Parish Council Minutes - October 2012

Minutes of the Threlkeld Parish Council Meeting held in the Village Hall on Tuesday 23^rd October at 7.30pm.

Present:  Cllr Carolyn Cripps chaired the meeting, with Cllr Guy Duxbury, Cllr Donald Angus, Cllr Gillian Winter, Cllr Tim Foster, Cllr Les Dalzell, Cllr Trevor Roberts, and Cllr Bert Richardson.

1. Apologies
   • Cllr Roger Bragg & Cllr David Huxley
2. Minutes
   • To authorise the Chairperson to sign the minutes of the Council meeting held on 22 September as a true record.  (Circulated prior to meeting).  Cllr Tim Foster requested that it was noted that the Blencathra Centre heavily subsidise the production of the Beneath Blencathra, and it is a cost to them.
3. Declarations of Interest

• Cllr Gillian Winter & Cllr Tim Foster – Correspondence – Alternative venue for Parish council meetings during the Village Hall Revitalisation works – both Councillors declared a non pecuniary interest in this item.  

4. Standing Orders
   • The Standing Orders, which Cllr Trevor Roberts had looked in to were discussed, as they had been distributed prior to the meeting.  This was proposed by Cllr Trevor Roberts, Seconded by Cllr Guy Duxbury, and unanimously voted for by the Parish Councillors to adopt these standards as those for Threlkeld Parish Council.  The Clerk distributed hard copies to all Parish Councillors.  
5. Code of conduct
   • The missing page from the Code of Conduct previously adopted was formally adopted.  This was proposed by Cllr Trevor Roberts, Seconded by Cllr Guy Duxbury, and unanimously voted for by the Parish Councillors.  The Clerk distributed the missing page to all Parish Councillors.
6. Members of Public to Speak if present
   • Mr T Singleton attended the meeting to discuss his recent planning application – the Parish Council explained that it was not the Parish Council who had “turned down” his planning application, and that due to their being no Parish Council meeting, the Parish Council’s views were not actually taken into consideration.
   • Mr T Singleton also asked about the recent vacancy, and the procedure of elections / co-opting a new Councillor
   • Cllr David Huxley had spoke to the Clerk and asked for the following to be reported on his behalf:
     • Garden Waste – Cllr David Huxley is looking at a couple of different options for a replacement service
       1. Green Wheelie Bins – Which are considerably more expensive than the Garden Skip Service which has up until recently the service supplied.
       2. A Garden Waste Skip, to be supplied and shards by Threlkeld, Mungrisdale and Greystoke.
       3. A grant for the cost of a “private contractor” to provide a Garden Skip – The Parish Council thought that this was not something which they would like the added responsibility of.
     • Footway Lighting – If anyone has any footway lighting issues, please report them to Cllr David Huxley
7. New Parish Councillor
   • The Parish Council welcomed Cllr Dot Benson to the Parish Council.  The Clerk passed on the relevant paperwork, which was duly completed. 
8. Cumbria Rural Housing Needs
   • Judith Derbyshire attended to discuss the Housing Needs Survey which was completed in February 2011.  There were various reports distributed to the Parish Councillors.  The Cumbria Choice lettings system was discussed, as well as the changes to the housing benefit system.  It was thought that a confidential “Surgery with Judith”  may be beneficial for residents of the village.  It was decided for the Clerk to place an item in the Beneath Blencathra advising the residents of this drop in surgery, requesting that if it was of interest to them to confidentially contact the Clerk, and if anyone responds, a Surgery will be arranged.  Te Clerk and Judith to write an article for the Beneath Blencathra regarding the above issues. 
9. Flooding & Emergency planning
   • The email received from Professor Hambery way discussed, and it was decided to respond with the suggested email from Cllr Tim Foster
   • Emergency Planning – the Clerk to research, and put on the February agenda.
10. Planning Committee
    • This item was discussed in conjunction with item 18.
    • The LDNPA report on the recent planning application was discussed, and the section regarding the Parish Council response.  The creation of a planning committee was discussed at great length, and the different ways in which this could be incorporated within the Parish Council.  After discussions it was decided that the best approach to planning applications would be to discuss them at the normal Parish Council meeting, and if any planning applications need to be responded to between meetings, then a special meeting be called for the sole purpose of the planning application be discussed.   Cllr Trevor Roberts proposed, and Cllrs Guy Duxbury and Donald Angus seconded, this was voted for unanimously.  
11. Notice Boards
    • The Clerk reported that the advice from LDNPA was that planning permission was not required for a Notice Board to be erected.  The Clerk asked what kind of notice board was required, and it was decided to send the tender to 3 local craftsmen.  The specification is:
      • Substantial
      • Lockable
      • Outward opening, with 2 doors
      • A Plaque or wording to the Notice Board stating Threlkeld Parish Council
      • To take advise from the craftsmen regarding the size and design of the notice board.
12. Website
    • The Clerk reported on the progress of this, and that if the outstanding subscriptions were not received before 31 October the adverts would be removed from the website. 
