Meeting held on 10 January 2005 at Kingsbarns Village Hall

Present: Community Councillors: Joyce Taylor, Peter Erskine, Geoff Lang, Charlotte Kirby, Clare Wright and 36 village Residents.

Cllr Peter Douglas was absent from the meeting but no apologies were received.

Minutes of Meeting November 22nd:

It was raised that at the meeting, Cllr Douglas had made a reference to the possibility that conservation status may no longer exist in the future. Given the importance of this to the village it was felt this should be minuted and further clarification be sought from Cllr Douglas at the next Meeting. With this addition the Minutes were duly accepted.

Matters Arising:

Schooling in Fife - Charlotte has attended a consultation meeting in St. Andrews on “Shaping the Future of Schools for Fife”. She reported back that there had been discussion over the viability of schools below a size threshold of 52 (at present Kingsbarns School has 28 pupils) - she stressed that this was only at discussion stage but we need to keep an eye on this issue and be prepared to voice concerns in future. Each school would be examined on it’s own merits but financial considerations were driving the proposals. The Acting Head of Kingsbarns Primary has offered to come to the next Community Council meeting and this was welcomed.

Land at North Quarter - The Chair has contacted Goldcrest who own the strip of land at the entrance to the village to see if it was possible for the community to take back the land and plant it with trees with the help of the Fife Rural Partnership. Mr George Knox of Goldcrest maintains that they have cut the grass as required but it was their intention to build a house there “to finish off the village” and were intending to apply for building permission as part of the East Fife Local Plan.

Bus Shelters and Potholes - The Secretary has contacted Fife Transportation Dept. who are responsible for Roads & Bus Shelters and has arranged for Mr. Robin Dick, Head of Fife Council Transportation Dept. to come to the next CC meeting to discuss the issues. Geoff will give Robin a note of all the issues beforehand so that he can come prepared.

Petty vandalism

The secretary has contacted PC Neil Todd who is our community policeman again and he has agreed to attend the next CC meeting to receive specific questions and comments and to bring us up-to-date on any relevant Fife-wide issues such as Neighbourhood Watch etc. This will be taken as the first item on the agenda at that meeting. (Neil Todd is based in St. Andrews & his contact #S are 01334-418973 & Mobile 07792-510378).

Lock on Pump House - The Chair reported that a new padlock had been fitted to the Pump door.

Roads:

Proposed weekend closure - later this month it is proposed that the main road between Kingsbarns and Cambo be closed to allow for drainage work. Although notices put up in the village indicate this will start on 17 Jan it is more likely to begin at the end of the month. Peter Erskine was not happy that he had not been consulted and had been in touch with Transport department. The timing was particularly bad for Cambo because it clashed with the Snowdrop season. Alternative routes avoiding the village centre would be sign-posted at Crail and at Brownhills garage outside St Andrews. Buses would be rerouted but still stop in Kingsbarns.

20 mph zone - The Chair referred to a letter from Fife Transportation of July 2004 which indicated an intended 20 mph zone within the village. A total of 26 signs were being erected in & around the village, the main ones being large illuminated versions at either end of the village which would be lit-up during school-hours. Some concern was raised about the number and suitability of signs in a conservation village but it was pointed out that consultation had taken place and planning permission given.

Proposed road closure Seagate - an application has been made to Fife Transportation to close Back Stile from Seagate to the beach and part of Seagate to enable the installation of a power cable and BT cable for the new Water Treatment Plant. This would be from the 6 - 26 February.

Gritting of Station Road - A resident had contacted Fife Transportation because Station Road had not been gritted during icy weather. She was informed that this road has been downgraded and was no longer designated to be gritted to Dunino. It was felt that this was unacceptable particularly as the road is used frequently by cars & taxis taking children to & from Kingsbarns School and Dunino Nursery. It was possible that this had something to do with Fife Council’s recent relocation of their gritting base from Anstruther to Cupar. It was agreed that a letter be written to Fife Transportation objecting to the downgrading of the road and pointing out the dangers. We would also ask questions about why the CC was not informed of this decision in the first place.

Community Council Vacancies:

The Chair reminded the Meeting that since the Community Council could have up to 8 Members there existed 2 vacancies. Cala Cobb and Raymond Hair offered to serve and were duly elected.

