DUNPENDER COMMUNITY COUNCIL
Minutes of meeting held on 6th September 2007
at the Council Chambers, East Linton.
Present: Mrs J Priest, Ms P Stephen, Ms A Cosgrove, Mrs J Ferguson, Mrs J Boyd, Ms L Kilpatrick, Mr J Robson, Mr W Alder, Mr B Craighead
In attendance: Cllr. N Hampshire, Cllr. J Bell, PC K Hughes
1.0 APOLOGIES: Ms J Pooley, Mr R Russel, Cllr D Berry, Mrs L Shaw- Stewart, Cllr S Mackinnon, Cllr P MacLennan, Cllr N Rankin
2.0 MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETING HELD ON 7th JUNE 2007
This was agreed to be a correct record of the meeting.
3.0 POLICE REPORT
PC Hughes reported the following:
On the 9th July theft & vandalism occurred to a property on Bank Road when a front gate was stolen and a number of bulbs were pulled out and strewn around the garden. Persons will be reported to the procurator fiscal in due course.
On the 25th of July five youths were found in possession of alcohol underage within the Memorial Park area. Two bottles of Buckfast, one 2ltr bottle of cider and a bottle of Lambrini were seized and sent for destruction. All of the youths had letters sent home to their respective parents.
On the 20th of August, Police were made aware that a number of road signs had been knocked over by use of a JCB or tractor. The value of damage caused is believed to be in excess of three thousand pounds. Enquiry continues.
Rumble strips have now been placed on the approach to Tyninghame. PC Hughes asked if anyone had noticed an improvement to the ongoing speeding complaint. Mrs Boyd, who lives in the main street, felt that traffic was still travelling at high speed through the village.
PC Hughes informed the Council that he is now using a PDA electronic notebook and no longer uses a paper notebook. He carries a portable printer and can now issue ASB tickets to offenders on the street. Any ticket issued is a £40 fine which is payable within 28 days. If it is not paid a report will be submitted to the Procurator Fiscal.
Mr Craighead informed the Council that the windows of the sports pavilion in the park have been smashed. PC Hughes will look into this.
It was felt that it would make financial sense to install CCTV at a cost of £2000, as ELC has already spent more than that on repairs to the toilets and pavilion.
Cllr Hampshire mentioned that the first CAP meeting for the Dunbar/North Berwick area is taking place on Tuesday at Hallhill. It aims to get the community to identify three main areas they would like to see targeted by police.
4.0 MATTERS ARISING
4.1 Paths
Mrs Priest informed the Council that the official opening of the John Muir Way had been on 2nd September. There is a diversion through North Berwick just now due to work being done in the Lodge Gardens.
Mrs Ferguson reported that due to the wet summer this year, the paths have become very overgrown. There has been damage to the Hailes path due to the raised water level, the path at Balgone needs extra maintenance and a complaint was received about the state of the path at Stonelaws. Although there are 100 miles of new paths, no extra money has been allocated to maintain them.
Mrs Ferguson will write to Tom Shearer regarding this.
It is hoped that the Markle path from Rennie Place will be cleared this autumn. Mrs Ferguson will get 3 quotes for cutting back and laying gravel.
Mrs Priest expressed the hope that the Stories Park path will be done this year and she undertook to deal with this.
4.2 ELDA article for September
Ms Kilpatrick will write this.
4.3 Lighting on Footbridge
Cllr Hampshire has not heard any more from Transportation. He will contact them again.
4.4 Park – various ideas to follow up
Cllr Hampshire has located the new goal posts for the football pitch in the ELC store in Dunbar. At present, the old ones are in place.
He suggested forming a Community Group to take charge of the pavilion, the tennis courts, etc but members were not very enthusiastic about this idea.
4.5 Roads/pavements – various
Ms Cosgrove produced plans of the new entrance signs for East Linton. The Council agreed that underneath the name, the most suitable wording was Beautiful Scotland Award Winners. The signs will be delivered in two months.
Mrs Priest and Peter Forsyth have looked at the ivy on the wall in Preston Road, which needs to be cut back or removed. The verge is also very overgrown.
Mr Craighead observed that the speed bumps and Slow signs for Dunpender Road, Rennie Place and Longstone Avenue have not been implemented.
4.6 Plastic bag free zone proposal
It was agreed to return to this topic at a later date.
