BLAIRGOWRIE & RATTRAY COMMUNITY COUNCIL APPROVED MINUTES OF THE COMMUNITY COUNCIL MEETING HELD ON 10 December 2015 Held in the Adult Resource Centre, Jessie Street, Blairgowrie at 7pm ATTENDANCE Mrs M Young (MY) Ms N Ferry (NF) Mrs P McGregor (PM) Mr D Bailey (DB) Mr I Cruickshank (IC) Mr G Darge (GD) Mr S Nicoll (SN) Mr B Smith (BS) Ms S Fowlie (SF) Chair Secretary Treasurer Cllr B Ellis (BE) Cllr C Shiers (CS) Mr C Smith (CSF) PC P Donnelly Mrs C Damodaran(CD) 5 members of the public Fire Service Police Press APOLOGIES Mr A Donald (AD) Mrs M Duncan (MD) Mrs K Nicol (KN) Mr I Richards (IR) Mr L Seal (LS) Mr S Thomson (ST) Ms T Dick (TD) Mr J Buchan (JB) Vice Chair Press ABSENCES Mr A Lang (AL) Dr S Mitchell (SM) Mr A Cannon (AC) Cllr L Grant (LG) Item 1 Welcome & Apologies 1.1 MY opened the meeting and welcomed all present. Apologies were given by the above. Item 2 - Adoption of November minutes. 2.1 BE noted that in 9.4 Jim Valentine s name was incorrect. Adoption of the amended minutes was proposed by SN and seconded by BS and was passed unanimously. Item 3 Subjects raised by members of the public. 3.1 Derek Bissett again raised the issue of Taxi licences being issued. 2 extra plates were issued in 2012, when a report by Napier University said that no increase was justified.be & CS said that they were aware of the problem and they would report back in January after their meeting with Gordon & Lisa. In reply to DB, BE said that Napier University has a department which is expert in public transport and which provides traffic surveys to local councils. Gordon Dawson, the new head of Legal Services with PKC, is to have a meeting with the Taxi drivers to hear their grievances and BRCC hope to hear the results of this at the next meeting. PM CS BE Item 4 - Police and Fire reports 4.1 Chris Smith of the Fire Service informed BRCC that Fire Service personnel will attend to heart attack patients if an ambulance is not immediately available. The first 4 minutes are critical to survival. They are trained in Trauma and use of de-fibrillators. They are willing to provide their equipment and training DVDs to interested small groups to teach themselves but, as they are not qualified as trainers, they cannot teach. CSF asked about the previous request from BRCC that the Police and Fire services have more community involvement. MY said they we hoped that they could come to the Community Market days in the Wellmeadow. CSF said that they would be happy to do so and also told us about the Home Safety visits that they are doing. CSF asked if the Resilience group had completed their assessments. BS said they needed input and suggested a meeting in the New Year. CSF said that the Fire Service was available every Monday evening from 7-9 and the resilience group are hoping to have a meeting with them in January. DB said that in Phoenix Arizona all firefighters are qualified paramedics, 1
which seemed to work very well. CSF replied that in Scotland we have 2 separate services but that the firefighters are trauma trained. 4.2 PC P Donnelly introduced himself and told the meeting about various steps to take to keep safe. He also spoke of various minor incidents which had occurred recently. He asked if there had been any tensions between groups in our area and if anyone was having trouble with unwanted phone calls to phone the police and to apply to the telephone preference service (TPS) to help cut these calls down. DB asked about the signs indicating roads closed due to flooding and cars still going through. BE said that it had become necessary to padlock the gate across the Isla at Balbrogie to prevent this. When the road is open again, there is a delay in removing the signs. MY asked if a webcam could be sited there to give motorists a live feed of the situation. BE said cost would preclude that. Item 5 Arising & Ongoing Issues BS MY 5.1 It was proposed that Nicola Ferry take over as Secretary as SF is unable to take up the post. SN proposed, BS seconded and everyone agreed. It was proposed that PM take over the post of Data Controller as SF is unable to take up the post. DB proposed, IC seconded and everyone agreed. 5.2 Keep Blairgowrie & Rattray Beautiful. As IR was unable to attend due to a family bereavement, SN said that the report he had circulated to all members was primarily to bring the new members up to date. There would be a meeting with Blair in Bloom in the New Year. 5.3 Cateran Common Wealth involvement. Again as IR wasn t able to attend, he had sent out a report to all members. MY reiterated that BRCC would give their support as previously agreed and asked SF if she would also like to agree to give her support, which she did. IR IR 5.4 Charrette Consultant appointment and next steps. SN told the meeting that tenders had been issued to 6 consultants but only one had been returned. This was not ideal since we had nothing to compare but the single applicant has great experience, has completed a lot and has a great team. There was the option to re-tender but the process must be completed by the end of March. Monies could not be carried over and there was no guarantee that further funding would be available. The tender is for approx. 