LOWER ALLITHWAITE PARISH COUNCIL
Minutes of the Meeting held in The Village Hall, Cartmel on Thursday, 14th October 2010.
PRESENT: Cllrs Huggett, (Chairman), Anderson, Bird, Bramwell, Derbyshire, Pascall, Shepherd, M Wilson, County Councillor R Wilson.
1. APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE Cllr Allen, Barker, Drinkall, Fearon, Unsworth, M E Wilson.
2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES AS CIRCULATED The Minutes of the Meeting held in The Village Hall, Cartmel on Thursday, 9th September 2010 and also of the Extra-Ordinary Meeting held on Thursday, 23rd September 2010 as circulated were approved with an addition to the report from Cllr Pascall “and runner-up” to be added after Silver Gilt received by Cumbria in Bloom. Proposed by Cllr Pascall, seconded by Cllr Shepherd and signed as a true record.
3. DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST in respect of items on Agenda. None.
4. PUBLIC PARTICIPATION IN RELATION TO ITEMS ON THE AGENDA None.
5. BUSINESS ARISING FROM MINUTES
i) Cartmel Food Market Feedback from first Market. The first market had been held on a warm sunny Friday, 17th September. There was a good turnout and traders reported they were happy with the trade. There was less impact on the traffic flow than when cars were parked. Only problem was trading over disabled marked bay – this had been pointed out and confirmation received that it would not happen again.
ii) Market Cross, The Square, Cartmel A quotation had been received from Andrew Irvine at Stonecraft Design, Bowness-on-Windermere. The work would include lightly tooling the weathered stone to remove any loose material so that the surface of the stone will weather better also treating entire cross with water seal for a total of £480.00 + VAT. The Chairman considered this proposed work should be submitted to Graham Darlington, South Lakeland District Council Conservation Officer and to English Heritage for their consideration. Cllr Huggett confirmed the Cross would look slightly different when done and would not last for that many years. He confirmed that Cartmel Village Society and Holker Estates had agreed to donate to the refurbishment. Proposed by Cllr Bramwell, seconded by Cllr Pascall that the quotation be accepted, Conservation Officer and English Heritage notified and after their approval to confirm the price to be an equal third share each Parish Council/Holker Estates/Village Society. Unanimous.
iii) Website for Parish Council The Allithwaite website was now up and running. www.allithwaite.com. The Clerk confirmed that there was still information regarding the organisations in Allithwaite to be added as these had been omitted. Cllr Huggett confirmed that the Minutes of the PC could not be opened up. Andrew Armitage to be notified.
iv) Parish Plan To receive recommendations from Working Party. The working party had met and a letter had been circulated to various representatives in the Parish inviting them to attend a meeting to be held on Tuesday, 26th October to progress the plan.
v) Provision of Allotments – Parish Council Field Progress report. The planning application for the formation of a parking area to serve the allotments had been approved. The access and visibility splay (5 metres back and lowering of the wall) should be implemented as per the amended plan submitted after the last Parish Council meeting. A meeting of the working party to mark out the allotments would need to take place and the County Council approved contractor, Peter Lambert, would be asked for a price for the installation of a new gate and new access (licence received from CC) for the Tenant to the field and alteration to the access for the allotments on Church Road. He would be asked to meet with Cllrs Huggett and Pascall.
vi) Parish Council Cottage No further progress. Bertie Wycherley would be providing a quotation for the work on the west gable and also for damp proofing. A quotation for his fee had also been requested. A copy of an advertising leaflet for a new type of low cost, low energy, high flexibility electric heating by Rointe – digital heating systems had been given to Mr Wycherley for him to make enquiries. Iain Withington, Development Plans Officer, Affordable Housing Officer Mr Withington enquired if he could come to talk to the Parish Council about affordable housing provision, land allocation and general housing issues. This was as a result of the Clerk requesting information about the type of heating in affordable homes. The January meeting had been suggested and this was agreed.
vii) Clerk’s Report The Clerk reported attending the welcome service for the new Vicar at Allithwaite Rev. Rob Jackson and the Chairman had attended the Licensing Service on behalf of the Parish Council. The Clerk had also arranged flowers in St Mary’s Church to represent the Parish Council for the Harvest service. County Councillor Report Cllr Rod Wilson confirmed that information regarding the cut in the government funding to the CC would be made known next week. He confirmed that grit bins previously ordered by the Parish Council would be supplied. A presentation hosted by the CC would be made at the Annual General Meeting of CALC regarding the Better Highway Initiative and the Highway Steward scheme. He confirmed that the money allocated for Environmental projects by the Local Area Partnership had been approved.
