The aim of this site is to keep the community up to date with the day-to-day issues that affect the Town – AND HOPEFULLY ENCOURAGE RESIDENTS TO MAKE THEIR VOICE HEARD!

The Government defines the purpose of Community Councils as  “to ascertain, co-ordinate and express to the Local Authorities for its area and to public authorities the views of the community which it represents, in relation to matters for which those authorities are responsible”.

EVERYONE (that means everyone – young and old) should have a say in how Angus Council make decisions that effectively control our lives. We can’t do anything unless you let us know. If there’s anything you’re not happy with or would like to see changed, let us know and we can make representation to Angus Council or publicise your issue at our monthly meeting – or on our new website for that matter!

YOUR VIEW DOES COUNT !

   

Carnoustie Community rallies to Jubilee celebrations

Representatives from various Carnoustie community groups took part this weekend in an Angus-wide celebration of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee at Glamis Castle.  Over 23,00 people attended the event in glorious sunshine, overseen by the royal representative, the Duchess of Gloucester. All the burghs in Angus were given the opportunity to host their own marquee where local groups exhibited their own particular field of expertise. A wide range of bodies took part including of course, the Community Council, the Kinloch Centre Project, the Royal British Legion (Carnoustie Branch),  HM Coastguard, the Carnoustie Theatre Club, The Carnoustie Musical Society, The Carnoustie Art Society, The Blind and Partially Sighted Society, The Muirdrum WRI – to name but a few!  CC organisers Sue McMahon, Davina Sturrock and Kirsty MacDonald ably assisted by secretary Arliss Rhind, played host to countless visitors along with the recently appointed Angus Provost, our own Helen Oswald, and very briefly, the Duchess who was reminded of her tight schedule whilst in the Carnoustie marquee! 

Reports that one of our organising committee suffered a slight ‘attire irregularity’ involving a dress and an item of underwear, whilst hastily changing pending the Duchess’s imminent appearance are allegedly true! (Sorry Davina)! 

Seriously, a big thank you to everyone involved – a great advert for Carnoustie!!! 

    

Communities sign-up for wind farm profits

Wind farm developer, West Coast Energy, signed-up this week to a profit sharing scheme which will see 3 local communities benefit from the the proceeds from 1 of the 7 turbines that are currently the subject of a planning application with Angus Council. Carnoustie Community along with Arbroath and the rural area between, represented by the Panbride, Easthaven and Arbirlot Communities for the Environment (PEACE) group have for the past several months been involved in negotiations through a ‘community benefit forum’ which has determined the terms for the disbursement of funds from the turbine, should the development get the green light from Angus Council. It was decided that the 3 communities should benefit equally over the 25 year life-span of the project.

The community turbine is likely to generate annual community benefit funds of between £40,000 to £65,000 during the first three years of electricity generation, rising to between £300,000 and £500,000 in years 16 to 25 as the costs associated with the development are paid off, without any financial risk or liability to the communities.

Jim Simpson, chair of Carnoustie Community Council, said: “On behalf of the people of Carnoustie and community action groups in Carnoustie, the community council was eager to ensure the best deal going forward, and we believe that a fair outcome has been agreed with the two other community groups. We appreciate that everyone in the community doesn’t support the prospect of wind farms on their doorstep, but the proposal by West Coast Energy was something the people of Carnoustie had to be at the forefront of”.

It is understood that Angus Council will consider the planning application sometime in June.

Urgent message from Green Dog Walkers

GREEN DOG WALKERS ARE BEING ADVISED NOT TO USE THE LEADS which were recently issued to people who signed the pledge in and around Carnoustie.  This is due to a fault which has been found in the batch with which we were supplied.  The suppliers have agreed to a recall of this batch.  Could you please hand your lead in to Mel’s Pet Shop, the Wallace Veterinary Centre or to one of the Steering Group – Jean Brown, Flora Cairnie, Erika Cunningham, Heather Fraser or Yvonne Taylor or phone 01241 854049 and arrangements will be made for collection.

 We will make arrangements for a substitute item of Green Dog Walkers merchandising to be issued in due course but our immediate priority is to ensure the safety of your dog(s).

 As you can imagine we are extremely disappointed about this but it is out with our control. We are still committed to promoting the Green Dog Walkers initiative.

 Thank you for your co-operation.

CITIZEN OF THE YEAR NOMINATIONS

 This year, Carnoustie Community has decided to standardise the nomination forms for Citizen and Junior Citizen of the Year. If you know of someone who you feel deserves the recognition of the Community, then please nominate them using the standard form. Your nominee’s achievements could be cultural, civic, sporting or charity-related, in fact anything that you think has been of good to the Town and community. Forms are also available at the Library, the Spar at the Cross and the Spar in the Barry Road and are available for download at the Our Carnoustie website and the Community Council website. Copies of the form should be sent or delivered to The Community Council, 38 Maule Street, Carnoustie DD7 7AP or e-mailed to carnoustiecc@carnoustiecommunitycouncil.org by Friday June 8^th 2012.

Entries will only be considered if made on the appropriate nomination form.

 CITIZEN

JUNIOR CITIZEN

Find out how to plant-up your own hanging basket

Carnoustie Community Council welcome you to a ‘Gardeners’ Question Time’ with renowned horticulturalist Austin Myers.

 At this free event, Austin Myers will host an open question and answer session, and give a practical planting demonstration on hanging baskets and container planting.

 Highlights of Austin’s career include working on a multiple medal winning garden at RHS Hampton Court Flower Show and winning ‘Best Live Stand’ at the BBC Gardeners’ World Exhibition for four consecutive years.

 The Gardeners Question Time event takes place at The Royal British Legion, Dundee Street, Carnoustie at 7pm on Monday 16^th April 2012.  All are welcome to attend.

