MINUTES of the Meetingof SILKSTONE PARISH COUNCIL Held on Monday3 February14 at 6.45Pm

MINUTES of the MEETINGof SILKSTONE PARISH COUNCIL held on Monday3 February14 at 6.45pm at Silkstone Sports Pavilion.

PRESENT
Chairman:Cllr R Leech

Councillors:B Barkworth,R Brocklehurst, Mrs P Gallamore, P Handley, Mrs M Liddell, D Liddell,P Smith and R Stier.

In attendance: Ward Councillor R Barnard,2 residentsThe Clerk.

PUBLIC QUESTION TIME
A resident asked about the protection of Parish Council land assets and asked why the Council had in the past decided against protecting Parish land through fields in trust. The chairman advised that the Parish Council was not comfortable handing over land to fields in trust as this took control away from the Parish Council. Parish Land belongs to Parish residents and the Parish Council have a duty to residents to manage the land. The long term protection of the Stocks area is something the Parish Council will discuss with the new landlord of the Ring O’Bells once their refurbishment works are completed.

The ongoing attempts of the Parish Council to secure a transfer of Hall Royd Lane Wood from Barnsley MBC to the Parish Council will be taken up by Ward Councillor Barnard who will liaise with Andrew Frosdick on the matter.

Cllr Stier asked if Terry Daniel from Silkstone Common Good Companions could address Parish Council at their next meeting regarding the future of the Silkstone Common Good Companions. The Clerk will contact Terry Daniel with details of the meeting.

Cllr Stier asked Councillors to be aware that senior travel passes are not valid on trains leaving Silkstone Common train station after 9am (even if the train should have arrived before 9am).

Cllr Leech advised that despite numerous reports to Barnsley MBC about the blocked gullies on the A628 they are still blocked. Cllr Barnard agreed to speak to Highways about this as the A628 is a main road and if the weather turns icy the overflowing water from the gullies will become dangerously icy. Cllr Handley added that a large tree stump was left behind when a tree that had fallen into the A628 was removed. This is near Noblethorpe and is dangerously overhanging the pavement.

A resident asked if the Parish Council had any plans for the Tour De France weekend. Whilst the route does not directly affect the villages he wondered if the Parish had organised any cycling themed events. The Chairman advisedthat this was something that had not been considered by the Parish Council and advised that members would give this some thought.

Paul Denton from Silkstone Scouts asked if James Grove the scout going on to represent Silkstone at the World Scout Jamboree could come to address Council about the trip which is planned in 18 months time. This presentation would be in support of a grant application towards the cost of his trip. The Clerk will forward meeting date details to Paul Denton.

13-150 APOLOGIES - None
13-151DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST– None

13-152MINUTES

RESOLVED to approve the minutes of themeeting of Silkstone Parish Council on Monday 6 January 2014as a true and accurate record with the following amendments:

Under public question time the item should read ‘footpath’ not ‘arester bed’. The Chairman amended the minutes and signed them.

Matters arising:
pg 2 – Cllr Smith passed on details of a supplier of hopscotch style games for the war memorial area to the Clerk. Cllr Smith and Liddell will liaise regarding the design of the analamatic sundial and report back to the March 14 Parish Council meeting. Cllr Brocklehurst advised that a date for the school children of Silkstone and Silkstone Common to hold a memorial service at the War Memorial has been set for 11 July 14.

RESOLVEDto note the minutes and approve the policies of the Policy Committee meeting held on Monday 13 January 14.
RESOLVED to note the minutes of the Silkstone Playing Fields Committee meeting held on Monday 27January 14.

PLANNING

13-153 PLANNING APPLICATIONS FROM BARNSLEY METROPOLITAN BOROUGH COUNCIL (BARNSLEY MBC)

RESOLVED to approve the comments on the following planning applications, the Clerk will advise the planning officers of Barnsley MBC.

Cllr Barkworth advised that a further application for the Parish is on the Barnsley MBC planning explorer but not yet received by the Parish Council for consultation (post meeting note – this application was posted to the Parish Council on 3 February 14 by the planning officer)

2014/0106 1 Hall Royd Walk, Silkstone Common - Change of use from Commercial Electricity sub-station to domestic residential. Parish Council considered this application and agreed ‘No comment’. As soon as Barnsley MBC consults the Parish Council on this application, the Clerk will return this as the Parish Council’s comment.

ENVIRONMENT

13-154 CRIME & SAFETY SUB GROUP MEETING

RESOLVED to note that Cllr Stier had attended the Crime & Safety Sub group meeting on 22 January 14. He reported that there had been little crime reported in Silkstone or Silkstone Common. One patrol car covers Penistone East & West and the Sub group requested that the Parish Council write to the Police & Crime Commissioner to express their concern about this minimal cover.

