Agenda – March 2003
There will be a meeting of the community council at 7pm on Monday 3rd March 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.
Frank Riddell, Chris Lesurf
(Read for accuracy in matters of substance – harangue the secretary for minor errors (spelling etc) 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).
Rachel Hay, the Locality Assistant, to introduce herself.
[Feb 6.2.] Will anyone run them this year?
[Feb 6.4.] 7.30pm Tue 15 April. Iain Smith MSP (LibDems) and Ted Brocklebank (Conservatives) already booked. See Appendix C for proposed details.
[Nov 6.3.] Penny Uprichard.
[Feb 7.4.] Murdo Macdonald to report
Cllr Frances Melville asks for our feedback on cycle lanes in the light of Appendix B.
[Feb 7.5.] Area Transportation Manager Derek Crowe acknowledged our letter (Appendix D) in support of the University over lighting in this area and promises a copy of Fife Council’s response to them.
[Feb 10.1.] Charles Armour has been voted an Honoured Citizen of St Andrews in recognition of his long service at Holy Trinity and in the life of the town.
For 16, against 0, abstained 3, no vote 3 – meets the criteria set down and, by the current numbers, cannot be overturned by any late votes received.
[Jan 4.1.1.] As requested, Cllr Frances Melville has pressed the case for early adoption of a green belt with David Rae, Head of Planning. Appendix H gives his response.
[carried over from February, deadline Friday 7th March]
Appendix F: letter from Frank Jensen, Law & Admin.
Dennis McAlinden is currently studying in honours year of Leisure Management at Bell College in Lanarkshire. His dissertation title is:
“Are the ongoing golf course developments within St Andrews diminishing the town’s prestigious character?”
Would any members of the community council who have a knowledge of golfing developments in St Andrews be prepared to participate in a semi-structured interview, either face-to-face or by phone, to help his research?
Chris Lesurf has asked for our support in principle for a drop-in centre at the former DHSS/DSS/Dept of Work and Pensions office at the east end of South Street.
Appendix G: rôle of the proposed centre.
Nan Taylor suggests:
“that community council puts a map (showing the St Leonards Fields area and the precise location of different proposed developments in it) on show in the ... notice board in Logies Lane. Not everyone is able to go down to Glebe Rd and walk through Woodburn Park to a spot behind the Memorial Hospital and look at the proposed site across the burn.”
6.30-8.30pm Thu 13 Mar, The Scores Hotel. Find out what SNH does, nationally and locally.
Who will attend?
Mrs Willsher asks if we have any advice as to where she might obtain grant funding towards publishing a book she has prepared on this subject, a social history of public spirited citizens over one and a half centuries. She includes a detailed outline of the contents.
Meet 9.30am, Tue 11 March at Springfield House, Cupar. 0845-762-6799.
Later meetings: 22/04 Victoria Hospital, Kirkcaldy; 3/06 Town Hall, St Andrews; 29/07 East End Park, Dunfermline; 23/09 Rothes Halls, Glenrothes; 4/11 Town House, Kirkcaldy; 16/12 Springfield House, Cupar.
Fri 14 Mar, Dundee, £25
7-9pm, Tue 22 April. 2 people are invited to attend this Police event on community policing, to be held centrally in Police HQ, Glenrothes.
Who will attend?
www.watercustomer.org. The nearest meeting of the WCCP for this area is 7.30pm Wed 5 March at the Hilton Hotel, Earl Grey Place, Dundee.
8.3.1. Fireworks [Nov 7.4.] Appendix A: reply from Tricia Marwick MSP (though I should have contacted Shona Robison MSP).
8.3.2. Rail Consultation [Nov 7.2.] Appendix E: response submitted
8.3.3. Twinning & EU Funding Thanks to Mr Iain Swankie of Macgregor Gifts who has circulated all community councillors (I understand) with details of the funding on offer, to inform any further deliberations we may undertake.
