Minutes of Meeting Held On Thursday 4th June 2026 at 7pm in the Benarty Centre

Apologies:

D Doyle, L Michie, W Watson, F Hodge, J Morrison, S Scott

1.

Welcome

The Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting.

2.

Apologies

See above.

3.

Declarations of Interests

No declarations of interest were made.

4.

Minutes of Last Meeting

These were agreed as a true record.  Proposed by S Colquhoun.  Seconded by J Purdie.

5.

Matters Arising

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

b)      Firework Control Zones: Take up with Fife Council, with help from D Barrett MSP.

c)       Fife Visitor Levy: The Secretary reported that this had been covered in the Spring issue of the Newsletter.

d)      Inchgall Avenue: Cllr Erskine agreed to check the Housing Plan which should include dates for Phase 2 of the work.

e)      FC Grant: Application for this year’s grant to be submitted.

f)        Passageway Under Bridge in Lochore:  J Morrison to speak to Fife Council workers the next time they are in the Benarty Centre to see if they have information about opening/closing times for the gate.

g)      Dallas Doyle Park Flooding:  Secretary to take the matter up with Fife Council.  This can be covered at the September meeting when representatives from Fife Council will be attending.

h)      Incinerator Lorries: Covered at item 6e of the agenda.

All other actions had been completed.

C Howe /

J Purdie

C Howe

Cllr Erskine

S J Ratcliffe

J Morrison

C Howe

31 July

2 September

2 September

2 September

2 September

6.

Reports

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

i.        Family Fun Day: It was agreed that S J Ratcliffe, S Colquhoun & C Howe would man an information stall at this event to be held on Tuesday 4^th August.

ii.        Poppy Appeal: The BCC discussed the letter from Poppy Scotland and agreed that accreditation would be sought for D Hynd, S J Ratcliffe & C Howe. Secretary to arrange.  It was also agreed that the cost of the crosses for the war graves should be added to the grant application.  The Secretary also reported that Mary Nardone had offered to sponsor the Remembrance Day events.  The BCC considered that this was a very generous offer from Mary but would see if they could find business sponsorship first.

iii.        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 only expenditure since the last meeting had been for refreshments at BCC meetings.

c)        Police: The BCC discussed the new-style Police report that had been circulated with the papers for the meeting and S J Ratcliffe reported on the last joint meeting with the Police.

(i)      e-Bikes: D Hynd reported that he had written to the Police about the problem with e-bikes and scooters at Benarty Primary School.  This had been just a few days prior to the incident in Lochleven Road in Lochore.  The Police are working up an action plan to deal with the issue, which had become more focussed since the incident.

(ii)     Contact Details: It was agreed to start to include the Police contact details from the next issue of the Newsletter.

(iii)   Joint Meetings: Cllr Erskine asked if the joint meetings were still worthwhile.  S J Ratcliffe replied that she thought they were.  It was interesting to hear of the issues in other areas and they also acted as forewarning of what could be heading our way.  It also gave the opportunity for more joint working across all the towns and villages in the Cowdenbeath Area.

d)       Schools: L Reid gave a report on Benarty Primary School.

(i)              The Parent Council meeting had been held the previous week

(ii)             Pupils are undertaking their transition days to Lochgelly High School.

(iii)           The children are having a float in the Benarty Gala.

(iv)           A summer disco is being organised.

(v)            The school are working with the Community Education Worker on woodworking projects.

(vi)           A grant has been submitted for buddy benches.

e)       Westfield Community Liaison Committee: D Hynd presented his report that had been circulated with the papers for the meeting.

(i)          Incinerator Lorries: The Chair reported that he had asked about the tonnage of the lorries that were going into the site and their route through the Benarty villages.  The normal tonnage was around 675/day and it would be 500 tonnes/day on the additional days that had been requested (not yet approved by Fife Council).  This was included in the Chair’s written report.  The reason that some lorries had gone through the Benarty villages was that the loch road and the Westfield road had been closed for maintenance.  It was not a normal occurrence.

f)         Local Councillors: Cllr Erskine reported on the following.

(i)          £1/2m extra had been allocated to roads.  Cat 2 projects are being brought forward, including Kirkland Gardens and one other in Benarty.  A report is due to go to the next Cowdenbeath Area Committee meeting.

(ii)         A huge volume of letters of complaint had been received about the proposed new data centre near Auchtertool.  The BCC discussed the implications of the proposed data centre, including the considerable amount of energy and water usage that would be required.  Cllr Erskine reported that the proposal may end up going to the full Council for a decision rather than the Planning Committee.

(iii)       The phone masts in Lochgelly are still not working properly and the signal keeps dropping.  This is affecting many people in the surrounding villages too.

(iv)       Fly tipping on the Hill Road has been reported to Council officers for action.

(v)        Meetings have been held at Lochgelly High School on developing young people and bringing in children from other schools.  The children’s confidence is being given a boost from being involved in the project.  At a recent breakfast at the school, an excellent presentation was given from youngsters learning, for example, dentistry and fine arts; and there was an escape room exercise at the end.

(vi)       The hottest topics in Cllr Erskine’s inbox remain housing and anti-social behaviour.

(vii)     The rollout of iPads is having an excellent impact on youngsters.  Around 31,000 have been issued with some being issued to nurseries too.  So far, there have only been 10 security breaches; and very little damage to the iPads.

(viii)    Work is underway to try to improve school lunches across the area.

(ix)       Cllr Erskine has also attended Parent Teacher Councils and meetings at Benarty Primary School to arrange an intergenerational Christmas party.

SJ Ratcliffe

SColquhoun

C Howe

C Howe

S J Ratcliffe

C Howe

C Howe /

D Doyle

4 August

2 July

2 July

2 September

1 September

7.

Any Other Business

There was no other business.

8.

Date of Next Meeting:

Thursday 2^nd September 2026, 7pm, Benarty Centre.

The Chair wished everyone a good summer and closed the meeting.

ALL

2 September