2024-09-16 CC Meeting – Minutes – Cleish and Blairadam Community Council

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CC Meeting 24-09-16 Minutes Download

Minutes of Meeting of Cleish & Blairadam Community Council

7:30pm, 16^th September 2024 – Keltybridge Tabernacle Hall

Present:

Fran Principe-Gillespie
Charles MacLaren
Fred Whalley
Sean Gordon
Cllr Neil Freshwater
PC Samson
PC Duncan
Sgt. Craig

Apologies:

Margaret Traylor
Cllr Willie Robertson
Cllr Dave Cuthbert
Cllr Richard Watters

Previous CC Meeting

Matters Arising

Covered in the relevant sections of the meeting

Minutes

The minutes of the previous meeting were accepted.

Crime Prevention & Police Report

Since the last CC meeting there have been 30 calls to the Police, with 8 crimes recorded – majority of which were traffic incidents.
18^th Sept – Person charged and reported to the Procurator Fiscal for failing to provide a specimen after a traffic stop on the M90 at Junction 5.
18^th Sept – Assault at Benarty Road where one person was reported to the Procurator Fiscal.
Speed checks were carried out in the area, particularly at Gairney Bank.
Community officers are aware of regular areas where there are complaints about speeding in and around Cleish and Blairadam. These have all been added to our speeding matrix and we will continue to make efforts to carry out speed checks across the area during patrols.
Roads Policing officers have been carrying out speed checks on the M90 at junction 5 which has resulted in drivers being stopped and reported for a variety of offences.
B9097 Junction – 5 vehicle collision resulting in one minor injury and 2 people being issued with fixed penalty notices.
Speed Watch is being coordinated locally by the Milnathort Community Council, with multiple people trained to use the equipment.
Local resident supplied speeding statistics which had been gathered at the speed warning sign at the 40MPH limit at start of Gairney Bridge. These showed a common disregard for the speed limit, and the details were passed to the police.

Co-opting a New Councillor

As agreed at the previous Community Council meeting a new community councillor (Jes Bunce from Keltybridge) was formally co-opted on to the Community Council.

Broadband Update

Blairadam Area

Keltybridge now has 100% coverage for Full Fibre Broadband with every house able to order a Fibre to the Premise (FTTP) service. This includes The Tabernacle Hall which had a Fibre service installed during September.

There are 3 properties in the wider Blairadam area which are still not Fibre enabled. These properties are on the Western side of the M90 motorway and are covered by the Scottish Government R100 Program which is due to be completed by June 2026.

These properties are notionally covered by Voneus which took over from Broadway in the area, this means that these properties are considered to have a “superfast” broadband connection available even though the Voneus website states that the company is not able to actually deliver that service.

Drainage

Keltybridge

On-going problem with sewage leaking onto the main road near to the entrance to Middleton Park, and directly adjacent to the place where the school busses pick-up and drop-off. We had an update from PKC Environmental Health that they had attended the site and now needed to engage a drainage contractor to identify the source of the leak, but they did not expect that work to happen in the near future.
- Cllr Freshwater took an action to escalate this issue with the PKC Environmental Health department, as little visible progress has been made in resolving this issue since it was originally reported to PKC Environmental Health.

Financial Update

The accounts are being prepared for the end of year audit.

Planning

The following planning applications have been added or updated since the previous Community Council meeting.

Applications Pending

24/00703/IPL – Residential development (in principle) – Land 140 Metres Northeast of The Bungalow Benarty Road Kelty
- This is the second application for this site, after the first application was refused.
24/00938/FLL – Formation of seven residential caravan pitches each with ancillary facilities building, septic tank, ancillary touring pitches, vehicle parking and access, erection of one stable building and associated works – Land 180 Metres North of Hawthorn Wood Benarty Road Kelty KY4 0JH
- The Community Council has Objected to this application.
24/01233/FLL – Erection of a dwellinghouse – Land 20 Metres South of Hillview Kinnaird Blairadam Kelty KY4 0JB
- This is the second application for this site, after the first application was refused.
- The Community Council has Objected to this application.

Applications Approved

24/00734/FLL – Change of use of land to form extension to garden ground – 8 Abbot’s Wynd Keltybridge Kelty KY4 0JS
- Approved, but permitted development rights have been removed from the section of land that lies out with the village boundary.

