CHARLESTOWN, LIMEKILNS AND PATTIESMUIR COMMUNITY COUNCIL MINUTES OF MEETING HELD AT THE QUEEN’S HALL ON 22.02.05 Present: Peter Curry, Sue Hamilton, Laura Alexander, Beryl Leatherland, David Nelson, Bob Taylor, David Hutton. In Attendance: D C Kempsell, Sergeant Tom Clague, PC Stephen Clark 1. Apologies: Roz Artis, Sam Burton, Graham Urquhart, Ali McKerron, Elizabeth Hutchings 2. Minutes of the meeting of 25th January, 2005. Proposed as an accurate record by D. Nelson seconded by S. Hamilton. 3. Matters Arising a]. Fence at Police House. No progress. b]. Coal Lorries – These are now working through the night due to the delays caused by the roadworks on the A985. c]. Red Row restriction – The Secretary had written to all the residents and suggested a sign should be erected at both ends, at Ramsey Lane and Murrell Lane and that the 2 available signs should be used. There had been no objections but one resident had asked about the potholes on their road. The estate seems to be resurfacing part of the Old Orchard and the Doctor’s car park. Sec will contact Estate as to availability of tarmac for the potholes. d]. Seats at Play Park – no change. e]. Cycle Track Works – no change; progress to be monitored. f]. Fife Fire & Rescue Plan – in hand with Laura Alexander and Scott Morton. g]. Events listing – G Urquhart had responded to new events listing consultation. h]. Capernaum Pier sewage –. Scottish Water have held a special meeting and assured the Secretary that they are looking at both remedial short term and permanent long term solutions and provided technical details of their proposals. i]. Noise from Carpet Bowls – Sam Burton is to raise this at the next Queen’s Hall committee j]. the wind damaged fence at the lime kilns has been repaired. 4. Police Report a]. Sergeant Tom Clague was welcomed back in his new role as Dunfermline Community Sergeant. He introduced PC Stephen Clark as our new Community Officer. Our villages now come under Dunfermline and not the West Fife Villages for community policing. PC Stuart Cree was sorry to be losing us from his responsibilities. Chief Inspector is looking at the areas served and their associated Locality Offices, where good relationships are established. The response for day to day policing will continue to come in the first instance from Oakley but the villages will also be served by the Rosyth and Dunfermline officers, depending on availability. Further changes are anticipated when the council boundaries are changed. Our crime figures will continue to appear under the West Fife Villages data. Sergeant Clague issued a copy of the February 2005 Fife Constabulary Dunfermline Newsletter which lists local police contacts. It is undecided whether the Community Access Vehicle will continue to be used. PC Clark has to date advertised his local surgeries in the Press and if a suitable local premises can be identified this may continue – preferably on Wednesdays b]. The talking signs at the school are to stay in place for the time being. c]. Local Crimes: 5 of the soapworks garages were broken into between the 2nd and 4th February, and 2 outboard motors and machinery were taken. A car was broken into in Brucehaven Road; apparently a specific method of break-in is being targeted at cars such as Peugeot 205s and small Citroens; usually CD players are stolen. 2 vehicles had been left unsecured in Charles Way and in Red Row and items stolen from them. Sergeant Claque emphasised the need for vigilance and simple preventative strategies. d]. Tetra masts: These are needed for the new Police nationwide radios/text phones, which rely on land- based communications, so very many are needed. The health issues were discussed, the main concern is the pulsing of the radios at 17.6 Hertz, 16 Hertz is an acceptable threshold. The masts do not pulse and are believed to pose no health risk and have variable power and use low band VHF. The base Stations only transmit when required to do so. The Home Office in association with various bodies is monitoring the effects in 100,000 policemen. There is a facility to stop the Tetra sets pulsing, useful in Hospitals although their use is not restricted in the local hospitals. There is good coverage in Fife and all the masts are in place. The Police are currently being trained and the system will go live in May. The Secretary had received a letter of concern asking for objection support from another Community Council. Meeting agreed not to support. e]. Road Signs – the 30mph Rocks Road signs are not yet in place. f]. Police Patrol Rounds – there was a query whether the Police were continuing to patrol randomly and there was an assurance that when possible, they were. Residents use this fact as a verbal deterrent to nuisance makers and those being anti-social. 