approved
Chair: Murdo Macdonald
The certificate was presented to Gordon Christie by Murdo Macdonald who spoke of the intention of community council only to make such awards very occasionally to rare and excellent people - as on this inaugural occasion.
Thanking community council for the accolade Gordon Christie gave a brief account of the people and incidents that had given him 80 years of vivid memories.
Community Councillors: Ken Crichton, Ken Fraser, John
Landon, Chris Lesurf, Pete Lindsay, Dennis Macdonald, Donald Macgregor,
Joe Peterson, Frank Riddell, Archie Strachan, Cynthia Tero
Students' Association: Marcus Booth (Pres)
Co-opted: Bill Sangster (Merchants' Association)
Fife Councillors: Sheila Hill, Jane Ann Liston, Frances
Melville, Jane Hunter-Blair
Apologies: Hugh Gray, Ian Goudie, Maries Cassells, Helen
Lawrie.
Accepted
PC Louise Thompson attended as Insp Pow detained by duties concerning the nearby investigations.
3.1.1. Car Parking on Pavements - currently not an offence to be parked on the pavement, but it is to drive on(to) it and also to cause an obstruction.
3.1.2. Parking Vouchers - following reports in the press of difficulties over exactly where on a vehicle vouchers must be displayed - window or dashboard. She speculated that there may be differences in enforcement practice between street parking and the council car parks.
PC Thompson to check
3.1.3. Stolen Bicycles - following on from last month's warning of increased bicycle thefts and the enquiry of a victim, PC Thompson reported that the police had 100s of recovered cycles. She urged people with a missing bike to visit the Police Station to check for theirs.
Alastair Robertson, Census Area Manager for Fife, accompanied by Frances Geddes, St Andrews District Census Manager spoke about the 29 April 2001 Census. St Andrews area is complex for the census holding most of the possible special cases: armed forces, hotels, residential homes, caravans, halls of residence as well as the usual business and residential premises.
Census is conducted in Scotland by the General Register Office (Scotland). Census workers are all temporary employees of GRO. The census is the largest peacetime operation in the UK. Confidentiality very important. Personal information gathered by employees in the course of the census may not, by law, be passed on.
Why a census? The aim is to find out where to allocate money and resources in the country. Hence the questions aimed at eg identifying the number of unpaid carers, suspected of being a large hidden population.
Information is used by government, local government and business. This is supplied in aggregated form as tables, maps, charts etc so that individuals cannot be identified. Personal information will remain confidential for 100 years.
Is the census the most efficient way to gather the data? This was reviewed in 1994 after the last census when a door-to-door census was still felt to be most cost-effective. There will be another review after this census is complete.
The questions asked in the census are decided by the Scottish Parliament on advice by the Registrar General. The information gathered must be of value, not just interesting and it must not be available from other sources. Also it must not compromise the purpose of the census itself - hence questions on income dropped in case people worried about the Inland Revenue getting the figures so answering falsely and questions on Scots language being excluded as there seems to be little agreement as to shat comprises 'Scots'.
On the other hand there are two voluntary questions on religious belief inserted by the Holyrood parliament.
There has been a census every 10 years since 1801 except 1941.
Previously the census was completed for where you were on census day. This time it is to be completed for your normal place of residence. The date of census day has been deliberately chosen to be in term time so students should fill it in for their term addresses.
Forms will be delivered between 9th-21st April when the enumerators will check if any assistance is needed filling in the forms. 21st-28th they will check any missed deliveries. The completed census forms are to be posted back, not collected.
GRO is working with the police to avoid fake enumerators taking advantage of people. Check the identity badge if you are in any doubt. Enumerators are advised not to enter houses so anyone asking to do so should be checked thoroughly.
After census day: from 9th May enumerators will help with difficult cases. 24th-29th May they will investigate cases of non-compliance. The local enumerators finish on 30th May. Thereafter all census matters are dealt with centrally by GRO.
Processing the census: the forms will be scanned onto computer images - the paper copy is destroyed - eventually being stored on computer, microfilm etc (kept secure for 100 years as mentioned) as well as the actual answer data being processed. The full statistics resulting from the census should be released in spring 2003.
Will soon be recruiting for 100s of enumerators and 33 team leaders in Fife.
There will be a phone help line for those having difficulty and advice organisations such as CAB/CARF will be contacted.
4.1.1. Extra bus stops - in response to residents' requests more stops are being erected in the west end of town.
4.1.2. Sponsored roundabouts - at Petheram Bridge and Safeway - she confirmed that sponsoring companies' names or possibly logos would appear on the roundabout name plate. Concerns were expressed that this could be distracting and that some potential sponsors could be controversial.
4.1.3. Harbour - Fife Council does not intend to proceed with the traffic order to protect the harbour from heavy vehicles as Stagecoach feels this threatens their open-top bus tour of the town. She added that Dr Prescott, of Maritime Studies, has expressed serious concern about damage to the area from heavy vehicle traffic.
4.1.4. Toilets - Bill Sangster for the Merchants' Association asked why the public toilets were closed from Christmas to the New Year despite the town centre being in use.
Frances Melville to investigate
4.1.5. Harbour & pier repairs - asked for an update on the status she replied that it all depended on a positive decision from the lottery fund, as matching funding was available. Decision expected soon.
