STRATHKINNESS COMMUNITY COUNCIL
Minutes of Annual General Meeting held at 730pm on 2nd June 2009 in the Village
School.
Present:- Mrs. Mudie [Chair], Scott, Slack, Walker.Messrs. Baxter, Duncan, Inverarity.
Fife Councillors Melville and Morrison.
Apologies:- Messrs. Baxter, D’Angelis Younger & Mitchell. Police Sgt. Poole.
Minutes of last meeting:- read and approved.
Election of officials;- On the proposal of the Mrs. Mudie, seconded by Mr. Duncan,
all officials were re-elected unanimously;
Treasurer’s Report:- Mrs. Walker reported a healthy balance of Council Funds. The
Accounts were being re-formulated to meet the new format requested by Fife Council
and should be ready for the next meeting.
Chairman’s Report:- “There are always ongoing issues year on year for the village.
Planning permission having been granted for the central field, the developer started
the widening of Church Road, the pedestrian crossing outside the school and the bus
bay in Main Street. There was one meeting attended by representatives of the Community
Council, Headon Developments and Fife Council to discuss the planning of the public
open space. However, in November, the building site was moth-balled due to the economic
down turn, and so it remains.
The Structure Plan 2006 has only just been approved by the Scottish Government and
the Draft Local Plan is out for consultation- The Green Belt boundaries have not
been set, and if the so called Western Approaches are used for development, the
St.Andrews boundary would be within one mile of the village. The idea for a cycle/footpath
between the village and St.Andrews, on the High Road, is still keenly supported by
the Community Council. Traffic speeding through the village is a continuing issue.
The Police continue to set high profile checks, at various times of the day, in an
effort to slow traffic down.
I have to thank my Community Council colleagues for their support, Mrs.Slack for
organising and delivering the Village Information Pack to new members of the community,
Mr. Younger for up-dating the web-site, Mr. Duncan for organising the Floral Display
Group, Mrs. Scott for attending RAF Leuchars, Community Forum Meetings and members
who have attended other meetings throughout the year. My thanks to our Secretary
for his work, to our Treasurer for looking after our finances. I must also thank
our Fife Councillors Frances Melville and Dorothea Morrison for all the work they
do on behalf of Strathkinness.”
Mrs.Slack proposed a vote of thanks to Mrs. Mudie for her efforts.
The normal monthly meeting continued after the AGM.
Mrs. Mudie introduced Hayley Williams of Fife Council Environmental Services, who
explained the details of the pilot project involving Strathkinness, Guardbridge
and Leuchars to collect waste food with organic waste collections, for a trial period
of 6 months, commencing 7th September 2009. Information packs will be sent to every
household, explaining the system. Bio bags will be provided to put the waste food
in. These are then put into the Brown Bin , for collection fortnightly. Fife Council
will be very pro-active in the build –up to the trial period and there will be a
public meeting in the Village Hall on 3rd August for all villagers to air their views
on the project. After a question and answer session Mrs. Mudie thanked Hayley for
her presentation.
Matters arising from previous meeting:-
Bus time tables:- Amended tables still appear to be causing difficulties.
Street lights on during day; The matter has been reported and it would appear to
be a problem for the contractors, who erected the lights, to rectfy.
Postal delivery:- No reply from Royal Mail to request for explanation of changed
delivery service.
Floral Display Group. The Secretary reported that good progress had been made during
the past few weeks. Unfortunately the second cart will not be ready for this season’s
display as it requires considerable refurbishment. The plants were all ordered and
would be available for planting very soon. The Vegetable Garden was in good heart
and the School children were to present some herbs for the garden later this month.
The members of the group were all raring to get going with the planting and were
looking forward to the challenge of making Strathkinness “blooming marvellous”. The
Secretary thanked them for their interest and continuing support. He also thanked
the villagers who had been kind enough to make a financial contribution to the scheme.
A further grant had been received from Fife Council local funding, which should
allow the project to extend into a winter planting programme. Judging for the Beautiful
Fife 2009 competition takes place on the morning of July 21st 2009.
Community Policing: In the absence of Sgt. Poole, Mrs. Mudie reported that Sgt. Poole
had confirmed that a winning entry had been selected from the Primary School children’s poster
competition to highlight the problem of dog-fouling in the village. The children
had been very creative and it had been difficult to select a winner from so many
good entries. Copies of the winning poster would be displayed in the village later. Sgt.
Poole also reminded villagers that he was anxious to find a Neighbourhood Watch co-ordinator
as soon as possible.
Fife Council- Finance & Procurement: Notification of renewal of Community Council
Insurance.
Fife Council- Performance & Organisational Support: Notice of Funding and Grant arrangements
for 2009-10.
Scottish Government: Notice of National Conversation on Scotland’s constitutional
future- meeting to be held in Kirkcaldy on 16th June.
RAF. Cocktail Party: Mrs. Mudie and Mr D’Angelis were to attend as representatives
of the Community Council.
Grass Cutting;- Councillor Melville took note of some areas of concern where the
verge grass cutting required further action to improve road safety.
Pavement Parking:- Complaints about persistent pavement parking in Sunnyside had
been passed to Sgt. Poole for further action.
Pedestrians on High Road to St. Andrews;- Mrs. Slack highlighted the problems for
motorists, cyclists and pedestrians using the High Road. She felt that the hazards
for road users were significant, on what is an increasingly busy road, and that the
Council should step up it’s pressure on Fife Council to provide a cycle/footpath
on the route, before there is a serious accident.
Signs on Craigtoun Road;- The Secretary asked Councillor Melville to investigate
the possibility of improve signage at the entrance to Lumbo on the Craigtoun road.
The hidden entrance for traffic turning into and out of Lumbo, should be prominently
highlighted to traffic travelling to and from St. Andrews.
East Sands:- Mrs. Walker asked Councillor Melville to investigate a recent incident
that she had witnessed at the East Sands when 2 large tractors had been operating
in an area being used by members of the public.
Next Meeting:- 14th July 2009- in Church Hall.