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Minutes of the Meeting held on Monday 7th January 2008
Present: Councillors Ian Hall, Pete Barrass, John Davison, Steve Gleadhill, Diane Hinchcliffe, Norman Hooks, Barbara Gravenor, Melna Martin, Dave Porter. Mrs M Williams, Clerk
Also present: County Councillor Ray Thompson (left early), Nine members of the public, A Hexham Courant Reporter, District Councillor Mrs Anne Dale (arrived late)
Apologies: Councillors Julia Sayce, Tracy Warhurst Walker, Lizzie Clerk. District Councillors Argent and Drew.
In the absence of the Chairman of the Council, Mrs Julia Sayce, the meeting was chaired by the Vice Chairman, Ian Hall.
07/78 Declarations of Interest –
Mr Hall declared and interest in the item on the planning application for a new scout hut.
Mr Hooks declared an interest in SICA.
07/79 Minutes
The Minutes of the meeting held on 3rd December 2007 were agreed with the addition of Messrs. Hooks and Gleadhill to para. 07/75d as willing to assist with discussions on planning applications.
07/80 Matters Arising
Welton Close – (Three of the members of the public present had concerns about the play space in Welton Close.) Mrs Dale had been asked to find out the status of this space but to date no meeting had been held. The feeling of those present was that ever since the estate had been built the area at the end of the Welton Close cul-de-sac had always been considered as a play space where children had been able to play safely and kick about a ball. Mrs Martin said that in the past she had requested a sign saying children play but that this had never been permitted. It was agreed that enquiries would be made as to the legal status of this area of land and to keep the residents informed on the outcome.
Re-cyling – it was reported that cardboard can be re-cycled in the skips at the Sportsfield.
Shooting in Broomley Woods – the Rights of Way Group is to look into the legislation and Ian Hall agreed to check with the police on this issue.
Correspondence with Branch End Surgery regarding a Patients Forum is to be deferred until the February meeting.
07/81 Provision of Primary Care in Northumberland
(5 members of the public present were concerned about this issue.) (Mrs Dale was currently attending a meeting at Hexham and putting questions to the Trust.)
There had been much debate in the press in recent weeks on this issue. An e-petition had been raised on the 10 Downing Street website. It was generally felt that responses direct to the Primary Care Trust would be most effective.
County Councillor Thompson said that there is a need to be definitive. He said there were two issues one was the national issue on GP's hours and the other the £14m deficit of the Northumberland Primary Care Trust. Mr Thompson said that the County Council had held meetings with the Care Trust and GP's representatives and hopes to hold a further meeting with the Scrutiny Committee. The general feeling is that GPs are not happy with the current proposals. There is a possibility that should be proposal go through then Branch End Surgery would not employ a new GP. Presentations made by GPs at the meeting had been first class. Mr Thompson said that in his view the problem had been generated by the Care Trust and not GPs and that therefore the remedy to resolve the deficit should come from the centre and not GPs. The cost of visiting a GP is far less than the cost of visiting a hospital.
Dr Cochrane said that he was concerns that GP services would be reduced and asked why the Strategic Health Authority had allowed the Care Trust to build up a a deficit.
Mrs Cochrane asked if it was possible to motivate residents on this subject – should there be a public meeting in Stocksfield.
Mr Thompson said that GPs have to acquiesce to the proposals by 21st January. He said that this should be a Northumberland issue and that some of the £14 m debt was owed to the County Council. In recent days the Prime Minister had said that GPs should be involved in more peripheral activities – however he queried how this could be achieved if funding to GPs was cut.
Mrs Cochrane asked if there was a political agenda to private GP services nationally.
Mr Hooks asked what was happening with GP services in rural communities in Wales and Scotland and stressed that Northumberland was the most rural county in Endland.
It was agreed that the draft letter to the Care Trust which had been tabled should be sent off. The focus of the letter should be the GP contracts. The £14m deficit is not the key issue.
It was further agreed to hold a public meeting before 21st January to which GPs from Branch End Surgery and representatives of the Care Trust would be invited. A draft resolution would be drawn up to form the basis of the discussions.
Mrs Dale arrived at this point and gave a brief resume of the Hexham meeting to the point when she left. She quoted the Price WaterhouseCooper report on the Care Trust. (This report is available on the internet). She said that the Care Trust had offered no evidence that GP contracts had revenue implications on the Care Trust's finances. She reported that the Care Trust had had no budgets for 05/06 or 06/07 and that they had been scored poorly by the auditors.
It was noted that the Care Trust was regulated by the Strategic Health Authority.
07/82 Planning Applications
Mrs Dale left the meeting while these issues were discussed
Scout Hut – Dave Porter outlined suggestions for a public meeting. Mrs Robson expressed the concerns of residents. She said that the were not against the proposals per se but were concerned about parking. Concern was expressed that the Scouts proposals might have impinged on the right of way and the Rifle Club property. Concern was expressed about parking for users of the new scout hut. It was felt that in general access to many of the facilities on Mount View Terrace and Guessburn was a problem. It was agreed to approve the proposals for the Scout Hut but to stress that there were major concerns about parking, access and additional traffic issues through Guessburn. It was agreed to arrange a meeting with the Scouts.
It was also agreed to write to the County and Tynedale expressing concern about the increased level of traffic through Mount View Terrace and Guessburn.
Branch House – The comments, regarding the planning application for apartments at Branch House, made by the planning group and circulated, were noted and accepted.
Whittonstall Windfarm – no further comment to make.
