MINUTE OF THE 284^TH BUSINESS MEETING

OF THE

STONEHAVEN AND DISTRICT COMMUNITY COUNCIL

HELD IN THE COWIE LOUNGE OF THE INVERCARRON RESOURCE CENTRE

At 7.30pm ON TUESDAY 14^th SEPTEMBER, 2004

PRESENT:

Community Councillors: Derek Stewart, Douglas Dykes, Duncan Cursiter, Mary Jackson, Pam Dobbie, Raymond Christie, Allan Cairnduff, Peter Bellarby, Jane Davidson, Sarah Dickinson, Margaret Ross, Ian Hunter, Sean Fraser.

Kincardine & Mearns Councillors: Wendy Agnew – Stonehaven South; George Swapp – Mearns North; Jack Morrison – Stonehaven Central

Minute Secretary: Linzi Dykes

2 members of the Press, a member of the Aberdeenshire South Access Panel and Acting Inspector Grant Wallace from Grampian Police attended.

Mindy Grewar from the Education and Recreation Service of Aberdeenshire Council was also in attendance.

Chairman opened the meeting and asked if there were there any items of business that might be considered as conflict of interest. None were reported.

Item	Description	Action/Date
1.	Apologies Apologies were received from Alan Cairnduff, Nigel Parkes and Isabel Parkes. The Chairman intimated his sympathies to the Parkes’ family who had recently suffered bereavement.
2.	Minutes of meeting held on 10^th August, 2004 Mary Jackson mentioned that her comments to the 13^th July meeting regarding the previous Minute had been conveyed, however it had not said that the meeting was in agreement. It was agreed to amend the minute of 10^th August to reflect this. The Minute was proposed by Mary Jackson and seconded by Duncan Cursiter.
2.1	Matters arising from previous Minute Ian Hunter queried the issue of the telecommunication mast that was proposed for Spurryhillock. The Chairman reported that he had spoken to Douglas Gray of the Planning Service who advised him the application had been approved. There was doubt why the application had gone through so quickly and it came to light that although this should not have been a delegated powers matter, it had been wrongly included with housing applications to be approved by delegated powers. Douglas Gray had also stated that the application had not been considered a contentious issue The Community Council did not agree with this statement and it was agreed to write to the Planning Service and also take it up with the Association of Scottish Community Councils (ASCC).	Secretary 27/9/04
3.	Crime Prevention Sgt Grant Wallace gave a brief run down of the crimes reported in the area. Crime numbers appeared to be much the same as they were this time last year with no rise or fall. He did advise that crime reporting methods were due to be standardised throughout the force in Scotland and so any increase in statistics seen in the next year or so could be due to this, rather than an increase in actual crime rates. The Chairman queried the Police Bikes initiative and A.Insp. Wallace confirmed that this was proving very effective especially around schools in the Town.
4.	Presentation by Mindy Grewar re. ATP Projects The Chairman introduced Mindy Grewar from the Education and Recreation Service of Aberdeenshire Council. She began by giving a brief introduction on what the Aberdeenshire Towns Partnership was and what current projects they had ongoing. She reported that when Stonehaven came in to the Partnership, they focussed on improving physical aspects of the Town such as building etc. Civic Pride was an initiative that came out of ATP and a leaflet that was previously produced was due to be updated with the help of the Horizon Project. Mindy advised that Stonehaven shall be withdrawing from the Towns Partnership within 2 years to allow for other Towns to obtain the beneficial funding and enable them to make improvements just as Stonehaven has. Because of Stonehaven’s withdrawal from this Partnership, Mindy emphasised the importance of looking to set up a similar group, perhaps some sort of Community Trust, to allow all community groups to come together and she asked the Community Council to look at the proposals previously circulated. All comments on this document to be sent to the Area Manager’s Office of Aberdeenshire Council. Mindy closed her presentation by advising everyone that a beach clean arranged through Civic Pride was due to be held on Saturday and everyone was welcome to attend.
5.	Topics for the Future of Stonehaven The Chairman circulated a list of topics for the future of Stonehaven that had been put together by Community Council Members. He thanked everyone for their ideas and it was agreed to form a committee to take these forward. He intimated at this point that this list was purely just proposals and should not have been circulated to the press. Members had a lengthy discussion about who should sit on this Committee. Ian Hunter felt that it would be of benefit to include members of the public who were interested and had knowledge of specific issues such as Housing. It was agreed to hold an extra-ordinary meeting initially with Members only at 7pm on Tuesday 28^th September in the Invercarron Resource Centre.	Secretary 15/9/04
