Burntisland Community Council
Minutes
of Meeting held in the Burgh Chambers on
Present: A
MacDonald (Chair)
R Smith (Vice Chair)
G Ritchie (Secretary
H Leuchars (Minutes)
T Hailey, C Dewar, G Lowe, M
Douglas, G McGregor,
G Lowe; Councillor R Edwards,
Councillor G Kay; Councillor S Leslie
Bill Kirkhope –Editor ‘Burgh
Buzz’
8 Members of public in
attendance
1 Apologies
for Absence
A Grant;
2 Minutes
of Previous meeting (
T Hailey proposed adoption of
the minutes as a true and correct record & seconded by B Smith
3 Matters
Arising
Points
raised have been incorporated within minutes.
4 Notification
of Community Concerns for discussion under ‘Any other Business’
section 11- as detailed
5 Police
Report; Due to operational commitments Sergeant Potter was not
available and no report was given on her behalf.
6 Fife
Council Locality Manager’s Report – Ken Hailey forwarded a comprehensive
report and this was circulated and presented to the meeting in his absence as
follows and includes issues raised at the October meeting:-
Monks Walk/ Rossend Point
This area has been cut back and a site meeting arranged to
discuss possible future work.
Steps,
The lack of a handrail has been referred to Robbie Blyth,
Beaches and Coast Officer for his attention.
‘Palais’ Steps (
The steps are not adopted by Transportation therefore I am
currently trying to determine ownership/responsibility for installing the
missing section of hand rail on the steps.
School Crossing Patrol, High Street
The suggestion that the School Crossing Patrol stance should
be relocated to the pedestrian crossing approximately 50 meters along the road
has been referred to the Education Service for consideration and I will
feedback the outcome in due course.
Pedestrian Barriers, High Street, Burntisland (Outside the
Porte Bar)
The suggestion that the pedestrian barriers at this location
should be extended, to prevent pedestrians crossing at this point, has been
referred to Transportation for consideration and I will feedback the outcome
when available.
It is intended to proceed with joining up the double yellow
lines in
Traffic Calming,
It is intended to replace the central refuges with narrowing
nibs from the footways, the design is underway for this and local residents at
the locations of the nibs have been contacted.
At the moment the lights are on a timer which should bring
them on at dusk and they should go off at
Footpath,
The shrubbery has been cut back at
this location.
High Street Paving Slabs
Bill Liddle, Lead Officer Roads and Street Lighting, and
Grant Laycock, Technical Inspector from Transportation met with Councilors Kay
and Edwards and two representatives from
the Community Council recently. They
walked the High Street and defects i.e. cracked slabs were noted. These fall into 2 categories of defects. The
first are the defects which we would pick up during our safety inspections i.e.
20mm defects, there weren't many of them. The second are the numerous cracks
along the High Street,
most of which remain stable on the ground i.e. not rocking.
It is the latter that are of most concern.
Repair of the first type is ongoing and these will continue.
Funding would have to be sourced to replace the existing cracked slabs. I
understand that the slabs have already been bought so the cost of labour and
plant would have to be found. The
Members in consultation with the Community Council would identify what areas
they required to be done. This would
also include work at the Mercat Cross which again is off concern. It has been
suggested that the problem may be due to the regular battering it is
getting from buses etc and that consideration should may be given to moving it
again or keeping that small section of the road coned off to allow the
blocks time to settle.
It was noted that the amount of "cracked" slabs is
reducing and agreed that there would be a time whereby enough was enough
with regards to replacing them.
7 Burgh
Buzz – Bill Kirkhope
The ‘Burgh Buzz’ was first published in the early nineties
and for many years it was a very popular local community newspaper in
Burntisland. It is now over three years since the last hard copy of the Burgh
Buzz was distributed within the town and it has been sadly missed.
The Community Council recognizes the value of a good
community newspaper and has established a new editorial committee headed up by
the Editor Bill Kirkhope who hopes to restore the Burgh Buzz to its former
glory.
It is hoped the first issue of the new series will be
delivered free to all households in the town at the end of January 2010. In the meantime, the editorial committee is
making every effort to re-establish contact with local organizations and individuals
who were regular contributors in the past; also with those who may wish to
provide articles in the future.
