Minutes of Meldrum Bourtie & Daviot Community Council Meeting
Tuesday 28th March 2017
7.30pm
New Sports Pavilion, Pleasure Park, Oldmeldrum
CC Members Present: - James Milton, Lloyd Duncan, Andrew McCartney, John Pirie, Irene Dunbar, Jan Chalmers, Jeff Goodhall, Willie Sinclair, David Clare, Shona Presly, Stuart Baird, Simon Kilkerr
Apologies: - Patrick Sleigh, Alice Hill, Denise Forsyth, Kaye Cowie, Kevin Douglas, Cllr Alan Hendry and Cllr Jim Gifford
Aberdeenshire Council: - Martin Hall Principal Officer (Information and Infrastructure)
Member of Public: - Kevin Glennie
Councillors: Cllr Cryle Shand and Cllr Paul Johnstone
Police: None
Minutes of February 2017
Proposed: Lloyd Duncan
Seconded: Irene Dunbar
Matters Arising
James confirmed he has spoken to Stewart and Watson informally regarding Station Lane. The outcome is Meldrum Bourtie and Daviot Community Council would be able to have the lane transferred to them however there will be no financial contribution towards the lane from Meldrum House Estates. James is to put this request to Stewart and Watson in writing for consideration. ACTION JAMES
James confirmed he still has to make contact with Debbie Esslemont regarding the “kissing gate” at Grezcylo Gardens, Oldmeldrum and he also has to make contact with Mark Skilling regarding an update on the Improvement Strategy for the A947. ACTION JAMES
James stated he is still waiting from hear from Ian Daniels regarding the date the last traffic survey was completed and the confirmed date for the next traffic census. Jan stated she has spoken to Ian Daniels who confirmed to her that the first part of the traffic census (from Commercial Road and through the square) had been completed in March but the second part (from Urquhart Road and through the square) still had to be completed. Ian confirmed the second part would be done as soon as possible and he would send the report to us as soon as it was available. Andrew thought the traffic survey was to be completed over a week and not just a day. Jan to email Ian Daniels to check this ACTION JAN
Cllr Shand handed out paper copies to all members with the new pricing structure for licences.
Jeff asked if any member had noticed the lollipop man at the primary school taking notes of vehicles that were passing him as he stood at the school gates. No one has noticed this however James thought it may be something to do with the school. Jeff undertook to ask the lollipop man the reason for him doing this. ACTION JEFF
Police Report
Nil
Martin Hall, Principal Officer, Information & Infrastructure on the Transport Hub
Martin confirmed to the members that the transport hub sited at Chapelpark, Oldmeldrum would be going ahead. He confirmed it was progressing well with funding being secured from NESTRANS and Aberdeenshire Council’s own finances. An agreement in principal has been raised for the transfer of the land and this is hoped to be completed relatively soon. Martin confirmed there will be 50 car parking spaces together with a cycle storage facility and two lay-bys on each side of the main road with fully enclosed bus shelters.
Andrew asked if there was sufficient room to put in a layby when driving northbound and Martin confirmed there was.
Jeff asked if the hub was going to be a bus timing point and Martin confirmed it would. He said there would now be two timing points in Oldmeldrum as the hub is not going to be there to stop buses coming through the town centre.
Jeff asked if there was any room for expansion at the hub site. Martin replied there was as the plan is to build the hub two thirds of the way along the land allocated with the suds at the back. If the hub becomes popular Martin confirmed they could then put the suds underneath the ground and add in more car parking spaces at a later date.
Cryle asked if the detailed planning permission for this will be sent to full council for consideration and Martin replied it would just be Area Committee.
Irene asked if the land was still being gifted and Martin confirmed the plan was Aberdeenshire Council would take the land on a 99 year lease but he would update us on that when he had more information.
Martin confirmed the road widening will happen in the 2017/2018 financial year. Irene asked where the bus stops will be situated and Martin confirmed the stops will be exactly where the current bus stops are.
Jeff asked if there were any more changes to the Stagecoach bus services. Martin confirmed originally Stagecoach was going to stop the 35A service however this has now been revoked.
Jeff proposed to send a letter to the Paterson’s to thank them for gifting the land however Andrew suggested to wait until the land was officially handed over and all members agreed with this.
Treasurers Report
It was reported the Bank Balance as at 28th March is £8,451.40 which is split as follows:
Proceeds of insurance claim - £933.20
Funds for defibrillators unspent - £1168.00
Making Meldrum better donation for FV expenses - £315.00
Unspent Admin Grant - £476.18
Tidy Village Scheme - £790.50
Queen’s Birthday Money - £950.40
Unallocated - £3818.12
James proposed the proceeds from the Queen’s Birthday afternoon tea is spent on a new Coat of Arms for Meldrum, Bourtie and Daviot. Stuart seconded this proposal and all members present agreed with this.