32K which, while it may look expensive, is not considering the high quality of the content. PKC have looked at the proposal and Planning colleagues have joined in to help fund this if the Charrette can consider the impact of the proposals in the Main Issues report for the LDP2. So match funding from PKC is in place. The consultant is happy with the change to the brief and PKC are ready to appoint now after confirmation in writing. Jamie Combe who deals with this and Dave Howie of PKC are both on long term sick leave but their replacements have helped a great deal. The steering group is happy to proceed. There is 1 lead consultant and 9 specialists. SN asked if BRCC was happy to proceed on the basis of the above. The meeting gave unanimous approval to appointing the consultant. Consultations on the Main Issues report was delayed and should now start on 23 December until 16 March. There have been amendments to the town s infrastructure and capacity, something that PKC officers may not have the time to investigate or be objective about. We are talking about the future of the town for the next 25 years. The first meeting with consultants would be before Christmas. There would be 4 consecutive days of consultation. We should look into hire of hall, posters etc now and put a bid in for the Town hall ASAP. There needs to be a meeting with PKC to explain to the consultant the wealth of information already collected. 5.5 Office Bearer details for PKC SN MY said that PKC would like to have the address, phone and email details. The 3 office bearers agreed that they were fine with phone and email details but not with postal addresses. 5.6 Local Bus Service MY PM, DB & CS had a meeting with Andrew Warrington, Public Transport Manager, PKC, Murray Fraser also Transport dept and John Miller, Stagecoach to discuss the N o 63 local bus service which Mrs R Whyte had raised at the October BRCC meeting. PM submitted a proposal to the meeting that the bus take a route along CA Rd, along Golf Course Rd (GCR), out to Carsie and return by the scheduled route to the Wellmeadow. This would take roughly the same time as the route at the moment. They agreed to take this away and study it and report back to the February. John Miller would take a bus out to test the timings and invited PM & DB to accompany him. They felt that Carsie was over-bussed as they had the town bus, the 58 and the 34, so perhaps every alternate hour could be GCR instead of Carsie? As Mrs Whyte hadn t put any proposal forward herself, it was agreed that this would be possible. If it were decided to proceed with an amended timetable then it would be for a 6 month trial. Notices would be put on buses and the public would be invited to contact BRCC & PKC with their comments. AW reiterated his 2
previous comments, made by email at the October meeting, that PKC & Stagecoach are happy to look at these proposals but that the housing density of much of GCR is quite low and the impact would have to be assessed of removing the N o 63 from a more populated part of the existing route to serve an area of less potential demand. JM said that the 58B which serves GCR once a day at 11.15 inwards and 13.30 outwards has rarely any custom. Also AW said that a review of public transport is coming up and that more cuts were possible to services. Derek Bissett remarked that his taxi business had several customers from GCR and there were also the staff of the Nursing Homes in the area to consider as well as the residents of GCR. DB said that the petition organised by Mrs Whyte in 2012 had been ignored by the BRCC of that time and that shouldn t happen again. 5.7 Community Bonfire AD who was unable to attend due to work commitments, asked MY to speak on his behalf about the proposed community bonfire. It could be held in the Davie Park. There it was suggested that there would be fireworks, stalls etc. A member of the public thought that it would be too close to the houses but MY said that the farmer would possibly allow it to be in his field. CS said that the bonfire in the Larghan Park in Coupar Angus was a huge and well supported event. MY said that, if everyone was agreeable, AD would investigate the possibilities of the event at that location. There is a lot of space that is under-used. All agreed. 5.8 Ceremonial Guns BS gave a report about the 2 guns which used to be on display in Rattray. These armaments were captured from the Germans and given to lots of towns after WW1. One is a 15cm Howitzer and the other a 10cm Fortress gun dating from 1897. They were given to Col Davidson of Cally House, Bridge of Cally at some date, thought to be 1933 but were beginning to rot into the ground. Historic Scotland removed them to Fort George in 1998. The Howitzer is a rare survivor of a carriage gun but its wheels need replaced and the Fortress gun is one of a kind. Its wheels are OK but the carriages need to be replaced. It would cost a lot of money to restore these guns and they would have to be displayed under cover. The Ericht Trust project in the Hill Primary building would have been ideal. CS said that there was someone in Alyth who was into restoration and also Charlie Palmer of Classic Restoration in Alyth and also Historic Scotland should be consulted. BS is to investigate further. PM DB AD 5.9 Rattray