178/2013-14
PATELEY BRIDGE TOWN COUNCIL
The Council Chamber, King Street
Pateley Bridge, HG3 5LE
Tel: 01423 755628 Email:
MINUTES OF THE MEETING HELD ON TUESDAY 02 DECEMBER 2014
Present:
Cllr M Holt (Chair)Cllr T Brown
Cllr C Hawkesworth
Cllr H Jefferson
Cllr J Leggett
County Cllr J Fort
Clerk: Mrs S Adamson / Cllr S Lumley
Cllr N Scott
Cllr C Skaife (Deputy Chair)
Cllr I Skaife
Cllr J Wardman
1 Apologies for absence: Cllr S Hesselden. Cllr Lumley had sent word that he might be late and arrived at 7.20 pm after Item 2.
2 Parishioners’ Representations: there were no representations.
3 Councillors’ Declarations of Interest and Consideration of Dispensations: CllrLumley, as a member of the Planning Referrals Committee at the District Council, would continue to take no part in discussions or voting on any planning applications. There were no applications for Dispensations.
4 Chairman’s Remarks: the Mayor reported on recent events including a very enjoyable fundraising evening for North Yorkshire West Girl Guides in the Council Chamber in Ripon; the annual ‘Friends and Neighbors’ Thanksgiving Dinner hosted by the Director of Menwith Hill, Ms Natalie Laing, where many local people had enjoyed hospitality, and giving him the opportunity to meet representatives of other local parishes; a wonderful Nidd Chorale concert at St Cuthbert’s including a contribution from the Middlesmoor and Lofthouse Brass Band which was celebrating its centenary. Sunday advent service at Ripon and a great evening chez the Dean on the Saturday who said he would like to visit Pateley Bridge.
5 Minutes of the Meeting held on the 18 November 2014: it was proposed, seconded and agreed by all that these were a true record of the proceedings and the Minutes were signed by the Mayor.
6 Matters Arising
(a) Min. 4: ‘Chain Clearance’ – update from HBC: following the complaint by some Bewerley Parish Councillors that the Mayor had worn his chains in their parish without asking permission, the Clerk had consulted the Mayor’s office in Harrogate for guidance: there is no reference in Shaw’s Civic Ceremonial to such a situation; the protocol is about a mayor visiting another mayor’s domain, when permission would be sought as a matter of courtesy, and would only be withheld if the visiting mayor intended to take part in a demonstration or cause civic unrest. The Clerk was asked to reply to Bewerley with this clarification of the facts, although there was a consensus that for the sake of good neighbourly relations, the Clerk should inform Bewerley Parish Council of any invitations issued to the Pateley Bridge Mayor by other bodies in their parish, or perhaps seek permission on an annual basis.
(b) Min. 6(b): Street Lighting – update from NYCC on ownership of street lamps: thelighting department at NYCC did not know anything about a transfer of responsibility for district and parish street lights to NYCC and said that any request for amalgamation would have to be a formal approach from Harrogate Borough Council and as far as they knew no approach had been received. The Clerk was asked to write to HBC and enquire as to what was happening, as the current duplication did not seem efficient, and at the Parish Consultation meeting in October, in a response to question from Pateley Bridge Town Council about this, HBC had said that negotiations between the county and the district councils over the transfer of responsibility had been held.
(c) Min. 6(f): bedding for wooden troughs in Southlands – update from the Clerk: HBC had suggested a scheme for the 12 troughs; the cost including supply and delivery of compost, euonymus, bellis, pansies and polyanthus, would be £226.66 which was well within the budget, the cost to be borne from remaining funds held by Pateley Bridge and Bewerley in Bloom. The plants and compost were to be delivered on Tuesday 9 December. It was hoped in the future to introduce a more permanent planting scheme.
7 County Matters
(a) Verge cutting: all Councillors had now had the opportunity to study the maps supplied by NYCC showing the junctions where they would continue to cut the verges, for safety reasons; this entailed a reduction from 380 sq metres to 19 sq metres, a substantial reduction. Cllr Fort said that this was an opportunity to examine other working patterns – for instance Darley Parish Council had agreed to cut their verges and would be paid by NYCC for cutting the bits that NYCC intended to continue to cut (although their reduction was significantly different from Pateley Bridge’s, where more roads were classified as ‘urban’); and also an opportunity to flag up any junctions which the Council considered should have been included.
After a short discussion it was agreed that the Council should monitor the situation for a year. Cllr Fort was asked to report to NYCC that the Council would like to have included the route of the ‘Way of the Roses’ from Wilsill to Smelthouses, and the T-junction where Wath Lane comes out onto the moors on the road to Kirby Malzeard.
(b) Flood Risk: Cllr Fort said that the town had a very good flood prevention scheme and it would be short-sighted not to maintain it, but he was afraid that the money wasn’t there for maintenance; there was a meeting of the Flood Board the following week and he would report back later.
(c) Cllr Fort said that there had been a big fanfare about the upgrading of the A1 in Yorkshire and the NE, which he welcomed, but it would mean that other roads would be deprived of funding.
8 District Matters
(a) Resurfacing work at Southlands car park: HBC had informed the Council only two days before this work was scheduled to start, involving a staged closure of the car park from 24 November to 13 December; although they recognised that this was not ideal, they had not wanted to leave it until later due to the greater risk of bad weather and they had also wanted to avoid the tourist season; however, following strong objections from the Pateley Bridge Chamber of Trade, HBC had agreed to postpone the work.
(b) Cllr Lumley confirmed that the biggest task facing the District Council was the ongoing revised Local Plan with the need to provide 12,000 new homes between now and 2030. A proposal for a completely new town was focused on transport corridors and transport links. As mentioned before, the lack of a suitable plan meant that developers had a good chance of having council decisions over-ruled if they went to appeal. Although Pateley Bridge’s location in the AONB meant that the town was protected to a certain extent, there would have to be extremely good reasons to turn down a planning application because of this circumstance.
