BENARTY COMMUNITY COUNCIL
Minutes of the Meeting 5 September 2019
Present: John Purdie, Tom Kinnaird, Sharon Kinnaird, SaraJane Ratcliffe, Claire Graham, Sheila Ross, Cllr Linda Erskine, Cllr Lea McClelland, Brian Menzies, Cllr Rosemary Liewald, Jim Christie, Jack Colquhoun
Also present: 4 members of the public
Apologies: Willie Clarke, PC Smith
Absent: Cllr Lockhart, Brian Di Placitio, Anne Hay
Chair Welcome
Chair welcomed all to the meeting.
Minutes of the Previous Meetings
Minutes of the previous meetings were read.
Matters Arising
Minor matters were pointed out for the minutes to be adjusted. The minutes of the June meeting were proposed by Sharon Kinnaird and seconded by Jim Christie. The minutes of the June special meeting were proposed by Jack Colquhoun and seconded by Claire Graham.
Procedural decisions, membership
This matter was deferred to the next meeting.
Police Report
PC Smith had sent his apologies and a report for the month. There were 242 calls to the Benarty area, leading to 29 crime records; 15 of the calls resulted in 18 offences against offenders. The detection rate for all reported offences is 53% Drug search warrants were executed which resulted in the recovery of diamorphine, diazepam and cannabis worth between £9,600 and £10,000 with reports going to the procurator fiscal. There were 13 road traffic matters, 6 related to road crashes and 15 road traffic offences have been reported. 3 crimes of vandalism and 3 of threatening behaviour have been reported on police systems since the beginning of August and investigations have led to charges against offenders. There have been 8 assault charges since the beginning of August resulting in 4 detected charges against offenders. One shoplifting incident involving £45 worth of goods resulted in a person being charged and appearing in custody. Additional crimes are ongoing. It has been unfortunate that both schools were vandalised during the school holidays but young persons have been tracked and charged in relation to damages. Investigations are still ongoing in relation to the fire raising of the port loos which threatened the Benarty Children’s Gala.
Treasurer Report
The treasurer reported that all items concerning the banking had now been resolved but there were still a couple of cheques still to be cashed. Promoting micro grants more was mentioned. Brian Menzies asked if Micro grants had to go through the Community Council. Chair responded that applications go through the Windfarm panel but the cheques are written by the Community Council. Cllr Liewald noted that normally micro grants are under the supervision of Community Councils. There was a vote by the Community Council to have the micro grants under the full responsibility of the Community Council and it was unanimous in favour.
Secretary Report
A letter from the Environment Group arrived after June meeting. Secretary contacted them to inform them it would be discussed at the September meeting. The Community Council agreed on renewing the sponsorship of £60 for three years.
Fife Council was doing a consultation on the Common Goods Fund list. The Community Council approved the following as its submission.
Benarty has no Common Good Fund but it has a trust, Ballingry Settlement Trust, SC042905, administered by Fife Council, which should be converted to a Benarty Common Good Fund for the benefit of the Benarty area, and additional items added, such as sales of Fife Council property in Benarty, and suitable property or buildings in the Benarty area.
The website was more or less ready to go live more or less with still a few minor issues to be sorted.
A consultation on play spaces was running from August to December Claire Graham said she would be attending a meeting on this and would liaise with the Secretary on any submission. The consultation runs until December.
Fife Council was doing a review of polling districts and the Community Council agreed there wasn’t much needing change, it was noted that the submission should include the information that BRAG polling station covers Crosshill and Glencraig.
This year’s recruitment campaign for Children’s Panel will open on Wednesday 21st August and run for four weeks ending on Tuesday 17th September 2019. Cllr Liewald encouraged people to seriously consider it. There was not much of an uptake but it was rewarding work.
Fife Councillors Report
Fife Councillors delivered reports covering the recent outbreak of death of fish at Lochore Meadows; there had been no reports of illness but there were concerns about what was being fished: attendance at Cowdenbeath Wellbeing where local groups also attended: the Gas Turbines at Westfield had been put on hold to look at the options of Solar Panels, walking routes had been postponed due to the Woodmill High fire; the standard of School meals: meetings to see if there was a possibility to have a street named after Arthur Navey: the success of Café Inc, which should be included in budgets year or year; tenant repairs; blue badges and some strange reasons for refusal of them; concerns about the recent spate of attempted break ins, and a meeting with PC Smith had been arranged at the Centre for people to drop in and receive advice, and ask questions.
Sara Jane left
The issue of a Jnr Parkrun being started was brought up. Chair mentioned that the Cycle Park should only have planning for bicycles only, and that local residents had already complained about Nordic Skiing happening at the Cycle Park and now running was going to take place there. Cllr Liewald said she didn’t realise the surface was for cycling only. Chair said bicycles were quiet but skis were not, not running is to take place. Chair asked Cllr Liewald is she would clarify the situation regarding planning permission and Cllr Liewald said she would look into it. Brian Menzies asked if we could have a budget for the cycle track. Cllr Erskine responded that there was no budget allocated but money could be coming out of a Community budget. Brian Menzies asked for clarification from Fife Council for running the track.
