Minutes of Meeting Held On Thursday 9th April 2026 at 7pm in the Benarty Centre

Apologies:

D Doyle (Comms Officer), L Michie, W Watson, F Hodge

1.

Welcome

The Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting and said that the agenda had been reordered to allow Zahid Mukhtar to leave the meeting after the planning application item.

2.

Apologies

See above.

3.

Declarations of Interests

No declarations of interest were made.

4.

Planning Application 26/00774/FULL

a.   Z Mukhtar outlined his planning application to site lockers on the vacant corner space between Craigie Street and Kirkland Gardens.

b.    The Chair asked where the power for the lockers would be sourced, as Mr Mukhtar did not own either of the two buildings against whose walls the lockers would be affixed.  Mr Mukhtar explained that he owned most of the land behind the shops and the power would be run from his own property.

c.    J Purdie asked if the wall surrounding the corner plot would be removed.  Mr Mukhtar said that he planned to remove the wall and bring the level of the paving stones down to match pavement level; making the area safer and accessible for all.

d.   The Secretary asked if there was a demand for the lockers, given that some had not long been installed at the Avens end of Benarty Square.  Mr Mukhtar confirmed that there was a demand and that generally, there was a 30% year on year increase in demand for these types of lockers.

e.   The Secretary asked what consideration had been given to increased traffic flow to/from that corner and the safety aspects of the congestion, particularly as the site was near a bus stop and close to an already busy part of Benarty Square.  Mr Mukhtar explained that the lockers would normally be accessed in the evening after people came home from work.  That was one of the benefits of the lockers to people who work.  At that time of day, Benarty Square was mostly empty in that area.

f.     J Purdie provided Mr Mukhtar with a copy of the Local Place Plan and asked if he would be willing to contribute to the cost of the rain garden that was included in the plan and have it situated near the lockers.  Mr Mukhtar confirmed that he would be willing to discuss this once the details of the plan for a rain garden were more advanced.

g.   The Chair thanked Mr Mukhtar for giving up his personal time to attend the meeting.

h.   Having had reassurance on the health & safety considerations, the BCC agreed to support the planning application.

C Howe

19 April

5.

Minutes of Last Meeting

Two amendments to the draft Minutes were necessary: F Hodge was not at the meeting and delete “with the Pantry at BRAG” from 7d(ii).  With those amendments, the Minutes were proposed by S Colquhoun, seconded by L Reid.

C Howe

10 April

6.

Matters Arising

a)      Catchment Survey: Progress report still required.  Update: The Secretary confirmed that she has now written to Fife Council for an update and was awaiting a reply.

b)      Ore Energy Park: BCC’s response to planning application.

c)      Schools: Secretary to write to Headteacher of St Kenneth’s to remind her that the school has a seat on the BCC and to ask for monthly updates from the school.  Update: The Secretary reported that she has now written to the Headteacher and included a reference to the Newsletter as there had not been a contribution from the school for the last few issues.

d)      Firework Control Zones: Take up with Fife Council, with help from Cllr Barrett.  Respond to A Ewing MSP and resident who raised the issue.

e)      Fife Visitor Levy: BCC response to be included in next Newsletter.  The Secretary reported that this had been omitted from the Spring issue but would be included in the Summer issue.

f)       Inchgall Avenue: S Colquhoun asked if a reply had been received from Cllr Erskine.  No reply has been received.  It was agreed that the Secretary write to Cllr Erskine to ask for an update.

C Howe /

J Purdie

C Howe

C Howe /

D Doyle

C Howe

Once planning application has been submitted.

5 May

1 June

5 May

7.

Reports

a)       Secretary: The Secretary presented her report that had been circulated with the papers for the meeting.

i.       FC Grant: The Treasurer reported that she hoped to start the annual accounts for 2025-26 over the next few days.  Once completed, the AGM can be held and the application for this year’s grant can be submitted.

ii.       Ore Energy Park: J Purdie agreed to go through the answers to the questions received from Wind Estate to the BCC’s questions, in readiness for the second round of consultation.  Secretary to write to Wind Estate for more information on the second round of consultation.

iii.       Breathing Space Bench:  The Secretary reported on an email she had received from Scott Blyth, Acting Community Manager, Cowdenbeath Area, about the siting of a bench in Benarty as part of a mental health project.  One bench was already earmarked for outside the Willie Clarke Centre, but the BCC were invited to suggest a location for a second bench.  The BCC agreed a shortlist of three sites: The Avenue; near the Bus Turning Circle; and opposite the Benarty Centre. Secretary to contact S Blyth to discuss and agree the final site.

