Councillors: J Charlesworth, Mrs P Gallamore, P Smith and R Stier

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MINUTES of theMEETING of SILKSTONE PARISH COUNCIL held on Monday 7 December2009at 6.45pm at Silkstone Primary School.

PRESENT

Chairman: Cllr D Liddell

Councillors: J Charlesworth, Mrs P Gallamore, P Smith and R Stier.

In attendance:1 Member of the Public,Lauren Simmons – Youth participation worker Barnsley MBC and the Parish Clerk

PUBLIC QUESTION TIME

A resident reported that hedges are growing into the pavement at the top of Cone Lane and covering a fire hydrant sign. Also hedges overgrown at the exit to the Silkstone Garage on Noblethorpe Lane restricting the view for cars emerging from the garage. Also pyracantha at 5 South Yorkshire Buildings needs cutting back.

Cllr Charlesworth reported that the sewer pipe at the side of the wagon way adjacent to the replica rails is overflowing when there is a heavy rain fall. The Clerk will contact S.Ford at Barnsley MBC/Yorkshire Water as required.

09-125APOLOGIES

RESOLVED to accept apologies from Cllr’s Bower and Handley who are ill, Cllr Leech who is away on business and Cllr Brocklehurst who has family commitments.

09-126DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

RESOLVED to note Cllr Stier’s declaration of a personal interest in the payment to the Handyman under agenda item 12.

09-127 MUGA UPDATE

The Chairman invitedLauren Simmonsto update the Parish Council on the progress of the MUGA funding bid. She advised that she is now progressing with the second stage of the funding bid. Letters of support have been obtained from the scouts, brownies, primary schools, SNT and Parish Council.

Lauren asked if the Parish Council would be able to hold the funds for the project. The Clerk had already sought advice from the Yorkshire Local Councils Association on this issue and had not yet received a response. Following advice from the YLCA the Clerk will speak to Lauren to advise whether the funds can be held by the Parish Council. If not it may be possible for the Millennium Committee bank account to hold the funds. It is anticipated that the second stage funding bid will be completed by Christmas.

The Clerk handed Lauren a copy of the Parish Council’s insurance policy for use with the funding bid.

The Chairman raised the subject of a fitness trail and asked Lauren’s opinion regarding the suitability of fitness trail equipment. Lauren felt that a fitness trail would be well received in either of

the villages. The Clerk advised that Martin Fensome of Barnsley MBC had advised against a trim trail on the Silkstone Common Recreation Ground. It was agreed that further investigation in to a suitable site, costing and potential funders would be carried out in the New Year.

Lauren advised that she would be leaving her current role in the New Year and Emma Baines will be taking over. The Chairman thanked Lauren for her work with the young people from Silkstone and wished her well in her new role.

09-128 MINUTES

Silkstone Parish Council - RESOLVED to approve the minutes of the Parish Council meeting held on Tuesday 3 November 2009 as a true and accurate record. The Chairman signed the minutes.

RESOLVED to note the content of the Resolutions schedule.

FURTHER RESOLVED to note that the Roggins group have agreed to progress the information board for the PALS stone at the Silverwood Scout Camp and have advised that they will be able to fund the board from the remains of the money in the Boundary stones group bank account.

Silkstone Playing Fields Working Party – RESOLVED to note the minutes of the Silkstone Playing Fields Working Party held on 16 November 2009 and to note that Cllr Stier was present at the meeting although his name is missing from the attendees list.

PLANNING

09-129 PLANNING APPLICATIONS FROM BARNSLEY METROPOLITAN BOROUGH COUNCIL (BMBC)

RESOLVEDthat Silkstone Parish Council will register the following comments on planning applications:

2009/1441 / 15 Whinmoor Drive, Silkstone S75 4NR
Erection of first floor side/front extension to dwelling and new lean to roof to existing rear single storey extension. / No comment

POLICY

09-130STANDING ORDERS

RESOLVED to approve the amended page of the Standing Orders which reflects the change in Parish Council meeting days i.e Mondays when the meeting is held at Silkstone Primary School and Tuesday’s when the meeting is held at Silkstone Common Methodist Chapel.

FURTHER RESOLVED that the clause relating to smoking be removed from the standing orders.

09-131 SILKSTONE HERITAGE GROUP

RESOLVED to appoint Cllr Charlesworth as the link councillor for the Silkstone Heritage Group.

09-132 QUALITY COUNCIL STATUS

RESOLVED to note that the Parish Council has not yet been advised if they have been successful with their Quality Status Application.

09-133 PARISH PLAN ACTION PLAN

Cllr Gallamore advised that the Parish Plan group meet annually to update the action plan.

RESOLVED to note that a new Parish Plan will be produced in 2014 and that the Parish Design Statement will be reviewed prior to Barnsley MBC’s Local Development Framework superseding the current Unitary Development Plan.

RESOLVED to approve the updated Parish Plan Action Plan.