13. Parish Online Newsletter
    • The Clerk reported back on the Parish Online Newsletter, and it was decided to trial the service for 1 year.  This was Proposed by Cllr Tim Foster and Seconded by Cllr Trevor Roberts, and voted for unanimously. 
14. Eden Rivers Trust
    • Cllr Carolyn Cripps & Cllr Trevor Roberts reported back on the meeting with Eden Rivers Trust.  They reported that they are going to be “dredging” the river, so that it will hopefully revert back to its natural course. 
15. Plastics skip and garden waste skip
    • The Clerk reported that she had contacted the other contractor who provides the Garden Skip service, but he was unable to offer the service to Threlkeld, due to the distance.  See Item 6 regarding Cllr David Huxley’s report on Garden Waste.  It is important to note, that this service is not continuing due to the contractor not providing the service any more, NOT because of the Village Hall Revitalisation Scheme.  The Clerk to put an article in Beneath Blencathra stating this. 
    • Plastic Skip – Eden District Council emailed to say that they were looking at relocating the plastic skip to the recycling centre at the school and replacing the cage with similar containers to those already there. 
16. Ideas for School interaction within the Parish
    • Interaction between the school and the village was discussed, and Cllr Gillian Winter reported that this had been discussed at the recent meeting at the School, and it was suggested that the Willow Theatre be removed, and replaced with trellis,  and planters, so that the school children could grow plants, and maintain the area.  Cllr Gillian Winter Proposed, and Cllr Guy Duxbury Seconded the issue, it was voted for unanimously.   
17. LDNPA Parish Forum
    • The email from CALC was discussed about the next meeting of the LDNPA Parish Forum (Monday 29^th April), and decided to place it on the agenda  for January or February to discuss any issues that the Parish Council wish to be featured in the next plan.
18. LDNPA / CALC Planning Pow Wow
    • This item was discussed in conjunction with item 10
    • Cllr Tim Foster reported on the Planning Pow Wow which he attended with Cllr Trevor Roberts, the report is attached to the end of these minutes.
19. Parish Council representations on Government proposals for changes to the planning regime
    •  The email from Cllr Trevor Roberts was discussed, and he proposed that the Clerk write on behalf of the Parish Council to our MP, Rory Stewart, urging him to oppose the proposed changes to the planning regime, at least within the National Park.  This was seconded by Cllr Guy Duxbury, and vote for by all except Cllr Dot Benson.    
20. Precepts
    • A Dispensation Request was completed by all Parish Councillors, and the email from CALC was discussed.  The current budget figures were looked at, and the Clerk to provide a projected budget to the end of the financial year for the meeting in January, as the email from CALC advises January to discuss the Precept and finalise the Precept requirement.
21. Village Hall Revitalisation Scheme update
    • Cllr Trevor Roberts gave a brief update on the email report he had circulated prior to the meeting, attached to the end of these minutes. 
    • The Public Toilets were discussed, as it seems likely that they will need to be closed for either all or some of the duration for the village hall works, due to health & safety.  Cllr Trevor Roberts proposed that this be the case, and that the council write to EDC stating this and requesting that this not be used as an excuse to permanently close the facility.  This was seconded by Cllr Tim Foster, and voted for by all except Cllr Donald Angus and Cllr Les Dalzell,  Cllr Donald Angus proposed an alternative solution be sought, but no one seconded the motion. 
    • Cllr Trevor Roberts reported on the establishment of the Threlkeld Activities Association, and proposed that the Parish Council agree to a Parish Council nomination being part of its Committee, and that the person now nominated in this role be Nigel Matthews. This was seconded by Cllr Guy Duxbury and agreed unanimously
22. Finance
    • The audit results were discussed, and it was reported that the issue with the level of fidelity cover was a timing issue, rather than an issue which needed actioned 
    • Transactions

Please note monies received before / at meeting:

• Donation – £20.00
• Car Park Money - £135.15
• ** Please note £75 received for Website advertising since the meeting

22. Planning Applications & Permissions
    • None
23. Correspondence

• To note items of correspondence received since the last meeting if available
  • Correspondence between the Clerk and Threlkeld School regarding alternative meeting venue.  The School isn’t really suitable, due to no heating after 3, and not being able to use the toilet facilities.  The Council were asked for any other suggestions of alternative venues, Cllr Tim Foster offered the Blencathra Centre, free of charge, and Cllr Gillian Winter offered the Cricket Club, at £20 per meeting.  The pros and cons of each venue were discussed, and it was proposed by Cllr Donald Angus and seconded by Cllr Trevor Roberts, and voted unanimously to hold the Parish Council meetings at the Cricket Club.
• Letter off Mr Pickering – as this was received on the day of the meeting, it was decided to place on the next agenda, and sent a reply stating this, again inviting Mr Pickering to attend the meeting.