Silver Arrow A member of the public asked about the Rattray Silver Arrow. BE said that Robert Mercer-Nairne still had it. There had been a committee set up several years ago and that John Swinney MSP had been involved. There had been tremendous public support to get the Arrow back. Item 6 Local Councillor Reports 6.1 BE had requested a meeting with Jim Valentine and Barbara Renton to discuss matters in ward 3, not just Blairgowrie. Matters were: - Stop sign in Allan St; pedestrian crossings in - Wellmeadow area, Reform St and at Tesco; Parking in Beeches Rd by teachers, smoking in cars and dropping litter; in Provost Rd, which had previously been a problem since before the days of Walter Courts, who was BE s predecessor; one the left side of Park Drive as the right side is subsiding; in Cottarshade: and in Keithbank Card Park; The proposed 20mph limit in the centre of town; The Bridge of Cally bridge has been repaired; Drains; Ballintuim ; Public Transport survey. All are being looked at today in a meeting with Chic Haggart, Barbara Renton and Grant Laing. The Beech Hedge layby is closed because a car went through the dilapidated fence; there is to be a meeting with the Estate owner in the New Year. Building Standards are to investigate at the Hill Church where part of the building is moving from the main building. East Perthshire Community Sports Hub (EPCSH) is having a big event on 17 February at the Recreation Centre for primary school kids from 09.15 to 16.00. There will be flyers sent out when the schools go back after the Christmas holidays. BRAN will be clearing up the path behind Rattray Church on 18 December 2015. BE recommended that everyone take a look at page 15 of the latest Perth & Kinross News and go online and protest about the cuts. Libraries, toilets and sports were all easy targets as they were not statutory requirements. 6.2 CS showed the meeting the flyer which had been put in the Hub magazine by Discover Blairgowrie. This had been funded by PKC. There will be a meeting in February to plan next year s events and flyer. There had already been complaints about winter maintenance. The priority routes must be gritted first. She had lobbied for a soft play area in Rattray Community Campus and this will be delivered in the New Year and managed by Live Active. The parking at Rattray Primary School is still a problem. The head teacher is very proactive but the police are being unhelpful and people are very unhappy. MY asked why the traffic wardens who were frequenting Blairgowrie couldn t cross the bridge. Blairgowrie High St Would be closed for 4 hours on Sunday 13 December to install fibre optic cables to the TSB. The communication chain that should apply to road closures. The Roads dept need to listen to us and we need to make a list of dates that are not suitable for road closures in the town throughout the year. Item 7 Pending Planning Applications There were no relevant planning applications. 3
KN forwarded an email to MY and asked her to raise two concerns from a couple of member of the public who live along the Coupar Angus Road. The first question asked if the traffic island on Coupar Angus Rd where McCarthy & Stone are building the retirement flats would be removed on completion of the building. The beacon on top of the island is not working. The second issue was a complaint about the smell from the recycling yard on Welton Road. BE said that the guys try their best & didn t know what else could be done. SN asked what the cause was and CS said that she would ask. Item 8 Secretary s Correspondence. 8.1 MY had a letter from Mr J Hamilton Scott who is very concerned about the decision of PKC not to proceed with the Ericht Trust s application to convert the Hill Primary site in Upper Allan St. He had an agreement to gift all the printing machinery, fixtures and fittings from Blairgowrie Printers to them for a print museum. There are 8 machines plus a large collection of fixtures, type, line blocks and half tones which reflect the history of the town. These items were adjudged to be valuable enough for the Royal Commission of the Ancient and Historical Monuments Scotland to spend 2 days surveying, photographing and filming the premises. One machine, the large Wharfedale, which was used for printing the Blairgowrie Advertiser is possibly one of only a few in the UK still in working order. This featured on BBC Scotland. The machines are B-listed and Historic Scotland will not allow them to be moved to storage; if they are moved to a new site they must be kept together, but the building is in danger of structural failure. Mr Scott is 85 years old and does not want all these things to pass to the beneficiary of his estate. Mr Scott had asked for the machinery to be delisted but if this happens Blairgowrie and Rattray will lose a unique part of its history. 