March

KEMNAY COMMUNITY COUNCIL REPORT OF THE MEETING IN KEMNAY VILLAGE HALL

ON THE 29th MARCH 2007 AT 7.30PM

Present:
Hazel Al-Kowarri, Bill Blackwood, David Evans, Annie Ferries, Pat Findlater, Greig Hauley, Chris Hunneyball, Neil Johnson, Dani Mackay, Janet Newberry, Susan Milton, Eric Pashley, Jim Piggins, Paul Smart, Mavis Wainman, Ian Wakley.

Attending:
Cllr Alister Leitch, PC Alex Allen and seven members of the public.

Apologies:
Cllr Garudeo Saluja, Alexandra Thomas.

1. Welcome:
Chris welcomed those present, in particular saying how pleased he was that Greig Hauley and Dani Mckay had agreed to join the Community Council to represent the younger generation.

2. Police Matters:
PC Allen said that in March there had been only 6 reported crimes in Kemnay, compared with 24 the previous year. Hazel mentioned youths playing chicken with traffic, and also another dangerous practice. If there were problems the police should be informed, preferably immediately. Annie said that skips were being left in the skateboard car park and cars then had to park obstructing the road. It was agreed to ask the Council to remove the skips, and if there was an obstruction the police should be informed.

3. The Minute of the Meeting held on 22nd February 2007
was approved.

4. Matters arising from Minute.
a. Younger Issues. - Non - urgent matters which arose will be discussed at the next Youth Meeting in June.

b. Youth Café Expansion. - Naida asked for KCC support in the development plans. This was provisionally agreed and a sub committee will look at the issues.

c. Glebe Path. - The path should be resurfaced within the next two weeks.

5. Aberdeenshire News:
Cllr Leitch said the matter of public toilets was being looked at. One solution was to pay local businesses to make theirs available. The Academy was getting some new relocatable buildings.

6. Planning Matters and Applications:
a. Bridgend Development. - The Garioch Area Committee had approved this application at their meeting held on 13th March. It was noted that Cllr Leitch had tried to get the proposal rejected, and he was strongly supported by Cllr Raeburn, but in the end it was approved. This could have, in part, been because the Council was misinformed about the nature of the site, but the Community Council was not allowed to comment. Jim proposed a motion - "This Community Council notes the comments of certain Aberdeenshire Councillors at a recent Garioch Area Committee meeting, dismissing 111 objections (including this Community Council's) as "subjective" and "someone's opinion" and as not representing the views of the "silent majority". This Community Council considers such comments illogical in speculating that the views of the "silent majority" would favour the tiny number of favourable comments rather than the vast majority of objections, anti-democratic, insulting to the objectors and insulting to this Community Council in its function of representing the views of Kemnay Village." Proposed by Mavis, seconded by David and passed with Annie and Ian dissenting.

b. Planning Applications.
Four planning applications had been lodged but no comment was thought to be necessary.

7. Garioch Area Community Council Forum:
There had been concerns about the Association of Scottish Community Councils and Bill McGee, the NE Scotland member on the ASCC Executive Committee gave a short, upbeat, talk. The Forum decided to take no action at present.

John Sangster gave an update on the Area Partnership, His report was in the March Kemnay Newsletter.

The new Scheme for the Establishment of Community Councils is being tidied up. The main complaint was that the Standing Orders were far too restrictive.

Maps showing the overlap between Community Council boundaries, and the new electoral wards will be circulated. Some Community Council may wish to adjust boundaries.

The Garioch Area Plan 2007 - 2010 is about to be issued.

It was agreed that the Scottish Executive Review "What Can We Do to Help Community Councils" had not produced anything of note, and was felt to have been of doubtful value.

It was agreed to vote for Sean Wilson of Inverurie to act as CC representative on the Aberdeenshire Community Planning Executive.

8. Report from Safety Group Representative
Pat gave an update; no points specific to Kemnay.

9. Report from Community Learning and Development Representative:
A new scale of charges, up to £71 for a 10 week course, caused concern and could deter people joining classes. The community lounge in the academy is going to be reduced in size when modernisation takes place.

10. Bus Forum:
This was a well attended meeting, with the majority of people attending from Kemnay. It was pointed out that the 1530 220 service from Aberdeen still went via the airport, and so took nearly one and a half hours to make the journey to Kemnay. On the old timetable, later buses had similar journey times, but had the airport stop removed on the latest edition. Stagecoach was still pressed to remove the airport from all journeys. Another suggestion was to route it via the Gauchill roundabout to allow it to serve the new estates at Kintore. The lack of response to complaints caused comment, and Mr Devine asked that anyone complaining and not getting a response keep the details so the matter could be investigated.

11. New Business:
a. Christmas Light Sub Committee: - It had been reported that storage for lights would be available at the Golf Club. A sub committee of Ian (Chair), Pat, Hazel, Greig, Dani and Eric will look at the whole project.

b. Community Councillors' Expenses: - Chris said that at the last Area Forum the Area Manager said that a larger grant was unlikely because Community Councils were not spending their current one. Chris pointed out that the grant did not get spent because Community Councillors did not claim their expenses, but they did not do so because the budget was so small. He encouraged everyone to keep a record of expenses and claim for them.

c. Holes in Roads: - A note had been received from "Bill" asking that the Community Council request that holes in Aquithie Road, Paradise Road and Kendal Road be repaired. This will be done, although it was noted that workmen had recently resurfaced the worst stretch of Aquithie Road.

12. Unfinished Business:
a. Bus Ticket Agency: - This had now been set up, and certain tickets were now available from the Post Office.

b. Handrail for Boat Croft Path. - Cllr Leitch will check progress.

13. Correspondence:
Planning Reform and Community Engagement - A Scottish Executive booklet had been received which set out to explain the relationship between local authorities, developers and communities in the planning process.

Date of Next Meeting:
Thursday 26th April 2007 at 7.30 pm.

Members of the public are welcome to attend