24. Reps. Reports
    • Cllr Trevor Roberts circulated a report from the Lake District Parishes meeting prior to the meeting, this was discussed, and is attached at the end of the minutes.
    • Cllr Carolyn Cripps reported that there had been quite a few local daytime break ins and it was decided to place an item in the Beneath Blencathra letting the residents of the village know of this, and to be vigilant. 
    • Remembrance Sunday – Cllr Carolyn Cripps discussed Memorial Sunday, and it was agreed that the Parish Council to pay for the Wreath, as previous.
25. Matters to be placed on the next agenda

• As above
• Footpaths
• Village Group
• Radioactive Waste

26. Date of the next meeting
    • The next Parish Council meeting will be held on Tuesday 20^th November 2012

The meeting was closed by the Chair – Cllr Carolyn Cripps at 10.30pm

Reports to be read in conjunction with the Parish Council Meeting Minutes from 23^rd October 2012

ITEM 18

LDNPA PARISHES PLANNING POW WOW A training event for local councils 18 October 2012 - Daffodil Hotel, Grasmere

Report  Tim Foster

Initially there was an overview and reminder of the statutory planning function of the LDNPA

and the Planning application process .

The event was well attended with a good spread of councillors with the notable exception of West Cumbria.

The afternoon was broken into a number of sessions :

Responses to planning applications - the ‘good, the bad and the ugly’.

• How do you make your responses count and who makes the decisions?

From Threlkeld perspective it needs to be more effective than it is now. The PC needs a coordinated response not ad hoc and the PC need to be able to respond to the LDNPA guidance. There is an example for Councillors to undertake on Tuesday – I will bring this along

The planning teams

            spatial planning and communities  development management (x 2)

            support team

            environment and heritage

The Development Control Committee

How to contact the LDNPA

           Planning process,Policy,Providing advice,Planning applications’How we make decisions, Appeals and Compliance

            This provided a lot of discussion and we are fortunate that we do have so many applications. There is some good practice in the CALC plan

Responses to planning applications

The CALC five point plan…

1. LDNPA give 28 days to reply to consultations

    (They usually agree!)

2. If LDNPA recommendation is contrary to the substantive views of parish we refer to committee

3. LDNPA invite parishes to committee site visits

4. Parish can speak at committee

5. LDNPA explain our reasons

• There was some debate about the lack of time and feedback-what is clear we need to speak with one approach How to make a good representation ?

Good response =

Support (+ reasons) if we are minded to approve, “the following conditions should be imposed”.

or Neutral

or Object (+reasons)

• Effective planning consultations, the future – electronic or paper?

From Threlkeld perspective should be electronic

Session two

Compliance - the new enforcement

• What it means and how we do it. Including the Parish role in breaches of planning control and compliance investigations.

Why is it important?

How does the national system work?

How do LDNPA do it?

What are the facts and figures?

Retrospective applications good or bad?

How LDNPA( and Parish Council  ?) do it?

• Complaint
• Investigation
• Site visit – establish facts
• Initial assessment – is it development? is it permitted? is it immune from action?

It is a breach, what are the options?

• Is it so harmful that enforcement action is necessary?
• Can it be remedied voluntarily?
• Is it acceptable on its planning merits?
• Is it expedient to close case?

 Compliance exercise- we commented on a Troutbeck case

We are lucky to have Trevor on our PC- all of the panel asked for his advice !

Session three

A glimpse into the crystal ball of housing in the National Park

      Impacts of Government policy on the planning system

National Planning Policy Framework

      National planning reform

      Housing – national

      Housing - local policy allocations and SPD?

 I note that Trevor has already sent some views on this for discussion on Tuesday

Session four   

Working together – to ensure effective development management

• Managing expectations (Parishes and LDNPA)

Lake District National Park Partnership

Distinctive Area working:

            Seeing is Believing Distinctive Area Parish Tours

            Communities Fund

            Projects

Supporting community and neighbourhood working and plans

Include community plans in our assessments

Attend parish council meetings

Parish update leaflet

Pilot pre-application forums

Recommendation :

Need to set up a Planning Committee of Parish Councillors 

Tim Foster

Parish Councillor

ITEM 21

VILLAGE HALL REVITALISATION UPDATE

We have had some additional confirmed funding offers which means we should be able to afford the project comfortably. All the planning is on target, although there are innumerable technical, legal and financial details to be sorted out. All is currently on target for the tenders to be invited in a few days time, and subject to the outcome of the tendering process we should be handing over the site to the contractors on 25 January 2013, with a scheduled 38 week contract period. The last date of operation of the Village Hall is 12 January 2013. There is a small possibility of some work being done in the car park before Christmas, to reroute electricity cables.