6. FINANCE
i) Parish Council Community a/c £2,052.90. Business Base Rate Tracker £19,442.05. Car Park Community Account £1,146.19. ii) Money Received Parkin & Jackson Memorial A Repton £157.00. Saunders & Son Burial of Ashes (E) DWM Burton £39.00. Parkin & Jackson additional inscription J Wood £36.00. Barclays Bank Interest PC £2.52.
iii) Cheques for Approval Clerk September Salary £378.00 + £16.64 Expenses. Broadband £17.99. Viking Direct (Stationery) £67.03 + £11.73 VAT. BDO Auditor £310.00 + £54.25 VAT. J Wright Grasscutting £114.00. Proposed by Cllr Pascall, seconded by Cllr Derbyshire that Finance be approved. Approval for Jon Wright to cut the inside of the hedge at the Cemetery was also given. Unanimous.
iv) Completion of Audit The completion of the Audit for the year ending 31st March 2010 had been confirmed by BDO LLP. Proposed by Cllr Shepherd, seconded by Cllr Bramwell that completion of the Audit is approved and accepted by the Council. Unanimous. The legal notices had been displayed for 14 days.
7. PLANNING
i) Consideration of relevant planning applications SL/2010/0662 Refused. 0719 Refused. 0798 Reservations expressed. 0775 Approved. 0865 Approved.
ii) Applications Approved by SLDC: Fire Exit Door The Pheasant Inn, Allithwaite. Detached Dwelling Weavers Cottage, Cartmel. Formation of Parking Area to serve Allotments Lower Allithwaite Parish Council.
iii) Applications Refused by SLDC Site Wardens Lodge, Blenkett Wood Lodge Park, Allithwaite.
iv) Applications Recommended for Approval by Parish Council Site Wardens Lodge, Blenkett Wood Lodge Park, Allithwaite (with condition).
v) Applications Recommended for Refusal by Parish Council None to Date.
8. CORRESPONDENCE
i) SLDC – Your Council Your Say What services are important to you and how should spending be prioritised? All Councillors had received the information regarding the first stage of the Consultation. The Chairman urged Councillors to respond to this or visit a roadshow. The Clerk was concerned at the very short notice for the most convenient roadshow at Kendal – to receive an email on the 6th for the roadshow in Kendal on the 9th was very, very short notice!!
ii) King George V Playing Field An email from Viv Tunnadine confirmed that a branch from the Spanish Chestnut tree overhanging the Rocking Horse had been removed by a local family with tree felling expertise. The Constitution changes, resulting in a large complex document which the Parish Council had notified concerns to the committee, would probably not now be needed as registered charity status would possibly not be pursued. A new version, for Parish Council comments, would be forwarded in the new year. Information had been received regarding the registration as a “King George” playing field. The information from NPFA Fields in Trust confirmed that they were the trustees of the King George’s Fields Foundation, the organisation that preserves the memorial to King George V. The Allithwaite playground was a celebration for the Jubilee and was obviously set up prior to the memorial. In the lease the playground was called “the Allithwaite Jubilee Play Field” and this discrepancy in the title of the land would be a concern of the charities commission. Mrs Tunnadine confirmed that the committee had decided to change the previous application for the “giggleswick” apparatus and now asked permission for the “Freckleton” instead. No objections were raised.
iii) CALC Electoral Review of Cumbria County Council CALC confirmed that information would shortly be received from the Boundary Commission about an electoral review of CCC. The review aims to make local elections fairer by ensuring that all County Councillors represent a similar number of people and that the Council has the right number of Councillors for effective representation. The Commission is asking first for views on the right number of Councillors needed to represent the County. Noted.
9. OTHER MATTERS
i) SLDC – Public Toilet Closures Once again SLDC confirmed that public conveniences were not a statutory provision and that in order to make efficiency savings many of the toilets in South Lakeland would be closed. Certain key public toilets would be retained but the remainder would be open to transfer to Parish Councils or other interested bodies to run. Cartmel toilets were included in the Category 2 plans – open to offers until 31st December 2010 but will cease to operate by 31st October 2010. Cllr Huggett had made representations on behalf of the Cartmel toilets to a SLDC scrutiny meeting held on 8th October. Following legal procedures of the District Council the above decisions would be discussed again at a full Council meeting which was being held tonight (14th Oct). The Clerk had previously notified Rachel Beadling of these proposed decisions and had asked to set up a meeting to discuss the possibility of Steeplechases taking over the complete cleaning of the toilets. Cllr Huggett and District Councillor Mary Wilson had arranged a date and time which would include Jonathan Garrett from Cartmel Racecourse and the Acting Chief Executive Lawrence Conway from SLDC. Unfortunately, a convenient time could not be arranged with all parties and this meeting had therefore not taken place. However, as the result of the full Council meeting taking place, no positive decision could be confirmed. This result would be known in time for a meeting which had been re-arranged for Thursday, 21st October 2010.
ii) Newsletter Edition 26 The Clerk asked for contributions to the Newsletter which could be published in November. Suggestions were made but the actual date for publication would depend on the results of several meetings would need to take place first.
10. QUESTIONS/ANSWERS/REPORTS/COMPLAINTS
Cllr Derbyshire Confirmed that scaffolding had now gone from the front of the Priory Hotel and would it be possible to have a white pedestrian walkway marked in this area as there was always lots of cars parked at this site. Cllr Rod Wilson to enquire.
Cllr Shepherd Reported that another area of verge had been sprayed from the Pastures corner to Templand Lane.
The Meeting closed at 8.57 pm and the Chairman thanked everyone for attending. The next meeting will be held in TheVillage Hall, Cartmel on Thursday, 11th November 2010.