Community Council Minutes of AGM - October 2022

Fossoway and District Community Council

Minutes of AGM, 4th October 2022

Attending: Community councillors (CCllrs) Sarah Bruce-Jones, Angus Cheape, Faiza Hansraj-Jackson, Nicola Marchant, Graham Pye; Perth & Kinross (P&K) Councillors (Clr) David Cuthbert, Neil Freshwater and 7 members of the public.

Apologies: Clrs Richard Watters, Clrs William Robertson, CCllr Trudy Duffy, and Assoc. Community CCllr Carol Farquar

Minutes: Minutes of the 2021 AGM meeting were read, approved, and signed off.

Chair’s Report

The elected members of the Community Council are as follows:

Angus Cheape
Sarah Bruce Jones
Trudy Duffy
Nicola Marchant
Graham Pye

Faiza Hansraj- Jackson is a co-opted member of the CC.

Carol Farquhar is an Associate Member of the CC.

Gillian Mudie had to resign due to work pressures. We thank her for her contribution.

A special mention must be made of Mike Barnacle, who after many years of dedicated service, retired from being an elected member. He continues to volunteer in the Community Development Trust and the Fossoway Gathering groups.

I would also like to thank all those continuing members for their support and service during a challenging time. We can now meet face-to-face but the threat of COVID-19 has not gone away and we continue to be careful. We are a little frustrated that COVID-19 is still casting its long shadow; roadworks on the schedule to be carried out as mitigation measures on the A977 have all been delayed, as have other works.

The Community Council has had another very busy year with eleven scheduled meetings, additional meetings and a large volume of correspondence.

Police Service: We recognise that it is difficult for police officers to be present at the meeting; in a response to a question from Inspector Lesley McDonald whether hybrid meetings would be possible (this would enable the officers to attend more often) we had to say that not all halls have WIFI and in addition the CC does not have nor can it buy the equipment to make this happen. A positive remark is that our Community Police Officer, in conjunction with the CC, is organising a ‘Coffee with a Cop’ event. This will be held in the Church Hall on Saturday 15 October, from 16.00 – 17.30. All are welcome for an informal chat or even just a nosy.
The Community Speedwatch project in Kinross-shire is moving forward, though not very fast. We still need volunteers to monitor speeds in our villages.
Speeding: Speeding in our villages remains a source of concern. Promised speed reduction measures in Carnbo can’t be installed at the moment due to understaffing of the legal department.
Blairingone War Memorial: I can only repeat what I said in the last AGM and the AGM before that: it is now one of the longest running items on our agenda.
A977 Mitigation Measures: There is no date yet for the A977 mitigation measures.
Networking: The CC have been involved in several organisations. Angus Cheape sits on the Kinross-shire Fund Committee; Nicola attends ‘Stronger Communities’ meetings, and has also been involved in finding solutions to the closure of the last bank in Kinross-shire and Access to Cash. Members of the CC have also been involved in the local Bloom groups and the Fossoway Gathering as well as the steering group of the Local Development Trust.
Kinross-shire Local Area Committee: Sarah Bruce Jones is our representative on the Kinross-shire Area Committee. There have been a few technical issues with attending the Teams Meetings; however we support this committee and hope that these issues are resolved and that the Committee will find a role to promote and support the county of Kinross-shire.
Fossoway Community Council Benefit Fund: We would welcome more applications from community groups who are working to improve our villages. Applications can be from constituted and non-constituted groups but must demonstrate community benefit.
Rumbling Bridge Gorge Bridge: Angus has communicated with the engineers; the project now seems to be very expensive, and we have to consider what to do next.
Fossoway Gathering: The Fossoway Gathering, which was held on 3 September, was a great success. The community had a good day; the Gathering this year was bigger than the last Gathering and despite the mixed weather all went well. The CC thanks all on the team for the excellent organisation and all those that took part.
Community Development Trust: The Community Development Trust is now operating and has a membership of over 30 members of the community. The first project is to assess whether Blairingone School can be taken over by the community. The Trust has expressed interest in the building, which means they have a year to make plans before making a final decision.
Transport: Transport in Blairingone, Powmill, Crook of Devon and Drum has improved with the new 202 service, which runs all day at regular intervals. However, transport remains a source of worry for the CC; also Carnbo is not serviced by any public transport.
Planning applications. The CC’s role in this is to scrutinise the Local Development Plan and to determine whether a planning application is permitted or contrary to the Development Plan. We also take into account local knowledge, for instance of flooding, access and the removal of trees. We generally do not get involved in planning disputes between neighbours. As we said in the last Chair’s Report and the year before, we feel that there is a distinct lack of joined-up thinking in the planning department of Perth and Kinross Council. It transpires that the department is woefully understaffed.

Developments of large, executive homes are generally permitted and there is no incentive for developers to build small homes for those who would like to downsize in their own community or those who would like to start out. Our community threatens to become a commuter area; where people reside for a few years and then move on.

Most if not all of our correspondence is now by email. Most CC members have access to the email system and the Google documents. This works well for us. We have a Facebook page which is a valuable source for accessing information by people in our villages. Faiza has now taken on the role of minute secretary.

Thank you to my fellow Community Councillors for their support and for the very significant efforts they have made in dealing with their portfolios and attending external meetings. Many thanks also to our former local Councillors Barnacle and Purves, and current local Councillors Watters, Robertson, Cuthbert and Freshwater for their significant support and assistance to the CC on numerous matters.

Thanks also to our loyal MoPs - Members of the Public, who support us with their presence, their information and their questions.

Treasurer’s Report

This report is for the period from 1st September 2021 to 31st August 2022. The Administrative Grant of £251.66 from PKC topped the CC’s funds back up to the maximum £700.00 allowed. In addition an anonymous donation of £25 was also received. The TSB were unable to provide the source of these funds.
I made two attempts to add additional online signatory access to the CC’s bank account, but in both cases the TSB mislaid the application forms.
We have been able to return to physical meetings this Financial Year as the effect of COVID-19 has reduced somewhat; consequently we have spent £140 on accommodation bookings, and £86.34 on Zoom subscriptions.
All Community Councillors are allowed to claim for any expenses they incur over the year for traveling to meetings, including regular CC meetings, and any other incidentals. Expenses claimed by Councillors totalled £209.89 this account period.
After all the transactions over the year have been tallied the CC has a closing balance at year end of £350.11 and I will be applying for this year’s grant once this meeting has approved the accounts.

Motion to approve the accounts was proposed by CCllr Bruce-Jones and seconded by CClr Marchant and passed unanimously.

Confirmation of Office Bearers

In view of the fact that the Office Bearers will need to be re-elected during the EGM in November, it was agreed by all the members present that all Officers would continue in their current roles for the remainder of October.

With no other business, the date of the next AGM was set for 3rd October 2023, and the meeting closed.