5. Village Traffic. a) A985 Junction: David Nelson read the letter from the Scottish Executive indicating there would be a meeting between them, BEAR and Transportation. It was agreed that David should reply and ask to attend. There were discussions about enlisting support from our local MSPs, but it was decided that we would wait for the outcome of this meeting first. b) Parking in the Villages: Sergeant Clague confirmed that the zig-zags at the school must be kept clear and this would be enforceable from April. Safe routes to school were discussed. The Community Council should get involved in discussions with the School Board, and walking buses schemes should be encouraged. “20 is plenty” schemes were discussed. Such schemes are currently advisory, not mandatory. It was agreed that the Community Council draft a 20’s Plenty plan for the villages for consultation. Sergeant Clague said that one advantage of the numbers of parked cars in villages was that everyone was obliged to drive slowly and carefully, thereby significantly reducing risks. 6. Kiln House Update The Contractors had been using the back lane, against agreements. The Secretary had communicated with Jim Birrell. The site of the original Factor’s Brae had not been found. There is an S.E. Directive that local councils should consult with the local councillor and via him with the community council on street names. Factor’s Loan was a suggested alternative. 7. Doctors’ Surgery No update. Secretary had been sent another letter of concern from a South Row resident. 8. Ballast Bank The Secretary had requested copies of the comments from Historic Scotland and Scottish Water from the Planning Dept. There has been a well-supported local petition and over 90 letters of objection sent to the planning Dept. The developers had left “Blutak” marks on the Queen’s Hall walls after the public meeting and they would be billed. 9. Access Legislation The SOAC had gone “live” on 9th Feb. D Nelson had been exercising his Access Rights by cycling through the estate daily since then. On the 9th, he had been accosted by the keeper, who didn’t seem to be aware of the new laws; and had dropped off some information at the Estate Office. Beryl had met at the Estate with Alison Irvine, the Fife Access Officer, on Sunday 22nd and shown her the main issues, usefully coinciding with a fellow with a pushchair, 3 children and a dog arriving at the newly locked gate and having to be helped over this and the adjacent stile. The existing signs dissuade people from visiting the Estate except on Sundays and are a departure from the legislation. There should also be no locked gates barring access unless there is a hazard related reason for this. Alison suggested the secretary should write to her formally concerning the signage and the locked gate. The Boulders (Gellet Rock) were also visited and Alison is to investigate further. David, Beryl and Sue have copies of the Access Code available and copies of the “Know the Code” leaflet were distributed and further copies will be left in the Post Offices. 10. Treasurer’s Report There had been no transactions since the previous meeting. 11. Secretary’s Report A]. Review of Marches and Parades – hefty book received from Scottish Executive. B]. Dunfermline and Coast Association of Community Councils – notification of meeting C]. Fife Environmental Trust – another questionnaire on the Bell Hills and Peggy’s Brae. D]. The “Local Channel” Community Council Websites – Peter to consult Colin Robertson to see if he is prepared to administer our inclusion to this. E]. “Your Right to Know” – Freedom of Information Law. CCs seem to be exempt. F]. Fife Council Guide to Development Service Teams – a glossy leaflet/wallposter had been sent and the necessity for such an expensive document was queried. It was felt a paper list of who to contact about specific areas in the Local Offices would be more useful. G]. “Postwatch Scotland “ booklet – with Laura Alexander. H]. Letter from Comrie Community Council, re Scottish Action on Tetra – see 4.c] above. 12 Councillor’s Report No report 13. A.O.C.B. a]. Graham Urquhart had read the S.E. report on the consultation about the Third Party Right of Appeal and reported that the findings showed polarisation of views between interested residents and their representative organisations and those with a development–related financial/business involvement. b]. Graham had e-mailed a useful list of our local MSPs and their areas of interest/responsibility, and the Council expressed their appreciation to Graham for this. c]. Beryl reported back on the Community Council Support Working group meeting she had attended where the feedback from the consultations and seminars on the Good Practice Agreement and the Proposed Complaints Procedure had been considered before finalising documentation.