4.7 Street Lights
A new light for outside the Community Hall has been ordered.
Ms Cosgrove will investigate the cost of a new light on the traffic island opposite the Drovers.
The light on the wall at the bridge needs to be raised, as it has been hit by traffic.
5.0 TREASURER’S REPORT
Mr Robson informed the Council that there are funds of £1728.89 in the current account, which includes a £280 donation from Peter Black, and £7901.51 in the grants account.
6.0 LOCAL PRIORITIES BUDGET
A possible way to supplement the budget is with matched funding, which is available from the Capital Development Fund.
Mrs Priest pointed out that the Community Council should not be paying to maintain Jessie and the fountain from Local Priorities, as both are the responsibility of ELC. At present this costs around £1000 per year. Norman Hampshire will speak to Alan Forsyth.
7.0 LICENSING FORUM
Ms Cosgrove explained that the Licensing Forum has recently been set up to discuss opening hours, licensing laws, policies, etc. She pointed out that the consultation period for the licensing policy, which was recently discussed, was very short – about 3 weeks. She will deal with this.
8.0 TYNINGHAME, WHITEKIRK AND MARKLE ISSUES
The next meeting of the John Muir Country Park Advisory Group will take the form of a guided tour on 22nd September (see 14.5)
(See 14.8) Ms Cosgrove will look at the proposed byelaws for the John Muir Country Park.
Planning Permission was refused for the hotel and housing development at Whitekirk. There will likely be an appeal.
9.0 TRAPRAIN AND WHITTINGEHAME ISSUES
Mr Alder informed the Council that he was not aware of any paintballing parties having been held at Traprain Law this summer.
The Traprain Law Advisory Group will meet again in October.
10.0 YOUTH MATTERS
There was no report tonight.
11.0 PUBLIC TRANSPORT/RAGES
Ms Cosgrove will attend the RAGES AGM on 12th September. (See 14.2)
(See14.3) The RAGES Rag contains information about rail franchises. GNER lost the franchise to National Express and Virgin lost to Arriva. Arriva propose to use high-speed 125 trains, with only two toilets on board for a large number of passengers.
12.0 TOWN MAINTENANCE/TOURISM INITIATIVES
Fingerposts
Mrs Shaw-Stewart is dealing with this.
Fountain/ Jessie
The fountain has been painted, has been working all summer and the Council agreed that it looks very good indeed. Long life light bulbs have been put in both Jessie and the fountain. Leaflet Distribution
Ms Kilpatrick informed the Council that 10,000 East Linton leaflets have been distributed. She has found that in the local area, people are not picking up the East Linton leaflet as much as the Walks leaflet.
Website
Ms Kilpatrick will make a start on the website within the next month.
Beautiful Scotland
The Foresters’ bench has been placed at the parking area on Haddington Rd and looks well there. The results of the Beautiful Scotland competition will come out on 19th September. It was agreed that East Linton is looking really attractive with many individual displays adding to the overall picture.
13.0 PLANNING MATTERS/HOUSING SUB-COMMITTEE
Cllr. Hampshire informed the Council that the Local Plan is being finalised.
A retrospective planning application is to be submitted for the wall at Monksmuir.
14.0 CORRESPONDENCE
14.1 SEPA View
14.2 RAGES ABM notice 12/9/07. Ms Cosgrove to attend
14.3 RAGES Rag July 07
14.4 ELC : Invitation to opening of John Muir Way 2/9/07
14.5 ELC : Annual tour JMCP Advisory Group
14.6 Scotways Summer Newsletter
14.7 JMCP Advisory Group minutes of March meeting
14.8 ELC : Proposed byelaws of JMCP
14.9 Strandline Summer 07
14.10 Waterwatch Scotland : panel meeting 6/9/07
14.11 ELC : Capital development Fund info
14.12 ELC : Signpost for funding
14.13 ELC : L Pryde re Code of Conduct
14.14 ELC : Consultation Draft of EL Joint Health Improvement Plan
15.0 ANY OTHER COMPETENT BUSINESS
It was agreed that the Christmas tree lights should be sorted out now and checked to see if they are working.
16.0 DATE OF NEXT MEETING
The next meeting will be on Thursday, 4th October 2007 at 7.30pm in the Council Chambers, East Linton. |
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