BELHELVIE COMMUNITY COUNCIL
DRAFT MINUTES OF MEETING – 21st November 2016 @ Balmedie School
Chair: David Watson; Vice Chair: Alan Smith; Interim Treasurer : Alan Smith Secretary: Vacant; Planning : David Wallace Minute Taker: David Wallace
Members Present: D.Watson (in Chair) ; A.Smith ; D.Wallace ; Drew Robertson;
Scott Wilkinson; Richard Miller ; Christine Murray
Apologies: Ian Edwards; Phil Mann
Formartine Area Councillors Present: Allan Hendry ; Cryle Shand ; Jim Gifford
Apologies ; None
Visitors: Vattenfall Delegation - Natalie Ghazi (Local Liaison Officer) ; Roger Hammond (Site Manager). Blackdog Residents – Nicola Brown ; Edna Booth ; Ellen Smith ; Meg Thomson ; Elaine Giubarelli.
The Chairman welcomed all present to the meeting, asked that all mobile phones be put on ‘silent’ and that all matters be addressed through the chair. He also requested that BCC members declare any conflict of interest in any agenda items be made known .
Declaration of Conflict of Interest
David Watson declared an interest in item 11 relating to the resurfacing of the access road at Millden.
Police Matters (again no Police attendance at the meeting and no report provided).
· An intention to contact Inspector Graham Pennie in order to understand what the intended Police involvement and input to these meetings in the future would be revisited by D.Watson with support from Cllr.Hendry.
· Cllr.Hendry noted that policing in the area was now administrated from the Peterhead Police Station under Elaine Logue.
Minutes of Meeting from 17th October 2016
· Minutes for the previous meeting were reviewed with D.Watson providing an update of the Landfill Projects which were incorporated. With no further comments noted the Minutes were then proposed for approval by D.Robertson and seconded by R.Miller.
Matters arising from the previous minutes
· As Elaine Brown’s intention to convene another meeting with ourselves ,the Better Balmedie Group and any other interested parties relating to the BBG’s Operational Base had not materialised it was decided to send her an e-mail in order to understand if this is still her intention.Chairman to action.
· The issue relating to Flooding at 7 & 8 Hareness Terrace, Blackdog was
progressed through sending a response letter to Mrs.Booth. A copy of the
letter was provided as referenced in Correspondence.
· It was noted that significant progress had been made to the construction of the Balmedie Congregational Church and the surrounding site tidied up. Rev.Cowie has confirmed that he has been talking to the Better Balmedie Group with a view to getting them to landscape and maintain the site once all the external construction work was completed.
Treasurer’s Report
RBS Statement of Account dated 31/10/16 showed a positive balance of £852.81. However the amount of £1779.93 will be added following receipt of a cheque from Aberdeenshire Council to recompence the BCC for the £1799.93 paid to Taylor Industrial .The outstanding £20 was paid by a second cheque
· 4 payments for the second instalment of the Village Tidy Scheme have now been made as follows;
£500 to Balmedie (R.Nicol), £250 to Belhelvie (R.Moffat), £250 to Potterton (J.Allan) and £250 to Blackdog (P.Mann).
· Previously agreed 10% contribution of £1,500 made to Taylor Environmental towards the Balmedie Leisure Centre upgrade project on 31/10/16.
· Travel expenses of £14.40 to be paid to BCC member D.Robertson.
This leaves a net balance of £1368.34 in BCC account.
Planning
· D.Wallace reported on all the Planning Applications made in our area since the last meeting and any decisions reached on any Applications made previous to this.
· Support from the BCC for all 3 Applications made would be communicated to the Aberdeenshire Council Planning Office.
· Concern was raised over the reasons for “refusal” of Application No.2530 for the Errection & Replacement of the Workshop and Bodyshop @ Cadgers Garage in Belhelvie. The reasons for the refusal would be explored and communicated at the next meeting.
Landfill Projects
· An additional £3,688.55 has been approved by EB Scotland to further extend the new safety fence around the Potterton Football pitch.
· The refurbishment of the Football Pitch & Play Parks at both Potterton and Belhelvie along with the 2x7-a-side grass football pitches at Balmedie beach has now been completed with only the pitch surrounding areas to be finalised.