6.	Aberdeenshire (South) Liquor Licensing Applications The Chairman advised that liquor licence application conditions state the Community Council should be consulted on any applications that are made for the area in which they cover and a similar statement appears on the Community Council and Planning Advice Note 47. He reported that they had never been asked to attend a Licensing Board meeting and feel they should have more opportunity to be involved. It was agreed that the Secretary should write to Janet Hood, Clerk to the Licensing Board and ask to be consulted on such applications and allow us to object if it was felt appropriate.	Secretary 15/9/04
7.	Enforcement of Road Traffic Speed limit within Stonehaven Sarah Dickinson asked for guidance from A.Insp. Wallace on the enforcement of speed limits and he advised that their remit was to reduce collision rates in consultation with guidelines and targets. He also advised that speed checks are predominately carried out on A and B roads, because there are very few serious injuries reported from incidents on minor roads. Sarah went on to express her concern about the speed in which many cars travel up Arduthie Road past the primary school and asked if there was any way in which the Police could monitor this and take action accordingly. A.Insp. Wallace agreed to speak to the Police Traffic Manager and see what could be done. He asked that any similar problems be e-mailed to him as and when they occur.	Acting Inspector Wallace 12/9/04
8.	Reports and Project Updates
(a)	Planning – The Chairman advised that he had attended a meeting with the Architect of the development at East Newtonleys and had been told that a more detailed and comprehensive planting strategy had been agreed with the Planning Service to help screen the industrial development from the town. It was agreed that our Planning Committee would look at the proposals in more detail and report back to the Developer through the Community Council. It was agreed that the Chairman would invite the Developer along to the meeting on 9^th November. One item of concern that was flagged up was the issue of street lighting as well as security lighting on the individual units causing unnecessary light pollution to the surrounding area the Town skyline. It was agreed that they would write to John Shearer at Carlton House asking Aberdeenshire Council to consider not installing additional lighting. There was discussion about why such a development was approved when the community were so against it. The Chairman explained the background regarding this development and it was agreed that they must just try to influence the developer where we could.	Chairman 17/9/04 Secretary 27/9/04
(b)	Town sewage treatment works – The Chairman read out an e-mail that had been received from Nigel Parkes advising that Mike Rumbles MSP had written to the Scottish Planning Minister asking her to reject the proposal outright. In addition, he advised that a meeting had been held with Alex Johnstone MSP who will also be writing to the Planning Minister and asking other MSP’s to do similar.
(c)	Community Council Website – David Bray advised that the recent problems with the website URL had now been fixed and that the proper website can now be found on page 2 of Google when carrying out a search, however it still appears below the ‘problem’ website and it was agreed to get a link from this one to our new ‘official’ website. He advised the problems with the June and July Minutes would be looked in to. Following discussion about ideas for the website, the Secretary asked if more information is put on the website, would it slow it down and David confirmed that would not be the case. It was agreed to add the Chairman’s annual report to the website. Mary Jackson suggested that she and David should work more closely with the website and Newsletter. It was agreed to disband the current Website Committee and Newsletter Committee and set up a Communications Committee. This was proposed by Derek Stewart and Seconded by Sean Fraser. Current Chairs of these Committees to prepare new Objects and Functions for the next Members meeting.	David Bray 4/10/04 David Bray & Ian Hunter 12/10/04
(d)	Horizon Project – Due to Nigel’s absence there was no report.
(e)	Newssheet – This Committee had now been disbanded following agreement at the meeting
(f)	Kincardine and Mearns Safety Committee – Duncan Cursiter advised that the AGM was due to be held on 22^nd September and he would report back to the next meeting. Sarah Dickinson advised that she could also probably attend this meeting.