The Village Hall has contacted Eden DC regarding the plastics skip and the firm which provides the garden skip, saying that the site will no longer be available after the first week in November.

The Village Hall has informed Eden DC of the above dates and indicated that as the car park will be not open to the public during the contract period, the public toilets will need to be closed. This has been discussed with the Council previously and assurances given by them that any closure will be temporary, that there are no plans to discontinue the toilets (which has been a fear). Eden DC has asked the Village Hall Committee and the Parish Council to explore the possibilities for providing some temporary toilet provision in the village, perhaps on the pub car park. The Village Hall has asked the pubs to consider this. The Parish Council is now also asked to consider if there is any possibility of it arranging some temporary alternative provision. Generally my own feeling is that local people accept the need to close the toilets while work is in progress, so long as this is not used as an excuse to discontinue them permanently. If the Parish Council agrees with this assessment, then it would be useful to officially inform Eden DC of this.

THRELKELD COMMUNITY REGENERATION PROJECT

This is the Parish Council initiative linked to but separate from the Village Hall project, aimed at ensuring we make maximum use of the new facilities.

The first of the four organisations envisaged is now officially under way – the Threlkeld Activities Association, covering the wide range of community services and activities relating to adults and the community generally. Steps will be taken shortly to develop the other three – relating to Children/Parents; Young People; and Older People.

The new Threlkeld Activities Association has adopted a set of aims and rules. It is being taken forward by an Interim Committee chaired by Nigel Matthews. Another meeting of those most interested is scheduled for 7 November. The position will be formalised at a general public meeting on 28 November 2012. The rules include a provision that one Committee member be appointed by the Parish Council. The Parish Council is asked to agree to this arrangement (and to similar arrangements which may be set up by the other proposed organisations when they get under way). If this is accepted, it is recommended that the Parish Council’s representative be Nigel Matthews.

This initiative will be continuing and the community generally needs to be kept informed and involved. It is proposed that to assist this, each issue of Beneath Blencathra should include a centrefold supplement specifically relating to this project. The additional cost of doing this (estimated at £10 per issue), essentially printing and paper, can be added to the sums paid to the Field Studies Centre each month; this money will be covered from the Cumbria County Council grant already paid to the Parish Council for this initiative.

ITEM 25

LAKE DISTRICT PARISHES MEETING 8 OCTOBER 2012

I represented the Parish Council at the meeting of the Lake District Parishes in Patterdale on 8 October. The meeting was mainly devoted to issues raised by Parish Council representatives which affect the LDNPA. Main items of relevance to us include:

· A report from the Tourist Authority on the “Adventure Capital” promotion, which is being refocused to get away from the image which has developed of it being exclusively concerned with “adrenalin” activities. It is now concentrating on walking, climbing, cycling and water sports; increasing opportunities which attract the “dabbler” rather than just the dedicated enthusiast; improvements to the tourist “infrastructure” eg booking systems, transport; improved social inclusion, especially among younger people; more family friendly activities; individual challenge activities where people test themselves eg long distance walks; more use of the woodlands and forests; developing all year round activities; and exploiting the post Olympics atmosphere.

· The Paths for Communities scheme, which applies in the national parks, where a lot of potential grant money remains available for footpath related work

· The Parishes Tour (west side of Windermere) on 28 November

· The LDNPA is lobbying the Government to make the Lake District a pilot area for testing new planning controls on future second and holiday homes

· “Whole Valley Planning”, which seems to relate to our own current concerns about flooding and water management. Borrowdale is piloting this, I put in a low key bid for our area to be next.

· The need to lobby to prevent the proposed planning changes affecting extensions and relaxed provisions about affordable housing to apply in the national parks – see other agenda item.

· The LDNPA was pressed to become more committed to resisting the Nuclear Waste Disposal proposals. It was pointed out that it is having to take a very cautious line in its role as planning authority since it may well have to make decisions about planning applications, where strict planning rules apply. However, in its broader role as a National park authority, which it is pursuing via the Lake District Partnership (a body which seems to be quite important but of which we don’t know a great deal), it is able to be more forthright in defending the “Lake District Brad”. Since Threlkeld’s jobs, community and economy depend very heavily on the “brand”, this is something we should understand and maybe get more involved in.