Minutes of the meeting held in the Public Room on Tuesday 26th June 2007.

Present: Carolyn Cripps chaired the meeting.
Other members present were G. Duxbury, D.Angus, T. Foster, J. Fleet, L. Dalzell and R. Bragg. Bill Sellers also attended the first part of the meeting as a member of the public.

Apologies of absence: were received from T. Roberts who was away on holiday. Declarations of interest: Tim Foster declared an interest in Skiddaw House.

Public Representations: Skiddaw House –Mr. Sellers spoke to the meeting and explained that the Skiddaw House Foundation is very keen to gain local approval for their project. It is being run as a hostel and is affiliated to the YHA. Martin Webster is the warden. Tim Foster clarified that the building is still in private ownership even though it has a franchise with the YHA. He felt that it is problematic to apply for public funds to use on a privately owned building. Mr. Sellers explained that the 10 year lease has a statutory right of renewal, although ultimately the building is owned by the farmer. The Parish Council are pleased to see the hostel being used again, but would not want to see any further development up there. The current situation is that visitors need to cycle or walk to Skiddaw House, and this is to remain the case. Mr. Sellers was thanked for his attendance.

Minutes of the previous meeting: these will be amended to read.. .” The Parish Council is the “custodian trustee “of the Public Room and as such they do not own the building.” Since the last meeting VAC has clarified that the public room committee are the legal owners of the building. These words will be removed from the minutes;” It was agreed to seek advice on gaining a valuation for the building and land which will be added to the Parish Councils list of assets.”

Village Notice boards – Donald has made temporary repairs to the board, however a new one will be needed soon.

Gate at Town Cross – The LDNPA and EDC do not have responsibility for this gate. A letter will be sent to CCC to see if it belongs to them.

Amey Mouchel – Have written confirming that they will return to the site to construct the pedestrian island and the right turn lane at the Castlerigg junction. The safety barrier has been entered into the “watchman process” and is being considered. They had also asked for comments on the work carried out at Scales. The form was returned commenting that the work was handled efficiently, but the road surface could be better.

Grass Cutting – The council have been cutting the grass at the junctions. However the 6 foot swathe is not sufficient for visibility and for accessibility to footpaths. They will be asked to return and cut a larger swathe.

Cumbria In Bloom – The judge this year is to be Stuart Fraser, and he will be in the village on Sunday 22nd July at 12.30pm.Les Dalzell will take the judge around with Tim Foster showing him some of the projects at the Blencathra Centre.

Kiln Howe Management Plan – The bid for funding from the Breathing Spaces Project was unsuccessful. The catch pit still needs to be cleaned out. This is very problematic because of the rules relating to river conservation. A letter will be sent to the environment agency at Penrith to see if this matter could be progressed. Some workshops for green space managers are being held in July, and it was suggested that these could be useful to find out about other possible sources of funding. Tim Foster suggested that Kiln Howe could form part of the bid for funding the village hall. This information will be passed on to Trevor and some members of the revitalization committee may want to attend. Tim Foster was thanked for his work in putting in the application.

New Code of Conduct – it was agreed to adopt the “Model Code of Conduct for Parish and Town Councils” contained in Statutory Instrument No.1159(2007) with the addition of paragraph 12(2)as the code of conduct which is expected of members and co-opted members of the authority with effect from September 25th 2007.Councillors will need to renew their registrations of interests and the clerk will need to publish a notice of adoption in the press.

Public Room Update –

The grant application for £5250 from” Awards For All” has
been successful .This will finance the feasibility study.

A separate bank account has been set up for the” Village Hall Revitalization Project”. There is still some confusion over who will keep the books for this project. Trevor will be consulted on this matter. At the moment the grant money is being held in the Parish Council account .This will be placed on the agenda for next month.

Cartmell Shepherd has been asked to clarify the extent of the land owned by the public room. The next meeting of the revitalization committee is to be on July 4th. There is to be a fund raising event by Keswick Theatre Group on July 5th.

Parish Councilors Tour – Donald, Les, Trevor Roberts, and Tim went on

this trip around parish land.

Land at Wescoe -

On the north side of the road this land is registered as village green, however it is unclear on the south side (which has a lot of machinery stored on it).

Newsham –The farm and surrounding land is on the map as village green. This will be checked firstly, with the village green registration office to see if it is a mistake.

Mill Bridge- The corner site just beyond the bridge could make a good picnic area. This is a very attractive wildlife area and something more could be made of it in the future.

