Mar 15

Monimail Community Council Meeting Minutes of the Meeting held on Monday 9th March 2015 at 7.00 pm in Letham Village Hall 1. Present Community Councillors Chair David Hamilton (DH), Treasurer John Vaughan (JV), Secretary Karin Vaughan (KV), Hugh Laidlaw (HL), Pat Laidlaw (PL), and Juliet Forest (JF) Community Members Gordon Smith (GS), Hazel Grant (HG), Debbie Smiles (DS), Kenny and Gail McLean (KM GM )and Bruce Forest (BF).

Fife Council Councillor Andy Heer (AH) 2. Apologies Willie Fenton 3. Approval of Minutes of the meeting 12th January 2015 DH opened the meeting at 7:00pm, explaining that the meeting had been brought forward in order to accommodate Councillor Heer who also has a meeting at Auchtermuchty on the same evening as our CC. The minutes of 12th January 2015 were adopted as an accurate record of the meeting, proposed

by BF and seconded by DS. As previously agreed the minutes for January had been posted on the village notice boards and DH had loaded them on Letham website. Some attendees reported difficulties with down loading them and printing. DH said this had already been rectified and that the links were now working properly.

Some attendees said they preferred minutes to be delivered but DH pointed out that there was a significant cost to this and that mailing lists were hopelessly out of date. The decision to publish minutes this way had been taken at the last meeting and could be re-evaluated at a future meeting once it has had a chance to settle in.

GM and KM Gail pointed out that the Bow of Fife needed a notice board. The bus stop was suggested as a potential location.

JV asked AH how other communities resolved the issue of publication of minutes. AH, described a variety of solutions that are used by other community councils that he regularly attends including those where the full minutes are published in the local paper As a result of the discussion it was decided that bullet points from our meetings would be sent to DS for publication in 'The Herald 4. Matters Arising a) Speed Limit Pitlessie Road / Community Police.

The police sent their apologies for not attending due to their work load and shifts. Item to be retained for the next meeting b) Speed Survey See a) above

c) Dog Fouling DH reported that the problem seemed to have improved on the farm track, and JF reported that she'd seen the notices being read on the park gates It was agreed to remove this item from the agenda for the time being.

5. Cllr Andy Heer Update and Questions a) Ballantager - Letham Footpath AH reported there was no feedback from the Roads Engineer. b) Verges Monimail to Collessie He reported that the verges from Letham to Collessie are to be tidied up this month probably in the next week. c) Monimail Cemetery Gates The refurbishment will be scheduled for action once the weather has improved d) School Brae Adoption AH has spoken to the Chief Roads Engineer who has stated that this may go ahead. e) Hall Waste Certificate Charges AH has still to enquire into this but will report back at the next meeting. f)

Other Questions No further issues or questions were raised for AH

6. Replacement Street Lighting Replacement street lighting is being planned for Letham.

There will be new lamps and poles that will be in approximately the same positions as the existing ones. However there will be an increased number on The Row in order that the new lighting meets the latest requirements The new lighting will be dimmed to 70 percent between 10.00pm to 5.00 am. The proposal will be presented to Fife Planning Committee and it is hoped that the new lighting will be installed before the end of this current year.

A map showing the exact location of the lamps will be available for interested residents and is being held by the Treasurer for inspection.

Individual householders will be notified by letter as to the new location of any street lamp close to their property. The positons have been chosen to minimise light entering property windows by placing them between properties or at gable ends.

The planners have proposed to the use the standard lamps and not the conservation type.

The standard type costs ÂŁ250 whilst the conservation lamp style costs ÂŁ750.

The anachronistic lamp at the bus stop was discussed, as the lighting department appeared to have no record of it being installed! DS expressed the sentiment of the village when she said that it is important to have the same style of lighting throughout the village, including the currently un-adopted School Brae.

AH reminded the meeting that as a community in a conservation area we can lodge an objection if the community thinks the proposals are unsuitable for our needs.

The pavement on The Row will have be dug up to lay new cables for the replacement poles and lamps cables and it was commented that it would be ideal if School Brae were adopted before the new lighting is installed.

It was agreed by the CC that we will object to the installation of standard street lamps in any part of the village (which is designated as a conservation area). The CC does however welcome the plans for new lighting and would fully support the installation of conservation style lampheads.

7. Community Defibrillator / Telephone Box Adoption JV reported that we are now at Stage 1 and have permission to adopt the box. He will contact BT regarding the legal requirements and any contract that is required for the hand over to the CC. Leaflets explaining all about the initiative are ready for printing for distribution in the community.

A subsidiary bank account for the Community Council has been opened for depositing any money that is raised. The same signatures apply to this account as to the normal one.

The telephone box needs to be cleaned and repaired.

8. Superfast Broadband Update AH reported that the roll out has progressed slowly. There is a place for the cabinet at the Letham Exchange.

Collessie, Giffordtown, Springfield, Bow of Fife, Flisk, and Kilmany are all on the time- table for Community Broadband and it seems to be going forward.

9. Treasurer’s Report The Treasurer report the account balance stood at £1890.18 BF asked if some of the balance could be used as a set up for the defibrillator fund. It was agreed that we would conduct our own fundraising efforts first and then decide whether or not to add any further community funds.

10. Planning Applications It was noted that the residents of Milnholm have applied for planning permission for new sash and casement windows, a new garden gate at the rear of the property and solar panels on their rear building. The CC has no objections to this.

11. Community Groups 1. Village Hall JV reported that an application had been made to Fife Environment Trust (FET) for funding support for replacing the main hall windows and those in the gentleman’s toilet and store / gas boiler room with UPVC triple glazing.

A further project to replace the gas central heating is being considered but any funding application will be deferred until after the window one is complete.

2. NHTT Nothing to report It was agree to remove this item from future agendas.

3. Community Baker Bakery is in the process of being wound up It was agree to remove this item from future agendas.

4. Letham Primary School School Transport Plan Due to the lack of a footpath between Monimail and Letham signs will be installed to indicate the presence of children and walkers. The Roads department disliked the idea of a painted warning strip on the road surface.

A request to install Speed bumps was again suggested as an option, but it was agreed that these bring their own issues and this idea was not supported.

11. Any Other Business a) Telephone Box Bow of Fife GM reported that the telephone box at the Bow of Fife was in a poor state of repair. She was asked to identify if there was a contact number on the box and to report that to BT . b) Post Office Services JV reported that Post Office Services will be offered shortly at the Deer Centre. Times of operation will be Thursday 2.00 pm to 4.00 pm only c) Flood Risk Scotland KV reported that she had received notification from Fife Council relating to the public consultation regarding flood management that began on 2nd March 2015. Information is available through the Citizen Space web site at https://frm-scotland.org.uk The consultation will continue until 2nd June 2015. d) Wheelie Bin Cleaning GS indicated that there is a company locally who will trialling the cleaning of brown bins for one month. There wasn’t a great deal of support within the meeting for this service. e) TAYplan including North Fife JV had received a letter inviting community councils to a briefing event on 5th May, to be held in Dundee. (6.00 pm to 7.30pm) Enterprise House, 3 Greenmarket. There will be an information event about the TAYplan that will be held in the Corn Exchange, Cupar on the 28th May (3.30 pm to 7.00 pm). f)

Monimail Church A musical evening is being held in the church in aid of “Dogs as Partners” on 20th March.

12. Date of Next Meeting Next meeting will be held Monday 18th May at 7:00 pm (the third Monday of the Month due to Community Councillors’ availability), 13. Closure Meeting closed at 8:15 pm

David Hamilton Chair

Karin Vaughan Secretary