There will be a meeting of the community council at 7pm on Monday 7th January in the Burgh Chambers of the Town Hall, Queen's Gardens. There will be a short break at about 8pm during which the 200 Club draw will be made.
(read for accuracy in matters of substance - harangue the secretary for minor (spelling etc) errors outwith the meeting)
(For anyone wishing to address the meeting on a matter relevant to St Andrews. Please contact the Secretary or Chair before the meeting. Priority will be given to those who have been invited to speak or have given advance notice).
Dr John Bell.
Appendix A. Pete Lindsay's view.
Iain Smith MSP has written to update us; there have been 315 responses to the consultation paper, 150 of them on Fife. There will be a report published at the end of January.
New business should be notified to the secretary in advance for inclusion in the agenda, otherwise it can be taken under AOCB
The Spanish Consul is visiting from Edinburgh on Wednesday and has requested a meeting with the 'mayor' of St Andrews. We have jointly arranged with Fife Council Convenor's office (particular thanks to Locality Manager Kate Hughes for her help!) a reception (tea and a biscuit) at 3pm in the Burgh Chambers. A party of about half a dozen community councillors including the Chair would be appropriate.
5 Volunteers?
Fife Council are running seminars for community councils, each one covering: CCs & Planning; Funding; feedback to Fife Council on what CCs need from them.
Seminars are 7pm Tue 27/2 in Cellardyke; 7pm Thu 28/2 Balmullo; 10am Sat 1/3 Auchtermuchty. There are leaflets. Contact Community Development Coordinator David McGrath 01334-412968 or email wendy.henderson@smtp5.fife.gov.uk.
Places are not limited.
This is a specific meeting for community councils to: introduce the network; brief participants on the audit; provide initial discussions which will help inform the strategy.
Rothes Halls room 11, 7pm Monday 14/1. Other details on file.
Can anyone attend?
Following mainly for information:
These are (free) ticket only public meetings to discuss the current proposals as circulated in the last couple of months. St Andrews Town Hall 25/01/02 and 18/02/02 both 10am-noon.
Includes mention of a report on the St Andrews Cycle network
Includes: South St (West Port - Bell St); Queens Terrace (West Burn Lane - Greenside Place); South St (Rose Lane); Murray Park/Murray Place (whole length). Footway schemes: Murray Park/Murray Place (whole length); Gillespie Wynd (full length); Doocot Road (replace concrete driveway crossings). Traffic management, road safety & cycling walking safer streets: Bogward Road (traffic calming).
Combines Environmental Health and Cleansing & Waste Management following Fife's service reorganisation. Winter 01 edition covers: Poop scoop bags; Xmas food safety; Shop safety; Noisy parties; Stray dogs; Fridge temperature; Freezers; Care & repair programme; Xmas trees; Cupar's civic amenity site; Rubbish free zone; Home composting; Xmas refuse uplifts.
Dec 2001: Approved garage scheme; Quality time at Fife Rights Forum; Animal Health; Foot & Mouth; Market surveillance; Fireworks safety group; Candle survey; Toy safety; Performance audit; Web site update; Stop Now appointment; Phthalates in teethers; New staff; Consumer advice stats.
Winter 2001: Floodline launched; Diffuse pollution initiative; Bathing results waters; SEPA on Orkney; National Parks; Biodiversity - Scotland v Nordic countries; Ecological design; Habitat enhancement awards.
What is sustainability; FET guidelines; Landfill tax credit; Projects supported by FET; Funding news.
8.3.1. Kinnessburn Meeting Organised, leafleted and attended this.
8.3.2. Town/Gown Liaison reception was polite to people here too.
8.3.3. Seasons greetings Frank Riddell's excellent cards sent to various people listed under correspondence.
8.3.4. Spanish Consul managed eventually to organise someone else to organise this.
8.3.5. Saturnalia declared a break - outstanding letters will be written 'real soon now'.
Written reports are required by terms of the Scheme for Community Councils.
Please notify Secretary/Chair of items before the start of the meeting.
Hint: Given that the end of the meeting is usually taken in something of a rush, unless items are urgent it might be better to submit them for next meeting's New Business.
In the end this was attended by Roddy Mann of Cleansing & Waste Management, Jim Hooton of Community Services, Jim Falconer of East of Scotland Water, Jim Good of SEPA and thirty or so members of the public. Murdo Macdonald chaired. Fewer than half a dozen community councillors attended.
Late on it was suggested that Fife Council Law & Admin and Transportation Services should also be asked to attend as they would be able to advise on some matters. Unfortunately due to the short notice, exacerbated by a breakdown in Fife Council's email, they could not attend.
During parts of the meeting some members of the public were extremely verbally aggressive and rude towards the officials who deserve thanks for their calm patience and courtesy in the face of ill-mannered provocation.
Most of the discussion concerned the stretch of the Kinnessburn in front of Dempster Terrace as far as Greenside Place. The meeting had been leafleted to buildings from Maggie Murray's Bridge to Greenside Place.
Summary (minus the blood, sweat and tears).