8.2 MY had asked for the scoring sheets through Gillian Taylor, Democratic Services but Cllr Alan Grant had refused saying they were commercially sensitive. She then asked for a redacted copy but was again refused. An invitation to a meeting of the 3 councillors, 2 panel and 2 BRCC councillors was given. Cllr Alan Grant refused again. MY asked John Swinney MSP (JS) to host a meeting as this is a serious blow for the town. MY is still waiting to hear back.js had written to David Littlejohn (Planning & Development PKC) on 22 October and received a reply in November saying the preferred purchaser for the redevelopment of the site was Corryard Developments Ltd and that PKC did not delay the process in any way to facilitate a commercial offer. PKC had required clarification on a number of issues to ensure that a responsible and fair decision was reached. PKC stated that there is a demand for housing in Blairgowrie. A member of the public said that Cllr Alan Grant should never have been allowed to chair this sub-committee because of his bias against Blairgowrie and stated that Cllr Liz Grant had said that the Ericht Trust would get the building over her dead body. MY had put in a FOI request for information about the decision and asked for a note of how the councillors voted and hoped that this would be received by 17 December. MY invited Corryard to chat with BRCC but they said they were too busy, they needed time to buy the building, find architect and prepare plans. They have accepted the invitation to come and talk to BRCC but not for another couple of months. MY said how can they deliver if they have no plans? They have high end flats in construction in Perth, well over the 300K mark. GD said that Corryard would not be offering affordable housing and would pay a premium to get rid of the requirement. This was too big a decision for BRCC not to pay attention and it is affordable housing that is needed. There is no chance to delay the decision and we can t force a meeting. Item 9 Chair s Report on Follow ups since last meeting 9.1 Recreation Centre Make-over. Derek Bissett thought that it should be razed to the ground and rebuilt. The opening hours trial is going well but MY suggested that it should be 56 days a week as Mondays don t suit lots of local business people. More new members are apparently needed to meet the target set by Live Active, which was between 11 and 15 new members. They have reported that, on average, there are 11 new members attending but they d like more. There is lots of teaching done in the pool and it really needs to have a 25m pool so that competitions can be held as well. Live Active were proposing to apply for 5m to refurbish the centre It would cost 2.3M to repair and 7M to replace. CS suggested that Blair should look at a different way of getting funding to rebuild it. SN said that it should be in the LDP2. DB said that the community want the best facilities and people come from all over to use the Recy. 9.2 Piggy Lane ST had done a wonderful job and the facilities are now in place. DB proposed a formal vote of thanks to ST for his effort and sweat, hard work and time. He did the town proud and he got a result. DB proposed, GD seconded and all agreed. Item 10 AOCB 10.1 Canadian Pipe Band 4
DB reported that Ross Baxter, Pipe Major of the Canadian Pipe Band who visited Blairgowrie this year had asked for his thanks to be given to BRCC. As Pitlochry had support for this year s visit, it was felt that we should start planning for their next visit in August 2018. MY said that as the Band do not plan to return to Pitlochry next time. BE said that PKC would pay for a reception if they were only coming to Blairgowrie. 10.2 Greenburn Community Development Fund. GD and MY had attended a meeting with ABO wind, Mount Blair Community Council (MBCC) and Alyth Community Council (ACC) on 4 December. The 3 CCs couldn t agree on how the benefit fund should be split. MBCC wanted all of the fund or at least 80%. They say that Blairgowrie & Rattray cannot see the wind turbines; they don t have to cope with the construction traffic and it s not on our patch so should get nothing. ABO promised that Blairgowrie & Rattray would get some of the fund. The capitalization element of the fund was slipping as it was too expensive. ABO suggested that the 3 CC s write to them stating their case for the percentage of split and they will decide. MY said that ABO prefer a 3 way split. Or 50:25:25.ACC agreed with BRCC that MBCC get the weighted share. 40:30:30. GD said that Blairgowrie had the largest population and is 30 times bigger than Mount Blair district by population. MY said that MBCC has many short term projects. We would all like to build a Perth Concert Hall but we have to be realistic. ACC were very supportive. It is a joint fund; if one party needed more funding, then more share could be given. MBCC have already had a tremendous amount of money. DB said that BRCC should show its backing for the proposal. DB proposed, BS seconded and it was passed unanimously. GD MY Date of Next Meeting - 14 January 2016 at Adult Resource Centre, Jessie St. Distribution (email unless specified): All Community Council Members: Mr D Bailey Mr I Cruickshank Mr G Darge Mr A Donald Mrs M Duncan Ms S Fowlie Ms N Ferry Mrs P McGregor Mr S Nichol Mrs K Nicol Mr I Richards Mr L Seal Mr B Smith Mr A Thomson Mrs M Young Local Councillors: Mr B Ellis Mrs E Grant Mrs C Shiers External: PKC Community Councils Clare Damodaran (Press) Mrs B Leslie Blairgowrie High School Approved Minutes Distribution: Website One Voice Blairgowrie Library Associate Members: Mr A Lang Dr S Mitchell Mr A Cannon Ms T Dick 5