 

Carnoustie Community Council were awarded a Bronze medal in the ‘Keep Scotland Beautiful’ awards last year and this year, hoping to build on that success, we are looking for businesses, groups or individuals who are interested in sponsoring a hanging basket in the town. If you are interested, or if you would like to discuss this further, please contact Ed Oswald (859876), Sue McMahon (852549) or Kirsty MacDonald (853584)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

First beach clean of the year

The Easter weekend holiday saw fewer than usual volunteers turn up at Carnoustie seafront for the first beach clean of the year. Those who did take part however had more than enough litter to collect! In addition to the usual flotsam and jetsom deposited on the beach by the tide, the volunteers had to contend with a large quantity of empty plastic bottles and drinks containers etc discarded in the dunes and grassed areas by some of our less responsible beach-users. Anyway – many thanks to all those who took part.

Goods news for Kinloch Centre Project Action Group

The Committee of the Kinloch Centre Action Group received good news this week when it was confirmed that they had received a Grant from the Lottery “Investing in Ideas ” fund to cover the costs of further research and study into the proof of need for the project and its widening remit .

“The Grant was applied for just before Christmas and we have had our fingers crossed since then” said Chairman Rodger Brunton. “We will be appointing a specialist Company to carry out this research on our behalf so that the next stage of Lottery Application can be made as fully as possible.  There are two stages to go with the Application and we have been told to make our next submission as good as we can.  There are about 90 applications refused for every one approved  so its vital to do all we can to impress and give them all the information they need.  There are lots of hoops to jump through to get the level of funding we need to make the Centre a reality.  This is just another one. It’s great to see the progress being made around our site with Angus Council’s Care Cluster buildings. We hope the Centre will be the Jewel in the Crown for the Kinloch Corner . “

Rodger and Alison Paget will stand-down from their positions as Chair and Vice-Chair at the forthcoming AGM to make way for ‘fresh faces’. They will however still remain very much involved with the Group as they strive towards their goal.

Rodger said, “I was glad to be able to give out some good news at my last Committee Meeting . There a long periods where there doesn’t seem to a lot happening , but the people of the Town should know that there are folk on the Committee giving a lot of their time beavering away for the good of the Town and for no personal gain . Thanks to them all for their help and perserverance over the past  years and with putting up with a Chairman with a wicked sense of humour “

CCAG remind everyone that The AGM takes place on Wednesday 28th March at 7pm in the Comrie. There will be an update on the Project and all those interested are very welcome to come along.

Work to start on footbridges later this month

A campaign by Carnoustie Community Council to improve and refurbish footbridges over the main Edinburgh – Aberdeen railway line in the town has finally borne fruit.

Network Rail and Angus Council have informed the community council that work is to commence later this month on two pedestrian footbridges which have been the subject of numerous complaints over the years.

Essential improvement works will be carried out by Network Rail on the footbridge linking Tayside Street and Ireland Street, involving repairing all metallic elements and replacing steelwork, panelling and non-slip surfaces.

Work will mainly be carried out overnight between 1am and 9am, apart from Friday nights, and will go on from February 18 to April 7.

 

 Repairs will also be carried out to the footbridge at Park Avenue.

 

In both cases, pedestrians will be prohibited from using the bridges while work goes on, but the Council point out that several alternative routes are available.

 

Commuinity councillor Ed Oswald, who has spear-headed the campaign, commented yesterday, ” I am delighted that after many years of campaigning by the community council, these overbridges are to be repaired and refurbished.  I appreciate there will be some disturbance over the nine weeks of night work, but the end result will be overbridges fit for the 21st century, appreciated by residents and visitors alike”.

Carnoustie marquee filling-up

Preparations are underway for the Carnoustie community involvement in this year’s Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Celebrations which will be held at Glamis Castle on Sunday May 20^th. Already, many groups and organisations have booked their place in the Carnoustie marquee which will be one of seven, representing each Burgh in Angus. Local community council organiser Sue McMahon said, “Hopefully, all local organisations have now been contacted, but if anyone has been missed and would like to take part or even requires further details about the event, then please get in touch”. A meeting to bring participants up-to-date with all the latest information and developments, has been organised for Wednesday 8^th February at 7.30pm in the Royal British Legion, Laurie Lounge. Sue went on, “We have had a very positive response so far from local groups and organisations and space in the marquee will be at a premium, so anyone who hasn’t already booked a place should do so as soon as possible. It is important that the community has as broad an input as possible into the set-up of YOUR marquee, so please come along to the meeting on Wednesday”.  Admission on the day is free and in addition to the tented village, there will be a series of events and entertainments taking place in the Castle grounds throughout the day. Sue can be contacted on 01241 852549 or suemcmahon88@hotmail.com    

New poster display for Carnoustie Railway Station

Posters celebrating Carnoustie’s rich heritage have gone on display at the local Railway Station courtesy of the Community Council. The latest addition to the station is part of ScotRail’s ‘adopt a station’ initiative which aims to put stations at the heart of local communities by encouraging various organisations to put forward proposals for enhancing their appearance. The community council arranged to have the posters, which were designed by Angus Council ahead of last year’s British Ladies Open, on permanent display at the station to complement the floral displays that the we have planted out and maintained for the past several years. Vice chairman Ed Oswald explained  “We were delighted to accept ScotRail’s offer to adopt the station with floral displays, and it made sense to expand our involvement by providing information on the town’s heritage so as to make new arrivals feel welcome in our midst.” 

Carnoustie, also known as ‘the Brighton of the North’ hosted The Open Championship in 1999 and again in 2007, when up to 40,000 spectators took advantage of ScotRail’s Golflink package to arrive by train.

In 2014, the nearby Barry Buddon Army training area will be the venue for the shooting events in the Commonwealth Games.