Comrie Community Centre, 7:30Pm

Minutes of the Meeting of 7th April, 2016

Comrie Community Centre, 7:30pm

Attendance / Action
Community Councillors:
Sandra McRitchie (Chair) (SMcR)
John Greer (Treasurer) (JG)
Andrew Thompson (Secretary) (AT)
Pauline Toole (PT)
Iain McLellan (IMcL)
Lianne Curran (LC)
Carolyn Mitchell – Minute Secretary (CM)
Others PKC Cllr Anne Younger(Cllr AY), 2 Members of Public
Apologies from Community Councillors Christina Young, Joyce Webb and David Robertson
1 / Welcome and Introduction - Cllr SMcR opened the meeting at 19.30 and welcomed those present. SMcR welcomed Cllr Lianne Curran back to the monthly meetings following the birth of her daughter earlier this year.
2.0 / Police Report - No Officer Present
1.1 / No report could be given and no Officer present, SMcR reported that she had written to Tayside Police to report that it was part of the agreement that they attend as many meeting as possible. Their response indicated that there have been issues due to staff sickness, but to email them any issues as they arise. There had been one incident in particular regarding elderly residents who had experienced youngsters running through gardens, knocking on windows, etc. The police have been made aware of the situation, have visited a resident and are now handling the situation.
3.0 / Actions from Previous Minutes
3.1 / Dog Fouling – JW No further updates and will be carried forward to next meeting. SMcR reported that she had put a post on the Community Website and Facebook page to encourage people to report such incidents to the Dog Warden or to her to be reported if they don’t want to be named. / JW
3.2 / Community Notice Board – Acknowledging the support of Ewan and the Post Office. No further update due to CC D. Robertson’s time out on health grounds and will be carried forward. / DR
3.3 / Public Toilets – SMcR asked if there was any update on the radar key and Cllr Younger confirmed that she has tracked it down and it is Property that deal with this and it is on the list under jobs. SMcR asked that Cllr AY could keep her up to date with this so that a communicationput out to everybody. SMcR reported that as far as she knows these keys can be bought for a few pounds. It was indicated that registered disabled persons can be given the keys free of charge from the PKC Office.(to be clarified)The keys can be used at any toilets fitted with radar locks throughout the country and it is only for disabled users.
SMcR then reported that nobody has come forward as yet to volunteer to close the toilets on a Saturday and Sunday. AT reported that he closed them the weekend before and will only be available for the next two weekends, LC will attend to closing in three weeks’ time. SMcR will put the request for volunteers out again and on social media and the community website. / Cllr AY
SMcR
3.4 / Broken Obelisk at Cemetery – SMcR thanked Mrs Brand for attending the meeting and the last time that Cllr SMcR contacted PKC heritage group she was advised that there is an application form for small grants via the Heritage Fund and that the CDT very kindly offered to complete the application and send it off. Cllr SMcR has no further update on this and as far as the CCC is concerned it had been taken off the Agenda.
Mrs Brand advised that she was in attendance on behalf of her mother who wished to extend her thanks to CCC for taking and interest, however, Mrs Brand wished to raise two points (1) if it was possible for CCC to write a letter to the Church to ask for assistance as the stone was originally paid for by the Parishioners and there may be some Parishioners who may wish to help. Mrs Brand made reference to funds, which the Church received from the people who used to run the Square.AT reported that the funds she is referring to are dedicated to the future management of the Square and the donation is not for the Church to use elsewhere, however there would be no harm in Mrs Brand writing and asking. Mrs Brand indicated that she would not write; (2) Mrs Brand reported that whilst her mother is very thankful for the interest taken, she is not thankful for the fact that CCC have not taken this forward at Committee level to P&KC. Mrs Brand again said that she felt that it should have been taken forward at Committee level. Cllr AY advised that that is not they manner in which they operate and the ward councillors are made aware when grant applications are received and then give, or not, their support to the applicationif supported it is them put in to PKC Heritage for their work programme eg. gates, stonework etc and it is carried in a realistic timeframe. Nothing will happen until an application is completed. Mrs Brand advised that she will withdraw her interest from this.
SMcR advised that she will contact the CDT Heritage Group and ask if they can complete the application and it can be taken from there. / SMcR
3.5 / Water from Lednock Dam –. SMcR had contacted SSE and received a stock answer to her enquiry, so a further email was sent asking them to respond to the original question (why when they knew that there was so much rain forecast, did they not let water down from the dam prior to the rain then there might not have had a much flooding and damage). SMcR reported that she attended the recent Emergency Resilience meeting last week (whichIMcL very kindly offered to be part of the groupalong with DR). Further to that meeting John Handling, PKC Health & Wellbeing Officer, offered to raise it with SSE as part of the communications aspect of the Emergency Plan for the village. Cllr AT indicated that he was informed that that the reason there is more water in the dam is due to SSE installing new equipment at the St Fillans substation which does not use as much water to generate the same amount of electricity resulting in the dam filling up. This matter will now be taken over by the Resilience Group who will be sending out an update to residents in the near future and will now be removed from the CCC agenda.
