Royal Burgh of St Andrews
Community Council
Agenda - July 1999
There will be a meeting at 7pm, Monday 5th July 1999 in St Andrews Town Hall Burgh Chamber.
1. Apologies for Absence
Received: David Kinnell, Joe Peterson, Bill Sangster, Ken Fraser
2. Contributions from Members of the Public
(for anyone wishing to address the meeting on a matter relevant to St Andrews. Please contact the Secretary or Chair at or before the meeting.)
2.1. Police Report
2.2. NE Fife Volunteer Bureau
Mary Ray, Bureau Co-ordinator, will introduce her organisation.
3. Minutes of 3rd May
(Read for corrections of substance - harangue the secretary for minor (spelling etc) mistakes outside the meeting).
4. Matters arising from previous meetings
4.1. Golf Developments
4.2. Proposal (submitted by Archie Strachan)
4.2.1. That the Community Council reviews its policy regarding communication with the local and national press over matters of Council business and thereafter produce a set of appropriate guide-lines.
4.2.2. That the Community Council considers ways and means of improving its present method of disseminating information on Council business and matters of concern to the general public.
4.2.3. That the Community Council considers ways and means of improving the way in which the views of the public are obtained by the Council so as to make available as wide a sample of public opinion as possible.
4.2.4. That the Community Council considers the possibility that a less 'confrontational' attitude when dealing with other organisations would in the end be more fruitful.
Archie Strachan
4.3. Shell Garage
I appeared on behalf of the Community Council at the licensing hearing in Cupar 18/6/99 to speak in support of our proposal that the garage shop hot food license be limited to a six month renewal to see how the summer went. A local residents group had made a similar proposal though were not present to speak. Shell readily agreed to the proposal which was accepted by the committee.
Talking with Shell afterwards they said they'd be very happy to discuss with us any problems that might arise.
Pete Lindsay
4.4. Giant Hogweed.
Most of this has now been sprayed successfully though one mature flowering plant has been spotted in a difficult to access location (28/6/99).
5. Reports
5.1. Chair
5.2. Treasurer
5.2.1. Accounts accepted: Fife Council has ratified the 1998-99 Statement of Accounts.
5.2.2. Grant Received: The Administration Grant for 1999-2000 amounting to £2,861.31 has been received from Fife Council.
5.2.3. State of Funds as at 30th June 1999:-
Administration Account £4411.71*
General Account £665.10
Millennium Account £700.00
Youth Cte.Account £50.00
St.Andrews Day Account £365.39
Sen.Cit.Xmas Party £2244.33
Bandstand Concerts Acc. £2796.47
Upper Arlington Acc. £216.41
Coat of Arms Account £160.35
Balance in Hand £11,609.76
* (includes Fife Council 1999-2000 grant)
5.3. Secretary
5.3.1. Reminder - no meeting in August - next meeting is Monday 6th September
5.3.2. Community Council Noticeboard - I have one key, who has the other(s)? It would be helpful if Archie Strachan had one to keep bandstand concert posters up to date.
5.3.3. McIntosh Commission Report - we have received
a copy. Appendix D is the summary on community councils. Full
report on line at
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/library/documents-w10/clg-00.htm
5.3.4. Pier Project - Nan Taylor writes to point out that the Pier Project will be producing a Christmas Card and asks that we book a place for them at the Charity Christmas Card Sale in October, as the project operates as part of the Community Council's Charitable Trust.
Any comments from the trustees?
5.3.5. VONEF membership - certificate etc received.
5.3.6. ASCC Newsletter - (pre AGM edition) covers: ASCC survey of CCs; Women in CCs; Planning; Funding in Shetland; Campaign for Environmental Justice; etc
5.3.7. Cascade - Scottish Water & Sewage Customers Council newsleter (Summer 99) covers: stand pipe charges; planning & pongs; fluoride; industry charges; website http://www.scottishwater.co.uk.