· Further to the receipt of communication from Elaine Brown in reference to the 10% contribution to the Leisure Centre project a flurry of activity took place to avert the possibility of funding being denied. D,Watson , A.Smith and Cllr.Hendry are presently active to resolve the matter of obtaining the £1,800 required. This will be part of the 10% from Aberdeenshire Council to complete and obtain the full amount of 6months Landfill Tax from Taylors Environmental Ltd. of Easterhatton
· At our October meeting Cllr.P.Johnston raised the issue of transparency with regard to how Landfill Projects are advertised, selected and approved. He was advised by the Chair that project applications are raised by the Local Group with assistance from the BCC and are subsequently noted in the BCC monthly minutes. They are also advertised in the quarterly Belhelvie Banter editions. Funding approval is conducted by EB Scotland and Taylor Environmental Ltd.
· NOTE; If any local group have an environmental project they would like to put forward for funding, please contact Belhelvie Community Council at the e-mail address provided at the bottom of this page or alternatively call the BCC Chairman on 01651-328263.
Member Numbers
Further to a discussion on the importance of maintaining member numbers and the related problems other local Community Councils have recently experienced with this, two additional prospective members, Mr.John Fletcher and Mr.David McKendrick (both long-term residents of Balmedie) were introduced to the meeting and formally co-opted on to the Council by the Chairman and supported by the members present.
An e-mail request was made to Elaine Brown to consider a reduction to the member numbers required to form our Council.
This subject will be discussed in more detail at our AGM in February, 2017.
Correspondence
· P.Mann’s e-mail request for support for the “two current applications” from Kirkwood Homes and Ashfield for their respective developments at Blackdog. The Area Councillors questioned whether the applications had in fact been lodged but the BCC concluded that we would write to the Head of Planning , Robert Gray confirming our support to these applications.
· BCC’s response from A.Smith to Mrs.E.Booth related to the flooding problem at her property in Blackdog was noted and a copy was passed to D.Wallace.
Any Other Connected Business
· Aberdeen Bay Offshore Windfarm & Associated Sub-station.
The Vattenfall delegation again provided an update relating to their project’s progress. They also provided details of the Connection activity recently communicated in a public consultation meeting by SSE.
Their continued attendance at our meetings and their commitment to address all concerns raised in a timely matter was again commended by the Council.
· The trip hazard on the path from the Balmedie Garage to the Balmedie Leisure Centre has still not been removed and reinstated. A second reminder to the Aberdeenshire Council would be made by Cllr.Hendry.
· Nicola Brown from the Blackdog Residents Group (BRG) made a complaint related to internal BCC e-mails she had inadvertently received from Mrs.S.Watson (the Chairman’s wife) which contained comments she felt were derogatory and dis-respectful to her and the BRG and sought assurances from the BCC that they would receive the necessary support that they would be requiring in the future. Copies of the e-mails were distributed to the BCC members. The Chairman responded by stating the comments were made by his wife and did not represent the sentiments of the BCC . He went on to reassure Nicola and the members of the BRG present that they would continue to receive the full support of the BCC wherever and whenever possible in the future.
· Due to the recent heavy use the road surfaces of the Old Road in Balmedie and the Access Road at Millden have sustained significant damage and require to be resurfaced. To that end D.Watson committed to write to Ian Daniels (Aberdeenshire Council Roads Maintenance Mgr.) outlining the problem and requesting that the resurfacing is made a priority.
· D.McKendrick brought up the issue of the potential blockage and back-up of the Eigie Burn to the east of Eigie Road. The main cause is the significant amount of garden waste and tree branches which have accumulated there following the remedial landscaping work which was carried out in the Autumn. It was decided to communicate the problem to Brian Shand (Aberdeenshire Council Landscaping Mgr.) D.Wallace to action.
· A request for the provision of a Storage facility at the Belhelvie Football Pitch was made. The Area Cllrs.present said that this would initially require a planning application and if successful the provision of an appropriately sized storage container as the AC had no history of providing such facilities at other football fields in the area.
· Meeting closed at 21:50
Next Belhelvie Community Council meeting – Monday 19th December 2016
At Balmedie Primary School at 7.30pm
Visitors Welcome
New E-Mail address for correspondence is;
Formartine Area Community Website is ;
http://www.formartinecommunitycouncils.co.uk/belhelvie.html
Belhelvie Community Council – Minutes of Meeting