Here are notes of the online meeting held on 22 April 2021.
As this was an online meeting notes were taken sporadically and briefly.
BENARTY COMMUNITY COUNCIL
THURSDAY 22 APRIL 2021 ONLINE
Present: Tom Kinnaird, John Purdie, Jack Colquhoun, Brian De Placito, Brian Menzies, Diane De Placito (Member of the public)
2 Chair Welcome
The Chair welcomed everyone to the online meeting.
The Chair closed the meeting to hold the 2020 AGM
The Chair closed the 2020 AGM and re opened the meeting.
4 Apologies
Sharon Kinnaird
19 Declaration of Interests
No Declarations were made
12 Any other Competent Business
The Community Council was unhappy with an email from Fife Council in regard to resuming meetings which threatened the Fife Council grant. The Community Council noted that everyone is under pressure and doing the best we can under the circumstances. It is all new to everyone and the threat of loss of funding we feel was unwarranted.
John Purdie asked about the tree protection order at the new house build and if the Community Council should complain about it. Chair mentioned a new rule about new house buildings. The council officer has assessed and mitigation to allow the trees to be cut down.
Brian Menzies said that it was being said that Fife Council had sold the Aitkin field to the farmer. That is a public asset inside the regional park. Chair the field will remain in the regional park but just because it is within a park there is no statutory limitation on planning. Brian said there is an ancient right of way. He was worried about overdeveloping. The pandemic has made everyone realize how valuable open space is.
Tom Kinnaird said that he wasn’t sure if Judy Hamilton or Lochgelly CC were competent to revisit the boundary issue every six months and asked if it would be returning regularly. Brian Menzies said they can come back as much as they like the rules state there is agreement between the two community councils for change. With respect they don’t know the history Lochgelly boundaries are in stone.
Tom mentioned that people from Lochgelly during the petition were shocked we were discussing this as they knew the boundaries.
Brian de Placito asked about a private company coming into the Meadows to do a spooky walk and had concerns about them moving into the area. Chair said it is a concern and charges shouldn’t be made it should be a charity. Brian de Placito had concerns about them taking over a portion of the meadows.
Chair said a new company saw how well the spooky walk was and decided they could make money by selling tickets. Chair never saw anything going through committee or being mentioned by the park until recently. There is a mixed reaction.
Jack Colquhoun asked if there were any result back about the cycle track. John Purdie had emailed them a few times asking for accounts on behalf of the Community Council after Brian Menzies had suggested the Community Council ask but there was no response after a couple of email. Chair mentioned that Cllr Erskine is on record saying there was no money for marketing which could explain the flop of the cycling track.
Chair thanked everyone and closed the meeting. It was agreed that due to the ongoing pandemic the meetings will be on an ad hoc basis but the Community Council would seek to hold as many as possible.