Ownership
It is not clear who owns parts of the Kinnessburn's banks. While the residents of Dempster Terrace etc were adamant their responsibilities only extend to their front gates and could quote good evidence to support this it seems there is no record of ownership of the banks themselves. Fife Region/NEF District did and now Fife Council do undertake some grass cutting and cleaning etc of the burn it is on a goodwill basis as it is too difficult to determine with whom responsibility actually lies.
Water Quality
SEPA and ESW definitions of water quality are technical, based on suspended particles and microorganism counts. Most people seemed to count ducks and fish as they are rather more obvious. SEPA and ESW hold that the water quality of the burn is better now than a few years ago - when there were regular sewage discharges into the burn during heavy rain - due to the new storm water system. Others claimed that there are fewer ducks, fish etc than 15, 20, 30 years ago so the water quality must be at fault.
Rubbish
Complaints about the amount of rubbish in the burn were met with complete understanding by C&WM who 'share the frustration' of residents at the quantities of foreign objects thrown into the burn. The burn is inspected daily during the working week and will be cleared if it is safe to do so. Clearing is not always easy as fishing out debris is constrained by requirements of safety, particularly if the burn is high. If people spot a particular problem, to bring it to C&WM attention phone 01334-412724.
Flooding
There are two types of flooding. One is the Kinnessburn bursting its banks; see below for that. The other is water or sewage emerging from the ground from ESW's pipes. Anything that looks like the latter, or inappropriate discharges from the storm tanks should be reported to ESW's 24 hour call centre on 08457-420420.
Width of the burn
Many people were concerned by the change in the width of the burn with the build-up of sediment and the growth of plants on top of it, fearing rats and mink are living there and eating the ducks. Also the narrowing is held to be endanger properties by flooding. Finally some (not all) find the burn to be unsightly, as it was canalised (cleared and banking installed) some time ago (late 60s/early 70s?) and is now reverting to a more natural state which they say is inappropriate in a town environment.
While Community Services seemed willing to consider running a dredger/digger up the burn SEPA were unable (because of their legal duties) to countenance such a thing, and made it clear that prosecution could result as any such work would inevitably involve environmental damage. What SEPA didn't quite get across, or people were not prepared to hear, was SEPA's statutory duty to preserve the environment in terms of the measures they are required to use (biodiversity, quality of water etc). Looking pretty isn't something they can take into account.
What SEPA can take into account is threat to life or property through flooding. If either of these can be shown then they will be able to reassess the burn to allow clearing work. The advice they have is that there is no significant flood danger at the moment, although they did not seem to be aware of any flooding since the harbour gates event 14-15 years ago. Obviously there have been a number of incidents of the burn exceeding its banks since then. The flood authority is Fife's Transportation Service in Glenrothes who might be a useful source of information.
The way forward?
• Investigate whether there is a way of re-classifying the burn so that clearing is possible.
• Re-assessment of the flood danger of the burn.
• As SEPA is an agency controlled by the Scottish Executive, advice on how to approach this problem could be sought from Iain Smith MSP.
• Or people could learn to love biodiversity (and perhaps ducks in their living room…)
Pete Lindsay
Correspondence
| Date | From | Subject |
| 04/12/01 | TMP env & infra group | Nov minutes |
| 06/12/01 | Iain Smith MSP | Strategic Planning |
| 08/12/01 | Community Services | West Sands Vehicle Barrier |
| 08/12/01 | Printing & Supplies Service | Office Supplies Contract |
| 08/12/01 | Fife Environmental Network | Environmental Strategy workshop 14/1/02 |
| 08/12/01 | EoS Water | xmas card |
| 09/12/01 | EoS Water | Board meeting 14/12/01 |
| 11/12/01 | The Citizen | xmas card |
| 12/12/01 | Environmental Services (Rubbish free zone coords) | xmas card |
| 13/12/01 | Planning & Building Services | Environment Workshop date correction |
| 14/12/01 | Tricia Marwick MSP | December newsletter |
| 15/12/01 | Fife Health Council | Healthwatch newsletter winter edition |
| 15/12/01 | Fife Environment Trust | 2001 newsletter winter edition |
| 18/12/01 | University | Xmas card |
| 17/12/01 | SEPA | December Newsletter |
| 20/12/01 | University | xmas card |
| 21/12/01 | Iain Smith MSP | xmas card |
| 21/12/01 | Trading Standards | December newsletter |
| 21/12/01 | Byre Theatre | Jan-May 2002 programme |
| 21/12/01 | APRS | Newsletter winter 2001 |
| 24/12/01 | Transportation Services | Local Roads Programme 2002/3 |
| 24/12/01 | Environmental Health Services | Newsletter Dec 2001 |
| 27/12/01 | NHS fife | public meeting dates |
| 28/12/01 | Jack Wheeler | John Knox Rd development |
| 29/12/01 | East Area Services | Agenda 9/1/02 |
| 29/12/01 | East Area Services | Community Council Seminars |
Season's Greeting cards, produced by Frank Riddell, were sent to the Police Station, Local Office, University Principal, Students' Association, St Andrews' Fife Councillors, hallkeepers at the Victory and Town Halls, local journalists and Fife Council Planning Service in Cupar.