9 Planning Matters
(a) Applications to Harrogate Borough Council
(i) DCPARISH 6.49.700.FUL. 14/04860/FUL. Erection of replacement external stairs at Hunters Cottage, Church Street, Pateley Bridge HG3 5LB for MrLEllington. No objections.
(b) Decisions by Harrogate Borough Council: none.
(c) Enforcement matters: none.
(d) Appeals: none.
10 Financial Matters
(a) Accounts for Payment: these were approved for payment with the following caveats: in the case of (v) this would only be paid when the work had been done; and as news of a non-consolidated payment in December for clerks employed under the terms of the model contract agreed by the National Joint Council for Local Government Services (NJC) had only been received after publication of the Agenda, the Clerk’s revised salary would have to be approved at the next meeting before running the December payroll:
(i) Clerk’s expenses: copy paper, travel, 2 copies of Museum publication and renewal of AVG antivirus licence: £97.06 inc VAT
(ii) Mayor’s travel expenses outside parish 1/05/14 to 30/09/14: £297.45.
(iii) Cllr I Skaife: reimbursement for weather-proof enclosure box for LED lights on tree at top of the High Street: £21.40 inc VAT.
(iv) HBC: bedding plants for 12 troughs in carpark: £271.99 inc delivery & VAT
(v) Electrician for installation of new light in bus shelter: £50
(vi) Clerk’s salary 30 December 2014, gross £581.22 Net £496.62
(b) Receipts
(i) Platt & Bajic: garage rental for November £31
Items 10 (c) and 10 (d) were reversed as (d) had an impact on (c)
(c) To discuss and approve revised budget and to set the Precept for 2015-16: the Finance Working Group had looked at the budget again and had been able to get the income and expenditure figures to almost balance, particularly in light of the Millennium Green’s withdrawal of its request for funding and the Council’s decision not to commit any expenditure to amenity verge cutting, in addition to the following considerations: the Clerk reported that although HBC were currently unwilling to confirm a figure for the Grounds Maintenance Grant, they had written at the start of the previous year to say that it would rise in line with inflation so a figure could be included for that; Cllr C Skaife confirmed that the In Bloom group were to disband (see Item 13(b) below) and the grant to them from the Council would come back to the Council in the form of expenditure on floral display; and the purchase of a community defibrillator, together with any other capital expenditure, would come out of the reserves. As the Government’s Council Tax Support Grant, which had supplemented the Precept for the last two years, had now been withdrawn, the Precept would have to rise to cover that annual loss of £1,190 resulting in a 9% increase in the Precept from £13,060 to £14,250. On this basis the Finance Working Group recommended adoption of the revised budget, and this proposed, seconded and agreed unanimously.
(d) To discuss the request from the Millennium Green Trust for financial support for the coming financial year, in the sum of £750: the request had been made as the Council had resolved to support the Trust from the Precept or the Council’s reserves, to cover the loss of income from the Duck Race. Cllr Leggett explained that the Finance Working Group had therefore included a line in the Budget for expenditure in the Millennium Green but had not designated any sum of money for the coming financial year as the bank balance at the start of 2015 would be £1,624 following expenditure in the current financial year of £860 including insurance, grasscutting and repairs to the BMX track. He proposed that the Trust should be asked to withdraw their request for funding and after a short discussion, this was agreed by all parties.
Cllr Fort left the meeting at this point.
11 Correspondence
(a) Acknowledgement from Julian Smith MP re. Council’s letter about delays in response times by the Ambulance Service: Julian Smith had replied to say that he would be taking up the issues raised with the Service and would report back in due course.
(b) Newsletter from the Upper Nidderdale Landscape Partnership: this news had already been covered in previous Minutes following the last board meeting.
(c) Email from Mrs L Tee, the Headteacher of Glasshouses School to thank the Council for their gift of a copy of Traces of Nidderdale in 40 years and 40 objects for the school library. Noted.
(d) Email from NVA enclosing design and text for the proposed credit stone for the Pillars Past sculptures, requesting comments: the Council wholehearted approved both the design and text and the Mayor asked that the question of illumination of the sculptures should return to the Agenda in the New Year. CllrLumley said that this had been part of the initial design and he believed that the wiring was already in place.
(e) Request from NYCC to publicise the use of the Mobile Library in Pateley Bridge: the new Supermobile Library visits Pateley Bridge (Showground carpark) once a fortnight on Saturdays between 10.00 am and 12 noon, for adults and children’s books in ordinary and large print, audio books and DVDs, and laptops are available for use with free internet access. Dates of forthcoming visits are available on the Supermobile library page on www.northyorks.gov.uk and the Council agreed that this should be publicised in the New Year newsletter.
(f) Waste & Recycling Collection Service: Schedule of Collections - Christmas 2014 to August 2015 – information from HBC who confirmed that all residents with bins would be provided with a bin sticker detailing the information, and residents on the black sack service would receive the information by post. Attention was drawn to the fact that some collections would be in advance of the normal collection day.
12 Play Area/Millennium Green: Cllr Scott said that there was nothing to report from the Millennium Green. Cllr Jefferson had carried out the inspection at the Play Area and emptied the bins. There were more mole hills, and she had had to tie up some netting on the goal posts which had been ripped. She said that the bins contained dog waste albeit in dog waste bags and it was agreed that this represented a very serious hazard to children and the Clerk was asked to order a health and safety notice to supplement the one that was already there, so that dog owners could not fail to be made aware that dogs were not allowed anywhere in the Play Area. Cllr Jefferson agreed to carry out the inspection in December.