(g)	Youth Award Scheme – Duncan Cursiter advised that he had e-mailed Fiona Peters of Mackie Academy who were keen to nominate someone for an award. She had reported that the guidance team within the School were also interested in nominating. These nominations were due to be received before November.	Duncan Cursiter 12/10/94
(h)	Disability Discrimination Act – There was nothing to report.
(i)	Constitution and Standing Orders – It was agreed to defer this item for the next meeting. It was noted that the Secretary was interested in meeting with Peter to discuss this issue before the next meeting. Anyone else interested in discussing this item should let Peter know and at least should provide Peter with any comments they had regarding the change proposals.	All Members 30/9/04
(j)	Helen Rzechorzek Remembrance Project – The Secretary confirmed that the bench and seat had now been made and was ready to be installed within the next week.
(k)	Fossil Group – The Chairman reported that the group was due to meet tomorrow evening and it was hoped that funding from Scottish Natural Heritage for the provision of an exhibition would be discussed. Councillor Swapp advised that both the Heritage Society and the Tollbooth Museum was interested in this project.	Chairman 12/10/04
(l)	Roads Matters – The Secretary advised that he had met with Mark Skilling of the Roads Service just recently for their bi-annual update. Mark apologised for the lack of progress so far but gave a commitment to push forward various outstanding issues. The Secretary went on to advise on the status of various issues. Following discussion, A.Insp. Wallace agreed to look in to the incident that had occurred damaging the fence at the Invercarron Resource Centre to find out who was liable to pay for the repair. Sarah Dickinson suggested a mirror be erected at the corner of Belmont Brae to allow for pedestrians to see cars coming up the Brae before they step out on to the road, this idea was noted but it was agreed to wait until the Road Traffic Management Review had been issued before any agreements relating to this item be made.	A.Insp Wallace 26/9/04
9 (a) (b) (c) (d) (e) (f) (g)	Correspondence in requiring action 20/7 – CC Forum planned for 30/9 – Agenda items and attendees – DD, JD, DS, SD to attend. 11/8 – Aberdeenshire Disability Sport – Video Launch invite for 16^th Sept – No interest was noted on this. 18/8 – Durris Forest Design Plan – Comments requested – Members were happy to have Councillor Swapp take the lead on this. It was agreed the Secretary would advise accordingly. 28/8 – E-mail from Sean Fraser re Litter in our Town – PD referred to a letter that had been published in the Mearns Leader regarding litter, it was agreed to keep on top of this issue. 6/9 – K&M Area Bus Forum meeting on 23/9 – Attendee – PB and DS to attend. 8/9 – Aberdeenshire Local (outdoor) Access Forum on 27/9 – Attendee – Councillor Swapp advised that he was aware of this meeting. 9/9 – BT planned removal of phone box at Rickarton – response by 1/10 – It was agreed to object to removal of any phone boxes as it was felt that they were still needed in rural areas where perhaps mobile phones do not get network reception. Secretary to advise Aberdeenshire Council who were facilitating objections.	See Item Secretary 27/9/04 All Members See Item See Item Secretary 15/9/04
10.	AOCB Secretary for next meeting – The Secretary advised that he shall be absent from the next meeting, Pam Dobbie agreed to stand in. Request for assistance with local survey – The Secretary advised that he had been approached by Councillor Carl Nelson looking for assistance in carrying out a survey in the Town. DD, SF, IH, PB agreed to help out.	Pam Dobbie 12/10/04 See Item
11.	Next Meeting The next meeting will take place on Tuesday 12^th October where this Minute will be formally approved. The meeting closed at 9:45 pm.
	Addendum: A. Correspondence/Brochures IN for information only & available on file: a) Letters relating to Planning Applications b) 12/8 - S&DAA re Ury House golf Course development c) Minute of Invercarron Resource Centre Committee meeting 7/7 d) 30/8 – Reply from Mike Rumbles MSP re 3^rd Party Right of Appeal (questions for next meeting on 4/10 to be submitted) e) 13/9 – Scottish Water Customer Consultation Code B. Correspondence ‘signed’ OUT: As per those agreed at meeting of 10/8 plus a) 30/8 – Letter to planning re Telecomms Tower at Spurryhillock b) 7/7 - Invite to Mike Rumbles MSP to discuss CC Matters – Third Party Right of Appeal had been responded to, however do not cover all the points raised. It was agreed to invite him along to the next agenda meeting on 4^th October. Any questions for him should be passed to the Secretary before this date.	All Members 27/9/04