Ayton
Community
Council
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Minutes for meeting held Tuesday 4th June 2024

Held in Ayton Community Hall at 7:00pm.

Present

Apologies for Absence

Resignations

This resignation leaves three places available on the council. Anyone interested should approach the council. Ratification is a relatively simple process assuming all agree.

SW opened the meeting by welcoming everyone and the apologies for absence were received.

The minutes of the previous meeting held on Tuesday 6th May 2024 were approved. Proposed by AC and Seconded by AW as a true and accurate reflection of events.

Play Park

SBC have approved funding of £60,000 funding for the refurbishment of the play park in addition to the £25,000 that is already ringfenced. This will be made available in the 2026/27 financial year. SW has agreed to approach Sanka Martei regarding how to effectively engage with the local community on plans for the park and will feed back to a future meeting.

In addition to this AW reported that there has been some damage to the floor of the play park and that remedial action will be required and Cllr JA agreed to have this actioned. Cllr JA also advised the Community Council that hew would circulate a list of contacts regarding the planning and development of play park planning so we could start to plan our approach to this with SBC Staff, contractors and the wider public.

Defibrillator Maintenance

TF sent a report in his absence to say he had met with Graham Dolan and gone through what needed to be done as part of monthly checks. He confirmed that battery and pads are fine at the moment but will continue to monitor. It was reported that replacement pads are currently £40 and Replacement Batteries are £200. TS would confirm with the bowling club who is responsible for these check on the defibrillator owned by them.

Planning Appeals Training

SW reported that training would take place as an online event on Wednesday 12th June between 6pm and 7:30pm and expressions of interested were requested with no volunteers coming forward but several members agreed to check their diaries and let SW know directly.

Clock Tower Flag

A member of the public had asked the council to look into having the flag returned to the top of the clock tower on the High Street. It was reported that the flag pole was difficult to access and that in recent years it had been reported that the pole itself was damaged. Council were unsure who was responsible for this but historically local business Forsyths Builders had carried out repairs. DH agree to speak to the builders to see who had procured him to carry out this work so we can contact them with a request to reinstate the flag.

Portrait of HRH King Charles III

SW reported that she now has the painting we were offered however the trustees of the Community Hall did not wish to hang it in the hall. With this in mind it was agreed that the portrait would be offered to the local school for display.

Treasurer’s report

PI reported that we are still yet to receive the annual grant from SBC. SW agreed to chase this up with Claire, the officer responsible for this.

PI also reported that we were required to renew our membership of the Berwickshire Civic Society at a cost of £10 for the year. No one was quite sure what the benefits of this were and SW agreed to investigate further.

Vehicles Driving at Excessive Speed

It has been reported that vehicles continue to drive at excessive speed through the village despite signs and a new type of display offering happy and sad faces. It was agreed that we should seek further advice on dealing with this and SW will email Philippa Gillhoulie regarding this matter.

Next meeting

The Next Ayton Community Council meeting will take place on 6 August 2024.

NB: Meeting on 6th August ultimately postponed until 3rd September due to illness and unavailability of a number of members of the council.