Benarty Community Council
Minutes of Meeting 6 December 2018, Benarty Centre, 7 PM
Present: John Purdie, Tom Kinnaird, Jim Christie, Jim Carr, Brian Menzies, Willie Clarke, Brian Di Placito, Jack Colquhoun, Anne Hay
Also Present: PC Smith
Absent: Cllr Lockhart, Cllr McLelland (see later), David Moore
2 Chair Welcome
Chair Welcomed all to the meeting.
4 Apologies
Apologies were submitted by email from Cllr Erskine just after the last meeting. Cllr Liewald had emailed saying she was at another meeting the evening of the Community Council meeting but would try to attend.
5 Minutes of the Previous Meeting
The minutes of the November meeting were read. The minutes were proposed by Jim Christie and seconded by Jack Colquhoun.
6 Matters Arising
On the subject of the Citizen of the Year Jim Christie and Anne Hay pointed out that one of the submissions received was to be in the name of the Heritage Group not the named individual. Willie Clarke mentioned that in future more should be done to circulate forms to groups around Benarty.
7 Police Report
Figures from 2 November up to 6 December were given along with other information, parts of which are not reported for confidentiality reasons. 162 calls were received resulting in 28 crime records with a 69% clear up rate. Drugs were seized in the Benarty area which resulted in 3 charges. There were 9 traffic matters 2 of which were reported. The speed gun was being used locally and acts of vandalism, abusive behaviour were also reported. There were 4 assault charges, 3 of which had been detected and 4 shop lifting incidents, 3 of which had been detected.
Cllr Liewald and Cllr McLelland entered the room.
PC Smith left.
8 Treasurer Report
Treasurer report is included in documents supplied to Community Councillors. Willie Clarke asked what stage we are at with the books and the bank accounts? Jack Colquhoun replied that he was in possession of all the books and that the bank account was in the process of being changed over, although this was expected to take some time and slow down for the Christmas period. Jack Colquhoun was in charge of the cheque book should any cheques need to be written. Jack Colquhoun reported that a bank statement still had not arrived but financially there had been no change since the report as far as he was aware.
9 Secretary Report
Secretary report was in the documentation provided to Community Councillors. John Purdie drew attention to a late item in his report, mentioning a supposed email to Benarty Community Council in July about a consultation of names for the streets at the new build at Kirkland Farm. As per previous situation with previous office bearers no email had been received by the Community Council, and he urged all Community Councillors to check previous correspondence records to see if it had been missed. Tom Kinnaird mentioned that he had and it wasn’t there. John Purdie asked Tom Kinnaird if Fife Council had forwarded on the email they said they sent in July and the answer was no. Tom Kinnaird mentioned that it was an opportunity for the community to be involved which has gone now. It was also mentioned again that Fife Council officers should not be consulting Community Councils at a time when most Community Councils were on holiday. This happened previously. The names of the proposed streets were read out and it was agreed they were good names.
10 Fife Councillors Report
There were no Fife Councillor Reports submitted. Cllr Liewald mentioned that she had been present for interviews for the Head Teacher position at Benarty Primary along with Cllr Erskine and although she couldn’t reveal any details they were all impressed with one particular candidate, who stood out from the others. There was a discussion on the bus service for schools and several points were raised, including there being a bottleneck for pedestrians at Glencraig which could be dangerous at winter times when it is dark earlier. There was no report as yet as information is still being gathered. Cllr McLelland mentioned that she had confirmed facebook comments on the matter would be treated as valid comments by Fife Council. Cllr McLelland was also disappointed about the turn out at the meeting at Lochgelly High School although she did mention that those who did attend had done their homework and presented valid and well researched points.
Jack Colquhoun left.
Brian Menzies mentioned that the pavement was also used for cycling, which would add to the traffic at the area. Willie Clarke asked about the financial cost? It was described that in Ballingry some children would be on buses but those in the same street would not.
Jack Colquhoun returned.
It was also mentioned that there was a walk done of the route but that was done in good weather, and during winter, with rain and snow, the conditions would be very different. It was mentioned in Fife Council documents that it was assumed the children would be accompanied and Cllr Liewald said both she and Cllr Erskine challenged this statement.
23 Boundaries
A verbal update on the situation was given by Secretary and Chair on the current state of affairs. Everyone was happy that the Review was going ahead but Fife Council Officers were making up rules as they went along. Secretary asked for permission to respond to a forwarded email and assent was given. Cllrs McLelland and Liewald asked for the emails in question on the consultation procedures to be forwarded to them. The procedure proposed was described and it was mentioned that it was totally out of order for Benarty to be treated differently in this manner when the normal procedure for review was much simpler than the proposals.
24 Boatshed
A short verbal report was given on the current situation on the boatshed. It was mentioned that the Boat Club would be looking at the situation and re assessing their position. It was also mentioned that St Andrews had embarrassed themselves as they could have had a much better submission to the community if they had taken into consideration other schemes operating across Scotland and what those offer. Everyone was gladdened to have the support of the Cowdenbeath Area Committee on this matter when it was discussed at their recent meeting and the Community Council was told the vote was unanimous. It was pointed out that it was unanimous only by those present, and one local Fife Councillor left the meeting minutes before the item was to be discussed and voted on. Proxy votes were discussed for Fife Councillors leaving a meeting and it was mentioned it is possible but it hasn’t been done or recorded.
27 Complaint
Prior to this Agenda item Vice Chair Jim Carr took the Chair and Tom Kinnaird left the room.
The Community Council met in private to discuss and decide on the complaint received. After lengthy discussion a decision was made.
Brian Menzies left.
Tom Kinnaird returned.
Tom Kinnaird took the Chair for the rest of the meeting. Vice Chair Jim Carr gave a summary of the discussion and the decision made by the Community Council to Tom Kinnaird.
17 Citizen of the Year
Cllr McLelland and Cllr Liewald left.
Jim Christie left .
Brian Menzies returned.
Jim Christie returned.
The nominations for Citizen of the Year and Young Citizen of the year were discussed in private and unanimous decisions were made.
12 Any other Competent Business
There was no other business, but a couple of items were suggested for the next Agenda. Chair thanked everyone, informed everyone of the next meeting date then closed the meeting.