Future of Kingsbarns Sub Committee:

Update

The Chair repeated her concern that given her role as Chair of the CC it would not be right for Huw Richards to remain as Chair of the sub-committee but that he had offered to service the secretarial needs of the committee.

In order for there to be the appropriate ratio of community councilors to elected representatives on the sub committee she proposed that Cala Cobb and Raymond Hair join the group. This was agreed.

Huw then circulated and presented a document and invited discussion on the Draft Survey Questionnaire contained within it. He also circulated copies of the relevant pages of the newly published East Fife Local Plan which referred to Kingsbarns. The map showed two fields designated h48 and h49 as potential sites for 110 new houses. The Plan was being presented to a meeting of Fife Planning Committee the next day and thereafter would be open for consultation between March 7 and April 18. Huw said this was our opportunity to respond and the Survey would be one way of finding out what the members of the community felt about the future development of Kingsbarns. How the survey was to be carried out raised a number of issues, for example, how households could be fully represented and also Data Protection, but these would be followed up by the sub committee.

A number of questions were asked about how the specific fields had ended up in the plan. One is owned by Peter Erskine and the other by the Church of Scotland. Peter said he knew nothing of this proposal and had not been consulted by Fife Council. Many were sceptical that the Church would be willing to sell. Huw said we must assume that Fife Council’s proposal has come from a general willingness to discuss possible development which is documented in previous Community Council Minutes. He suggested that rather than dwell on what has or hasn’t been, that we now set our minds to what we know today and what we can actively influence. Raymond Hair mentioned that back in 1989, in the previous Fife Plan there had been discussion over the development of the field owned by Peter Erskine which was turned down following village opposition.

The Chair noted that the next CC meeting was March 7th at the start of the consultation process and that the sub committee could bring a draft response to the meeting for discussion. It was however pointed out that the “closing date“ was only a guide because Consultation could and would continue while debate was in process. Peter Erskine welcomed the work that had been done and felt that we should not rush our response even if it took until the closing date of April 18th to get it right.

Geoff felt also that while queries had arisen which require clarification by Fife Council we must press ahead and give the Sub-Committee every assistance with the Survey so that we are proactive in the future, rather than reactive. Cala expressed alarm that Fife Council should have arrived at the figure of an extra 110 houses, which would represent an increase in dwellings of some 30%. Len wondered if Fife Council had plans for the resulting infrastructure of Roads and Transport to support such a swell. Nick Lunan thought it odd that this proposal should target Kingsbarns when the thrust of Fife’s Housing Developments was West of St. Andrews to Guardbridge, Leuchars and Cupar and Kingsbarns is not mentioned anywhere by name in the Strategic Plan.

The Chair invited anyone who had any further points or concerns to contact herself or any member of the sub committee.

AOB:

Geoff reported that in order to receive our customary annual £304.55 Grant from Fife Council for the year ending March 31st 2005 we would need soon to submit audited Accounts to Mike Melville, Head of Law & Admin., at Fife Council. (His Direct Line is 01334-412914.) Last year we received this payment in April. The Chair encouraged The Treasurer, Peter, to see to this and he will duly contact the ex-Treasurer to find out what has to be done.

Geoff has established from Margo and Claire that historic CC Meeting Minutes need to be recorded at Fife Council Archives in Markinch - this will now be actioned by him.

Margaret Barrons felt that our CC Minutes should be published in the St. Andrews Citizen as used to happen and Geoff was asked to explore this.

There was a query regarding equipment in the playground which seemed to be missing. This was actually because new equipment is about to be installed.

Interest in participating in Britain in Bloom was expressed as a way of developing care for the village. The Chair suggested that this could be taken forward by a sub-committee and she would look at doing this.

We have been invited to attend a presentation by the Fife Coast and Countryside Trust and the Fife Coastal path on Tuesday 22nd February at 19:30 hrs in St Andrews. The Chair asked for a volunteer to attend.

The next Meeting would be a long one owing to the sheer volume and complexity of topics to be covered, hence attendees should come prepared for a long evening and refreshments would be served.

Tonight was the best turn-out since November 2003 and everyone was encouraged to continue their active support and encourage others to attend.

Next Meeting: Monday March 7th @ 7:30 p.m. in the Community Hall.