Howgate and Distington Partnership
To Members of the Steering Group
Steering Group Meeting
9th September 2014
Lowca Village Hall
Note of Meeting
Present:
John Bowman (Distington)
Alan Lawson (Moresby)
Frank Hollowell (Lowca)
Suzanne Cooper (Area Support CCC)
Josh Hartley (Locality Officer Copeland B C)
Sue Hayman (County Cllr Howgate)
Stan Peel (Parton)
Helen Conway (Moresby)
Mike Milner (Lowca)
Sarah Mitchell (Copeland B C)
Brian Ennis (Lowca)
Chris Shaw (Coordinator)
1. Apologies
Apologies were received from Nick Troughton (Moresby) Jackie Bowman (Distington) Christine Jones (Distington) Benny Quayle (Parton). Brian Dixon (Ward Cllr Distington)
2. Locality Officer The chairman welcomed Josh Hartley who had recently joined the district council as the locality officer for Whitehaven and for Howgate. Josh said he looked forward to working with the group and that he had previously worked for the National Grid on the North West Coastal Connection project.
3 Note of the last meeting This was agreed. Chris said there were two issues to pick up from that meeting
a) Copeland Dog Control Orders Chris said he had obtained maps of the areas in the four parishes where dog exclusion orders or dog on lead orders were in force and he had sent John the Distington maps and Frank the Lowca maps. He said that Gill McAllister who attended the last meeting had said that her team would place stencils in areas where the parish council believed would be most useful and asked that the parishes contact Gillian direct.
b) Distington Big Local Chris said he had recently spoken to David Smith who had told him the most recent newsletter was on their website. At a meeting held towards the end of August a board of directors had been formed replacing the steering group with Rhoda Robinson as chair and Mike Pitt as vice chair. He said that terms of reference had been agreed and a plan had been approved which was to be sent to the London office. Chris asked the group whether they wanted to be informed of progress in future given that this was a project which would not impact on the other parishes and in fact did not cover the whole of the Distington parish council boundary. It was agreed that we should monitor the project given that matters raised may involve those outside Distington with health and well being issues given as an example.
4.Copeland Partnership Meetings Chris said that at the last meeting the question of a note of the partnership meeting held at Cleator Moor on the 15th May 2014 was raised. Sarah said that she did not believe that there was a note of the meeting save for the press release but she would enquire. Sarah said that on the 1st August 2014 a partnership meeting focused on Place and People through Housing and Health topics. She said she thought that participants had received a note but that it had not been circulated further. She said that the 10 year strategy was still effective and work with the Local Enterprise Partnership continued.
5 Traffic and Highways Chris said representatives of all four parishes had attended a POPE presentation on the 16th July 2014. He had been told that the note of the meeting was in draft form and he said he would circulate it when it had been received. He said following the meeting he had contacted the highways agency and sent a copy of the note that the group had prepared in anticipation of a first year POPE. He said all the issues then raised were still relevant. The reply was an assurance that the group would be consulted in tandem with the county council over issues on the trunk road. He said the HA officer had indicated he was attempting to arrange a specific meeting about the problem at Parton Brow where it may be possible to site a central pedestrian island. Helen said that a meeting with Low Moresby residents about problems in and around the village had taken place with the county councillor and officers from the county highways team in attendance and a follow up meeting had been arranged for September 23rd 2014. Sue said options had been drawn up and the meeting would look at these together with associated costs. She said that she was progressing a proposal for an improved footpath near the school at Moresby which she hoped would obtain a place on the priority list for 2015/2016. She said that concern was expressed about poor driving on the old A595 and the county council had written to Stagecoach on the matter Brian raised an issue which had arisen at Lowca following the granting of planning permission for a number of dwellings
6. Coastal Path and Flooding John said that work on the interpretation boards for the coastal path continued and it was noted that two consultation events had been planned both on the 11th September 2014 at Parton Village Hall between 2pm and 3.00 pm and at Lowca school between 3.30 pm and 4.30 pm. Chris said themes in outline for each village had been circulated and an example of how they board may look was passed round. Brian said that Mercia Olivier from Lowca had been working closely with Diane Ward at the district council on this project and she was looking for funding to place public benches and picnic tables on the pathway. Chris said that a community emergency planning conference arranged by ACT (Action with communities in Cumbria) was to be held on the 9th October which parishes may find helpful.
7. National Grid Consultation Event and West Cumbria Water Resources Examination in Public. Chris said that most households in the area would have received a newsletter issued by the National Grid about the North West Coastal Connections project. The preferred route would cross parishes within the group and consultation events would be held through the autumn with drop ins at Workington on the 27th September 2014, at Whitehaven on the 4th October 2014 and at Distington on the 24th October 2014. Chris said a briefing meeting had been held for parishes and John said a briefing had been held for district councillors in both Copeland and Allerdale. Sue said that no such briefing had been arranged by the county council for elected members. Chris said that the West Cumbria water resources examination in public was to begin on the 16th September 2014 at the Washington Central Hotel Workington.
8 Neighbourhood Forums and Grants Panel Suzanne said that the next forum was provisionally fixed for the 18th November 2014 at Distington but no venue had been chosen. Topics to discuss were considered and depending on progress of the examination in chief United Utilities may be asked to talk about the domestic water problems in the area. Other topics were footway lighting and the elected mayor for Copeland. Suzanne said that the next grants panel was to be held on the 17th September 2014 and there were no applications from the Howgate group She said there remained £2459 .00 in the general fund and £8.67 in the 0 to 19 fund but the general fund was open to all ages. Sue said that this was the last year of the county councillor’s capital fund and she had allocated a final grant to the Lowca School.
9. Wind Turbine Applications. Chris said that current information was as below:
i). Land at Castlerigg Farm The planning inspector had granted the application but variations to the conditions were being sought by the developer which had not been considered yet by the Copeland planning panel
ii) Wind farm Moor House Farm near High Harrington Chris said that although this was an Allerdale matter Moresby parish had been consulted but would not respond. John said he did not believe that Distington Parish had received notification. Mike said he had not seen a letter in the Lowca papers he had received from the previous clerk.
10. Lengthsman. Chris said that although two parishes had withdrawn from the scheme there were two events which may interest all parishes He said that on the 22nd September 2014 an informal talk about invasive weeds was being given at Cleator Moor town council offices and on the 27th September 2014 a workshop had been organised at the Works for You offices on building your own garden planter. It was agreed that full details would be circulated.
12) Other issues
a Chris said in reply to a question about the Fairfield Wind Farm community pot that the developer would be making the next payment to the fund in June 2015
b) Lowca clerk’s contact details. Mike said that his e-mail address was
11 The date and place of the Next Meeting
The next meeting will take place at Distington on the 25th November 2014
Meeting ended 8.20 pm
J C S September 2014