Minutes of the COmmunity Council 11th March 2020

Freuchie Community Council Meeting

Minute of the Meeting held on 11th March 2020

at Lumsden Memorial Hall, commencing at 7.30pm

1.    Present: B Stevenson, R Taylor, R Lindsay, I Tweedie

      In Attendance: Cllr D MacDiarmid, Cllr A Heer.

      Apologies: C Tully, M Ross, F Towns C Waugh Cllr I Lothian.

2.     Police Report:

 PC P Parker was present and gave the three-monthly report. During the past three months, the Police in NEF had received 3357 Calls, of which 

78 were Emergency calls Grade 1 and 808 were Emergency Grade 2of those related to Freuchie there 2 reported crimes, 12 Road traffic matters, 5 Concern for the person and 27 Miscellaneous.

Pc Parker has been involved in schemes involved in the care of wildlife in the area. He has visited a number of schools raising aware such matters. There have also been visits to schools to raise pupil awareness of the dangers of speeding and the work of speed watch. He has also been raising awareness of Fraud Calls and Bous Workers in the community.

3.     Minute of the previous meeting:

The draft minute of the previous meeting was agreed and approved.

4.    Matters Arising:

a.     Planters at the School The secretary informed the council that work had been carried out and all the planters had been emptied and repaired where possible. There was one that was in a terrible state and two needing minor repairs. K Grieve was going to carry out these repairs and wood had been acquired. Unfortunately, K Grieve had had a bad fall and so the work had been delayed. The three planters would be repaired and refilled as soon as it was possible. The mud from the area had been removed and gravel had been put down to make the place safer and cleaner for the pupils. Thanks to McNicoll Services who removed all the rubbish supplied and we laid weed control Membrane and Two Tons of gravel he also hired a skip all at the cost £150.

b.   Grit Bins:  If the CC was in agreement, and they were, one of the grit Bins from Lumsden Court would be moved from there and placed on the corner outside the Albert. This would be done in the very near future.

c.    Memorial Garden:   Much work has been done on the garden area now the offending trees had been removed. All of the prickly hedging had been removed and the two large rather unsightly conifers had been dug out. Thanks to a group of hard-working volunteers the area were now looking much more open and with the removal of the hedge much safer. 

      Evelyn Jardine and Gill Musk have been working on a design for the area as it now is. Barrie Cran had offered plants from the garden at the Crans’ and some had been dug out and are now at the garden along with some barrow loads of compost this had been done with the help of the gardener from the house. He has also provided a list of Joan Crans’ favourite plants and it is hoped some of those will be incorporated. F Towns suggested planting two of the trees we were being given for planting around the village. The general opinion of those present was that this might not be a good idea for a number of reasons. A Heer pointed out that trees such as this can be a danger near pavement when the blossom falls it can be very slippery. 

      F Towns had enquired about the cost of replacing the noticeboard, but the cost seemed prohibitive. Other avenues of funding could possibly be looked at.

      E Jardine had a meeting with the blacksmith from Auchtermuchty, they discussed the making of a chair suitable for two persons. He is aware of the need to keep down costs and will get back to us with plans and costs soon.

      The bowling Club are to be hiring a root grinder in the very near future and it has been agreed that at the same time the roots at the garden will be taken down to ground level. The cost of this will be met by the Bowling Club.

d    Newsletter: The newsletter was produced and with some help from members of the Bowling Club who also had a flyer to distribute and Mr Tweedie children 604 were delivered around the village.  Fife Council printed the Newsletter for us at a cost of £140 thanks to the persuasion From F Towns this was done in a very timeous manner and the quality of the print was very good. T Towns in her report and comments added thanks for all involved in the production and distribution.

e    Pram Race: There has been enough interest in this event to ensure that it will take place. As yet we have no date, but R Taylor was going to get together with Dougie Bell to make an online application for a short road closure.