5.3.8. Environmental Health newsletter - Noise Action Day 7/7/99, "A Life of Grime" tv series; Food Safety Week 7-13 June; Holiday advice; food testing; farm visits; indescriminate rubbish dumping; barbecue advice. There are some spare copies.
5.3.9. Best Kept Town 99 - preliminary judging starts 5th July, finals 29th July. Prizes awarded at the Fife Garden Festival 18th-19th September Rothes Halls, Kingdom Centre, Glenrothes.
6. Matters raised by committees
6.1. General Purposes
6.2. Golf
6.3. Finance
6.4. Millennium
Appendix E - report
6.5. Planning
6.6. Publicity
Appendix A: report:
6.6.1. Chair's Medallion of Office: Proposal: that the formal presentation be held in the autumn, probably September and certainly in time for use during St Andrews Week. It is further proposed that as many as possible of the former Chairs of the Community Council be invited to the presentation, and that their names and dates be inscribed on the bars of office for the ribbon.
Frank Riddell
6.7. Recreation
Appendix B - Bandstand report
6.8. Youth
7.0 Matters raised by Fife Councillors
7.1. Frances Melville (West)
7.2. Sheila Hill (South)
7.3. Jane Ann Liston (South East)
7.4. Jane Hunter-Blair (Central)
Appendix A - Publicity Committee Report
Meeting 21st June 99
It was decided to make an informal approach to the planning officials in Fife Council East Area to enquire if there would be any planning problems associated with the siting of a notice board in the Church Square. Informal advice back suggests that there would probably be no problem siting a notice board near to the walls but not attached to the walls of buildings in the square. Detailed advice in writing is awaited.
A story concerning a visitor to St Andrews who had been cordially received by a local resident was to be sent to the local press.
It was decided not to run a competition for the title of a Community Council Newsletter until it became apparent that one could actually be produced and distributed on a regular basis.
The chairman advised as to the latest position regarding the garden ground at 1 Greyfriars Gardens.
The Community Council Medallion was already prepared in crude form and hall marked. The Jeweller, David Martin, was now starting the difficult part of finishing the medallion. It might be ready for the start of the July meeting.
FGR
Appendix B - Bandstand Report
Concerts - Despite the very inclement weather being experienced on Sundays over the last few weeks, to date only one bandstand concert has had to be cancelled altogether.
Refurbishment of Bandstand-The refurbishment of the bandstand is almost complete.
The cost of the refurbishment was estimated by the Property Department at £12,400. It is understood that a sum of up to this amount was earmarked from the St Andrews Common Good Fund. However, it has been subsequently learned that this estimate was exclusive of VAT hence the total is in fact £14,750.
Application for a grant was also made to the Fife Environment Trust and a conditional award of £7,285 was allocated, one of the conditions being that the Community Council obtained ENTRUST registration and ENTRUST project approval. Application for registration with ENTRUST was therefore duly made. However ENTRUST has now indicated that the Community Council's constitution does not cover the registration requirements and has suggested that the constitution be altered or a subsidiary body be set up to meet these requirements.
At the moment I am not of a mind to recommend that the Council's constitution be 'manoeuvred', or a subsidiary body set up to comply, without further investigation but at the same time I am anxious to conserve the funds of the Common Good Fund. I have therefore referred the matter to Fife Council's Law & Administration Department (East) for advice. The saga continues!
Archie Strachan
Appendix C - Recreation Committee Report
1. St. Andrews Week
The Art sub-committee met on 28th June. All detail for posters and entry forms were agreed and will shortly be available for issue. We are not satisfied with the arrangements for Friday 26th Nov. and a committee member volunteered to try to alter matters. At the request of the committee I will ask the local councillors advice regarding hall lettings as in future years our Exhibition may not be of only local interest. In the Millennium and future years we are considering altering the theme as follows - Subject to be any theme and not tied to one title but provision still made for St. Andrews. I will enlarge on this at the meeting when I will ask the Community Councils permission for the sub-committee to start planning this new exhibition.
2. St. Andrews in Bloom
Due to unforeseen circumstances I will not be able to attend the meeting on 30.06.99 but will be kept informed.
