) at Wellpark, Powmill, Dollar FK14 7NP. The application was approved, the CC did not comment.
AOCB:
CCllr Duffy has resigned from the CC which has triggered a by-election. The CC can have a maximum of 8 elected members so we are actively encouraging residents to be nominated. The timetable for the by-election and a link to forms of interest will be posted on our Facebook page and website. CCllr Duffy has kindly agreed to attend our November meeting where we can thank her for all of her many years of service.
MoP Questions and Answers
There seem to be an increased number of power cuts in Powmill, is this due to the aging infrastructure in the area, which is going to be more stressed with the planned housing developments in the area. – can we get SSE to come to a meeting and explain why? The CC undertook to contact the new area representative, Mark Westwood.
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
Next Meeting: Tuesday 7th November 7:30pm
Moubray Village Hall
All are welcome!
Correspondence September 2023