Sent on behalf of Councillor Mike Barnacle

Dear Editor

I feel, in the interest of historical accuracy, that I must comment on the report by Councillor Giacopazzi (JG) in your May 2015 edition on the above.  My source is the PKC Minute enclosed from which you should note viz:-

It was the meeting of 25/3/15 of the Enterprise and Infrastructure Committee, of which JG is Vice Convener, not Development Management as he stated, which considered this matter of LLA designations.

I had circulated the Committee on 23/3/15 regarding this and enclose same referred to in my letter of 31/3/15 to Planning and Sustainable Development on the Review of our Local Development Plan abridged in your May 2015 edition).

The Minute states there was not cross-party support for the Paper, as stated by JG; in fact an amendment by myself, supported by Councillor Robertson, calling for reconsideration of the Devon Gorge and Cleish Hills as LLA’s was defeated, all 6 members of the Committee from the SNP voted against the community’s wishes on this.  Neither the Committee Convener Kellas nor JG attended the Review Panel meetings with the Consultants; if they had done so as I did, they would have been aware of the strong representations made for the inclusion of these areas on merit; I note the subsequent submission from KCT to planning on this matter enclosed.

I thought it necessary to put the record straight and emphasise the request by local members, at their meeting with Planning on 26/3/15m for these areas to be reconsidered for LLA status, as former AGLV’s which the community had fought hard for inclusion in our Local Plan 2004.

Yours sincerely

Councillor Mike Barnacle

Independent Member for Kinross-shire

Encs:

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Email to Fellow Councillors re: Paper 11 for Committee of 25th March 2015 on Landscape Guidance

The email below was sent by Councillor Mike Barnacle concerning the loss of the AGLV areas in the Cleish Hills and the River Devon Gorge

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Subject: FW: Paper 11 for Committee of 25th March 2015 on Landscape Guidance

Sent on behalf of Councillor Mike Barnacle

Dear Colleagues

I am taking the unusual step of contacting you prior to a Committee Paper because I feel it necessary to emphasise my strong disagreement to the loss of two former AGLV areas, namely the Cleish Hills and the River Devon and its gorge, from securing Local Landscape designation. Paras 5.12 to 5.17 of the Report refer and I ask you to note the comments in Appendix 2 from Kinross-shire Civic Trust (Pages 125, 146 & 149), Fossoway C.C. (Page 139), Cleish & Muckhart C.C.’s (Pages 142 & 143), Stuart Dean of Friends of the Ochils (Page 150) & Portmoak C.C. (Page 152).

My submission is referred to on Page 145 of Appendix 2 but I feel you should be aware of the full content of my letter of 19th January 2015 to Graham Esson and enclosed article.

In summary, I feel the consultants have ignored the strong representations made within the Review Panel for the inclusion of the Devon Gorge & the Cleish Hills as Local Landscape Areas, especially as they meet most of the criteria.  They also have ignored the significance of cross boundary designations, although this issue was raised within the Review Panel.  I don’t accept the Council’s response to the representations made for the above areas, in particular the comment on Page 145 of Appendix 2 that to include them would diminish the merits of the other LLA’s in Kinross-shire.  The Reporter to the Local Plan Public Inquiry in 2003 clearly didn’t have that view either.

The quality of landscape does not change at a local authority boundary so I disagree with Para 5.17 for if the Cleish Hills merit an LLA on the Fife side, then they do so within PKC’s area.  I further note continuing dialogue between Muckhart C.C. and Clackmannan Council on reviewing their LLA’s, particularly the Devon Gorge.

These former AGLV areas are important to the people of the area who fought hard for their inclusion in our Local Plan 2004 and they should not lose a landscape designation.  So, I shall be arguing in Committee that the Ochil Hills LLA should be extended to incorporate the River Devon and its gorge (using the old AGLV boundary), which has strong linkage and association with the Ochil hills that dominate the landscape of the river here; also that the Cleish Hills AGLV area should extend the Fife LLA designation.

As far as I am concerned, any other conclusion, is illogical in landscape terms; so I hope I will get some support for that proposal.

Kind regards

Cllr Mike Barnacle

Independent Member for Kinross-shire