8.3.4. Table [Oct 8.3.1.] The community council are now proud possessors of an office table for the laser printer, for the princely sum of £58.75.
8.3.5. Scotways [Feb 6.6.1] Following from the meeting with the Scottish Rights of Way and Access Society we have purchased for community council their booklets on relevant law and case law in Scotland, frequently asked RoW questions, and walking in Fife, £13. All in a folder available from the Secretary.
8.3.6. David Russell Hall Attended update meeting, along with local residents, councillors etc on redevelopment plan. Now intend a rolling redevelopment rather than phased, subject to planning permission. Much smaller meeting than previous, in the famous Strachan Suite. Main item of concern from residents seemed to be the proposal for a licensed residents bar – one person seemed to think this would be a new student’s union, which did not appear to be the University’s idea at all. Any bar would require a licensing application and be subject to the normal controls.
8.3.7. Community Council Seminar
NB include any reports from February which were held over
Written reports of meetings are required by terms of the Scheme for Community Councils.
For any verbal reports of meetings attended etc. Issues requiring a decision by community council should be raised under items 6 Matters Arising or 7 New Business, as appropriate.
Please notify Chair of AOCB items before the start of the meeting or at the break. Hint: Given that the end of the meeting is often taken in something of a rush, unless items are urgent it might be better to submit them for next meeting’s New Business.
From Tricia Marwick MSP
Thanks for your reply. My SNP Colleague Shona Robison MSP has been doing a great deal of work on fireworks – in particular who the controls can be tightened. The Exec has shown a marked reluctance to take action because explosives (and therefore fireworks) are matters reserved to Westminster. However Shona and I have argued that the Scottish Executive could tighten up the licensing and regulation of fireworks through the Civic Government Scotland Act. This could ensure that only a limited number of shops can sell and for a clearly defined period. This would replace the voluntary agreement that is in force at the moment but clearly does not work. The Executive will make no commitment to this route and there is not now enough time before the dissolution of the Scottish Parliament on 31 March for Shona to take forward a Members Bill.
I know that she is committed to making sure that progress is made after the election in May.
From: Chris Bell, Lead Officer, Local Transport Plan (East)
To St Andrews Councillors
A report was presented at the East Area Services Committee (9 January 2002) on the St Andrews Cycle Network. Committee agreed that a monitoring report on the operation of the False One-Way Streets / Contra-Flow cycling on the Links, The Scores & Greyfriars Garden would be carried out prior to the end of the 18 month experimental period. The experimental period will expire on 1 October 2003.
A meeting with Local Members, Community Council and other interested parties was held at the Local Office on 2 April 2002 with a cycle ride of the routes held on 16 April 2002.
Surveys were carried out on 30 October 2002 using CCTV footage with further surveys due this week (5 February 2003).
To give you an indication, some of the survey results from 30 October 2002 (period 08:30-09:30) are detailed below. The results are encouraging:
The Links: Total vehicles 40; cycles 7 eastbound (17.5%).
The Scores: Total vehicles 68; cycles 7 eastbound (10%).
Greyfriars Garden: Total vehicles 188; cycles 41 (22%) 30 northbound & 11 southbound.
The Police have concerns with The Scores due to the encroachment of parked cars into the cycle lane. Apart from parking on the waiting restrictions at the junction with Golf Place, The Links was considered to be acceptable. Although Greyfriars Gardens has the widest cycle lane the parked cars on the east side of the carriageway tend to push cycles to the edge of the lane (This was viewed on the CCTV footage).
The lack of exit infrastructure/signing on false-one way streets increases the cycle/vehicle risk at junctions – ie from Greyfriars Garden to Market St or St Mary’s Place. Experience from other Local Authorities suggest that contra cycle lanes with entry and exit islands are considered to provide greater benefits and safety to cyclists.
I have been asked to prepare a progress report for the March Area Services Committee and would be grateful if you could provide me with your thoughts on the operation of the cycle facilities on these streets.
