Issue 56 April 2017

Post date: 20-Apr-2017 03:38:08

JIM HENSMAN SCOOPS WEST FIFE VILLAGES FORUM CITIZEN OF THE YEAR 2017 AWARD!

SALINE & DISTRICT RURAL

Wednesday 3 May

7:30 pm, Saline Community Centre

Speaker from Dunfermline Beekeepers

Open meeting - all visitors welcome

PRAISE FOR PUBLIC SPACE ORDERLY

A number of residents have drawn attention to the contribution that Fife Council’s recently appointed Public Space Orderly, Alan Pettigrew, is making to Saline and Steelend. Alan was previously part of the Oakley team but is very pleased about his transfer to Saline and Steelend. Alan is very enthusiastic about his role in keeping our community neat and tidy and welcomes suggestions for areas that need extra attention. At Community Council we spend a lot of time talking about negative things and at the most recent meeting it was nice that someone chose to mention Alan’s efforts, provoking a feeling of positivity. Perhaps an opportunity to draw attention to positive actions should be a regular agenda item? Feel free to make suggestions for those who deserve recognition.

COMMUNITY COUNCIL

A smaller audience than usual enjoyed another lively discussion at the March Community Council meeting. Local people took on the role of Guest Speaker and explained projects which address priorities identified in the Community Action Plan.

Church Restoration Project

Stewart Miller explained the Church’s restoration project. An attempt to secure funding some years ago had not been successful but it had helped the Church to focus on what they wanted to achieve. They had received valuable support from the Church of Scotland and had been able to appoint a specialist conservation architect to carry out a detailed survey and make proposals for how longstanding problems could be tackled. One major issue has been dampness in the walls and the architect’s recommendation is for the cement-based harling that was applied during the last century, and prevents the walls ‘breathing’, to be hacked off and replaced with traditional lime render. Not only will this eliminate the dampness problems but it will dramatically improve the appearance of the building, which most people acknowledge is ‘dreary’. Removing the harling will also expose the dressed stone window surrounds and other features that have been concealed, restoring the Church to something more like its appearance when it was constructed over two hundred years ago, and much more appropriate to its prominent location at the heart of our community.

The project also seeks to enhance the Church’s value to the wider community. Discussions have been held with Saline Heritage Group about developing the west end of the Church as a heritage centre. The group currently utilise the tiny Session House as their museum. Saline Primary School is also supporting this initiative, as ‘heritage’ is part of the curriculum.

The cost of the work is likely to exceed £250k and an application to the Heritage Lottery Fund will be submitted very soon. It was agreed that the Community Council/Community Development Trust should provide a letter of support.

North Road Play Park

Nicola Smith, Lisa Murray and Laura Chesby followed Stewart with a presentation of the proposals for improving play facilities in Saline and Steelend. The group have been very successful in raising match funding and applications will be made soon to Fife Environment Trust and LEADER for the £100k needed to implement the project on North Road, Saline. The group explained how the £10k that they had received from the Participatory Budgeting fund, which has to be spent before September, would be used for enabling work to the drainage necessary to eliminate the flooding problems. The group were congratulated for their energy and enterprise and it was agreed that a letter of support should be provided to accompany their funding applications.

Brightside Café

An approach for support from the Community Council has also been made by the Chair of the Brightside Café Community Trust. The Trust is keen to encourage use by the wider community of its newly completed café at Bandrum Nursing Home. The Trust would also like to work with the Community Council to develop a befriending scheme, for which Big Lottery funding is being sought. The possibility of volunteer drivers from Saline and Steelend using the West Fife Villages Community Minibus to take local people without transport to Brightside Café once a week has been suggested. The possibility of extending and diverting the existing paths network to make Brightside Café a stopping off point on circular walks is also being explored.

It was agreed that the Community Council should provide a letter of support for the Trust’s funding application.

If you would like to volunteer to drive the minibus occasionally, become a befriender or have other ideas for building a relationship with Brightside Café Community Trust email sscdtmembers@btinternet.com or ring David Chisholm on 853168.

If you would like to volunteer to drive the minibus occasionally, become a befriender or have other ideas for building a relationship with Brightside Café Community Trust email sscdtmembers@btinternet.com or ring David Chisholm on 853168.

