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Minutes of the Annual General Meeting
held on Monday 8th May 2006
Present: Councillors Chainey, Hall and Levitt, Porter,
Barwick-Bell, Davison, Drew, Hedley, Martin, Sayce, Wade, Warhurst-Walker.
Mrs M Williams, Clerk
Also present: District
Councillor Mrs A Dale, Mrs Betty Bouch, Reporter -
Hexham Courant.
1 Nomination of Chairman
The Clerk, Mrs Williams, invited nominations for Chairman. Councillor Drew
proposed and Councillor Martin seconded Councillor Mrs Sayce. Mrs Sayce was
duly elected as Chairman.
2 Election of Vice Chair
Mrs Martin proposed and Mrs Warhurst-Walker seconded Councillor Ian Hall
as Vice Chair. Mr Hall was therefore duly elected as Vice Chair.
3 Declarations of Interest - None
4 Apologies: County Councillor Ray Thompson
5 Public Participation
Mrs Dale advised that the Parish Council had been sent a letter on 13th July
2005 requesting comments on the Tynedale Sports & Open Space Strategy – Draft
Action Plan. She said that as Tynedale had received no comments by 16th September
2006, it had been assumed that Broomley & Stocksfield Parish council
had been happy with the proposals. She further intimated that once the development
at Broomley is completed Tynedale will enforce the Section 106 condition
that requires a play area to be built. The Clerk is to look into what response
was made to the letter of 13th July. Mrs Dale then left the meeting.
A further discussion ensued when it was agreed that there is a need to
establish
- what equipment is to be installed at Broomley and
- at what point the Parish Council becomes responsible
for this play area
- how much should be set aside for maintenance and what
contribution the District Council will make
- what guarantees there are that the play area will be
built to the required standards
Other areas of concern were:
- The condition of the pavements on Cade Hill Road
- Dangerous parking at Branch End combined with the speed
of the traffic – a
discussion ensued as to the possibility of volunteers operating some form
of traffic control or monitoring traffic. It was asked if the County would
be able to conduct traffic flow/speed monitoring. A letter is to be written
to the County stressing that in recent weeks there have been three accidents
at Branch End and stressing that with the improvements at Branch End Play
Area there will be a greater number of children using the facilities and
that this is causing concern to the Council. A copy of this letter is to
be sent to the police.
- Speeding at Guessburn
The whole problem of parking and speeding is to
be looked into by the Planning & Highways Group and they are asked to
report back to the July meeting.
Post Office Services – It was noted that there
was a petition in Branch End Post office against the ending of the Post Office
card system. It was also noted that 300 MPs had signed an Early Day Motion
against the ending of this service. It was however agreed that because of
the advance of technology and the fact that many people were used to having
their salaries paid direct to their bank accounts, and also because of the
increasing availability of cash machines, in due course the change to all
benefit payments being made direct to bank accounts would become inevitable.
6 Election of Advisory Groups and Council Representatives.
For details of all
appointments to advisory groups and other bodies, click the 'The Parish Council'
button.
It was agreed that the Groups need to consider succession planning so that
should there be a change of councillors in 2007, there is a continuity of
experience.
7 Finance
a. Responsible Financial Officer - It was agreed that the Responsible Financial
Officer would be the Clerk, Margaret Williams.
b. Internal Auditor - The appointment of Mr Peter Basnett as Internal
Auditor was agreed.
c. 05/06 Accounts – The unaudited Accounts
for 2005/06 had been tabled and were accepted.
8 Calendar for 2006-07
The Calendar for 2006/07 had been tabled and was accepted. It was agreed
that the Annual Parish Meeting would be held on 23rd April 2007.
Proposed
meeting dates for Advisory Groups had been tabled. This will be
re-circulated to Group Convenors for them to discuss with their members and
come back to the June meeting.
9 Management of land adjacent to Branch End Terrace
It was noted that during 2005/06 Broomley & Stocksfield Parish Council
has continued to maintain this site, keeping the grass cut and the planting
and shrubs cared for appropriately.
10 The Minutes of the meeting held on 3rd April
2006 were agreed with one minor amendment. (The word ‘gross’ is to be inserted on page
3 para. (c) following the figures of £20,000).
11 Matters Arising
Malcolm Chainey agreed to review the Handyman’s Contract for the July
meeting.
Tree Preservation – the question of requesting
a TPO on a tree near the Fords is to be pursued by Mrs Sayce. The owner of
the land on which the tree stands needs to be identified.
Kate’s Plain Working Group – the question
of who calls the next meeting is to be discussed with the Police.
BEPA Self closing gate – Councillors were
still not happy with the standard of work on this gate and Ann-May Pottage
(Tynedale) is to be asked for advice.