From Pete Lindsay
We now have a time and venue, thanks to Murdo. I’m starting to contact potentially interested parties to let them know it is on so they can add it to their candidate’s busy schedule.
7.30pm Tuesday April 15th 2003, Town Hall, Queens Gardens, St Andrews
I’ve contacted the LibDems (Iain Smith etc) and Conservatives (Ted Brocklebank) but I don’t know the other party contacts (SNP, Labour, SSP, Green etc) in the area.
Would anyone with party (or Independent) contacts please:
i) let me have the contact details (particularly email) so I can update them directly on arrangements and
ii) pass this information on the appropriate part of the party organisation anyway with a request they get in touch with me.
Below is a provisional structure for the meeting – final approach will depend on the number of candidates attending.
1. One representative per party.
This can be the first past the post candidate, a list candidate, or even a non-candidate representative of a party if they are a bit thin on the ground or engaged elsewhere.
2. One representative in the room at a time.
Order to be chosen randomly. Speak and answer questions for a fixed period (in the region of 10-15 minutes – to be determined by number of speakers).
3. Panel questions session
All the reps at the same time to respond to questions from the floor. NB This may not be practical if representatives have a busy schedule and have to move on after speaking at 2.
To Derek Crowe, Area Transportation Manager
Mr David Loudon, Director of the University of St Andrews Estates and Buildings department has brought to our attention the lack of adequate lighting at Woodburn Place/East Sands leading to concerns about safety and security of those using the area.
Community council discussed this briefly at our February meeting. We are of the opinion that public roads and major pedestrian areas in St Andrews should be lit as a matter of course and would be interested to hear of your plans and time scale for providing appropriate (both in illumination and aesthetics) lighting for this area.
To Steer Davies Gleave / Babtie
Thank you for contacting this community council for comment on Rail Services in the Tayside area. I hope this submission on behalf of the community council will be of help to you.
1. Strategic Issues
i) A St Andrews Rail Link
The Royal Burgh of St Andrews Community Council has backed the StARLink campaign to return a railway link to St Andrews since its inception in September 1989. Indeed it was a member of community council of the time that set up the campaign. The Community Council, in discussing our response to the Steer Davies Gleave /Babtie Group study, again endorsed the support for the return of a rail link to St Andrews itself.
Much of the focus of the region’s tourist industry is on increasing the numbers of tourists coming in to St Andrews. Transport infrastructure improvements are essential if this is to be achieved. St Andrews and its facilities have expanded markedly since the loss of the railway in 1969, and continues to be under development pressure which all tends to increase the need for transport, but transport links have not improved significantly and certainly nothing like in step.
Road traffic coming into St Andrews is reported by Fife Council Transportation Department to have risen at just over 1% per annum for the last 25 years – and 2.5% in the period Jan-Sep 2002 already, according to the last figures we have heard quoted. Traffic levels are an increasing problem in parts of the centre of St Andrews. This leaves us facing the problem that road improvements, while doubtless welcome, would also generate increased traffic, and would only serve to speed the strangling of the town centre, never mind the general effects of increased car traffic in terms of pollution and environmental damage.
It should be noted that not all of this is tourist traffic. The expansion of the University from 2000 to over 6000 students, plus the staff (of all grades) to support them and the expansion of the various aspects of the ‘service industry’ any number of golf courses and related facilities built or proposed in and around St Andrews for instance have put severe pressure on the housing market. Many people find it impossible to live in the town where they work and must commute in every day. They have no choice but to use road transport, generally cars of course.
ii) An Edinburgh Airport Rail Link
The need for a rail link to Edinburgh airport is another issue that arises when ever wider transportation issues are discussed here. This is a particularly difficult journey by public transport, which causes frequent frustration to many in this town.