Roads and Traffic

The Community Council has enjoyed a positive working relationship with Fife Council’s Transportation Team over the last of couple of years and many of the concerns that people had have been addressed. The meeting was pleased to note that the Council has now upgraded the rumble strips at Kinneddar Park to make them more effective, in response to complaints from KPCRA. Work has just been completed to install six new road gullies along the verge at the bottom of the hill down into Steelend and it is hoped that this will eliminate the flooding that frequently occurs after periods of heavy rain. The work also unearthed (literally) a large manhole that has now been unblocked and repaired and should lead the water away to the burn. However, the Community Council will continue to press for more effective measures on West Road as the chicanes installed some years ago are regarded by many as worse than useless. Also, KPCRA and others have suggested that the 20mph speed warning signs on the Oakley Road that have recently been relocated adjacent to the entrance to Nether Kinneddar should in fact have been positioned further down beyond the narrow bridge and sharp bends. Concern was also expressed that, although the recently-completed Allanwater homes have in-curtilage parking, vehicles are being parked outside with two wheels on the pavement.

Community Speed Watch

The first cohort of Community Speed Watchers has received their training and are waiting to be deployed. Suggestions for target areas include the West Road and Main Street through Steelend.

Saline to Bickramside Path

Work to implement the Saline to Bickramside path continues. The Forestry Commission have recently placed canes along through the plantation areas to delineate the proposed route so that people can begin to use it whilst funding for the permanent path is being sought. Access to the path from Oakley Road is affected by the Allanwater construction work at present but will eventually be via a gate opposite the end of Eastercraig Gardens. In the meantime it can be reached from the Steadings access road, currently relocated further down Oakley Road. The path leads you down past the Community Orchard and the site of an ancient settlement, along the bottom the paddocks to the burn where, until the bridge is constructed, you will have to paddle across! Once across follow the canes up to the old pit road. It is hoped that in the future it will connect with new paths to Oakley and Blairhall, but until they are created you will have to retrace your steps back to Saline.

Development Behind The Glebe

There is disappointment that Fife Council have chosen to grant planning permission in principle for the proposed housing development behind The Glebe, albeit for a smaller number of homes than was initially being sought. The opinion of people living in the area, supported by the Community Council, is that the access arrangements are impractical and that the development is opportunistic and unnecessary. The application for detailed consent will receive close scrutiny when it is submitted.

There was amusement that the planning officer’s lack of appreciation of local issues was demonstrated by a statement in her report suggesting that it was unnecessary to make the provision of on-site amenity space a condition of the permission as it is close to a play park on North Road. Presumably she has not paid a visit to this derelict, flooded and health-threatening amenity! Fortunately we have the clued-up folk in the Play Parks Group to protect our interests in children’s play!

Blair House Open Cast

Still no news about the remediation of the pit but Police Scotland are endeavouring to put a stop to the illegal, and dangerous, use of the bing by young people on motorcycles. They have linked it to concerns about another location in Blairhall but their enquiries are hampered by a reluctance on the part of those who know who the culprits are to name names.

SHIELDBANK RIDING & VAULTING CLUB

We teach horse riding to adults and children (from 4 years upwards) on a selection of well-schooled horses and ponies. Furthermore, we also teach equestrian vaulting (gymnastics on a moving horse) to young people between the ages of 5 and 20 yrs. Everyone welcome.

Opening hours: Wednesday through Sunday 9.00 am – 6.00 pm

Evening lessons available during the summer months during the week.

Pony Days for children (10.00 am – 4.00 pm) and Horse Experience Days for adults (9.00 am – 6.00 pm) are being held during the Easter Holidays. Please call to book.

SHIELDBANK COFFEE SHOP

Open from Tuesdays through Sundays 10.00 am till 6.00 pm.

Real, freshly ground coffee, a large selection of teas and the tastiest of cakes and scones await all visitors (you do not have to be connected to the riding stables to come to the Coffee Shop). Tasty lunches, consisting of soup, paninis, baguettes and toasties with diverse fillings, plus a selection of cold drinks, are also available and served all day. Just come up for a warm welcome and a tasty treat.

Craft Group meet here on Thursday mornings 10.00 am – lunchtime.

New: Group for Amateur Photographers meet on Friday evenings at 7.30 pm.

Everyone welcome.