3.6 / AT reported that he had contacted PKC and eventually spoke to the Waste Manager and asked if he could provide an extra brown bottle bank. AT also reported that there is a link on PKC website that enables anyone to report Recycling Point issues to PKC - see below. This will be carried forward.
/ AT
4.0 / Planning
4.1 / AT reported that there were three planning notices issued all at Cultybraggan. It was agreed that Planning will remain on the Agenda every month but will only be referred to if there something to report or to be commented on.
4.2 / Local Development Plan – AT reported that he had recently attended a Planning Aid Scotland Workshop which was very helpful with guidance on how CCC might respond to the current Local Development Plan consultation. He had prepared a draft response regarding the Main Issues Report to be submitted to PKC Local Development Plan. AT read through the points we could usefully respond to asking if anyone had any comments they wished to be included in the report. It was unanimously agreed that one of the points mentioned that Q38 in the consultation should be removed from the response. AT advised that he would amend the draft and have the principal copy submitted by the 16th March consultation deadline. / AT
5 / Roads
5.1 / Drummond Street - The defect outside D Comrie & Son Butchers has apparently been repaired. Prior to the repair it has been reported to SMcR that a member of the public had been tipped out of their wheelchair because of this defect, she will at CY to contact BEAR Scotland again to see if the repair has been completed / SMcR/CY
5.2 / Nurses Lane – the gully had been blocked for around 3 months. Ask CY to chase it up. / CY
5.3 / Collapsed gully trap on East side of Dalginross at entrance to Bob’s Yard – is still outstanding and will be carried forward to next meeting.CY to follow up on this. / CY
5.4 / Dalchonzie Road repairs – We were informed that repairs will be scheduled in the new financial year. CY to follow this up until a date is determined / CY
5.5 / Glebe Road / Strowan Road – a pot hole at the junction of Glebe Road and Strowan Road was reported to the meeting.CY to follow up with PKC / CY
6.0 / Treasurer’s Report
6.1 / The Treasurer reported that there were only small changes to the balances since last month. He then went on to say that there are 7 accounts in total with 7 pay in books and believed that Council legislation suggested in the past that it is not possible to bring them together. Cllr AY reported that she should speak with Christine Grant at P&KC who may be able to assist.JG to contact Christine too. / JG/Cllr AY
6.2 / Our balances as at March meeting were:
Admin Account £312.47
Community Fund £1,965.80
Flood Account £649.80
Hayride Account £1,470.07
Legion Park Account (we are the Trustees) £784.88
Public Toilets £411.12
Xmas Lights £8,031.35
7.0 / Secretary’s Correspondence
7.1 / AT reported that he had received the following correspondence:
(a)Email from Karen Harrison regarding the Community Plan and he will forward it to the Councillors to decide if we are going to respond. SMcR will take this forward on receipt from AT.
(b)P&KC emailed about the group insurance policy asking to detail a list of activities, this was done and new policy is now in place with Zurich which covers everything that CCC is involved in.
(c)An email invitation had been received from Jean Scott Miller regarding the Strathearn Forum which is being held on 13th April and if there are any items we wish to bring up at this meeting..
(d)An email was received from Jean Ann Scott Miller detailing the response to the last Forum from Bernadette Malone it relates to Crieff business only.
(e)PKC Planning are running a series of Community Council workshops on the planning process and the meeting, which we could attend, would be on Wednesday 1st June at Strathearn Community Campus, 6.30p to 9pm. A lot has changed in planning and it was agreed that a few members of the CCC would attend.
(f)Jacqueline Walsh at Strathearn Community Campus is running a Parenting Class for families with 10 year old to prepare them for teenage years, however, there is no information on where and when this class will be run. A poster will be displayed on the community notice board asking for interested parties to contact Jacqueline direct.
(g)Allan Stewart of the Safety side of PKC was in contact regarding the defibrillators. AT is communicating with Ken Heiser. A map is being prepared with all the defibrillators in Perth & Kinross.