2. Current road/rail infrastructure – Leuchars Station Interchange
Short term we would like to see better integration between road and rail transport at our nearest station, Leuchars. Primarily we would like to see true road/rail integration with bus services to meet rail services not merely coincide with them sometimes – the sight of the bus to St Andrews disappearing from the ‘interchange’ turning circle as one crosses the footbridge from the station is a well-known one to all Leuchars users. It has been reported, anecdotally, by those of our members who were around at the time that when the St Andrews-Leuchars line was closed in 1969 replacement integrated bus services were promised then, but they have still not arrived.
Though the current ‘Interchange’ at Leuchars is an improvement on the previous arrangements, a number of features have been found wanting in practice. The provision of one bus stop for services travelling to three different destinations – to St Andrews, to Dundee, and to Balmullo is a constant cause of confusion to those unfamiliar with the arrangement and irritation to the rest. The bus shelter itself is often inadequate to house the number of passengers and their luggage at busy periods and while mostly enclosed it is quite unsuitable for extended waits for a bus on dark, freezing cold winter nights when the bus service is not the headlined ‘four buses an hour’ of the daytime. There is no display of travel options from Leuchars station on the station itself. It would be helpful if bus timetables were displayed on the station platform so that travellers might choose to wait in the relative comfort of the station waiting room, or opt for a taxi, without having to make their way to the bus shelter to discover whether a bus to their destination is imminent.
A further problem of the Interchange is the lack of suitable provision for private car unloading adjacent to the station access. The road here is usually full of taxis (it may even be designated as a taxi rank) so, rather than park in the car park a whole extra minute’s walk away from the station access bridge, unloading cars often stop in the bus turning circle...
3. Local issues – Leuchars opening hours
Turning to more general rail matters in the area we wish to comment to on opening hours and staffing levels at Leuchars Station. Given its isolated location, but serving a major tourist destination, university and independent school in St Andrews plus the general travelling public we are very concerned whenever we hear of plans to reduce staffing levels; cut opening hours; introduce CCTV based remote operating. The station lacks out-of-hours shelter, and toilet facilities are also inaccessible when the station is unstaffed. This is particularly unsatisfactory for early morning commuters and late evening travellers. The station is high set, open and exposed; anyone waiting for more than a few minutes suffers from the chilling effects of any wind as well as general cold at this time of year. An all year round problem with Leuchars’ facilities is the unavoidable noise of a major airbase only a few hundred yards away. The noise of an aircraft taking off on full afterburners either directly over, or directly away from but aligned with the station can be described from most unpleasant to actually painful by those exposed to it without shelter. The waiting room is not particularly noise-insulated, but every little helps. We would prefer to see longer staffed opening hours, but if this is not possible provision of shelter and toilet facilities would be helpful, though definitely considered second-best.
4. The Rail Industry
i) There is persistently inadequate provision of rolling stock. Much is heard in the media about the problems of West Fife, but those in North Fife are often worse and the service is less frequent. Customers frequently have to stand for all or part of the way into Edinburgh on peak Scotrail commuter services, and the new Virgin rolling stock suffers similar problems, and particularly inadequate provision for luggage for its long distance services.
ii) The lines north of Edinburgh are often treated as the poor relation by the rail companies. Following Hatfield, GNER cut back its operation up here for reasons that did not, to us, appear to hold water. During December 2002, Virgin decided to start its early morning train south at Edinburgh rather than at Dundee. St Andreans were reportedly advised to get to Kirkcaldy for a connection. We have more evidence of this with the latest (January 2003) service cuts.
(iii) Service Cooperation between companies
The reluctance of operating companies to operate an integrated rail service, presumably due to the compensation penalties imposed by the regulatory authorities, militates against the provision of a rail service in any commonly understood meaning of the word ‘service’. Reports of (eg) GNER failing to hold timetabled connections at Edinburgh for slightly late Scotrail services from Fife, are not uncommon.
(iv) Availability of travel information is poor
- there are reported problems of availability of timetables in St Andrews around changeover dates
- There is no road/rail integration information available in St Andrews Bus Station. Timetable displays are handled by Fife Council who perhaps should be prevailed upon to include such information.
