Committee Present:

John Thomson (Vice Chairman); Gordon Brown; Dick Reville; Sam Andrew; Bob Davidson; Linda Mackie (Secretary).

Also Present:

Councillor Paul Johnston; Sarah Pumfrett (minutes); Clive Kennedy (NOSWA); Jim Benton (Osprey Homes).

Apologies:

Waste water Treatment Upgrade

Clive Kennedy from NOSWA addressed the meeting on the subject of the wastewater treatment upgrade to be carried out at the bottom of Kirk Brae. The planning application would be submitted on 20 July, but due to the nature of the application no neighbour notification was required. He had been knocking on doors in the area to inform local residents of the work and had taken the opportunity to address the meeting in order that as much notice as possible was given.

The new works is to be developed to the East of the existing site in an upgrade estimated at £1.5 million. It will improve the outflow and capacity and would allow development of the village in line with the existing local plan for up to 1500 by 2016. The existing facility has a capacity of 1100.

Concerns were raised over traffic problems, rats, structural damage, the proximity of the traffic to the church in relation to funerals and Sunday working.

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Planning Matters

Design Brief for development to South of Duthie Road, Tarves. Jim Benton of Osprey Homes based in Udny addressed the meeting in relation to the proposed development of the field between the Stephens estate and the Braikley crossroads. It was noted that Tarves has an exceptionally quick turnover on houses in relation to other villages in the area proving that it is a popular village. The proposal is to build the new scheme around a central feature such-as a community pond. The development is envisaged to be on the same scale as the Scotia development, but on a larger acreage. A landscaped access would be taken from Duthie Road between Braikley Avenue and the crossroads. Approximately 8 houses would border the Stephens scheme and the area would be landscaped to minimise any impact on the existing properties. Linda Mackie asked if Osprey Homes had experience of this type of development. Jim Benton stated that whilst the company had extensive experience of scheme building, the proposed development was unique. He stated that the development should draw people in from the existing village in order to ensure integration of the community – and stated that the open space amenity site (proposed as a pond) would do this. It was envisaged that the scheme would incorporate a mixture of single and 1½ storey houses around the square. Affordable housing was a difficult issue although Tarves is in an area where concerns have been raised on this matter. Aberdeenshire Council has indicated that it would accept serviced plots to be sufficient provision in this respect and Osprey Homes would be willing to provide these if required. It was noted that a development strategy for the village was required in order to attract business into Tarves to improve the economy of the village. Discussions with the Economic Development service of Aberdeenshire Council had indicated that Tarves is not a priority area although if a specific proposal was put forward consideration would be given to it. One proposal suggested by Osprey Homes was the development of a combined heat and power plant as part of the new scheme. This would be similar to the one proposed for Insch, and those common in Scandinavian countries that are fuelled by a combination of forestry waste and willow. The resulting hot water could be utilised to provide cheap hot water for other businesses or to heat the new houses proposed. Other benefits to the community of this type of development would include the opportunities for local landowners to diversify into willow crops to power the plant and the jobs that would be created by the construction and maintenance of the facility.

Dick Reville stated that there was no support for developing Tarves during the last Community consultation. Linda Mackie and Bob Davidson stated that the area opposite the proposed site was zoned for industrial use in the plan. Councillor Johnston noted that the area proposed is not included in the local plan for residential development at present, but there is no reason that this could not be included if the Community so decided, equally if objections were received the site could be excluded from the plan effectively blocking the development at this time. He stated that now was the time for the Community to decide what it wanted and ensure it was included in the plan. Questions over whether the site was suitable for development, if so how many houses should be built and what design layout should be adopted if included in the plan could effectively restrict the development to that determined by the Community when the plan was drafted. A decision would be taken on the local plan in February and any/all objections would be considered up until that time. However, after that time a formal objection could be made which would be settled within 6 months after a public enquiry. The Community Council felt that this matter was too important to rush and decided to call a special Community Council meeting to discuss the issue further. Jim Benton agreed to return to a future meeting of the Community Council to discuss the views of the community and any suggestions/objections put forward.

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Minutes of meeting on 19 June 2001

The minutes were accepted as a true and accurate record of the meeting with the exception that the venue for this meeting was incorrectly recorded as Tarves Primary School instead of the Youth Hall.

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Matters Arising

A response had been received from the Council in relation to the Cardboard Collection. Telephone numbers would be displayed on the recycling bins for contacting staff. No additional collections were feasible due to restrictions on the staff availability. Signage at the Civic Amenity Sites was to be investigated and improved where necessary.

Sandy Davidson had requested a discussion with the Community Council on the reopening of the Old Aberdeen Road and asked that the item be put on the agenda for the next meeting when he wished to address the meeting. The Community Council decided that there was no support for reopening the road (a letter had been received from the Council stating that the conditions in place at the time the decision to close the road was taken had not changed and therefore removal of the restriction was not an option) and therefore it did not wish the matter to be discussed at the next meeting.

Aberdeenshire Council had accepted the Constitution proposed by the Community Council and this was to be formally adopted at the next Annual General Meeting.

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DR

£2000 Community Project

A suggestion had been put forward to the Formartine Area Committee that the money be used for a Youth Project, possibly in the form of a skate park with the preferred site being the ground behind the all weather courts. Aberdeenshire Council owns this ground. An alternative site was the old tennis courts.

Amenity Group Report

The judges had visited on 2 July and seemed to be reasonably impressed with the sustainable planting in the area around the square. It was noted that this was worth more points than the tubs and planters that had been placed around the square. The second round notification was due to be received by the 13^th July if Tarves had qualified. Nothing has been received although an adjudication report would be received in due course. It was noted that the Bank of Scotland had withdrawn its sponsorship of the Scotland in Bloom event. The Community Council had objected to being judged in the same week as the South of Scotland due to our late season. The judges had stated that they were trained to recognise the potential of the planting rather than the actual result and that Tarves was not in any way disadvantaged by the time of judging.

DR

Correspondence

LM

Any Other Competent Business

1. Tree Road, Pringle Avenue and Braikley Road all have problems with potholes. Tree Road pavement was in a poor state of repair. Letter to be sent to Ian Rendall.

2. Continued problems with skateboarders on the Old Aberdeen Road.

3. The latch on the Dog Walk gate was not working at the North end of walk.

4. The floral gateways have been authorised and the delay results from the plans being drawn.

Details of Next Meeting