It is the aim of the Community Council that the paper should
be financially self sufficient. To this end, Morag and her team are actively seeking
advertisements from local businesses, traders etc. as well as sponsorship from
local companies. Given the wide distribution and the reasonable advertising
costs, this will represent extremely good value.
The deadline for submission of articles or advertising art
work for the January issue will be
Articles: Bill l Kirkhope,
39
The Wynd,
Email: [deleted
from online version - anti-spam measure]
Advertisements: Morag Douglas
Burntisland.
KY3 9DB Tel: 01592 871313
Email: [deleted
from online version - anti-spam measure]
8 (a) Secretary’s
report
The Triple sided Town Notice
Board is due for delivery end December and should be erected in early January
at where we consider to be, the ideal location on the High Street i.e. the area
between St Andrews Court and the Veterinary Surgery.
We have drawn up a suggested
set of display guidelines as follows:-
Our
Community notice boards aim to provide:
1. Information for local
people from our Community Council, Fife Council and the local Police
2.
Opportunities to local organisations to publicise and promote local activities.
DISPLAY PRIORITIES
As space is limited the
display of posters and other information is based on the following five
priorities (1 being the highest and 5 the lowest priority):
1. LOCAL community organised events and general
information.
2. Burntisland Community Council, Fife Council
and Local policing information and activities (for example Local councillors
contact details, community council events, police neighbourhood notices.
3. Details
of community organisations, activities and meetings.
4. Fife Council statutory
information (for example electoral register notices, notice of elections)
5. Local commercially
organised events where there is deemed to be an over riding benefit to the
local community and where the aims coincide with those of Burntisland Community
Council.
PRESENTATION
We welcome
posters with:-
1. Tidy and
uncluttered layout, A4 size or smaller.
2. A clear
title and legible text.
3. The contact details of the
person/organisation responsible for mounting it clearly displayed.
4. A "display
until" date (we suggest a three week maximum although notices may be
removed earlier if there is pressure for space)
5. Lawful and morally
inoffensive content which adheres to commonsense standards of taste and
decency.
WE
While every attempt will be
made to accommodate requests to display information, we reserve the right not
to display a leaflet or poster which falls outside of these guidelines.
(b)Treasurer’s report
The assets already noted as
being owned by Burntisland Community Council are the Coat of Arms, Christmas
Lights, Notice board, Bowser.
The Heritage Trust’s listing of
Burgh Chambers Common Good moveable assets is nearing completion. It will then
be necessary to ascertain the whereabouts of any items which have been removed.
9 Business carried forward
9.1 Burntisland Sports Group – Gillian Lowe
Gillian reported that the
group had met on the 12th November to discuss the impact that the preferred
location for the new school would have on the sports group project. Meetings
are to be arranged with the Toll centre committee and with
9.2 Review of Local Planning Applications – Tim Hailey
9.3 Christmas Lights – Gillian Lowe & Gordon McGregor
Funding is in place for the Christmas lights
from the Common Good Fund and Locality Fund. Lights are to be erected w/c
9.4 Scots Verse
The six new trophies are now
ready and only require engraving with titles.
After deliberation it was unanimously agreed that they shall be named memorial
trophies in respect of the following people: Douglas Kerr; Margaret Gilbertson
& family; Jock Marshall; Margaret Macdonald; Derek Horn; John MacDougall.
The Secretary confirmed he
will make the necessary arrangements with the School regarding the presentation
to be held in the Burgh Chambers in early January 2010.
9.5 Burntisland Blooms
– Sheila McGregor
Full Floral Enhancement Grant
of £750 for 2010 applied for. New
Community Garden: plans for the layout
have been submitted to Fife Council.
Consultations with contractors and possible funding options are
ongoing. Aim is to have the garden
ready for the spring but is dependent on planning application approval and
getting all the necessary services in place.
There is a waiting list for plots.