13-155 SILKSTONE LODGE TREES UPDATE

RESOLVED to suspend standing orders to allow a resident to address members

Following the resident’s comments relating to the protection of trees in Tanyard Wood, adjacent to Silkstone Lodge, the Chairman acknowledged that there had been a lot of rumours and speculation in the village and the Parish Council has endeavoured to obtain the facts.

RESOLVED to reinstate standing orders.

RESOLVED to note advice from Barnsley MBC planning department that there is no planning application submitted for the Silkstone Lodge site. The woodland is not currently protected by any TPO’s. The woodland is privately owned by the Lodge. The tree officer has visited the site on two occasions and is liaising with the forestry commission regarding felling licences.

RESOLVED to note that Yorkshire Water are carrying out work at the back of Silkstone Lodge which is understood to be works to a water main between Silkstone and Hoylandswaine – no formal notification of this work has been received by the Parish Council.

13-156 WOODLANDS INSPECTION
RESOLVED to note the Clerk’s summary of Profell’s Woodlands Inspection and Cllr Stier’s inspection notes.

RESOLVED that an order be placed with Profell to fell the trees highlighted as a high priority in Orchard Wood (Fell one chestnut tree next to school fence, remove very high level oak tree branch overhanging footpath and fell one Beech tree at rear of 35 Woodland Rise) total £950.00 (£107 left in woodlands budget so remainder to be met from reserves). The Clerk will also prioritise the remaining suggested tree work and identify which work can be completed by the handyman/Profell.

13-157 VILLAGE CHRISTMAS TREES

RESOLVED to suspend standing orders to allow Paul Denton to address members.

Paul Denton advised that it is possible to connect an electricity supply for Christmas trees from street lights. He also suggested that local businesses could be contacted to sponsor a tree on their premises.

RESOLVED that the Clerk will contact Barnsley MBC Highways department regarding licences for the siting of a manhole pit for a Christmas tree in Silkstone at The Cross and Silkstone Common at The Roses. A price for an electricity supply to the manholes and brackets for the trees will be obtained. Clerk will provide a summary of costs to the next Parish Council meeting.

13-158 COMMUNITY CENTRE
RESOLVED to note that planning permission has been granted for the proposed community centre. A copy of the planning conditions has been forwarded to the Project Manager and a Community Centre Committee meeting arranged for 11 February 14.

RESOLVED to note Cllr Stier’s comments relating to surface water drainage of the new site and to ask the Project Manager to consider obtaining a licence to discharge surface water into the beck.

RESOLVED to note that Paul Denton has had advice from a colleague at Barnsley MBC that a possible way forward regarding the site investigations for coal working is to include a raft foundation in the design of the building; again this will be discussed with the project manager.

RESOLVED to note that Paul Denton advised that the remaining ‘insurance’ funds from the Silkstone Common Recreation Ground have been earmarked for payment to the Parish Council for use on a community facility such as the proposed community centre. The Clerk will seek confirmation of this from Barnsley MBC Parks department as no contact has been made with the Parish Council regarding this.

RESOLVED to reinstate standing orders.

13-159 SILKSTONE RECREATION GROUND

a)Rock in the Rec

RESOLVED to note that a Rock in the Rec meeting was held on 21 January 14 with representatives from the Parish Council, SUFC (Rock in the Rec organisers), Police and Co-op. The meeting was productive and led to a commitment from the Co-op to have extra staff working on the evening of the event and from the Police to be on-site between 8pm and 11pm.

b)Water ingress

RESOLVED to note that a significant amount of water found its way into the ground floor of the Pavilion on two separate occasions in January 14. The Clerk took advice from the Parish Council insurance broker and the loss adjuster involved in the previous claim. The loss adjuster advised that a new claim be made and that the Clerk go ahead and organise a building survey of the ground floor. Following consultation with the Chairman and Vice Chairman the Clerk placed an order with Chris Waters of LHL Group at a cost of £90 per hour to carry out a visual inspection and provide a report. This report will be forwarded to the loss adjuster who will advise on the way forward.

c)Health & Safety – Nothing further to report.

FINANCE

13-160 BANK RECONCILIATION

RESOLVED to approve the Bank Reconciliation for the period 1 October to 31 December 13.

13-161 BUDGET MONITOR

RESOLVED to approve the Budget monitor for the period 1 October to 31 December 13.

13-162 INVOICES FOR PAYMENT

RESOLVED to approve the invoices for payment schedule dated 6 January 14. Payments listed below. Full details available from the Clerk on request.

RESOLVED to note that the third quarter VAT reclaim has been submitted to HMRC totalling £2,396.59.
13-163 MEETINGS

RESOLVED to note Councillor Meeting’s attendance as follows:

13-164 CORRESPONDENCE FOR NOTE

RESOLVED to note the following correspondence:

13-165 DATE OF NEXT MEETING

RESOLVED to note that the next meeting of Silkstone Parish Council will be on Monday 3 March 14 at 6.45pm at Silkstone Sports Pavilion.

The Chairman closed the meeting at 8.54 pm

Silkstone Parish Council 3 February 14