09-134 RETENTION AND DESTRUCTION SCHEDULE

RESOLVED to approve the retention and destruction schedule.

FINANCE

09-135 DRAFT BUDGET 2010/2011

RESOLVED that since only 5 out of the 9 Councillors present at this meeting, the draft budget will go on to the January 2010 agenda for approval.

09-136INVOICES FOR PAYMENT

RESOLVED to approve the invoices for payment schedule dated 7 December 2009 in the sum of £3,360.93.

ENVIRONMENT

09-137CRIME FIGURES

RESOLVED to note the following Crime Figures :

Silkstone / Silkstone Common
August / 7 / 3
September / 5 / 2
October / 4 / 3

09-138 HIGHWAYS

RESOLVED to note the correspondence from Barnsley MBC as follows :

Ben Bank Rd Pedestrian Crossing / BMBC advise that a Pelican crossing costs in the region of £60,000. Strict national criteria apply for such crossings and nowhere in Silkstone Common would comply with these requirements. Also any crossing must be located at least 20 metres from any junction and so it would not be possible to site a crossing in a convenient location for crossing children en route to school.
Ben Bank Road traffic calming / BMBC have advised that neither BMBC nor the police would support a traffic calming scheme on Ben Bank Road. Data is used to assess suitability of roads for traffic calming. Ben Bank Rd has had no collisions recorded over the last 4 years that would have been resolved by traffic calming. Speed survey carried out over 10 day period with mean speed out of the village 29mph and into the village 31 mph. BMBC regularly receive requests to remove the existing scheme.
South Yorkshire Buildings / Once the work had started on improvements to the road surface around SY Buildings a resident contacted BMBC and asked them to stop work. As this is a private road BMBC cannot carry out work if a resident objects. Cllr Stier will meet with BMBC engineers and residents to try to resolve this issue so that the work can be completed. (Post meeting note – the resident who objected to this work has now retracted his objection and the safety works to the road should be completed before Christmas Clerk - 101209)
Waggonway / The Clerk will chase a response to this query relating to the potholes that have reappeared in the Waggonway.

RESOLVED that the Parish Council will not pursue their idea of seeking funding for a pedestrian crossing and traffic calming scheme on Ben Bank Road.

09-139 SILKSTONE COMMON RECREATION GROUND (SCRG)

RESOLVED to note that the SCRG works have been delayed since Barnsley MBC stand by their decision that the work should be classed as capital works; and therefore requires a report to BMBC Cabinet to obtain approval to proceed.

09-140 SILKSTONE RECREATION GROUND

The Clerk reported that a solicitors letter had been received relating to a personal accident on the Silkstone Recreation Ground football field in November 2007.

RESOLVED to note that the matter is now in the hands of the Parish Council’s insurers from 2007.

Cllr Stier updated members on recent issues at the Pavilion including that HiTek have visited the pavilion a few times to repair the emergency lights in the garage, the disabled toilet alarm and a repair to a fire exit sign is in hand. It was also noted that the cricket scoreboard area has once again been infested with flies.

ADDITIONAL ITEMS

09-141MEETINGS

Councillors reported their attendance at the following meetings:

Cllr Smith / Rural Action Yorkshire (RAY) AGM – noted that there are now 3 South Yorkshire Reps on RAY
Cllr Charlesworth / Scout hut meeting – a new working party has been created to progress funding applications for the new community building.
Cllr Stier / Penistone Paramount meeting
Cllr Liddell / National Village Halls Forum meeting and NALC committee meeting
Mrs Canadine / Paper Chase conference in York

RESOLVEDto note that Cllr Liddell will be attending the Finance & General Purposes meeting of YLCA and the NALC council meeting during December 2009.

09-142CORRESPONDENCE FOR NOTE

RESOLVED to note the following correspondence

Roggins Group / Advising that they will progress the information board for the PALS stone and will fund from the Boundary stones group bank account.
Barnsley MBC / Register of electors and list of new parliamentary constituency areas. Silkstone & Silkstone Common will be covered by Penistone and Stocksbrige constituency and come under Sheffield City Council’s elections office.
Barnsley MBC – Ian Turner / Information relating to funding for new IT equipment. Information relating to maintenance of war memorials and details of the next Parish Liaison meeting.
Penistone Town Council / Invitation to Civic Carol Service – Cllr Stier will attend
Barnsley MBC Mayors Office / Invitation to Civic Caroil Service – The Clerk will ask Cllr Bower if he would like to attend.
Francoise Raffin – St Florent / Twinning dates for next year – Clerk will find out if the dates have been agreed.
Barnsley Link / Annual Report

09-143DATE OF NEXT MEETING

RESOLVED to note that the next meeting of Silkstone Parish Council will be on Tuesday 5 January 2010at 6.45pm at Silkstone Common Methodist Chapel.

The Chairman thanked all those present for attending and wished everyone a Happy Christmas and New Year.

The Chairman closed the meeting at 8.27pm

Chairman’s Signature / Date

SPC Minutes 7 December09