Maxton & Mertoun Community Council - Minutes of Meeting of 28th June 2007

MAXTON and MERTOUN COMMUNITY COUNCIL

MINUTES of the MEETING held at Maxton Village Hall
on 28th June 2007 at 7.00pm

Present:
Andrew Leitch Chairperson, Vera Holbrook, Trudy Leitch, Penny Harvey, Ann Collie, Isobel Veitch

In Attendance:
Mark Smith, Community Police Officer (Newtown St Boswells CC Police representative

Apologies:
Duncan Begg, Community Police Officer

Members of the Public Present:
None

Councillor’s Up-date:
None

ACTION POINT: None

Chairperson:
Andrew welcomed Mark Smith to the meeting, it was agreed that we should deal with matters relating to the police be dealt with before the business of the meeting started to allow Mark to attend St Boswells Community Council Meeting.

Community Police Report:
Mark Smith was attending Maxton & Mertoun CC Meeting representing Duncan Begg who was on leave. Mark had no police issues to report for the area covered by the Community Council, equally there has in the past month been no calls logged from members of the public in this area.

Members of the CC raised once again their concerns about the safety of local residents (particularly the elderly and children, the latter who have to cross the road to access the village play area and the elderly whose houses open straight onto the street) regards to excessive speeds through the village, particularly by heavy-goods vehicles and farm traffic. As well as in the immediate periods covering times for staff going to and from work at Borders Council offices and other work destinations. The village has not had either the Mr Smiley or Lothian and Borders Speed Camera Partnership for some considerable months residents feel their concerns are not being addressed. Mark offered to see if two student police officers who are to be attached to Traffic could be deployed in the village to monitor the speed of vehicles passing through.

Members of the CC feel that a contributing factor to the increase in speeding is the lack of the mature trees through the village, which has now left the verges available for vehicles to mount the verge and create three lanes through the village putting both residents and their cars at risk of serious damage. This method of road usage has led to the erosion of both the grass verges and the edge of the roads, Mark suggested the CC invite both their Local Council and a representative of SBC Roads Department to our next meeting to address these issues face to face.

Members felt that Duncan Begg's suggestion that residents phone in to register a complaint to the police each time they suspect a vehicle of speeding through the village is difficult and maybe would prove an annoyance to the police over time, however, members would like to pursue the possibility of logging numbers (when possible), type of vehicle etc over a period of a week and phoning these in on one call.

ACTION POINT:
Secretary to contact Local Councillor and request his attendance at the next meeting with a representative from the Roads Department.

Minutes of Previous Meeting:
Proposed as a correct record by: Penny Harvey
Seconded by: Andrew Leitch

Matters Arising from the Minutes of 31st May 2007:
Response to item 4 of previous agenda (Proposed changes to the Bus Service no 64), Secretary has clarified all the points raised at the meeting with John Dellow SBC Public Transport Officer and passed on the responses to the members of the public who raised the concerns, and all reported satisfaction with the present arrangements.

Correspondence:
a) Notice of the following SBC Meetings, Education Executive, Executive, Scrutiny, Development and Building Control, Scottish Borders Council were circulated prior to the meeting for information and comments.
b) Information on the Launch of Public Partnership Forum (PFF)
c) Copy of ‘Our Scottish Borders your inspiration’ document The Vibrant Communities Awards.
d) Letter regards the maintenance of a bench outside the Dryburgh Hotel.

Due to the extra month between meetings due to holidays other mail will be circulated in the intervening weeks and comments sort from members where appropriate

ACTION POINT:
Community Council Members to pass on papers they receive as quickly as possible so responses can be written and passed by the chairperson if deadlines for responses are required before the 30th August 2007.

Treasurers Report:
Expenditure secretarial costs since the last meeting, no invoice received for hire of the hall.
As we have limited expenditure, Clare Malster has allowed the accounts to be signed off by the Treasurer and Chairperson, next years account will need to be verified by a competent person.

Report of Meetings attended by CC Members:
Cheviot Area Committee:
Andrew gave a brief report on items discussed they included a report from Leslie Crozier – Justice Department
Public Bodies – employing people with disabilities
Diversity
Disabled Access in Public Buildings

Concerns Raised by Public:
NONE

ACTION POINT: None

A.O.C.B.
Drains on Maxton’s Main Street, members of the Community Council have received a number of complaints form local residents regards the drainage during both heavy and moderate rainfall. This has occurred since the road was resurfaced in 2005, a number of complaints have been made to Technical Services and a number of people have been dispatched from this department to assess the problem, but no solution has been forthcoming. In the recent heavy rainfall the drains overflowed, residence had water above the kerb level and residents living behind the vennel between Glebe View and Maple Cottage could not get out of the vennel due to a large and deep puddle of water.

It was suggested this matter be combined with the discussions with the Local Councillor and representative of SBC Roads Department at the next meeting on 30th August 2007.

DATE, TIME and VENUE for next meeting:

Date: Thursday 30th July 2007
Time: 7.00pm
Venue Maxton Village Hall

Other meeting dates for your diary in 2007:
Maxton and Mertoun Community Council AGM Thursday 27th September