- Recent use of the Dundee Station Notice Boards website for a Virgin train later in the morning yielded the message “No report”. It turned out that the service had been cut a month before.
From Frank Jensen, Law & Admin.
Review of Byelaws Consultation: The Fife Council Byelaws Prohibiting the Consumption of Alcoholic Liquor in Designated Public Places
As you will be aware the Council made byelaws in 1997 and in 1999 to prohibit the consumption of alcohol in public places at various towns and settlements throughout Fife (these byelaws are often referred to as the Alcohol Free Zone byelaws).
Since then, there have been a number of requests to include other areas of Fife as an alcohol free zones. The Council has, therefore, agreed to review the position and is seeking comments on the operation and effectiveness of the byelaws in the areas which are covered already and also any representations about adding additional areas.
By way of background, the byelaws were originally promulgated as a means of tackling alcohol misuse and this is still the primary purpose of such byelaws. The byelaws make it a criminal offence to consume alcohol in designated – public places (unless the place has liquor licence or an occasional liquor licence).
It is important to bear in mind the “alcohol misuse” aspect as it should not be necessary to have byelaws simply to prevent drinking in public where there is no nuisance caused or misuse of alcohol.
I should be grateful, therefore, to know your Community Council’s views and to have their comments on the operation – of existing byelaws, if your area is included, or if not, if there are any areas within your community which you feel would benefit from being included. Some representations have already been received from Community Councils and these will be included in the consultation process but these Community Councils are welcome to make further representations.
The practice of the Council has been to designate as alcohol free zones all of the public places within towns and settlements, in other words, on the byelaw plans, the boundary line is drawn around the whole built up area of the town and not just individual streets and open spaces.
If you would like any further information or wish to discuss any aspect of this review please do not hesitate to contact me.
I should be much obliged if I could have your views or comments by Friday 7th March 2003.
From Chris Lesurf
The purposes of a drop-in centre are many:
a) to provide information and advice on all sorts of topics, e.g. those supplied by organisations such as:
i) the Community Council of the Royal Burgh of St Andrews
ii) Citizens’ Advice Scotland (CAS). This covers benefit, citizen, consumer, employment, health and safety, housing, marital, parental, residential rights and more. Citizens’ Advice and Rights Fife (CARF) supplies info from CAS but if it regains full membership, will not be allowed to do so in St A if clients have to go to the desk in the council offices in St Mary’s Place to ask for access
iii) Fife Health Council, the LHCC, Fife Primary Care NHS Trust’s NE Fife Area Redesign Team for Mental Health and other NHS bodies
iv) Voluntary organisations
v) Fife Council
b) direct clients to other services such as the Trading Standards Office, Dept of Work and Pensions (Job Centre and Benefits Agency)
c) contact/help clients to communicate with other individuals/bodies to gain information/solve problems via various methods including computers
d) enable people without paid jobs feel they are doing worthwhile work by becoming advisers or providing a friendly atmosphere for general chat/group discussion
e) re-enforce the St Andrean Community Spirit – it could act as the pivot wheel for info on all local activities: charities, churches, education, entertainment, employment, skills, services – you name it !
In other words, the service would be for anyone and everyone with the prime purpose of making anyone feel better as a giver or a taker!
I am already researching funding possibilities, including the Common Good Fund and that’s where the CC could be at its most helpful (as well as members offering their services for a couple of hours a week once it gets going).
VONEF has already offered to help writing a constitution, so I’ll send them a copy of the one I drafted a few years ago. That was after Fife Council closed the CAB and I intended to open a charitable trust called East Fife Fort (or EFFORT for short). The actual premises could be called the StAmina Centre.
I sent my first letter to quite a few people but intend to send another one and include quite a few others eg local TUs. Needless to say, I’ll send one to the CVS which was mentioned in one of the documents we were given for/on Saturday. It was dated a couple of years ago but that was the first time I’d heard of its direct involvement in Fife Council community development.
