Minutes of Meeting of Cleish & Blairadam Community Council

7:30pm, 3^rd February 2024 –Tabernacle Village Hall, Keltybridge

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Present:

• Fran Principe-Gillespie
• Charles MacLaren
• Fred Whalley
• Sean Gordon
• Jes Bunce
• Cllr Dave Cuthbert
• Cllr Neil Freshwater

Apologies:

• Margaret Traylor
• Cllr Willie Robertson
• Cllr Richard Watters
• PC Samson

Previous CC Meeting

Matters Arising

Cllr Cuthbert took an action at the previous CC meeting to speak to the PKC roads department and the PKC department responsible for the maintenance of graveyards in relation the poor state of repair of the road into the Cleish cemetery. PKC is looking into the problem, as the road is jointly owned meaning that the other owner needs to be involved.

Minutes

The minutes of the previous meeting were accepted.

Crime Prevention & Police Report

No crimes of note since the last CC meeting in December 2024.

Traffic

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 our patrols.

Community officers PC Samson and Duncan have been carrying out speed checks in Gairneybank and Gairneybridge following complaints from residents. During their checks no drivers have been issued with tickets or been reported for any offences. Checks will continue in accordance with the Police speeding matrix.

Community Team Activity

The Police Community Team often post on their Twitter page @PSOSPerthKin with updates on what they are doing out and about in the local community under #KinrossCPT. Please feel free to follow them! 

The Police Community Team are aware of the recent report of fly-tipping in the Maryburgh area which PCs Samson & Duncan went to assess. This was thereafter passed on to the council’s fly-tipping team and local officers were made aware for passing attention. 

Drainage

Keltybridge

• Recently heavy rainfall highlighted (again) the flood risk to a property on the main street, and the PKC gully clearing team responded quickly and cleaned all the nearby drains.

Cleish

• Road gulleys West of the village are not being cleaned out, despite being reported to PKC multiple times. The policy of the council is to maintain a scheduled gully cleaning approach and will only respond to out of schedule drain cleaning events if there a risk of flooding to a property. If there is risk of flooding to a property residents are encouraged to report the problem via the PKC portal and make clear the risk to property flooding in the report.

Financial Update

• The accounts have audited by PKC, and the CC have now received the end-of-year top-up from PKC
• The Bank of Scotland have this year started to charge a monthly fee for Treasurer’s accounts such as the one used by the Community Council. The CC will investigate to see if we can find alternative free banking services.

Planning

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

Applications Refused

• 24/00703/IPL – Residential development (in principle), Land 140 Metres North East Of The Bungalow Benarty Road Kelty
  • This is the second application for this site which has been refused.

Applications Pending

• 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
  • This has also been reported to PKC Planning Enforcement as work appears to have started before permission has been granted.

Planning Enforcements

• 25/00002/ALUNDV – Alleged unauthorised erection of a garden building at Hillview Kinnaird Blairadam Kelty KY4 0JB.
  • A large residential cabin has been erected without planning permission.
• 24/00123/LAND – Land adversely affecting amenity at Blairfordel Farm Kelty KY4 0HP
  • Enforcement notice issued

Blairforge Planning Enforcement

• 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.
  • The CC understand that PKC will be issuing a decision on this enforcement in the near future.

Community Action Plan and Local Place Plan

The Community Council has been granted funding to help with the development of a Community Action Plan to cover Cleish and Blairadam. This work will feed into the Local Place Plan for Cleish and Blairadam, which is a crucial way through which the local residents can make their views and priorities for development known. 

The Local Place Plan is an important means for residents to make known their wishes and to help influence the wider PKC Local Area Plan. 

Community Enterprise Scotland has been engaged by the CC to help arrange community engagement sessions and to develop the Community Action Plan. As this works progresses the Community Council will be providing regular updates to the community.

Sustainability Group

Representatives of the Community Council attended a meeting of the Sustainability Group at Cleish Village Hall, where Dunning joined the group of Community Councils, and the Memorandum of Understanding was signed by all the CC who make up the Sustainability Group.

Village Updates

Blairadam

• Fly-Tipping – Sometime during the early hours of 13^th January a large amount of building and domestic waste was tipped in Maryburgh, at the side of the road to the North of the settlement and scattering across the road itself! 
  This is one of the worst incidents we have ever seen in this area. The incident was reported to PKC’s dedicated Fly Tipping team, who quickly removed the waste and will conduct forensic analysis on the waste to determine if the source of the waste can be found and those responsible prosecuted. 
  In response, the Community Council is also exploring options for the installation of CCTV to deter or capture any future incidents, so we’d welcome the views of the community on this idea. 
• 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 has announced that the pavement parking ban will be enforced from January 2025.

Cleish 

• Cleish Church, Associated Cottage and The Glebe – A SCIO (Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation) has been established in Cleish to investigate the community interest in acquiring the Church, Cottage and Grounds for community benefit. This group will begin canvasing local opinion and starting to investigate the options for funding.
• Missing Road Markings at Junction of B9092 and B996 – The Give Way markings at this junction have now been totally worn away making it very difficult for drivers to determine where the junction is. This is particularly dangerous at night!

Upcoming CC Meetings

Please note the change of venue for the April CC Meeting – this will now be held at Keltybridge Tabernacle Hall due to a booking conflict.

The Community Council proposes meeting on the following dates* for the remainder of 2025:

• Monday April 7^th, at 7:30pm in Keltybridge Tabernacle Hall.
• Monday June 2^nd, at 7:30pm in Keltybridge Tabernacle Hall.
• Monday August 4^th, at 7:30pm in Cleish Village Hall.
• Monday October 6^th, at 7:30pm in Keltybridge Tabernacle Hall.
  • The AGM will be held directly after this meeting
• Monday December 1^st, at 7:30pm in Cleish Village Hall.

* These dates may change during the year, but suitable notice will be given on any changes.

Virtual / On-line CC Meetings

The Community Council will continue to offer the option for people to join the meeting remotely, although we are changing from using Zoom to Microsoft Teams as that is a much more cost-effective option.

As of the April 2025 CC Meeting, the Community Council will be moving to Microsoft Teams for the on-line meeting. Details of how to join the virtual CC meeting will be published in the normal way, and if you are interested in attending virtually, please e-mail the CC Secretary for details (cc-sec@blairadam.net)