Melbutts – the piece of grass which the Parish Council cut looks good, however the land around the old gas store is a mess. This is owned by Wilf Airey. Les Dalzell with have a word with him about it in the first place.

Guardhouse –Tile Kiln Field is owned by the Parish Council and is leased to Mr. Teasedale. Any rent paid for the field is given to the church, as this was stated in the original deeds. It was agreed to check the original document for the exact wording. A letter will be sent to Cartmell Shepherd asking them to check this.

Dickney – The LDNPA have not cut this area yet this year. In 2004 it was agreed that the Parish Council would pay them £100 towards maintaining the area. It was suggested that it might be better if the Parish Council took on the job of maintaining the car park, and placed an honesty box there to pay for the grass cutting. It was decided to put this on next month’s agenda for further discussion. In the mean time the clerk will ask Mr. Morrison how much he would charge to cut the area.

Finance:

Monies Received-

14.05.07 £10.00 – ground rent

14.05.07 £30.00 - ground rents

15.05.07 £479.06 HM Revenue & Customs – VAT refund

18.05.07 £10.00 - ground rent

18.05.07 £121 - Tile Kiln Field rent

4.06.07 £6.56 Barclays Bank -interest

8.06.07 £5,250 awards For All Grant for revitalisation project

15.06.07 £15.00 Adverts and donations -newsletter

Cheques Made Out –

26.06.07 £108.00 - village flowers

26.06.07 £80.00 - hedge cutting

26.06.07 £32.85 FSC - paper for leaflets

26.06.07 £20.00 Petty Cash

Village Hall Revitalisation Project –

Monies Received –

24.05.07 £120.00 Milestone Society

5.06.07 £2,000.00 Threlkeld sports pavilion

21.06.07 £104.00 Recipe book sales

Planning Applications –

Hill Cottage, Scales – extensions and alterations –permission has
been granted.

Peg acre – Replacement Porch permission has been granted.

Correspondence:

Keswick Community Board – Apologies will
be sent for this meeting.

CCC- Cumbria Rural Infrastructure Support Programme
(CRISP). This scheme is to encourage and support community led projects and offers substantial grants. The information will be passed on to Trevor Roberts, with the village hall project in mind.

VAC – 21st Century Village? An event at Redhills on 13th July. Tim Foster will be attending this from the FSC, but it would be good if anyone else is able to attend.

EDC- Information about home improvement grants. This will be put in the newsletter.

CALC- Appointment of Parish members to the LDNPA- Ms. J. Cooke has been recommended.

LDNPA – Site Visits for planning applications; parish councils will now be invited to attend these visits.

Mr. and Mrs. Smith had written asking that the roadside verges are respected this year, and that the wild flowers are allowed to grow.

Cumbria Police Authority – Eden Area Community Liaison Forum – meeting on July11th at 7pm, Penrith Rugby club.

School – Mrs. Horder has asked if the building contractors who will be working on the school in the summer holidays can put a small cabin beside the recycling bins on Jubilee Croft. There was no objection to this. It was also noted that the school have recently had an excellent Ofsted report and it was agreed to write to the staff and children
congratulating them on this.

EDC – Play partnership information. It was decided not to express an interest in the teenage shelters that they are offering.

Letters from year 2, 3, and4 children – These children had all been considering the good and bad points about living in Threlkeld. The points from their letters were summarised and some contained good suggestions and observations. It was clear from the letters that the new houses are very unpopular, also that the children feel there need to be more things to play on at the park. It was agreed that currently, the park is most suitable for younger children. A letter will be sent to the play partnership asking if there is any money available for buying play equipment for 7-11 year olds. A reply will be sent to the children, thanking them for their suggestions and comments.

To Circulate

CALC – County Circular

“One Council, One Vision, One Voice”- the case for a unitary Cumbria.

Friends of LDNPA -Picturing upland futures.

CALC – Latest position on unitary Cumbria proposal

Penine Playgrounds

Glasdon – information

CCC – Waste Prevention Fund

Department of Transport – road works leaflets

SMP Playgrounds

“Lite”- Lighting and Illumination catalogue.

Representatives Reports

Towngate Trust- The annual report has been circulated. The trust is looking to co-opt another trustee.

Public Room Committee- The village sports are to be held this Saturday.

Matters To Be Placed On the Next Agenda –

Street light at Fell side – This needs
a new pole, and has not been working for a long time.

Public Room - update

Dickney – Debate whether the Parish Council should take over the maintenance of this car park, and place an honesty box here, or whether the LDNPA should continue to maintain it.

There being no further business the meeting was declared closed at 9.40pm.