Hedley Windfarm – a scoping report had been received proposing a windfarm adjacent to Modigars Lane (three 100 m turbines plus two further 100 m turbines at Currock Hill) It was noted that there had been no technical data included in the report. It was agreed to send the letter which had been tabled to the consultants.
07/83 Traffic Calming Measures – Provision of Vehicle Activated Signs
Mr Barrass was thanked for the effort he had put into preparing his report on the matter which had been circulated. It was agreed to accept the report and suggested that funds for these signs might be available from the County Council.
Mr Barrass said that a full set of quotations for the provision of such signs had been received and he answered questions relating to the siting of the VACS.
Mrs Nicholson raised concerns about the speed of traffic down Birches Nook Bank and said that it was felt that traffic regularly exceeds the speed limit. She said that during the recent snow fall the roads had not been gritted and that she herself had spread grit at Merryshields.
It was noted that Broomley School Governors are to discuss traffic issues.
Mr Davison said that a letter had been written to the County on this issue.
Residents were encouraged to form an "action group" to discuss concerns about traffic through the village.
07/84 Public Participation
No other matters were raised by the public.
07/85 Correspondence
The Correspondence received had been listed on the agenda and was noted
07/86 Finance
The Accounts for December had been circulated and were approved.
Bank Reconciliation – The Bank Reconciliation Report had been circulated and was noted.
Spend v Budget – the report had been circulated and was noted. The Clerk explained the differences in budget v income/spend in relation to the BEPA Project.
Loan - a paper had been circulated proposing that Tynedale be asked to put in place facilities to cover a cash flow deficit of around £170,000 in order that payments could be made to suppliers of the BEPA and MUGA projects. This proposal was agreed to.
Additional Cheques – the following were agreed:
Neetfleet £487.50 - Handyman
B Stewart £80.00 - Handyman
Brambledown - £86,294.41 – MUGA project
Academy Geomatics Ltd - £611.00 – BEPA Entrance
Additional Cheques - Kompan £80,068.03 - BEPA Phase II
It was agreed that £5000 should be held back from Kompan until such time as the ground had been re-instated and the goal posts supplied.
Precept – It was agreed that the Precept for 2008/09 should b set at £51,800.
07/87 Brief Reports from Advisory Groups and Council Representatives
a) Local Government Re-organisation
Correspondence had been received on this matter over the past few weeks and this had been circulated. It was felt that the Eastern Parishes Forum might become the Belonging Communities Group for East Tynedale. A meeting is to be held in Hexham on 29th January to discuss this issue. Councillors, Porter, Hooks Hall and possibly Sayce will attend this meeting. Clarification is to be sought as to the relationship between neighbourhood communities and Belonging communities.
b) Sports Facility Group
Sportsfield Management - Agreement with Sportsfield users
MUGA - up-date -
Management and usage charges
These matters are deferred until the February meeting.
c) General Purposes Group
Grants to Scouts
SICA
Age Concern
Stocksfield Cricket Club
These matters are deferred until the February meeting.
Annual Parish Meeting – it was noted that Dr Maguire had verbally agreed to attend.
d) Policy Group
A consultation document had been received from the County Council on "Older People's Strategy". Councillors Martin, Hall and Gravenor are to draw up a response which should be with the Clerk by 1st February.
e) Parish plan
A paper had been circulated. The Terms of Reference for the Core Group were agreed. It was stressed that there was a need to involve as many residents as possible. The Group will report to the full Council Regularly.
f) Planning
The Planning Report had been circulated and was noted.
Tynedale Core Strategy. The Clerk had received a copy of this document. A CD is available on request from Tynedale containing the document, which is also available for download from the Tynedale website.
g) Transport & Highways
A response from the County to recent letters was awaited. A letter is to be written to the County regarding the recent accident at Merryshields.
h) Footpaths, Gardens & the Environment.
Nothing to report.
Mr Hooks advised that new members had joined the Rights of Way Group.
South Tyne Footpath – Mr Hooks advised that an agreement in principle had been received from SITA for this path. However, Allendale Estates no longer support the proposal and it was agreed to write to the Estate requesting a meeting.
Spring Clean – after some discussion it was agree to hold this event again this year and that instead of the Sportsfield the Car Park the skip would be located at SICA.
i) Play Facilities
It was noted that following the completion of the installation of Phase II of Branch End Play Area, the ground was still in a poor condition.
One of the benches had yet to be re-instated.
New entrance – the ground survey had been completed.
Kates Plain – A meeting is to be held with members of the original regeneration group to discuss what should be done with the tyre.
j) Sensory Garden – nothing to report.
k) Communication
NE43 News – it was proposed and agreed that future issues would be in full colour. The next issue will be published at the end of March and it was agreed that spare copies would be put in the shops, SICA and the Surgery.
07/88 Other business
Steve Gleadhill declared an interest and asked if enquires could be made as to what is happening with the roadway and development at Burnside.
Dave Porter said that the Eastern Parishes Forum meetings were held in different parishes and that it was the custom for the host parish to pay for the room hire. It was agreed in principle that when the Eastern Parishes held a meeting in Stocksfield, the Parish Council would foot the bill.
Dave Porter gave his apologies for the February meeting.
Clerk's Salary – The Clerk had requested a salary increase in line with the National Salary Award for Local Council Clerks and effective from 1st April 2007. It was agreed that the Clerk's salary backdated to 1st April 2007 would be £7452.15 p.a.
07/89 Date of Next Meeting - Parish Council 4th February 2008
The meeting closed at 10.15 p.m.
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