CHARLESTOWN, LIMEKILNS AND PATTIESMUIR COMMUNITY COUNCIL MINUTES OF MEETING HELD IN THE COLLEGE, PATTIESMUIR, ON 24TH SEPTEMBER 2019 1. Present: Martin Mulube, Andrew Aldous, Geoff Cartwright, Dr Katie Strang, Paul Byford, Cllr Tony Orton 2. In Attendance: Tom Leatherland, Lorna Stewart (Broomhall), Mike Warren, Derek Batty, Ross Dickson 3. Apologies: Martin Callanan, Rob Thompson, Lesley Scott, Callum MacInnes, Cllr Verrechia 4. Chair Introduction a. The Chair welcomed everyone to the annual meeting in Pattiesmuir College, reiterating CC policy to ensure the meetings are accessible to everyone. He asked those present to please share their views on topics being discussed as this is an open forum for the community 5. Minutes of the meeting of 28th June 2019 a. Accepted without amendment. Proposed by Paul Byford. Seconded by Martin Mulube. 6. Broomhall Estate a. Questions were asked about a survey of estate farmland that had been taking place near North Roundall. The meeting noted that any development on this site would be outwith the specified land use in the FifePlan, and that a regular process of surveying land use was a standard part of estate procedures. b. The estate office is in the Brickworks and is staffed on Monday / Thursday and Friday and otherwise messages can be left at the Edinburgh office number or email addresses are available for communication directly. c. More specific questions about future developments were carried over to the October meeting where there will be focused time with the estate to discuss their plans with regards to developments. 7. Playpark Consultation a. Fife Council are running a consultation for the level and type or equipment that is provided across playparks across the council. The meeting reviewed the proposals for playparks that fall within our CC area [attached as appendix 1]. b. The meeting welcomed the principle of having a policy and agreed standards of maintaining equipment as it has been difficult to secure repairs and replacements in recent times in both of our parks. c. However, noted that the standard of equipment in Limekilns park is already of a higher standard and provision than would be supported in its designation in the new scheme as a Local Play Park. This is due to the funding to develop this playpark that was achieved by local residents over and above Fife Council provision. d. The meeting agreed to submit a response to the consultation challenging the designation of Limekilns park as a Local park to at least a Town park on the grounds of: i. Travel time to this park is already higher than a standard park because of the use of the football pitch in the local league structure and because of Limekilns coastal location and good walking routes ii. The park is close to the school and is used as an extension of the school facilities at times by the school and the after-school club iii. The designation limits levels of equipment to primary school age only, and as there are no other facilities for teenagers provided by the council it would be good to have at least some provision for this age group. iv. Equipment is already of a higher standard; this would be a reduction in facilities 8. Education Issues a. The CC are attending the next Parent Council meeting for the Primary school and will update at the October meeting. b. It was noted that the Nursery at the Primary School is still within the Portakabin and that as part of the movement of Crombie primary school into Limekilns school there was a promise to integrate this into the main building and that this should be raised in any interactions about the development of the primary school. c. The meeting noted that the transition of catchment areas from Woodmill to Dunfermline High School seems to have been managed successfully with no significant problems being raised and pupils seeming to be settling in well. d. With regards to Woodmill, the CC recorded thanks for the speed of the response from Fife Council bodies for getting all of the pupils back into education so quickly and to the local business and organisations that helped out with activities and support while this process was being managed. Future secondary school provision e. The meeting reviewed the relevant sections from Fife Council’s Education committee on 19th March which relates to setting their policy for secondary school development [attached as appendix 2 & 3] f. With regards to each of the decisions of the Education committee: i. Woodmill and St Colomba’s RC High School the decision to progress with moving both of these schools onto a single campus with Fife College, will not significantly impact on our catchment area as by the proposed time of development being finished, current pupils who attend Woodmill from within catchment will be finishing their school career. It was noted that current plans do not appear to substantially increase the overall provision of places, therefore, does not provide substantially impact to potential capacity challenges, and that this project even with the injection of funds from the Scottish Government is not fully funded. ii. Inverkeithing High School replacement – a number of sites have been identified as being potential locations for the new school. The meeting noted that one of the sites still in the running is at the Fleet / HMS Caledonia site, and that if the decision is taken to move the school here this would become our closest secondary school by distance and we would need to understand how catchments would be amended to deal with this move. And that currently this project is not fully funded within the education budget. iii. Overall capacity – The Education Committee preferred a solution to add capacity at the existing schools rather than to go down the route of building new schools. The meeting agreed that understanding the quality and method of marginal increases in capacity would be important in assessing the impact of this policy on our children. g. The meeting Agreed that the key challenge for our community with the EC’s preferred strategy for increasing capacity is that all future developments will be between our villages and Dunfermline High School e.g. Dunfermline South West Development, and that therefore there is a risk of our children being disproportionately impacted by the distance rule in the admissions criteria preventing them from getting into the school. And that the CC should continue to address this issue with councillors and the council executive in line with previous policy to have amendments made to the admissions policy adapting this distance criteria to be more representative of a rural area e.g. where buses are provided distance is effectively zero. h. Any outcome from the October Education Committee meeting to be reviewed at the October CC meeting. 9. Communication & Engagement a. A report on the initial communication and engagement session at the LCP Gala on 17th August was presented [appendix 4]. b. The meeting agreed that this was a good start to the engagement process. c. Next steps agreed were to: i. Arrange meetings with key local organisations starting with the Church and the Primary school to seek their feedback and work out how best to share more detailed questionnaires with their members. ii. Share the detailed questionnaire through CC communication channels 10. Finance Update a. A summary of the current financial status was shared so that the position following the return of funds to the RFRD could be understood [attached as appendix 5] b. No decisions on allocating funding were made; agreed to include future commitments for rental for space for meetings agreed to year end and to include a donation to the College Club. c. A formal review will be on the agenda for the November meeting to avoid challenges with regard to closing the accounts for the financial year 11. Community Raise Items. a. Edinburgh Airport Consultation – this is a new consultation project setup by the airport to gain the views of the community. i. Tom Leatherland attended on behalf of the CC and reported back that this was a new process being managed by consultants on behalf of the airport and this was just the first of a series of meetings at this stage, further details on this process ii. The consultation paid £40 for attendance which Tom passed on into CC funds. b. Community Environment preparation i. The recent flooding issues caused by recent heavy rainfall raised questions about how we as a community could be better placed to provide support and to learn from the challenges that came up. ii. It was agreed that this was an important issue to be addressed, particularly in the context of climate change increasing the unpredictability and strength of the weather. The success of some interventions e.g. Haven’s Edge was noted as principle to learn from. iii. The meeting Agreed to reach out to a number of experts identified to see if there are suggestions that could be adopted and to ensure that emergency Fife Council numbers are made easily available. 12. Councillors update a. The meeting noted with regret Councillor Steele’s decision to stand down and wanted to record its thanks for her invaluable help and support while she’s been one of our Councillors and she will be sorely missed. b. Councillor Orton informed us that the Dunfermline South West development was on the agenda for the planning meeting on the 25th of September. 13. AOCB a. VE Day – the SSAFA charity is taking the lead on organising VE Day 75 commemorations across Scotland and are providing a programme of activities to mark the occasion in the same way across all communities; they are encouraging CC to take the lead in this activity.