3. Beautiful Scotland in Bloom.
The judging this year will be held 8th July. Full details have been given to the St. Andrews in Bloom Committee and I will ensure that Fife Council have been informed via this committee.
4. Floral Competition.
Posters have been distributed over a wide area and we expect the usual excellent response. The Recreation Committee discussed the new Fife Council garden competition but it was felt that we covered a niche not catered for by them.
5. Odd One Out Competition.
This Competition is organised and administered by Dennis McDonald who will now report.
6. Band Stand.
Archie Strachan will now report on the current situation.
7. 200 Club.
Request Chairman's permission to hold the draw
Ken Crichton
Appendix D - The Report of the Commission on Local Government and the Scottish Parliament (McIntosh Commission)
Extract of the Executive Summary:
The voice of the people
23. The system of community councils should be retained and should be regarded as a valuable asset to the democratic life of Scotland. Their role should be seen within the wider context of the area approach being adopted by many councils, as a means of obtaining the fullest possible consultation at local level. (165)
24. Local authorities, in conjunction with their reviews of their management arrangements should also review their local consultation arrangements with particular reference to the issue of meaningful consultation and feedback of information to community and voluntary organisations. Community councils should be involved in this review process. Local authorities should also address (166)-
The general resourcing of community councils, including not only levels of financial support but also the provision of and access to accommodation, equipment and office facilities.
Improvements in electoral arrangements, taking into account examples of good practice already evident, and including use of postal ballots and electronic voting.
The development of civic education.
25. Community councils, for their part, should undertake a process of renewal, specifically addressing their own representative nature and how effectively they establish public opinion within their own area; how they involve and establish links with other communities of interest; and how they involve young people in their work and in their organisation. The possibility of extending the vote in community council elections to 16 year olds should be given particular consideration. (167)
26. The Association of Scottish Community Councils should be provided with a level of core funding sufficient for the development of that body to play a full role in the representation of community council interests and in the dissemination of best practice. (168)
27. Parliament and local authorities alike should give further study to the development of civic education. (172)
Appendix E - Millennium Committee Report
The Millennium committee found problems in arranging a meeting during the past month. However some progress on the Greyfriars Gardens problem has been made. The financial and other details that follow are strictly confidential and it may be necessary to exclude the public and press for the discussion of this item*.
A valuation has been received from the District Valuer for the garden ground of £X. The valuation takes into account the aspirations of the Community Council, the fact that the ground is owned by a commercial developer and also the advice from the Fife Council planning department that "... there is no possibility of any kind of development being permitted on the subject land."
To proceed with an offer to purchase the Community Council needs to take the following steps and it is hereby proposed that we initiate these actions:
1. Seek permission from the Fife Council to acquire the land (Scheme for establishment of Community Councils so requires). The letter seeking this permission would indicate that we were looking at the establishment of a small public garden or park on the ground and that we intended either to donate or lease the ground at a minimal rent to the Fife Council for these purposes.
2. Seek the Fife Council's views on the donation or leasing of the land for the purposes indicated.
3. Seek funding from the Common Good fund.
4. Investigate other sources of funding
5. Seek advice from planning officials about the conversion of the ground to a publicly accessible garden/park.
Informal advice from planning officials to date indicates that 5 is no problem. However, should the Fife Council be unwilling to take on this ground it may still be possible to go ahead ourselves although the financial problems become more acute. N.B. walls to come down, telephone boxes to be moved and garden to be constructed.
Mr Iain Donald of Murray and Donald has been advising and helping us. We thank him for his efforts on behalf of our community.
* Secretary's note: The Scheme says:
9.4 All meetings of the Community Council shall be open to the public. The Community Council shall encourage public participation in their meetings. However, the public may, by resolution, be excluded from a meeting of the Community Council during consideration of an item of business whenever it is likely that if members of the public were present, there would be disclosure to them of:
(c) any terms proposed or to be proposed by or to the Community Council in the course of negotiations for a contract for the acquisition or disposal of property or the supply of goods or services relating to that Community Council;