Monimail Community Council : Minutes of meeting, 13th December 2010 1.
Present :
A. Arbuckle, W. Fenton; B. Forrest; J. Gordon; A. Grant; D. Hamilton; G. MacLean; K. MacLean; T. Morton; J. Rotheram; G. Smith; N. Stoddart; J. Vaughan
2.
Apologies :
L. Barron; D. Dallas; L. Harvie; H. Laidlaw; P. Laidlaw
David Hamilton welcomed everyone to his first meeting as Chair. Hazel Grant stood down from the Community Council at the last election and thanks for her input in the past were offered. Thanks were also given to Juliet Gordon for the tremendous job as previous Chair. Neil Stoddart and Tom Morton were welcomed as the new members to the CC and David also pointed out that the remaining office bearers were as before. 3.
Minutes of Previous Meeting : accepted with a couple of points – - Item 5 : PVC-u doors should also be included (not just windows) - Item 14 : in future can we include surnames in minutes as not everyone knows who people are There had been a short meeting to elect office bearers and “minute availability” was discussed. It has been agreed that the minutes of the CC meeting will be available online (www.letham.org.uk) within a week of the meeting taking place. Copies will also placed on the notice boards in Letham, the Village Hall and also at Bow of Fife Post Office. Hard copies will be distributed, as before, to each household within the CC area no less than 1 week before the next meeting
4.
Matters Arising - BEAR Scotland : 2 further emails have been sent but still no response. A further email was sent last week but nobody was available due to the extreme weather conditions. Action: D Hamilton swill contact Ian Bell who had been at the site visit - Letham Toll Footpath : this unlikely to be a priority for the Council however it was suggested we contact Fiona Mitchell at Fife Council regarding small grants that may be available. Also to ask for some guidance on how the Community could offer help (whether labour or financial) and also need to establish liability if work was carried out by the Community Action: John Vaughan to write to Fiona Mitchell - Monimail to Letham Verges : unlikely anything will be done before the Spring as the current weather is not helping. Quarry still to be contacted to request some help in restoring the verges. Action: John Vaughan to write to Hanson Aggregates - Well Tree Area Ownership : area will now be in even worse condition after the weather. Numerous land-registry searches have been carried out and Fife Council cannot establish ownership. “Land Ownership” came back to us stating that the area belonged to Marwick Estates however there is no documentary evidence either way. One option suggested was that we write to the Estate stating that unless they have any objection we can assume that it is land disponed to The Crown, after which the Community can look into the option of buying the land. Action: John Vaughan to write to Marwick Estates - Monimail Road Bus Shelter : nothing to report. Council still to replace the existing Shelter - School Brae Adoption : covered in section 5 : Trimlands Planning Application
5.
Planning - Trimlands Proposal : the Community managed to get this proposal to go to Committee rather than be simply adjudged by a Planning Officer following strict guidelines. This will go in front of the Planning Committee on 26/01/11. The donation of land for a turning circle is included and the indication from Transportation is that due to inclusion of a turning circle, then adoption would be a matter of course – this will be included in their report to Committee. - Satellite Dishes/PVC-u Windows, Doors etc : Cllr Arbuckle is awaiting a report from the Planning officer who has been in contact with a number of residents in the area regarding various improvements that appear to be against planning regulation. A letter to the CC has been received from a resident stating they had been in contact with Planning in March 2007 who advised them that PVC-u windows are ok in a Conservation Area if the building is not listed and Planning Permission is not required. This does not appear to be the case as all improvements in a Conservation Area require to go through planning. TM noted that Councils are meant to provide a Conservation Area Appriasal and Management Plan for every conservation area. This states what is important about a historic place and establishes clear guidelines for their future development. However only a handful have been done in Fife. It was suggested the CC write to Planning to ask confirmation of their timetable for such a plan.