Dunpender Community Council
Minutes 04-2008
DUNPENDER COMMUNITY COUNCIL
 
Minutes of meeting held on 3rd April 2008
at the Council Chambers, East Linton.
 
Present:                      Ms P Stephen                                     Mrs L Shaw- Stewart
Mr B Craighead                                Mr W Alder                          
Mr J Robson                                     
                                   
                       
In attendance:            Cllr. J Bell                                          Cllr P MacLennan
                                    PC K Hughes
                                                                       
Apologies:                  Mrs J Priest                                       Mr R Russel  
                                    Ms A Cosgrove                                  Mrs J Boyd
                                    Dr J Pooley                                        Mrs J Ferguson
           
2.0       MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETING HELD ON 6TH MARCH, 2008
This was agreed to be a correct record of the meeting.
 
3.0              POLICE REPORT
PC Hughes brought his new Police mountain bike to show the Council and thanked them for helping to fund it. He will attend a training course on 17th & 18th April after which he will be using it to go out on patrol.
 
On 14th March, youths were reported running through gardens in the Mill Wynd area. A plant pot was thrown along with other items at windows. No damage was caused. Officers attended at the time but could find no trace of the youths. PC Hughes intends to give this area more attention during the summer months and will be liaising with the person who lodged the complaint.
On the 18th March, a black full-face mountain bike helmet and goggles were stolen from the foyer of the Crown Hotel. There are no lines of inquiry or suspects.
On the 20th March, a Misuse of Drugs warrant was executed as a result of gathered intelligence at an address in Hardie Terrace. Controlled substances were found and a person reported to the Procurator Fiscal.
On 26th March, a male was issued an ASBO warning after complaints were received regarding the manner in which his moped was being driven. If there are further complaints, the moped will be seized.
There has been a number of youth related very minor antisocial behaviour incidents reported since the last meeting, which coincide with the Easter break. PC Hughes will give these matters passing attention. Youth related problems tend to increase in the summer months. Cllr Bird suggested that a member of the Community Council attend the CAPP meeting on 13th May as the top issue is youth-related matters.
There were no further items of interest to report.
 
4.0              MATTERS ARISING
 
4.1              Paths
·         Mr Craighead has been unable to contact Nick Morgan regarding the sign at the end of Dunpender Road and has no progress to report.
·         Mr Alder produced a copy of the Draft Core Paths Plan which he will give to Mrs Ferguson.
·         There is one box of the Walks Leaflet left. The reprinting and funding thereof will be discussed at the next meeting.
4.2       ELDA article
Ms Stephen will ask Ms Kilpatrick to write the next article.
4.3        Lighting on footbridge
(See 12.4)  Iain Gray MSP has been in contact with Network Rail, who say that the footbridge has been booked in for cosmetic repainting sometime this year and that the safety of the steps will be checked. Mr Russel has suggested that the Council invite Iain Gray to a Dunpender Community Council meeting. This will be postponed until after the summer break as the May and June meetings are involved with elections and the AGM.
4.4       Park- floodlights/shrubbery/CCTV for toilets
Mr Robson has spoken to Howard Robertson, Electrical Maintenance Officer, who has said that the practice lights will be in operation by the end of April.
Cllr MacLennan informed the Council that there is no money in the budget for a CCTV camera for the East Linton toilets. He feels fairly confident, however, that the money (around £4000) can be found from somewhere. He intends to bring the matter up at the Community Safety Forum.
4.5       Roads/Pavements
·         Brian Cooper now has the money available to do the work on lights, signing and road markings at the West entrance of East Linton.
·         The meeting with Cllr MacLennan to look at loose paving slabs, potholes and other things that need repairing will take place on 14th May. Mr Robson will do some advance work identifying problems. Mrs Shaw-Stewart will join the meeting to point out the problems with the Preston Mill entrance sign.
·         Mrs Ferguson contacted Stuart Pryde, who has authorised the clearing up of the small area between the Surgery and the footbridge. She has now got a quote of £70 from Jon Champion to do the work. It was agreed that this should go ahead.
·         Mr Alder observed that the side of the road up towards Traprain has been washed away in the heavy rain and the road is now dangerous.
·         Cllr MacLennan will remind local businesses that their advertising signs are unsightly at the entrances to the village.
4.6              Community Council elections
These will take place on 24th April.
4.7              Dunpender News
Margaret Montgomery has now retired and will not be available to assist with producing Dunpender News.
 
