|
Minutes of the Meeting held on Monday 3rd April 2006
Present: Councillors
Sayce, Barwick-Bell, Davison, Hall, Hedley, Martin, Porter, Wade.
Mrs M Williams, Clerk
Also present: District
Councillor Mrs A Dale County
Councillor Ray Thompson
Apologies: Councillors
Levitt, Chainey, Drew, Walker-Warhust District Councillor Mike Collins
Mrs
Sayce recorded the sudden death of a former Parish Councillor, Mrs Joyce
Dixon. It was noted that during her life she had made a
big contribution to life in the village and will be much missed.
05/100 Declarations
of Interest –
None
05/101 Minutes
The Minutes of 6th March 2006, were agreed with minor amendments.
05/102 Matters
Arising –
As Councillor Chainey was absent no report was available on the review of
the Handyman’s Contract.
20 hanging baskets had been ordered from Tynedale. County
Councillor Thompson had offered to erect these where required.
Mrs Sayce had
briefly discussed the trees at Branch End Play Area with Peter Askew.
County
Councillor Thompson advised that there was no progress on either the ownership
of the former Quoits Area or Birches Nook parking.
Burnside Yard – a
new plan had been received relating to the access to this site.
Broomley
Village – Mrs
Dale advised that the conditions of planning for this site are being looked
at. She believes that
the proposed play area on this site will be a public facility. She
has asked for the Section 106 agreement to be clarified. It was
felt that the Parish Council is “out of the loop” on this matter,
and that it would be helpful if it could be consulted with regard to Section
106 agreements in future.
05/103 Public Participation
Concern was expressed about vehicles parking too close to the junction of
New Ridley Road and Painshawfield Road.
County Councillor Thompson advised
that work is to be carried out on dropping some kerbs on New Ridley Road.
It
was reported that a tree near the fords needs attention – can
a Tree Preservation Order be put on this tree.
05/104 Correspondence
Correspondence received had been listed on the agenda and was noted.
Mrs
Dale left the meeting at this point.
05/105 Finance
The Finance Report for March had been circulated and was accepted.
Additional payments for the following were authorised:
Broomley School - £339.90 – provision of power to west end of
school for Christmas Tree
Burlinson Print - £155.10
Prudhoe Community Partnership - £8.00
Tynedale - Rates £250.27
Tynedale - Rates £508.78
Provision of power to the School for
the Christmas Tree – Mrs Sayce
explained the background to this expenditure and whilst the amount was felt
to be excessive, it was agreed that there was little that could be done about
it but that in future costs for this type of expenditure should be investigated
prior to the expenditure being undertaken.
Grants – A request
from Lifespan for funding was referred to the General Purposes Committee.
05/106
Brief Reports from Advisory Groups and Council Representatives
a) General
Purposes Group
Annual Parish Meeting – Dr Maguire has confirmed that he will
be present at the Annual Parish Meeting on 24th May. Members
were asked to encourage residents to attend.
Spring Clean – This will go ahead on 29th April. Councillors
were asked to encourage residents to participate. Disappointment
was expressed at the apparent lack of response from groups who had been contacted
regarding this event. It was agreed to display information about
the Parish Plan and Branch End Play Area regeneration. A
display will also be mounted at the Annual Parish Meeting.
Parish Plan – The event planned by the Community Council on 20th
March had been postponed. At a meeting of residents held on 29th
March only one member of the public had been present. However,
a number of apologies had been received. A summary of the meeting
was tabled. It was agreed that an invitation to the next meeting
would be sent to certain groups urging them to participate in the process. During
a similar exercise in the early 1970’s, four fifths of the population
had contributed to the debate, but it was recognised that many people nowadays
appear to be too busy working to participate in community life. It
was suggested that questionnaires might be placed on the Parish Website and
that neighbourhood meetings might be considered. One topic which
might be added to those suggested at the meeting on 29th March, was the provision
of a dentist in Stocksfield.
Code of Conduct for Kate’s Plain – there
has been no progress on this matter as Brian Wade (Prudhoe Community High School)
had been off sick. It was also noted that Jan Harrison and Vicki
Byrne (Northumbria Police) had been promoted to Police HQ. Concern
was expressed at the comments by Inspector Brayshaw in the Hexham Courant
recently. It was said that the comments appeared to be designed
to annoy residents.
The next meeting of the Kate’s Plain Working Group
should be held in May.
b) Footpaths & Environment
Group
The next meeting of the Footpaths Group is on 10th April.
A letter had been
received from Tynedale in response to a request for Tree Preservation Orders.
It was agreed that despite the comments in this letter the Parish Council
should continue to request TPOs when required.
It was agreed to request an
up-dated list of trees covered by TPOs.
Variation to Planning Permission Granted
to Ladywell – removal of
4 trees. Concern was expressed that felling these trees was not
necessary. Clarification of the granting of the planning permission
is to be sought from Tynedale. It was also suggested that as
these trees were now alleged to constitute a hedge then permission to fell
was not actually required. Clarification on this matter is also
to be sought.
c) Play Facilities
Group
The Play Facilities Report was tabled.
It was reported that notification of a grant of £20,000 (gross) towards
the cost of Branch End Play Area regeneration had been received from SITA.
Clarification is to be sought from SITA with regard to the VAT element of
expenditure. The BEPA project must be started this summer so that this grant
is not lost. Mr Hall is to speak to Mr Conley regarding earth moving.
BEPA
Self closing gate – concern was expressed at the unsatisfactory
nature of the work on this gate. Mr Hall offered to find out
why this work had not been finished.
It was noted that a Songs of Praise event
is to be held at BEPA on 22nd May.
Mrs Davison was thanked for the contribution
that she and her husband have made to the work of the Play Area Regeneration
Group.
d) Sports Facilities
Group
The next meeting of the Sports Facilities Group is to discuss:
Re-arranging
the football pitches on the eastern Sportsfield
Rent
levels for users of the facilities
Crowd
barriers for the football pitches
Multi Use Games Area – it was
noted that the regeneration group was not successful in obtaining a grant
from SITA for this project. Concern
was expressed at the deterioration of the existing facilities. Councillors
were asked to inspect the MUGA and make written proposals/comments on the
way forward.
Sportsfield Grass Cutting – it was agreed to accept
the County Council quote for this tender.
e) Planning & Highways
The Planning & Highways Report had been circulated. It was
agreed that there was a need to hold regular meetings of the Planning & Highways
Group. The Planning Group needs to meet urgently to look at Tynedale’s
Core Strategy document and the LAA documentation.
The recent Planning Training
morning had been felt to be successful and useful and underlined the importance
of having a Parish plan.Clarification is to be sought as to who is advised
directly when a planning application is sent out for consultation.
f) Communication
NE43 News was ready for distribution.
The website will 'go live' shortly
and then will be continually updated. Dave Porter was thanked for redesigning
and up-dating the website.
g) Council
Representatives
Mrs Martin had recently attended a meeting entitled “Ensuring a patient-led
NHS” and a summary of this meeting had been received and circulated
to Councillors. Mrs Martin said that some of those attending
had raised concerns, but she felt that the meeting had fulfilled the requirements
to consult with the public.
05/107 Other business
It was agreed
to send a Loyal Address to Her Majesty the Queen to mark her 80th birthday.
05/108
Date of Next Meeting
24th
April Annual Parish Meeting
8th May
Parish Council Annual General Meeting
The meeting closed at 9.45 p.m.
|