I hope I’ve given enough to provide a basis for consideration on Monday (and that your evening will be more interesting than mine!).
STOP PRESS : (28/2/03)
Just been told by DWP’s agents that all things being equal (2 guarantors, £5,000 deposit etc) I can have their premises in South St for 8mths from July 1st 2003. I know there’s a lot of ground work still to be done but I’m delighted that a StAmina Centre is within sight (even if I’m out of mind!)
From David Rae, Head of Planning Service to Cllr Frances Melville:
You make specific reference to my letter to St Andrews Community Council outlining my reasons for including the green belt issue along with others in the preparation of a new local plan for the East Area. You have asked me to be more specific about why I am not prepared to amend the existing local plan just for the Green Belt issue. While I had hoped that our earlier correspondence and my discussion with your colleagues in Cupar might have helped, I will try to clarify matters further.
In my view, it is not advisable to proceed to an amendment which would specifically identify a green belt for St Andrews. This is because we would require to demonstrate that we have fully taken into account a wide range of aspects such as population change, housing need/demand and market issues, landscape and infrastructure capacity, as well as the issues surrounding landscape, capacity, character and setting. To do all of this professionally and comprehensively requires time and mitigates against the impression which has been given by some that the amendment to the local plan route offers a quick fix. The latter is not the case.
As indicated in earlier correspondence I believe that we would face the prospect of a public inquiry whether we progress down the amendment route or the more comprehensive approach to the preparation of a new local plan.
Correspondence received
| 3/2/03 | Transportation Services | Area Transportation Plan – Consultation Forum results |
| 3/2/03 | Fife Procurement | Supply of TVs etc |
| 5/2/03 | Police | Community Team Newsletter |
| 5/2/03 | Scottish Water | Harmonization of Charges |
| 5/2/03 | Mr RCR Ross | Street name suggestion |
| 7/2/03 | Ian Swankie | Twinning & funding |
| 7/2/03 | East Area Services | Agenda 12/2/03 |
| 7/2/03 | Rachel Hay | Locality assistant |
| 8/2/03 | SEPA | Service Charter |
| 10/2/03 | Planning Service | Kinkell Brae Golf Course |
| 10/2/03 | Tentsmuir Eden Liaison Group | Minutes of 24/1/03 |
| 11/2/03 | University | DRH redevelopment |
| 11/2/03 | Penny Smith | Loches |
| 12/2/03 | Fife Council | CC database entry |
| 14/2/03 | Scottish Civic Forum | Tackling Religious Hatred |
| 15/2/03 | Water Customer Consultation Panels | Public Meetings |
| 15/2/03 | Cllr Frances Melville | D Rae on Green Belt |
| 17/2/03 | City of Edinburgh Council | Warmburgh Energy Efficiency Campaign |
| 18/2/03 | Cllr Frances Melville | Planning – MFA correspondence |
| 19/2/03 | Police | Community Engagement |
| 20/2/03 | Tay Estuary Forum | AGM 14 mar |
| 20/2/03 | NHS Fife | Board meeting – Cupar |
| 20/2/03 | Mrs Willshire | Help publishing? |
| 21/2/03 | VONEF | Newsletter Feb 03 |
| 22/2/03 | Chris Lesurf | Drop-in Centre |
| 22/2/03 | Scottish Natural Heritage | Open Event 13/3 St Andrews |
| 22/2/03 | Entrust | Interim replacement fund |
| 24/2/03 | BEAR Scotland | A92 consultation |
| 25/2/03 | EBCO | Landfill Tax Credit Scheme update |
| 25/2/03 | Nan Taylor | St Leonards Field |
| 25/2/03 | SEPA | SEPAview winter 2003 |
| 27/2/03 | Police | Drugs meeting |
| 27/2/03 | Chief Exec | BT Phone boxes |
| 1/3/03 | Police | CCTV Advisory Gp Minutes |