5.0        TREASURER’S REPORT
Mr Robson reported that he had just handed the accounts in to the auditors.
There is a balance of £7626.10 in the Grants account and £1457.05 in the Current account. Money still to be paid:
£200 for PC Hughes’ bike
£318 for East Linton Primary School Eco Garden
£500 for the football lights
 
Cllr MacLennan was able to inform the Council that this year’s Grant allocation would be £565 and the Local Priorities budget would be £4370.
Money will again be available from the Capital Development Fund.
 
 
6.0        LOCAL PRIORITIES BUDGET
Ms Stephen asked council members to bring to the next meeting their thoughts on uses for this year’s Local Priorities money.
 
 
7.0       TYNINGHAME, WHITEKIRK AND MARKLE ISSUES
A statement from Whitekirk Golf & Country Club was emailed to all Council members by Mr Francis. Ms Cosgrove has said that she does not wish to receive further emails to her personal email address from him. Mrs Priest will write back to Mr Francis.
 
8.0       TRAPRAIN AND WHITTINGEHAME ISSUES
Ms Shaw-Stewart was contacted by a concerned resident who had not been able to use the phone box at Whittingehame because it does not accept coins. It was agreed that the non-coin boxes are less susceptible to vandalism as they do not contain money, so are more likely to be working.
The war memorial at Whittingehame is covered in ivy. Mrs Shaw-Stewart will contact Jon Champion for a quote for removing it.
Mr Alder reported from the Annual Report of the Traprain Law Advisory Group. There are now sheep on the Law and a new fence right round.
 
9.0       PLANNING MATTERS/ HOUSING SUB COMMITTEE
·         Planning permission has been sought to repair the derelict cottages at Papple.
·         Mrs Priest had suggested building offices with affordable flats above at Station Yard. Alan Forsyth replied to say that the change of use would present planning difficulties.
 
10.0     TOWN MAINTENANCE/TOURISM INITIATIVES
Benches
Mrs Priest asked the Cochrans for permission to put a bench at Knowes Ford. They have granted this and suggested that the bench sit on flagstones to aid mowing.
     Website
Ms Kilpatrick has written more text for the website.
 
The Beautiful Scotland in Bloom awards will this year be held at the Brunton Hall - the first time in East Lothian for many years.
Ms Stephen wishes to thank whoever cleared the lay-by near Phantassie, which has been being used as a tip.
 
11.0     PUBLIC TRANSPORT/RAGES
Issues regarding the bus service have been arising. Dan McLean suggested forming a Bus Users’ Group to discuss these. Such a group already exists in Dunbar and possibly a representative from East Linton could attend their meetings.
 
12.0      CORRESPONDENCE
12.1     ELC re Station Yard
12.2     Traprain Law |Advisory Group Meeting
12.3     Lothian & Borders Police: Dunbar & District Off Sales Watch meeting 8th April
12.4     Iain Gray MSP: correspondence with Network Rail
12.5     Email D Francis: Statement from Whitekirk Golf & Country Club
 
13.0          ANY OTHER COMPETENT BUSINESS
Cllr MacLennan attended a meeting with Transport Scotland, Iain Gray, SESTRANS and RAGES. It was decided that there is a capacity to run local services. Stuart Stevenson, Transport Minister, will be looking at Dunbar, East Linton and Reston in April regarding this.
 
The walking festival runs from 18th -20th April. This featured in a large article in this week’s Courier.
 
14.0     DATE OF NEXT MEETING
The next meeting will be on Thursday, 1st May 2008 at 7.30pm in the Council Chambers, East Linton.