Organisers keen to involve people interested in a community garden. For further info, contact Elly Kinross by
e-mail on [deleted from online version - anti-spam measure]. Bulb Planting: Ten children from the Primary
School planted 100 bulbs sponsored by the community council at the entrance to
the Links Car Park with the help of the town gardeners. Town judging: After lengthy discussions, the community
council decided that Burntisland shall no longer participate in the Beautiful
Fife Campaign as the Blooms Team is fully stretched due to ongoing projects. Any town resident who would like to take
this campaign forward should contact Sheila McGregor.
9.6
The views of Sheila and
Gordon McGregor, who recently attended this seminar, were that the two
workshops on the Planning (
9.7 New Primary School – Proposed Preferred Site Option
Presentations and meetings to
discuss possible new Primary School to be held early in the New Year.
Two 2
sites which have scored most favorably against the chosen criteria and merit
further investigation is, as follows:
1.
East Toll Park (preferred option)
2.
South of
These
options can only be delivered after a period of further investigation,
consultation and negotiation... That
exercise will go into greater detail on the finally selected site, including
carrying out site investigations and will typically comprise the following
options:
1. Status Quo
2. Refurbish and Extend Existing School
3 Build proposed
9.8 Update on Archaeological Site at West Broom Hill
The following is a very brief
note summarising the recent Burntisland archaeological project.
In short, the team didn't
find what we were looking for, but they did find abundant evidence of 17th
century activity.
They can also now be sure
about where the wall isn't! And confirming this has helped to narrow down
exactly where it should be. So hopefully, if the team get a chance to go back,
we will be able to finally characterise the nature, form and extent of
what could potentially be the best-preserved example of a Scottish Civil
War period linear defensive system (there was a lot more than a wall on that
hill).
A detailed
archaeological report on this project will be produced in due course.
9.9 Scottish Water Meeting 9/10- update
We wish to record the long-standing concerns over the effectiveness of
drainage and effluent pumping in the vicinity of
In addition, it appears that temporary remedial work by at
We recognise that there are budgetary procedures to be undertaken and we
would like to receive early confirmation that the resources required will be
committed early in the next financial year.
10 New Business.
10.1 Mid
FC Report – pre examination
& modifications are now available on the Council’s web site until 4th
December or at the Development Services Offices and Libraries within the Local
Plan area.
10.2 Forth Bridge New Construction-Tim Hailey
Scottish Transport Group
indicates a start date of 2011 completion 2016 yet not all funding has as yet
been found.
10.4 Community Award 2010
Burntisland Community Council
now request nominations from the public of persons that they deem worthy of
receiving this award for 2010. The
Secretary confirmed he would arrange the necessary press releases.
10.5 Burntisland –
Burntisland has been twinned with Flekkefjord in
The exchange activities have stopped over recent years due
to key members of the Twinning Association being unable to continue with their
roles and the lack of people interested in replacing them on the
Association. The remaining members of
the Twinning Association have a strong desire to maintain the historic links
that exist with Flekkefjord.
It was agreed that every effort should be made to attract
new members and to that end an open night will take place in the Inchview
Hotel, Burntisland on Wednesday 25th November 2009 at 7.30 pm to
celebrate the achievements of the historic link between Burntisland and
Flekkefjord, promote the good work of the Twinning Association over the years
and hopefully generate interest from within the community in joining the
Twinning Association with the aim of
reinstating the link and look at opportunities for developing these links
further.
10.6 Appointment of New Secretary
We will require a replacement
Secretary for the Community Council to take over within the next 2 or 3 months
as the present Secretary only took the job on as a very short term stand-in and that was nearly
18 months ago.
In Gordon’s words “the job is
fairly easy these days as electronic mail is used virtually all of the time for
most of the business (in total probably no more than 2 Hours per week are
normally required) and some good experienced back-up is usually available from
the other office bearers on the Council.”
It is hoped someone in the
town will be interested in carrying on this important and worthwhile job , for
example, somebody who has recently retired from work and who maybe has a bit of
extra time on their hands to do an important
bit of work on behalf of our
community.
11 Any Other Business
War Memorial – require update
on what degree of work and costs and timescale involved giving the memorial and
walls etc a facelift.
Due to time limitations it
was agreed that some other minor items of business be left over until the next
meeting
12 Next Meeting-