Multi-sports Area – Councillors expressed
concern at the condition of this facility and asked what should happen to
it in the short-term. It was agreed that David White (Tynedale) should be
asked to look at it and make a report on its condition. It was agreed that
the handyman be asked to try to clear the moss from the playing surface.
12
Brief Report on Annual Parish Meeting/Spring Clean Event
Annual Parish Meeting - Dr Maguire had made an interesting presentation to
a very well-attended meeting. It was thought that most of those attending
the meeting had come to hear Dr Maguire.
Spring Clean Event – Gratitude was expressed
to all those who had taken part in this event particularly the staff and
children of Broomley School and the Cubs (who had done a litter pick earlier
in the month). It was felt that in general there was less dog mess around.
However it was felt that New Ridley Road was an area of concern.
13 Finance
The Accounts for April were agreed.
14 Correspondence
Correspondence received had been listed on the Agenda. It was agreed that
non-urgent correspondence be transferred to the June agenda.
A letter had
been received from AMEC regarding Windfarms in Northumberland and it was
agreed that no action need be taken.
Tynedale Planning Training – a
request for feed back on the planning training session had been received
and it was agreed that individuals should return this.
NSP – a letter
had been received about “Belonging Communities” and
it was agreed that no comment would be made.
Office of the Deputy Prime Minister – a
letter had been received regarding bye-laws. Mrs Drew agreed to look at the
papers.
Tynedale – a letter had been received from Tynedale to attend
the State of the Area Debate – It was agreed to write to Tynedale requesting
that in future invitations of this type should be sent
earlier to allow councillors to arrange their diaries.
SCA Mill – correspondence
had been received regarding a planning application submitted by SCA. A response
had been sent to Tynedale and circulated to councillors. The response was
endorsed by the Parish Council. It was however agreed that Tynedale Environmental
Health would be asked how they would monitor emissions from the proposed
SCA stack and what re-assurances they can give to residents regarding any
such emissions. It was also asked if these emissions would fall within the
Air Quality Strategy. Mrs Drew, as a district councillor, agreed to take
this matter up with Environmental Health.
15 Brief Reports from Advisory Groups
and Council Representatives.
Reports had been circulated prior to the meeting.
General Purposes
Grants - It was agreed that grants should be paid to the following organisations
Vitalise (formerly Winged Fellowship Trust) £50
Northumberland Theatre Company £25
Lifespan £100
Great North Air Ambulance £100
NE43 News
It was agreed that a small group of councillors be appointed to discuss
- the policy on content
- the production arrangements, and
- the distribution system
for NE43 News, and make recommendations to the June meeting of the Council.
It was agreed that Mrs Sayce, Mr Porter, Mrs Barwick-Bell, Mrs Drew and the
Clerk should form this group.
It was agreed that the General Purposes Group would look at
- The future of the Youth Service
- The future of the Post Office
- The services offered by Hexham Hospital
and report back to the Council
Planning & Highways - the report had been tabled
and was accepted.
A response had been sent to Tynedale commenting on the Core Strategy Options
and this was tabled and accepted.
Play Facilities –
Branch End Play Area
It was agreed that the terms of the grant from SITA should be clarified.
Mrs Davison advised that £2000 was required to bring the fund up to
the point where the first part of the project could be set in motion. She
advised that a representative from Thompsons of Prudhoe had suggested that
the whole field could be levelled at a cost of £5000. It was felt that
it was difficult to envisage the outcome of such a proposal and that further
details would be required, including what effect this levelling would have
on existing equipment. Further advice is to be sought and more details obtained.
Mrs Davison had been contacted by the Baptist Minister
about what work could be done by their Outreach Team in the summer. It had
been suggested that some project might be undertaken in Branch End Play Area
(a sensory garden had been suggested) but it was acknowledged that this might
now be difficult in view of the above proposals and other sites for work
by the Outreach Team were suggested (Branch End Terrace Garden, Branch End
Garden or Kate’s Plain.)
Big Lottery Award – Mrs Davison and Mrs Sayce are to liaise to pursue
the suggestion that £50,000 Big Lottery funding might be forthcoming
from Tynedale for further improvements to Branch End play Area.
Mrs Davison that Kompan had taken a group of children and teenagers to
Newton Aycliffe to look at recently installed play equipment there. This
had been a very successful visit. Among the items seen were a mobile skate
facility. It was wondered if Tynedale had considered obtaining one of these
which could be used around the district.
17 Any Other Business
It was agreed that the June meeting of the Parish Council would start at
7.00 p.m. in order that as much business as possible could be completed.
Mrs Andrea Barker, a solicitor at Tynedale Council, is to address the meeting
on the introduction of byelaws.
Mrs Drew advised that a new road sign was needed at the junction of Apperley
Road/Painshawfield Road.
Date of Next Meeting: 5th June 2005 7.00 p.m.
The meeting closed at 10.15 p.m.
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