Applications Withdrawn

24/00941/FLL – Erection of 5 dwellinghouses formation of vehicular access and associated works | Land 90 Metres North of Nivingston House Cleish Kinross KY13 0LS

Prior Notification

24/00917/PNA – Erection of agricultural storage building – Land 300 Metres East of Grianan Blairforge KELTY KY4 0JD
24/00946/PNA – Erection of agricultural storage building – Mawmill Farm Cleish Kinross KY13 0LN
24/01089/PNF – Formation of forestry track and upgrading of existing track – Land 780 Metres South Of 1 West Mains Cleish Kinross KY13 0LW

Planning Enforcements

Site North of 31 Keltybridge – Referred to Planning Enforcement due the lack of compliance with conditions specified in the planning approval for 29 & 31 Keltybridge
24/00123/LAND – Land adversely affecting amenity | Blairfordel Farm Kelty KY4 0HP
- Enforcement Notice Issued.

Tree Preservation Orders

No progress so far from PKC in relation to tree preservation orders in relation to the woodland at Nivingston House.
- Cllr Freshwater took an action to follow this up with PKC Planning.

Blairforge Planning Enforcement

Attendees again expressed concern that the multiple planning violations at Blairfordel Farm are not being enforced despite subject to a Planning Enforcement Notice (24/00123/LAND).
Concerns were again raised in relation to the enforcement of planning decisions by PKC, and in particular the lack of progress on enforcement of the planning violations at Blairfordel Farm which appears to be leading to the unconstrained growth of a settlement where there are increasing numbers of structures without planning consent.
Concerns were again raised about the perceived lack of equal treatment of residents by Perth & Kinross Planning Enforcement. The commonly held view still being that Planning Enforcement discriminate against lawful settlements by aggressively pursuing “soft” targets for planning violations while allowing more “difficult” cases like Blairfordel Farm to go unchallenged. Such an approach makes a mockery of the planning process in Perth and Kinross where individuals are apparently able to ignore planning regulations with impunity.
Residents of Blairforge who attended the meeting raised serious concerns about the lack of support from PKC during the planning mediation process with some Blairforge residents reporting being intimidated and no longer feeling safe in their own homes.
It was again highlighted that PKC Planning had been aware of these planning violations from very early on in the illegal development of this site, and the lack of early effective enforcement by PKC Planning Enforcement has directly resulted in the sprawling illegal development that we now see.
There seems to be little that the residents Blairforge can do in this situation to ensure that PKC Planning Enforcement is applied in an unbiased manner.

Wind Turbines

2 applications have been submitted in the local area, with one going to the Scottish Government because it is over 50MW in size, and the other going to PKC because it is below the 50MW threshold.

Sustainability Group – Representatives from the Community Council will attend the next Sustainability Group meeting at Glenfarg.

Local Place Plan

The Community Council is seeking funding to help with the development of a Local Place Plan to cover Cleish and Blairadam.

The Local Place Plan needs to be completed by the end of 2024, and given the importance of this plan in making know the wishes of the residents of Cleish and Blairadam as part of the wider PKC Local Area Plan.

Village Updates

Blairadam

Roads – Concerns about visibility at the Junction at Blairforge due to growth on the verges – previous work did not clear the vegetation far enough back to ensure a safe level of visibility at this junction.
Notice Boards – The Community Council has requested the assistance of the Kinross Men’s Shed to help refurbish the noticeboards in Keltybridge and Blairforge, both of which are in need of repair.
Pavement Parking – There is an on-going problem with vehicles parking on the pavements in Keltybridge and forcing pedestrians to walk on the roads.
- Perth & Kinross Council is currently reviewing how the Scotland-wide ban on pavement parking will be enforced in our area.
- Cllr Freshwater took an action to share the current PKC plans.
Speeding – There have been multiple reports by residents of vehicles speeding through the 20mph zone in Maryburgh.

Cleish

Cleish School – Still outstanding work regarding the agreed replacement of the sign at the school with one more in keeping with the local area.
- It is not clear what the timescale is for this work as a Listed Building Consent application to cover this work has still not been received.
- Cllr Freshwater took an action to follow up.
Junction of the B9097 & B996
- The road markings at this junction are in a very poor state of repair meaning that traffic at the junction cannot easily see where the edge of the junction is – particularly in the dark.
- The overgrown verges are impeding visibility in both directions at this junction, particularly overgrown Broom bushes which are blocking sightlines.

Next CC Meeting

The next Community Council Meeting is on 2^nd December, at 7:30pm in Cleish Village Hall.