F    Safeguarding and Bin It:  This had gone ahead during the month of February and we are awaiting a report on its success. Members of Freuchie Hounds and some Community Councillors turned up for the photograph only to be told that it had been cancelled by the school. There is no full-time Headteacher we thought that this was probably the reason for the pupils not being involved.  David has agreed to get us some more of the Bin It  Posters to be placed along the side of the grass verge from the Millennium Flower Bed towards Bridgend there seems to still be an increase in people allowing dogs to foul among the crocus.

5.   Fife Council Matters:

       (a)  The Owner of the new House at the orchard was still awaiting work to be completed by the provision of services. This would involve a ditch being dug through the park and orchard area. When this was completed, he hoped to take up permanent occupation.

      (b) Defibrillator Training: He had made enquires and had found that such training could be offered locally. R Taylor was to contact one or other of two people who could organise and deliver such training. R Taylor also said he would try to find out how many people within the village may wish to participate in such training.

      (c) Potholes: The large pothole on the way out of the village at Knowehead had been repaired after he had raised it a few times. Sadly, the repair is already breaking up through the heavy traffic on that road.

      (d) A92 Speed: As raised at the last meeting David had once again contacted Bear Transport about extending the 40mph Speed Limit a further fifty metres or so to allow access to the road from the junction. 

      (e) Petanque: R Taylor raised with both of the councillors present what they thought of us having a space provided and made into an area for playing Petanque. When explained that this would be for all ages and that there was considerable interest within the village for such, they both said that they thought this was a good proposal that would probably be looked at favourably by the council. They would make enquiries on our behalf. 

         

         

6     Treasurer’s Report/Financial Matters:

       R Taylor in the absence of M Ross gave an update of the balance as being £6823.05           

He also reported that the battery in the defibrillator at Newton of Falkland had to be replaced at a cost of £84.00. This cheque had at the time of coming to the meeting not yet been cashed.  

7    Planning: The meeting returned to the matter of Planning Applications.

(a)  New Applications:  There had been no new applications since the date of the last meeting.

(b)  Applications determined by Fife Council: The extension on the house in Muir Road belonging to Mr       Clarke had been approved 

(c) Applications in process of determination:   There were no matters to report. 

8.     Incoming Correspondence: All incoming mail had been passed on to all members of the Community Council for reference and comments. There being nothing out of the ordinary there were no matters for further discussion at this time.

9.    Sub Committees:

(a)    Freuchie in Flower – F Towns not being present had given a report to R Taylor. She informed members that the Monday afternoon workgroups had now restarted.  A thorough clean of the polytunnel had taken place after the previous infestation to ensure this would not recur. The Money donated from the Game Night Held in the Albert was now in the bank. The Sum of £584 was raised. This has been ring-fenced in a separate column for the memorial garden this being operated as a separate venture from the ongoing Expense of Freuchie in Flower. Work has begun on tidying up tubs and planters around the village. The plugs will arrive in mid-April. These will need to be transplanted into trays and looked after in the polytunnel for six weeks so that they can then be planted around the village.

(b)    Freuchie Sports Court – no update

(c)     Freuchie Flood Action Group: - No Update.

10.  Any Other Competent Business:

      (a) Future Plans around the Christmas Tree:  F Towns had submitted in writing a question for the Councillors about buses now using Kettle Road and exiting onto the A92 at Bridgend? A Heer had been on buses that had gone that way. They were not aware of any change of the route of those buses but it was felt that possibly bus drivers had taken a unilateral decision to travel this way because of the congested East End Road and the fact that a bus had been involved on this part of the road for this very reason. It was agreed this would be raised at the next meeting with Bear Scotland which should be happening in the near future.

       (b) Speed Bumps Kettle Road: F Towns raised the possibility of the speed bumps being raised as car and tractors were travelling over the existing ones without slowing down. It is possible that this could be brought to the attention of the Local Speed Watch Team.

Date of Next Meeting – Wednesday, 8th April  2020 (Unless of course, we are in shutdown due to the Coronavirus) at 7.30pm in Lumsden Memorial Hall