(h)Deer Management plan for South Perthshire, AT will write back to thank them for including us. / SMcR
AT,PT, SMcR, JG
AT
AT
AT
8.0 / Councillors’ Report
8.1 / PT reported that she has recently taken over the litter pick and is working on this and a date is to be set. LC agreed to assist. It was reported that due to the school holidays it will have to be moved forward to May.PT would be grateful for any assistance in planning out this event. / PT/LC
8.2 / SMcR reported that the new flag which had been donated by a resident to be flown on the flagpole outside the White Church has not been raised yet and that she still required some assistance raising the new flag. George Lees very kindly agreed to help raise the flag. In the absence of DR due to health issues. / DR
9.0 / Any Other Business
9.1 / Shaky Bridge – SMcR reported that Roseanna Cunningham issued a press release, which was a letter that she had received from the Chief Executive of PKC. there was a photocopy of the letter she had received from Dave Stubbs, of PKC’s Greenspace Team. SMcR has posted these on the community website and Comrie Facebook page. The letters indicate that the problem is the attachment to the tree and that an issue at the base of the tree, as identified by the bridge engineer and the tree & woodland representative who have inspected it. It went on to say if the bridge had to be removed and new one installed then there would have to be community engagement. Dave Stubbs indicated to SMcR that the report will be out as soon as possible. The bridge is still officially closed. SMcR will continue to keep residents and visitors appraised of things via the web and social media. / SMcR
9.2 / Carleton Place Twinning–AT welcomed George Lees (GL) to the meeting. GLhad recently discussed this with DR as Carleton Place had sent a letter requesting a Comrie Flag. They decided that they would get the school involved and spoke to the Headmistress. 154 entries had been received and for fairness a prize winner was picked from each class with all the winners then going on to the final round to pick an overall winner. The winning entry has now been chosen and GL provided a copy of the flag to the meeting.The CC’s agreed that it was very good.
GL advised that he has also been in touch with a company who will digitally produce a flag for around £80-£100. GL indicated that Carleton Place would pay for the flag. However, the Twinning Sub-Committee has no funds and asked the CC to fund the prizes for the winners in each class. The total cost would be in the region of £300. It was decided that an art kit would be purchased for the each of the prize winners.
GL reported that the Twinning Sub-Committee would be fundraising to raise funds for a future exchange trip for 14-16 year olds to visit Carleton Place during the 2017 October holidays. SMcR asked if she could have the details to allow her to announce via the website and social media. GL indicated that Lynne Duke from Strathearn Herald has been asked to cover the story. GL reported that the total cost would be in the region of £300 / DR/GL
9.3 / PTreported that a local PKC Housing Officer has expressed an interest in attending a future meeting with an informal approach to speak about They have already done their Council Estates walk around and suggested cleaning up car parking spaces (i.e clearing out abandoned cars etc) and that they are keen to get the community involved. It was agreed that the talk could go ahead with a 10 minute timescale. / PT
9.4 / AT reported that the Management Committee of St Kessog’s Square had cleared the notice board at St Kessog’s Square with information that was out of date but had removed some of the Community Council information. AT will arrange for it to be re-posted. / AT
9.5 / SMcR reported that she had received an email from John Handling, Health & Safety Officer of PKC as a reminder for all who had been affected by flooding that the deadline for applying to the Flood Grant Scheme closes on 17th April. He also provided a link as follows:

9.6 / SMcR reported that the Community Website statistics for March are as follows:
Visited 53,474 times with 113,151 page impressions. The Shakey Bridge Closure, Business Directory and News Items were the most visited.
As to Facebook – We now have 2321 likes and posts reaching up to and more than 8705 people per week depending on the posts. Photographs are particularly popular but the Shakey Bridge updates had been raised the views of the page.
9.7 / SMcR reported that she had received an email from CDT Board Members wishing to attend a CCC meeting. SMcR indicated that anyone can attend our meetings as they are open, but if the CDT had a particular topic to discuss they would be allocated a slot at a meeting just as others are. SMcR also suggested that CDT could perhaps invite CCC’s to one of their Board Meetings. It was also suggested as an option that due to the changes of CCC’s and the CDT Board, it might be useful to host a joint meeting outwith our regular meetings where the CDT could give a short presentation of the expected future of the camp. SMcR will propose this to the CDT Board member. / SMcR
9.8 / Cllr AY reported that there is an Eon Energy Fund available for she believes one appliance per household for people who are on certain types of benefits can be applied for those who were affected by the flooding. The deadline for applications is 31st May. SMcR requested a copy of the email and she will post the details on the website and Facebook. / Cllr AY
9.9 / Cllr AY reported that the Scrutiny Review on Planning Enforcement requires be completing and AT requested that all comments should be sent to him allowing him to complete the details online. / AT
9.10 / Cllr AY asked if the communication regarding the winter cover feedback had been received. Both ATSMcRreported that it had not been received as yet.
11 / Date of Next Meeting
The date of the next meeting was set for Thursday 5th May at 7.30pm and will take place in the Parish Church Hall because of the Scottish Parliament Elections.
With no other matters arising SMcR declared the meeting closed.