iv.       Litter Picking Day: The Secretary read out a message that she had received from a resident, Caitlin Wickham, about a litter picking day that she was organising for 25 April at 10am.  The plan was to clean up the playing fields between Benarty Primary School and the Benarty Centre.  It was agreed to help publicise the event and BCC members were encouraged to help on the day.

v.       Correspondence: The BCC noted the other correspondence that had been received, as noted in Annex A to the Secretary’s report.

b)       Treasurer:  The Treasurer presented her report that had been circulated with the papers for the meeting.  The Secretary asked for future reports to show the reason for expenditure, rather than the payees’ names, as this would help when producing the accounts.  It would also help to prevent any misconceptions about why “expenses” or microgrants were being paid to individuals, which they are not.

c)       Police: The BCC noted the email that had been received from the Police showing summary statistics.

i.      S J Ratcliffe reported on the last joint meeting with the Police. The joint meetings seem to be working well, and more CCs have now joined the meetings.

ii.       The Safer Communities Team also attend the meetings and they seem to be well informed on what’s going on in local communities in the Cowdenbeath area.

iii.     S J Ratcliffe reported that the Police will be concentrating their efforts in The Avenue and Lochore Meadows Country Park in the near future.

iv.     There was a discussion on the Police riding the No.19 bus, both in uniform and in civilian clothes.  S Colquhoun asked if anything was being done about the situation at Dunfermline Bus Station.  S J Ratcliffe explained that it was outside the jurisdiction of the Cowdenbeath Area Joint Police/CC meetings.

v.      The Secretary asked of the new-style report from the Police would include greater detail than shown in the email from the Police, ie a breakdown of Crime statistics into “serious” etc.  S J Ratcliffe agreed to raise this at the next joint meeting.

vi.     The next joint meeting is scheduled for 22 April.

d)       Schools: J Morrison and L Reid reported on behalf of Benarty Primary School.

(i)      The P6/P7 pupils had delivered a sell-out performance of “Shrek” at the Lochgelly Centre.  J Morrison to provide an article on the performance for the next Newsletter.

(ii)    The pupils will be going on their residential outing to Ardroy on Monday 20 April.

e)       Local Councillors: Nothing to report.

S J Ratcliffe

C Howe

S J Ratcliffe

J Purdie

C Howe

C Howe

D Doyle

ALL

S J Ratcliffe

S J Ratcliffe

J Morrison

5 May

11 June

3 September

5 May

5 May

10 April

17 April

25 April

5 May

22 April

15 May

8.

Any Other Business

a)       Thornton CC Petition:  S J Ratcliffe gave an update on this, which had just been posted on Facebook, which appeared to negate any action necessary from the BCC.

b)       Lochgelly Public Park: The BCC agreed to follow Lochgelly CC’s line on the notice of consultation on servitude on common good property which had been published by Fife Council.

c)       Passageway Under Bridge in Lochore:  S Colquhoun reported on a Facebook post about the caged doors being locked, with no opening times published for residents who use the passageway.  J Morrison agreed to speak to the Fife Council workers the next time they are in the Benarty Centre to see if they have information.

d)       Dallas Doyle Park: Sean Mackie reported on the state of Dallas Doyle Park and the pavilion at the ground.  The park is swamped and the pitch is unplayable.  The pavilion is rotting and has dog foul on its roof.  S Mackie provided a video of the state of the park.  The Football Club is currently paying £200/quarter to Fife Council for use of the ground. The BCC considered if this could be connected to the work that had been done to prevent flooding elsewhere in Ballingry.  Either way, the BCC agreed to take the matter up with Fife Council.  C Howe asked S Mackie if the Club had considered requesting an asset transfer of the land and property.  S Mackie replied that the problems with the pitch would need to be sorted first, but otherwise they might be interested in taking the site over and that there were a team of volunteers who could repair the pavilion.

e)       Astro Turf:  S Mackie also asked how the Club could go about getting an astro turf pitch, possibly on the playing fields at Benarty Primary School for wider community use.  He was advised to talk to the management team at the school first to see if they would agree, then if so, set up a coalition of partners and draft a business case before approaching Fife Council for approval.  It was noted that a coalition may need to do their own fundraising for an astro turf pitch.  The Secretary also advised that if they had an asset transfer of the site at Dallas Doyle, they could do their own fundraising for an astro turf pitch for self or community use.

C Howe

J Morrison

C Howe

3 June

5 May

5 May

9..

Date of Next Meeting:

Thursday 7^h May 2026, 7pm, Benarty Centre

ALL

7 May