Minutes: 4th March 2012

There was a meeting of the Carnbee and Arncroach Community Council in the Church Hall in Arncroach at 7.30 pm on Monday 4th March 2013.....

There was a meeting of the Carnbee and Arncroach Community Council in the Church Hall in Arncroach at 7.30 pm on Monday 4th March 2013.. Present were Ian MacIntyre (Chair), Adrian Snowball, Sheila Wilson, Janet Lodge and Councillor Riches. 1) Apologies from Cllr MacGregor and Linda Holt. There were 11 members of the public. 2) The Minutes of the meeting on Dec.3rd were perused and agreed to be a true record. Matters arising – i) Cllr Riches had not been able to shed light on the problem of inconsistencies on the Fife Council planning website. ii) New arrangements for planning decisions in Fife. NE Fife will continue with Planning Committee in Cupar comprising the 16 local councillors. There are now 2 other planning committees in the rest of Fife – 1 for Central and 1 for West Fife. The Minutes of the special meeting held by the CC to discuss and vote on the wind turbine proposal at Belliston were considered and signed off as a true record. 3) Defibrillators update. There had been a second training session organised by Gillian Duncan. Her expertise is greatly appreciated. Location of the 2 defibrillators needs to be publicised as much as possible. Location of all defibrillators needs to be known as widely as possible. Possibility of map on Noticeboards. 4) Drainage and flooding. i) Councillor Riches had met for a useful discussion with Roads experts and local farmer to investigate flooding on main Anstruther road at Bonerbo. ii) Cllr Riches had investigated flooding on road north of Arncroach. Drains are inspected each month. Care needs to be taken with removal of soil after offlet cutting. Drain cleaning is not effective. Ditches need to be regularly maintained. 5) Roads. i) serious problem with potholes. Contact Jane.Finlay@fife.gov.uk to report potholes. Depth of 40mm requires repair. It was emphasised again that inadequate drainage causes potholes. ii) direction indicators at Balmonth corner not replaced. iii) road surface at Ovenstone Farm has become dangerously smooth and cars are skidding. iv) road from Arncroach-Carnbee-Lochty will be closed for 2 weeks from March 14th for resurfacing. 6) Gillingshill. David Roger has cut back bushes at entrance and whins from meadow. Many thanks. If meadow is left uncut whins will grow there. CC will use funds to buy chippings to backfill paths and steps. 7) cdt update. All information is on the website. Fun Day/Big Lunch at Kellie Castle on June 15th . Midsummer Night’s Dream open air theatre at Kellie on July13th. Survey to be undertaken on home insulation. Grant applied for to assess support for a community ground source heating scheme. Roadside hedge planting at Gillingshill by Community Payback workers delayed by winter weather. Cdt wrote again to Fife Council to indicate interest in buying Gillingshill. Wind turbine projects locally at different stages in the process. Possibility of adopting trig point on top of Kellie Law. Photographs of old Arncroach and Carnbee used at Millennium Exhibition now digitised. Social evening with slideshow on May 3rd in Church Hall. Ian MacIntyre resigned from cdt committee. 8) Councillor’s Report. i) 20 mph limit now in place in Arncroach. Police patrols will keep an eye on driver behaviour. ii) Dog wardens work 7 days a week and do give out fixed penalties if need be. Warden will speak to owner of large dog that sometimes runs out alone in Arncroach. It was felt that enclosing the village green any more than it is at the moment was unnecessary. iii) groups seeking funding can go to “grantnet” on FifeDirect. iv) Main Issues Report of new Fife Development Plan has been out for consultation. Cllr Riches handed out map showing landscape of CC area divided between “area with limited capacity” and “area with highest inherent capacity” to absorb presence of wind turbines. This does not refer to grid capacity. Each application still judged on its own merits. 9) Treasurer’s Report. Gillingshill Fund – £862 Floral Fund £420 General Fund £396 In bank 08/03/2013 £2228.62. Flower ladies still to be paid for flower boxes last summer. 10) Planning. i) There was a poorly attended exhibition in the Hall on proposals to extend life of Belliston Quarry for another 25 years. Concerns about traffic through village. Discussion about parking in village. Does it in fact slow traffic down? ii) Application for small wind turbine at Scotshall. As yet no details known. Discussion of process of gauging local opinion. CC has done its utmost to publicise the issue and an opportunity has been given to those interested to vote on the larger schemes. Individuals can always send in their own opinions. CC suggests 50 kilowatt is the criterion for holding a special meeting. It was agreed to put up on the Noticeboards the Fife Council weekly list of planning applications relevant to our area. 11) As a result of the formal complaint made against Ms Holt for her failure to declare an interest when dealing with the issue of wind turbines Linda Bissett, Senior Manager (Democratic Services) has initiated an investigation which is on-going. Ms Bissett’s letter was circulated. AOB i) There was a report of a meeting in Anstruther concerning community response to climate change. Fife Emergency services will be asked to give a response. ii) Mrs Lodge reported on an initiative supported by Fife Council -“Scots Together” – to help people to review and possibly reduce their energy tariffs. Web address is www.scotstogether.com iii) There was news from the East Neuk Forum about the proposal to develop a cycle route from Crail to Elie. iv) There will be an on-line survey to ascertain whether superfast broadband would be an economic proposition. v) An East Neuk foodbank will run from 2nd April at Anstruther Church, Burial Brae for families in crisis. Non-perishable food can be donated Thursday 4-6pm and Tuesday 10-3pm. Food can be picked up Tuesday 10-3pm. It was suggested that the cdt Big Lunch in June could tie in with this scheme. vi) There is a fundraiser in Anstruther Church for the East Neuk Emergency Trust on Sat. 16th March. Next meeting – June 3rd. Thanks to all.

PDF: 5 March 2013