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

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A hard copy has been given to the members of the Development Management Committee

Sent on behalf of Councillor Mike Barnacle

I am away on annual vacation from 10^th instant and cannot therefore attend the above Committee, although I did ask Nick Brian if he could have put back the Report for a month, which given the Report, would not have made a material difference but this was not agreed.  It is probably just as well I am not attending because I am furious with the lack of progress.

I feel it is necessary to send to you the following background information viz:

1. My email to Committee colleagues of 14/13/15 and enclosures
2. My email of 11/8/15 to Nick Brian
3. Brian Stanford’s reply of 12/8/15
4. Briefing note from Eddie Jordan re Conditions on 18/8/15 (Note that Cllr Robertson had a recent site meeting to discuss noise issues but I don’t know the outcome).

IN SUMMARY, The intervening 6 months have achieved absolutely nothing.  In fact site development into the ‘paddock area’ is a clear intention.  No monitoring of the site occurs unless the community report activity.

Graeme Drummond, Asset Planner of Scottish Water advised me today that there is no current capacity at the Drum WWTP and no more connections will be allowed into the system in the foreseeable future.  A number of properties in the settled community still await connection to what was an environmental improvement scheme both I and the community lobbied for; I do not wish to see gypsy/travellers given priority above others when they have so singularly failed to deliver on the conditions they promised to adhere to.  In my view it is totally unreasonable to allow them another 12 months to connect to mains drainage that I and the CC have been assured is not likely to be available.  A growth project is needed to stimulate further investment into the WWTP, a proposal from the settled community gaining credence with forward planning.  The applicants have been on site, within the Lochleven catchment, since March 2012 without any drainage, sewerage and water arrangements, the protocol with SNH and SEPA is totally breached and I shall be writing on my return to the most senior officials at PKC, SNH and SEPA regarding their collective failure of the statutory duty to protect Lochleven (Policy EP7).  Our ‘open-door’ policy RD5 requires immediate revision to protect the amenity of the settled community.

Yours, in disgust

Councillor Mike Barnacle

Independent Member for Kinross-shire

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Note for Editor re Crook Moss

At the subsequent Committee, my colleague Councillor Cuthbert successfully moved an amendment that a report be brought back to the Committee on 13 January 2016 regarding enforcement of conditions.  Unfortunately, the applicants were given another  year to secure connection to the Drum WWTP and meet conditions relating to water supply.  In my view, this continues to represent a complete failure by the planning authority in their statutory duty to protect Loch Leven under Policy EP7 and I shall be writing further on this.  At the Member Officer Working Group on Planning Meeting of 28 September 2015 when Policy RD5(b) on new gypsy/traveller sites was stated as effective in current form, I requested it to be minuted that I did not agree that it was ‘fit for purpose’ in that it did not include reference to sites not having a detrimental effect on the residential amenity of the settled community and did not secure a reasonable distance of sites from settlement boundaries.  I still feel this policy needs re-examining during the review of our Local Development Plan.