Public Questions
A member of the public has contacted the Community Council to ask if we can help bring a public crossing to the houses near the Cycle Track. The area has high volume of traffic and the crossing at the Cycle track is too far away for residents, particularly elderly or disabled.
It was agreed this was a dangerous area, as had come up in discussions about school walks, and that something had to be done. The construction of a wall was proposed, to allow for work to be done; this would require a compulsory purchase of some land there. There was a strong argument for a pavement to be put in. It was noted that a Fife Officer has said this had been agreed. Fife Councillors were not aware of this, saying that lists of roadworks were provided in advance and nothing had been seen about it. Traffic calming could also be something that can be looked at, and Cllrs were asked to work on this.
A member of the public contacted the Community Council on the possibility of an ongoing newsletter to inform the general community of developments, issues, news stories etc., pertinent to the community, including a diary of upcoming events, dates and venues covering all community groups in Benarty?
Most people agreed it was a good idea and should be looked into further and pursued. A point people agreed on was the man hours required for such a venture, particularly if it was being physically produced. The ongoing gathering of content would also be a large task, as someone mentioned it would be best contacting all local groups and getting information from all of them and collating it into a newsletter. This would have to be done regularly. It was suggested to approach Benarty Centre Management Committee to see if they would be interested in undertaking the task. Community notice boards put around the area were also mentioned. The Community Council did agree this was an idea worth pursing and refining.
Letter to Steve Grimmond
The draft letter was reviewed by the Community Council and approved for sending with a few minor alterations. The sent letter is below:
Dear Mr Grimmond
Benarty Community Council went through the process of a boundary change, involving the approaching of Lochgelly Community Council, Cowdenbeath area committee, and then after a community effort, including valuable contributions from Benarty Heritage Preservation society, a newly created Boundaries group and 1,346 members of the public of Benarty who signed a petition, lodged with the Community & Housing Services Committee granted the change. The correct steps were taken by those wishing a boundary change, yet these were met with opposition and mismanagement at each step.
Benarty Community Council has questions that demand answers and an inquiry should be undertaken about the handling of the whole procedure and the actions of Cllr Linda Erskine.
• The actions of the Cowdenbeath Area Committee, under the Convenorship of Cllr Linda Erskine, in refusing to mediate with the two Community Councils and the Cowdenbeath area Committee providing inadequate advice on the procedures are of concern, their abdication of responsibility by referring the questions to previous actions by officers.
• The actions of Cllr Erskine during the consultation should be investigated by an inquiry, when Cllr Erskine privately contacted people to ask them to vote no. Cllr Erskine made a consultation into a vote with these statements and while there is no problem with public declaration of her position encouraging people privately is a serious concern, and a breach of Councillor Ethics. An inquiry into the behaviour of Cllr Erskine should be undertaken.
• It was said by the previous Secretary of Lochgelly Community Council that the town boundary was well known to be the Farm road but the Administrative boundary was the burn: no explanation of the administrative boundary was given: – who asked for and who agreed an administrative boundary, why were the Community Councils not informed and is there anywhere in Fife where an administrative boundary overrules a community boundary? Were there consultations with local communities about administrative boundaries, if so when?
• It is said that records have been destroyed but a map from the time period was given to Willie Clarke and Brian Menzies: – How can this exist if it was destroyed?
We look forward to your response.
John Purdie
Secretary, On behalf of, Benarty Community Council
Any other Competent Business
Jim Christie asked if there was any possibility of a new cemetery in the Benarty area. Cllrs responded that there were no plans. It was explained that this was an issue across the whole of the Cowdenbeath area. One of the main problems is the ground, with very little suitable ground available across Fife.
A member of the public asked why they were not allowed to sit at the table. It was explained that a motion was passed by the Community Council at the AGM for the Community Council to operate as a committee, ensuring there is clarity about who is and who is not a Community Councillor; bad behaviour by members of the public at previous Community Council meetings had also contributed to this.
Claire Graham asked about the possibility of new parking spaces being made. It was mentioned that this was looked at in the walkabout performed by Cllrs last year; an issue was the number of Council houses versus private housing; the more Council housing the more chance. It was not being ruled out but would come down to finance. Claire Graham asked how to go about starting the process and was advised to contact Derek Slater.
Michael O’Hare from Benarty Centre gave some information on the recent completion of the Benarty Action Plan 2014 – 2019, informing everyone that 90% had been completed and that there was an open event where anyone could come along and have a chat and ask questions.
Complaint/Allegation of Criminality against Community Council
This is still ongoing.
Citizen of the Year
It was agreed to start issuing the forms publicly.
