Ayton
Community
Council

Minutes for meeting held Tuesday 6 May 2025

Held in Ayton Community Hall at 7:00pm.

Present

Apologies for Absence

Members of the public present

Minutes of the Meeting 1st April: PI proposed, and AC Seconded, and minutes were unanimously approved.

Public Forum

Margaret Carey attended the meeting this evening and was keen to discuss with us her work and campaign to have a community Banking Hub set up in Eyemouth which she has already applied for to Link and this has been rejected. She has explained that she is working with John Lamont MP and Rachael Hamilton MSP on this and they have been very supportive and plan to raise the issue in Westminster and Holyrood. The reason for the refusal is that the decision is based on the population of Eyemouth and the number of businesses it has however it does not consider the surrounding villages that rely on Eyemouth and also have almost no access to cash in terms of a bank, post office or cash line. She also pointed out that the number of businesses based in the villages that rely on cash would increase the number of Eyemouth businesses reliant on banking facilities many times over. It was pointed out that the Co-op will be getting a new ATM sometime in the near future, however this is only available during store opening times, as is the cash machine in the Eyemouth Store. It is also noted that most weekends, especially during the warmer months, the cash points frequently run out of cash, often by Friday evening or Saturday morning meaning trips to Berwick or Dunbar if you wish to access cash. The CC agreed to support this campaign and TS would contact JA asking for details of other CC Contacts in our area. TS also agreed to attend Reston CC with Margaret later this month.

Scottish Borders Council Cuts

TS declared an interest in this as a manager at SBC and advised that he could not offer an opinion on this subject. It was noted that a number of cuts were currently being proposed and that both Eyemouth Community Centre and Eyemouth library were amongst buildings that could be affected. It was also noted that this was at a very early stage and community consultations would take place. We agreed to take an active role in the consultation and would encourage residents to do so too. 2 dates of interest are 15th May at 6:30pm a meeting on the community centres use and future at Eyemouth Community Centre and this will be followed up by their AGM on 29th May.

Community Council Consultation

It was reported in the Berwickshire News on 10th April that a Consultation on the role of Community Councils would take place with the deadline being 23rd April 2025. It was noted that the Community Council had not had any communication regarding this and at the time of this meeting there was no longer time for us to reflect and respond. It was agreed we would raise this issue with our SBC elected members and stress the importance of this being fed back.

Ayton Village Facebook and Website

Concerns have been raised that it is difficult to share information on the village Facebook Page and had suggested that the CC look at this. TS advised that he is an admin for the Facebook page along with several other former members of the CC as well as some from other village groups. The issue seems to lie with the fact that people are not able to post, they must contact and Admin if they know who it is or message the page itself. This often takes time, and examples were given where time was a priority. TS explained that most of the admins are in full time employment and don’t always have time to respond immediately. It was agreed that TS would contact Kenny Combe, who is an active group admin and invite him to a future meeting to discuss how we can move forward.

Community Place Plan

AC and PC had been tasked with looking into our community Place Plan. This evening, they presented a separate written report to the CC outlining 5 initial thoughts as well as 3 actions to carry forward, the first being do we wish to produce a place plan. The second being Do we need to inform SBC and what would their role in it be and thirdly, who would take things forward. It was agreed that TS would contact Democratic Services to take advice on this to answer question 2 before we were able to answer questions 1 and 3, which we would do at a future meeting.

MMWR

The police report had been received and circulated ahead of the meeting. There were no points on note for Ayton and no one wished to comment on any items noted in the report.

Community Summer Event

Further discussions were held around a summer event and it was suggested that this was going to be a difficult event to organise with limited time available to obtain all of the correct licences and planning consents. It was agreed that we could look to work with the Gardening Society who organise an annual village show to see if we could work with them to extend their event further across the wider village. It was also noted that this event takes place later in the year, giving us more time to plan and prepare. It was agreed we would approach the committee to see if they would like to work with us on establishing a beer tent, some live music and other forms of entertainment. PC advised his wife is on the organising group and he would seek their views and invite their chair along to our next meeting.

Hemelvaart Bier Café

TS reported that he had written to the current owners of the building, Mr and Mrs O’Roke and had received an email questioning why he had not taken the time to respond to the communication he had sent. TS Advised that he had not received this and contacted Mr O’Roke to make him aware of this but had not heard back. AM Advised that Mr O’Roke had also contacted him, concerned about the motives of TS and AM assured him he was acting on the instruction of the full CC and not on any other agenda. AM advised Mr and Mrs O’Roke were not aware the Hemelvaart had ceased trading, and they had expressed their commitment to retaining a public house in Ayton. He explained about his business model and gave assurances on speaking to his current tenets. It was agreed that AM would contact him to convey our thanks and would manage future communications.

Clock Tower Flag

No further updates at this time.

Road Closures

None to report.

Defibrillator

Pads and batteries have now been purchased and all was working well. We would continue to look at funding streams with a longer term plan to replace the current device meaning we could move the current one meaning better access to this important, life saving piece of equipment.

Treasurer’s Report

Project Account Balance stands at £916.04
Treasurer’s Account Balance stands at £706.16

It was noted that we had paid £60 in meeting room hire fees and had received £2.91 in interest into our account.

AOB

None

Next Meeting

The Next Ayton Community Council Meeting Will Take place on the 3 June 2025 at 7pm in the Community Hall.