4.2.1. Charters - should be ready for February's meeting.
4.2.2. Advertising 'A'-boards - a new Fife-wide policy has been adopted but the three area planning services are still working out the practical details of implementation.
4.2.3. Scenic Map - see 5.1.
4.2.4. Plaque in Church Square noting former graveyard - idea has been raised with the relevant people.
4.2.6. CD fairs - Ken Crichton suggested the CD & Record Fairs that occur regularly in the Victory Memorial Hall and Students' Union building be checked by Trading Standards for counterfeit goods.
4.2.7. Zebra crossings - responded to a question on progress of the review, saying that there were regular meetings and that some adjustments might be made soon. The point was made that not everyone, especially pedestrians, objected to the current arrangement. Bill Sangster added that at a meeting he attended for the Merchants' Association, Roads Service had said that moving the southern crossing in Bell St would be impractical for pedestrians and expensive so a change in the roundabout layout was under consideration.
4.2.8. City Road Bins - in a brief discussion on possible locations for the City Road bins it was again emphasised by members that it would be wrong to close the toilets for a bin-park.
4.2.9. Greyfriars School crossing - £16,000 is to be spent on a pedestrian crossing on Abbey Walk.
Nothing to report on in her "quiet" ward.
4.4.1. St Andrew's day promotion - drew attention to a display of photographs and memorabilia from her travels in November.
4.4.2. 2020 Vision Transport questionnaire - 20 copies had been sent out to groups taking part in the Tourism Management Plan workgroups, bringing in 14 replies including three from Fife Council officers and one from Scottish Enterprise (Fife). There will be no decisions made on the basis of this pilot. There will be an independent review of the questions to avoid possible bias before it is circulated firstly to residents, Cllr Liston has asked, then visitors and commuters.
4.4.3. North Fife & South Tayside Rail Study - meeting with Transport Service - council sees that the study was flawed in the matter of a St Andrews link and will keep the case under review.
4.4.4. Kinkell coastal path - Archie Strachan reported that work has started on repairs, thanking the Fife Councillors for their efforts in this, but he is concerned at the small scale of the work against the size of the problem.
Frank Riddell reported that our new noticeboard would be erected at the same time as the Scenic Map and that a joint unveiling is planned at midday 25th January.
Frank Riddell to co-ordinate & publicise
Discussed possibility of displaying provost's gown and chain of office; thought security might be a problem. No response from Fife Council to our proposal as yet.
Noted
(December 4.3.1.) Joe Peterson proposed thanks to Cllr Jane Ann Liston for her work. Agreed without dissent.
Thanks to Cllr Jane Ann Liston
(December 9.0.) Archie Strachan proposed thanks to Pete Lindsay and Cllr Jane Ann Liston for the, he hoped ongoing, tradition they had established. Agreed without dissent.
Thanks to Pete Lindsay
and Cllr Jane Ann Liston
Marcus Booth to report in February
noted
Chris Lesurf to attend & report
other items noted
7.1.1. Hogmanay Ceilidh - Accounts circulated. Gross income, before paying for the hall, £1486.07. Possibility of another next year will be examined closer to the time.
7.1.2. Students' Association licence - Association President Marcus Booth reported that the association have applied for licences until 1am Thu, 2am Fri and midnight Sat. Licensing Board will be considering these Wed 17th Jan.
nothing to report
7.3.3. Christmas Greetings cards - thanked Frank Riddell for the excellent card he'd produced, which was sent to various bodies about town and to the St Andrews Associations which had sent St Andrew's Day greetings.
7.3.4. Meeting with Iain Smith MSP - Monday 22nd Jan, 7.30pm, Fife Council Office, St Mary's Place. General Purposes committee plus any other interested members.
Frank Riddell circulated the planning report.
Ken Crichton reported.
8.2.1. Senior Citizens' Christmas Tea - great success, full accounts will follow.
Ken Fraser thanked those who made the second (true) millennium ceilidh possible from the community council and external, especially Murdo Macdonald.
The committee will now discuss whether further millennium projects are possible or whether the committee should be wound up.
report noted
(correction to 8.4.1. - Ken Crichton not Ken Fraser).
Chris Lesurf resigned as Chair due to ill-health. Joe Peterson agreed to take over. With the loss of Chris Young another member was sought, Frank Riddell volunteered.
9.1. Pothole Watch
Donald Macgregor asked, in view of recent correspondence in The Citizen, whether Pothole Watch was achieving anything as there was little feedback.
Cllr Jane Ann Liston replied that it was certainly more effective than doing nothing. The reason for the lack of feedback was that her reports had been curtailed by the Chair.
Joe Peterson, backed by Chris Lesurf, raised the matter of buses transporting pupils to/from Madras Kilrymont damaging surrounding residential roads.
After some discussion it was agreed to write to Roads Service raising concerns about the state of road and footpath surfaces.
Pete Lindsay to write
A letter appeared in The Citizen after the party concerning the lack of access for the housebound. Meeting agreed that both a personal and public reply are necessary. Chair and Recreation Convenor to reply.
Murdo Macdonald &
Ken Crichton to reply