AUGUST 2005

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Monimail Community Council

Minutes of meeting, 8th August 2005

1. Present : Cllr A. Arbuckle; D. Dallas; W. Fenton; B. Forrest; C. Gilbert (Fife Council); J. Gordon; H. Grant; D. Hamilton; L. Harvie; C. Jones; M. Kidd; P. Laidlaw; M. Nesbitt; D. Smiles; G. Smith; J. Stewart; J. Vaughan

2. Apologies : M. Grossert

3. Minutes of Previous Meeting : accepted
It was pointed out that minutes for the June meeting were not distributed in the Monimail area. This will be rectified for this set of minutes and those thereafter.

4. Matters Arising :
- Twinning : Information and display items from the French area have been received for display in “Bairds’” window in Cupar. Still waiting to hear more about a possible football tournament and a French teacher is due to come over to speak to Bell Baxter pupils at the start of the next term.

- Letham Toll Junction : There was yet another “smash” three weeks ago apparently involving a young driver coming straight across the junction without looking? As ever, vans are very often parked in the “lay-by” area and this along with the whole junction scenario is becoming a major concern for people in the village. The junction definitely needs looking at. David Hamilton has added some more information to the website (www.letham.org.uk)

- Monimail Triangle : Colin Gilbert from Fife Council was present at the meeting. A site visit was arranged for the end of June and the order for a seat was placed. This has not arrived yet but it is due to priority being given to schools for work being carried out during the holidays. Colin Gilbert agreed to chase this matter on for us. A comment was made from the floor that £600 for a seat is a bit excessive. It was pointed out that the cost does involve siting and securing of the seat.

- Play Park – Letham : The working group is moving the project forward. The feeling is that it would be worthwhile getting the children in the area (through the school) involved to see what interest there is and what sort of things they would want. The schools are back in a couple of weeks. Hazel to report progress to the next meeting

5. Planning Report :
Housing Development on The Row :

A letter was written on behalf of the Community and a response has been received. The contents of the letter as follows were read out :
Thank you for your comprehensive letter of 14th June 2005-10-02
Whilst the formal consultation period for the draft Local Plan finished on 3rd May 2005 your comments have been noted. They will be taken into careful consideration during the preparation of the Finalised Plan.
Your questions about “affordable housing” are not unusual. It is an imprecise definition. Dave Wardrope prepared the Draft Affordable Housing Guideance for Fife Council. His response to similar queries to yours is as follows :
- What is affordable housing?
Fife Council uses the same definition as the Scottish Executive. This is fairly wide and includes social rental housing, rented housing(ie Council housing or that owned by Housing Associations), shared ownership, shared equity, and low-cost housing for sale. In other words it will comprise a range. It would also include sheltered housing.

If you have further queries about affordable housing please contact Dave Wardrope, Development Services, Fife House, Glenrothes, KY7 5LT on 01592 413483, email dave.wardrope@fife.gov.uk
And please contact me if I can provide any further information

Cathy Kinnear.

The current position is that due to the size of the response for the whole NE Fife area, the revised draft will not now be ready until early 2006. A number of local Communities have requested they get together with Planning to discuss the whole area.
The feeling is that the nature of any villages, hamlets, towns etc should not be altered by developments.

6. Letham Hall Update : Unfortunately it is reported that the two major funding applications applied for have both been unsuccessful.
The Fresh Futures Transforming Your Space (Big Lottery Fund) body had 80 applications and only 8 were awarded.
The Aggregates fund had 62 applications and in this case 23 were awarded.
However, further opportunities have been identified and are currently being progressed for provision of disabled toilet facilities and replacement windows.
On a positive note, full funding is now in place for the disabled access ramp and work should begin shortly on this.
A newsletter is planned for distribution with the minutes from this meeting

7. Best Kept Village/Floral Enhancement : We have not received any official response from Fife Council however it was reported in the newspaper that Collessie has won this year

8. Questions for Councillor Arbuckle :
Re-surfacing of The Row and Monimail road is now complete although there are still some holes in the Monimail area. There is usually a check-up at some stage afterwards and hopefully this issue will be picked up during that process.
Is there any progress on a 20mph limit for the area? - no news yet but this process is moving through communities gradually and no doubt Letham / Collessie will be reached soon.
CC area map – Cllr Arbuckle is to contact the planning department and request a map be sent to the Secretary.

9. Any Other Business :
The website created by David Hamilton is available for anyone to visit. The plan is to include Hall information, community minutes, what’s on etc etc.
Any comments should be made to David and he is hoping to have many photos past and present in a gallery on the site.
www.letham.org.uk

10. Date of Next Meeting

Monday 10th October, 2005. Letham Village Hall, 7.30pm