KINGSBARNS COMMUNITY COUNCIL

Meeting on Monday 12 January 2004

Present: - Mrs Clare Wright, Mrs Kate Holy, Cllr Peter Douglas, Mr Ian Smith MSP and 20 members of the public.

Mrs Clare Wright introduced Mr Ian Smith MSP to the meeting and then introduced Kingsbarns to Mr Smith. She told him it was a village set in a largely agricultural area with some earnings from tourism. There are some young families in the village but there are a high proportion of elderly residents. Over the past years the school, now flourishing, was nearly closed, the pub, due to re-open, has been closed for over two years and there are anxieties over the future of the village due to the large proportion of second homes and elderly residents.

The university of St Andrews has done a study of the village to assess what will happen if there is no development and what will happen if there is some development. The village is now getting together to look at various kinds of development e.g. affordable rented accommodation, sheltered housing etc to see what might benefit the future of the village. Mrs Wright painted out that Fife is revising its 20 year development plan and that we may be able to tap into Fife’s resources to keep the village going.

Mr Smith, MSP, thanked Mrs Wright for inviting him to attend the meeting and said he was very interested to hear what is happening in Kingsbarns and how the village is looking to keep itself vibrant. He is trying to get round every community council in the lifetime of this parliament to see what the issues are that are affecting the villages. He himself was brought up in Gateside - a village that has experienced the same problems with its school and has lost its shop. He now lives in Ladybank where the main issue is the overdevelopment of commuter homes.

The problem of second homes also concerns him. Mr Smith has tabled a question to the Scottish Parliament concerning the reduction of council tax on second homes. He hopes that in the future councils may be able to decide what proportion of council tax should be levied on second homes.

Mr Smith said that his main purpose at the meeting was to listen and answer questions. He and Cllr. Douglas would do their best to bring people together.

The meeting was then thrown open for questions and discussion.

A question was asked on the progress of comments made to Fife Council on the 20 year plan. Mr Smith remarked that Cllr Douglas could answer this but it was still in the early stages of consultation and that there would be at least two further opportunities to make comments. Cllr Douglas added that some small things could be dealt with immediately, to be followed by medium and long term goals. Lindsay McGregor in Cupar is drawing this together. Clare Wright pointed out that she had a meeting with Fife Council the following day to discuss the scenario report on the village prepared by the university.

There was discussion from the floor on the possibility of looking for managed change in the village and Cllr Douglas felt that this would be looked at enthusiastically.

Mr Hair from the floor then stated that he thought that the community had not been properly consulted about any possible change and pointed out that some people were dramatically opposed to any such changes. It was pointed out by the Chair that meetings have been held and flyers distributed although it was felt that some people had not been notified. Mrs Wright observed that meetings were always advertised on the board outside the post office, but that community councils were on the whole poorly attended.

Mr Hair pointed out that he was gravely concerned about any possible development at Barns Law. That is an area that is outside the village envelope and currently designated as countryside. The village is likely to remain fully occupied and therefore will not die. He wondered whether houses built outside the village envelope would get conservation approval and was concerned that, in a village with virtually no crime and no problems, future development would bring in people with anti social tendencies. He wanted to know firstly, how many houses were proposed to be built at Barns Law and secondly how many local people are on the council waiting list for a house.

Kate Hughes, Locality Manages for St Andrews said she would provide figures for local people on the council waiting list. Mrs Wright said that at present no plans have been submitted for Barns Law so there was no figure for potential houses.

Mr Hair felt that the prime motive for redevelopment was financial gain for Mr Erskine. He was unhappy that there was a suggestion that the new houses should be managed by a rural housing association funded by the Scottish Executive and that villagers would have no control over the types of tenants. He felt such developments would be more appropriate elsewhere. He was also unhappy about the make-up of the committee formed at the last meeting to discuss redevelopment of the village.

Mrs Wright pointed out that no committee had as yet been formed. Anyone can put their name forward and Fife Council will be consulted on how such a committee should be chosen.

Mr Hair offered his name to the committee as a counterbalance to what he felt was the acquiescence of others’ names. He stressed that he was unhappy about the potential development area no longer being designated as countryside

Mrs Wright pointed out that Peter Erskine had initially approached the community council to say that the existing houses at Barns Law had come to the end of their natural life. Would the KCC support him if they were pulled down and rebuilt? The KCC had agreed to do so. The KCC was already discussing the Fife 20 year plan and many people thought that if there was to be any future development Barns Law is where it should be. She said that she could discuss with Fife Council the possibility of extending the conservation area of the village. Peter Douglas thought this would be possible. He said that his concern was young local people who could not get their foot on the housing ladder. He said Elie was an example of what could happen - 60% of houses there were holiday homes.

Mr Hare thought that these were spurious arguments. He thought there would be few local people on the housing list and the field at Barns Law could house hundreds from who knew where. He reiterated that the village would have no control over the tenancies.

Mr Erskine pointed out that there is a shortage of council homes in Fife and that in all probability the village would have something imposed on it. Would it not be better to design our own development? The issue of where the tenants come from is something the community can discuss.

Mrs Wright pointed out that incomers - into which category most of those present fell - did not have to be vandals and wreckers.

It was generally agreed that it was important to get some sort of numbers put on the development soon so that people knew what they were considering. There is no specific proposal at this stage and Nick Lunan pointed out that without a specific proposal it is very difficult to make any response.

Mrs Wright is hoping that the KCC will put a questionnaire through people’s doors asking what their preferences for development are.

After a tea break the meeting reconvened for the formal business. Peter Douglas gave his apologies. Kate Hughes, Locality Manager St Andrews was welcomed.

Matters Arising from the Minutes 8/9/03

1 The Beach Toilet No progress on this.

2 Tetra Masts Still under discussion.

3 Waste Water Plan This has been approved but work has not started.

4 Piece of Land at North Quarter Steading Nothing has happened. Charlotte Kirby is dealing with this.

Matters Arising from Minutes 10/11/03

1 Names for Development Committee Please give names to Clare Wright. Mr Hair offered his name.

2 Broadband If 100 people express an interest there must be consultation. People are urged to sign at the post office.

Any Other Business

1 Speeding Mr Phipps from the Post Office asked if, now there was money for a 20 mph speed limit, the village would get it. Ian Smith said it was difficult to know where on the list Kingsbarns sits. Speeding is a general problem. Mrs Wright will write to the Transportation Department to see if they will set up a speed management test in the village after the failure of the last attempt. She will also make enquiries about the 20 mph limit.

2 Planning applications There is a planning application in for a further steading development at Morton of Pitmillie to be used for holiday accommodation The access will be off Station Road. Mrs Wright pointed out this was a successful business bringing prosperity to the community and extra jobs. She has two concerns; the access at Station Road and the increased traffic. This increased traffic will go directly in front of the Brown’s cottage. She would hope that when the plans are discussed it will take into consideration the Brown’s situation and make sure they are disturbed as little as possible. Mrs Brown agreed that access and numbers of traffic was a real problem for her. There are other access roads off the main road but these do not belong to the farm. Where she lives 18 cars race past on a Friday and it is likely that with this new development this number will be doubled. She is also very concerned about the two blind bends in Station Road. It was agreed that Mrs Wright should express these concerns to the Planning Committee.

3 Website Fife Council has offered the KCC a website to be linked to other community councils and Fife Council. Mrs Wright thought that Margo McKee might be interested in this and that it was a good idea.

4 Tree at North Can View A tree was felled in error here and Kate Hughes, Locality Manager, St Andrews, will ensure it is replaced.

Date of Next Meeting

Monday 8 March at 7.30.