Pumpherston Community Council

Minutes of Meeting held on Tuesday 1st April 2014 at 7.00pm in Pumpherston and Uphall Station Primary School.

PRESENT: Karen Rogers (KR) (in Chair) Eric Horsburgh (Treasurer)(ER) Jenny Rogers (Secretary)(JR) Heather Burnside (HB) Jacqueline Millar (JM) Ann Terris (AT) Gillian McIlwraith (GmcI) Tam Jenkins (TJ) Councilor Frank Toner (AF)

APOLOGIES: Councilor Frank Anderson; Graeme Rogers; Roy Rogers

KR ~ opened the meeting and thanked everyone for coming. Minutes from last minute acknowledged and shared. Agenda for business outlined

Vacancies: Gillian McIlwraith and Heather Burnside duly elected onto the committee following the election for new members. Leaving one vacant position. KR proposed Jackie Millar be co-opted onto the committee and this was seconded by EH. The Treasurers role previously held by EH was passed to GMcI after proposal from EH and seconded by HB

KR confirmed that Chris Norman from WLC Planning Department would be at the next meeting in May. He has been asked to provide maps of the village, confirm vacant lots of land and possible landowners. Also requested are all current planning applications and planning pipelines for e.g. roads, school extensions and major housing including the old school site.

KR advised that some residents had approached her regarding the parking bay planning application on Drumshoreland Road. Concerns have been raised relating to parking for residents as it appears to be short-stay only and the residents would have nowhere to park. FA confirmed via email that all residents had been included in an extensive consultation period a couple of years ago and the majority agreed this was a good idea. FT confirmed this was the case and went onto highlight the benefits. The bays will be built as per the spec. TJ highlighted areas of concerns: the impact to residents on Drumshoreland Road in terms of the volume of parents dropping off and picking up at particular times of the day. The current chicane system was not working as planned with a number of vehicles racing though without ‘right-of-way’ and it was felt by the majority that this would and could only be impacted further once the bays were installed. KR raised the point that there was a car park at Recreational Park that parents could use and children would have a safe, traffic free walk of less than 2 minutes and this would be a good compromise. However, the car park is damaged following the building of the school and installation of the fences on the lesser park, could funding be diverted to fix the car park? EH agreed and further commented that Pumpherston United had been let down on the repair of the Lesser Park and the repair should really have formed part of the original contractual agreement FT confirmed that this could not happen as funding for the parking bays had already been secured for this financial year and could not therefore, be diverted. He had however, secured funding for the repair of the Car Park in the 2015-2016 budget but would ensure if any budget shortfalls were highlighted in WLC build and repair programme these would be ring fenced for the Car-Park repair.

Newsletter: KR confirmed she had approached Pumpherston Print who had supplied a quotation with a generous discount it was agreed by all to proceed with PP for the supply of the forthcoming Newsletter on the basis of the being local and the quotation being competitive. Meeting to be arranged to discuss content and information relayed to PP FT requested that article be included highlighting the Multi Purpose Play park at the back of the school is open and free to free to use. KR acknowledged and thanked FA for providing monies from his disbursement fund to assist in the funding of the newsletter

‘The Big Clean Up’ date to be arranged and confirmed in the forthcoming newsletter ~ JR to call WLC and arrange

Village Amenities: JR contacted Dobbies and Klondyke with a view to obtaining funding for planting in the village. No contact from Klondyke and an application form received from Dobbies for their Q3 funding programme. In addition, they have offered thirty places to the school children for their ‘from fork to mouth’ programme information passed to the school…at this juncture still waiting on a response.

KR to contact James Ritchie & Son regarding maintenance of the clock

KR asked FT to confirm what planting programmes are in place for the village and when these will be completed. She also asked when the black fence that runs through Uphall Station Road will be painted, this was brought up at the last meeting and was originally a FA action ~ FT agreed to check and confirm

Signage into the village is poor with only one sign being in place on the Mid Calder Road, there is no indication from any other entry points that people have even come into the village. Looking for this to be rectified. FT indicated this was something that could be arranged via a Regeneration fund. However, everyone agreed this wasn’t the purpose of the fund and all other villages and districts had their own signage. Furthermore, the sign on the Mid Calder road was filthy and needed cleaned. FT taken as an action

Children’s play facilities are seriously lacking in the opinion of the PCC particularly the one in Heaney Avenue, which is seriously dated, and lacking in stimulus. The ‘totem pole’ in Harrysmuir Park serves no point and is an eye sore requests were made to FT to confirm dates for an improvement programme and whether the pole could be removed FT taken as an action

TJ asked if Drumshoreland Road could be cleaned, there is impacted dirt along the banking, the footpaths are filthy and the chicanes all need cleaned FT taken as an action

At the junction between Drumshoreland Road and Uphall Station Road TJ and JM both indicated that the green telecom boxes were a problem when driving. Their positioning at the junction was a driving hazard as it restricted view of on coming traffic when leaving the junction FT taken as an action

Again on Drumshoreland Road at the entrance to the school there should be a ‘flashing 20mph’ sign. The village had one at the previous school site and we would like that re sited to the new school particularly as the PCC have highlighted traffic problems on this road. FT taken as an action

KR confirmed that had been a number of complaints about the bus service. First Bus will be attending our next meeting and have been provided with a list of the concerns.

Seven Oaks KR confirmed she had spoken to the Planning department and the Oaks was sold in a private sale. The building could be removed and the site either used for retail or housing purposes. At this stage no planning applications had been made.

Notice Board: all agreed it was important to have a main communication facility in the village, not everyone has access to the Internet or indeed visit the school. Funding from WLDC to be requested to purchase and locate a community notice board in the village KR taken as an action

War Memorial: KR asked FT to confirm that he had made contact with John Richardson from the Scottish Veterans Society to discuss how best to proceed with this project. FT to make arrangements for an appointment within the next two weeks. All ~ Agreed that a Newsletter, Facebook Page and Website were required to share NEXT MEETING: Tuesday 6th May2014 at 7:00pm Pumpherston and Uphall Primary School

Chairperson……………………………………………………………

Secretary……………………………………………………………….

PCCMin/KR/April14