James is to make contact with the Lyon Court in Edinburgh regarding this. ACTION JAMES
Secretarial Report
Please see attached.
Planning Report
John gave a very detailed report on the planning. He also advised Aberdeenshire Council have been advertising their intention to adopt the Local Development Plan 2017. This is available online, at libraries or at any council office.
John also reported briefly on the land at Coutens that requires to be tidied up. He stated that Kevin has been in contact with the council and then a local resident who has spoken to Wimpey and managed to get them to agree to undertake their obligations for the landscaping of this site. John explained that Kevin has the full details and he will explain fully at the next meeting he can attend.
Reports from Elected members
Cryle reported the main topic at the full council meeting on 9th March was the business mitigation scheme. Cryle stated this was a very generous scheme with the £3million still being figure set aside to help the businesses. Cryle also mentioned the topic of decriminalisation of parking was discussed which would essentially mean parking is free in all car parks but on street parking would be chargeable.
Jeff asked if Aberdeenshire parking was to become decriminalised would we be able to keep the money. Paul confirmed the money collected here would need to be used for road purposes only. Paul also confirmed that if decriminalisation of parking was introduced in Aberdeenshire a parking attendant as well as the police can issue a ticket if someone is parked on double yellow lines.
Cryle informed all members that Wednesday 29th March was the closing date for candidates to submit their forms to stand in the local election in May. Cryle and Paul confirmed both their forms were already submitted as well as Jim Gifford’s.
Standing Committees
Future Vision
Andrew reported that David, Willie, Jan and himself presented the findings from the different subjects taken from the questionnaires to the Formartine Area Committee on Friday 17th March. He confirmed it went very well and the group have a meeting planned for 4th April to discuss the format for the public meeting due to be held on 13th May in the British Legion in Oldmeldrum.
Community Organisations
Meldrum Amenities Improvement Group
Andrew reported MAIG will have some of the flower baskets out within Oldmeldrum in the first week of April. He also reported that MAIG and Oldmeldrum Rotary have a joint horse racing fundraiser on Friday 12th May.
Heritage Society
John confirmed there is a meeting scheduled for this month to confirm which date in May will be the official opening of the Whin Roadie.
Daviot Community Trust
Willie reported 200 trees were successfully planted on Saturday 18th March. He also reported there was more path work required on the small car park within Daviot and David confirmed work has commenced on this on 27th March.
James asked if Formartine Partnership has approved the funding for new tubs for flower displays. Willie confirmed this had been approved and he would order the tubs in due course. Willie stated the money for the tubs requires to be paid upfront so asked if he could use money from the community council’s bank account and then replace it when the funding comes through from Formartine Partnership. All members present agreed to this.
AOCB
Jeff informed all members that he has set up a new group on Facebook which launches on Friday and is called Democracy In Action for Mid Formartine. He advised nothing abusive or personal would be allowed on the page and it was there to inform our Local Councillor's of your views on what our local community needs in order to improve quality of life and issues important to you. Jeff also confirmed there are four administrations on the site namely John McDowell, Lorraine Kelly, Pat Robbins and himself.
John reported seeing boxes with a solar panel on the top and two server wires running across the road up past “Drumtochty” and also on the pavement which crosses over the Meadows burn. He wondered if any member knew what their purpose was. Paul stated they are there to register vehicles and people going past so that the council can decide from the date collected if they need to upgrade that particular path in the near future.
Willie stated in his opinion the roundabout on the B9001 is not up to standard. Paul replied Willie should report this as a resurface will require to be done if there is an issue.
Willie commented that the list of developer obligations we received from Aberdeenshire Council was not very meaningful as it doesn’t state what obligations have came in, what has been spent and what the money has been spent on between 2010 and now. Paul confirmed this information should be available to us and both Paul and Cryle undertook to try and obtain this information from Aberdeenshire Council.
ACTION PAUL/CRYLE
Willie also asked how long Developer Obligation money is allowed to sit in the pot unspent. Paul replied it is five years from the completion of the last house and the developer can ask for the money back if it is unspent.
Willie stated he has sent an email to Richard Elliot asking for an invoice from him for payment he is due for the website but hasn’t heard back from him yet.
Paul asked for all dates/posters for events to be emailed to Richard Elliot in good time so he can upload onto the website.
Andrew commented the future vision survey highlighted there are too many organisations on the internet and Facebook for Oldmeldrum and the public commented they would like one main body site with links to the various organisations from that. Paul stated the site that Richard Elliot runs has been designed to follow this format and any member interested in this is to contact either himself or Richard Elliot direct.
Time and date of next meeting
25th April 2017 at 7.30pm in the New Sports Pavilion, Oldmeldrum