Sustainable Cupar Update

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Sustainable Cupar hold their AGM this month and we are delighted to share this snapshot update from their latest newsletter …

In July 2020, we held our first Zoom AGM. As well as the necessary AGM formalities of appointing Trustees we made minor changes to our Constitution to validate our online meeting decisions. This year we go back to a spring AGM. It will still be via Zoom but we plan to include plenty of interest including hearing from the Chairman on our achievements over the past year.

We will also discuss the results of the online survey. What signals are our members sending on the actions that Sustainable Cupar should prioritise in the next 12 months?

Please consider putting yourselves forward as a Trustee to help shape our programme in 2021. Trustee meetings are four times a year which may shortly be back in person or maybe just in garden. Look out for the formal notice of the AGM in your mailbox by 3rd May.

Fruit & Blossom Group

Spring 2021 is emerging despite the hard winter we have just come through. The blossom on the fruit trees in the community orchard is looking good and we hope to have a bumper harvest this autumn. Winter has been difficult and different in many ways. FAB, like so many voluntary groups, has had to hold our meetings via Zoom. We have not been able to meet as a group for action days, but FAB volunteers have worked hard throughout the winter, working on their own or with their own household members.

Volunteers have done pruning in the orchards and the soft fruit cage. We have cleared the pond of weed and at the FAB meetings we have made plans for future projects, including tree planting along the river, controlling invasive species and supporting a local children’s nursery to re-wild their grounds. We are all looking forward to a time when we can meet together in the orchard. Meantime we meet virtually on Zoom on the 2nd Wednesday of the month at 7.30pm. Get more details from Sarah Davidson.

This summer many FAB volunteers will be ready to remove Himalayan Balsam from riverside and common hogweed from the orchard. We will campaign for less litter, plastic and dog fouling. In autumn we will work with the council to plant many trees in Cupar, but best of all we will enjoy this lovely place we live in and try to make it an even better town.

Members’ survey results

We recently carried out an internet survey of members’ ideas on the kind of areas Sustainable Cupar should get involved in. A summary of the results is shown in the table. A total of 18 people completed the survey. The first column of figures are percentages of those who agreed that we should address these issues and the second, the percentage of responders who offered to help. A total of 44% added other suggestions, but none of these featured more than once. As already mentioned, we will look at these in more detail at the AGM and decide our priorities for action for this coming year.

Cupar IF

Sustainable Cupar joined local groups and interested individuals in a Zoom meeting on 16 April 2021, and agreed to set up a group, provisionally called Cupar IF, to make sure local views are heard loud and clear if Persimmon go ahead with their proposed Cupar North plans.

Cupar IF is neither in favour of nor against this development. Its twin aims are to help Persimmon make this their flagship example of how to bolt a major development on to an existing historic small town, and to guarantee that local views are considered in making Cupar a successful 21st century market town. Many groups were represented at this first meeting, including The Association of Businesses in Cupar and District (ABCD), CuparNow, Cupar Heritage, Sustainable Cupar, Fruit and Blossom (FAB) group, and Cupar Development Trust.

You can read more via CuparNow’s Blog update.

 

Red Route

In recent weeks we have agreed the principal of buying a strip of land across the wards from the landowner. This will allow the proposed route design and our consultants’ pre-planning report to be completed and we have requested a meeting with key personnel at Fife Council (FC) to try to resolve the outstanding objection from the FC Flood Team. We are also looking for match funding sources (Sustrans currently fund 70% of construction phase) in advance of submitting a planning application and carrying out a community consultation in the coming weeks and months.

 

Need more?

You will find more information on Sustainable Cupar via their website. You can follow them on Facebook.

If you’d like to join or get involved in any of their projects as a volunteer, please drop them an email via this link.

Why not become a member? Please print, complete and return the membership form below to the given address or share with anyone you think might be interested.

 

Thanks for reading!