Minutes of the Meeting held on Monday 11th May 2009

Present: Councillors Dave Porter, Pete Barrass, John Davison, Norman Hooks, Dianne Hinchliffe, Melna Martin, Julia Sayce, Helen Morris, Katherine Russell.

Also present: County Councillor Mrs A Dale, Mrs Mandy Senior, Clerk

09/01 Nomination of Chairman The Clerk, Mrs Senior, invited nominations for Chairman.
Julia Sayce proposed and Norman Hooks seconded Mr Ian Hall. Melna Martin advised that Mr Hall had intimated that he was happy to accept the nomination should no other councillor be proposed. No other nominations being received, Mr Hall was duly elected to the Chair.

09/02 Election of Chairman of the meeting As Mr Hall had submitted his apologies for this meeting, it was necessary to elect a Chairman. It was proposed and agreed that Mrs Martin should Chair the meeting.

09/03 Election of Vice Chair Mr Hooks proposed and Mrs Sayce seconded and it was agreed that Mrs Martin be vice chair. Mrs Martin accepted the nomination however would not wish to serve for the whole 12 months.
Mrs Martin took the Chair.

09/04 Apologies for Absence – Ian Hall, Pete Duncan, Steve Gleadhill, Margaret Williams

09/05 Declarations of Interest – none

09/06 Public Participation
Stocksfield Railway Station Project – Mrs Dale advised that this scheme was being delivered by NCC on behalf of the Parish Council. The Parish Council will contribute £8,000, NCC £37,000 and DFT £45,000. Any overspend will be covered by NCC.

Parking - Mrs Dale provided an update on the problems with parking. The traffic warden had visited the area outside the butchers 3 times and there had been no offences of obstruction. High visibility speed checks had been carried out. The situation will continue to be monitored. It was reported that a four wheel drive had been completely blocking the footpath outside the Sportsfield. An article will be placed in the next edition of NE45 News requesting residents not to park on the footpaths.

New Tyne Crossing - Faber Maunsell report will be coming back to the next East Tynedale Community Forum meeting.

Gulleys and Drains. The responsibility for road gulley cleaning has passed from the Highways division to Neighbourhood Services.

Utilities work – It was advised that materials had been left for over 5 weeks after the end of work carried out by utility companies. This included plastic barriers and signs. NEDL had failed to notify the shop of the work being undertaken outside of the shop which had resulted in a loss of turnover. The clerk had also not been informed. It was agreed to write to NCC, copy to Mrs Dale, requesting that all road work being undertaken is advised to the Clerk prior to commencement of the work.

Dog fouling – Mr Barrass advised that the dog bin on Meadowfield Road was not being emptied. This has now been placed on the list. Problems with dog fouling are still being seen on Meadowfield Road and Hall Farm Close. Mr Hooks advised that he had signs and Mr Barrass will attach these to fences in the area.

09/07 Election of Advisory Groups and Council Representatives. All appointments to advisory groups and other bodies are listed on the attached sheets.

09/08 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. 08/09 Accounts – As the accounts are still with the Internal Auditor, approval of 0809 Unaudited Accounts was deferred to June.

d. A query was raised re the cheque for the valuation of the Rifle Club site for £1,334. This was deferred to the June meeting.

09/09 Calendar for 2009-10 - The Calendar for 2009-10 had been tabled and was accepted. It was agreed that the Annual Parish Meeting would be held on 26th April 2009.

09/10 Management of land adjacent to Branch End Terrace. It was reported that during 2008/2009 Broomley & Stocksfield Parish Council has continued to maintain this site, keeping the grass cut and the planting and shrubs cared for appropriately.

09/11 The minutes of the meeting held on 6th April 2009 were agreed with some minor amendments.

09/12 Matters arising - None

09/13 Correspondence received had been listed on the Agenda. It was agreed that non-urgent correspondence be transferred to the June agenda.

Calor Village of the Year. Letter received thanking the Parish Council and community for time, effort and enthusiasm put into the recent judging round. On this occasion Broomley & Stocksfield were unsuccessful in winning the regional title. Pete Duncan and Steve Gleadhill felt that entering the competition was worthwhile.

Community Action Northumberland Spring Meeting 13 May 2009. As Norman Hooks was attending on behalf of SICA, he will also represent the Parish Council.

It was noted that the consultation on the draft Northumberland County Council Statement of Community Involvement ends on 26 June 2009. The planning group will look through the document and make comment.

The County Council has received a request to provide additional tourism direction signs to ‘The Highland Cattle Centre’ which will aid traffic management. Concerns were shown over the additional traffic that could be created along the road through Hindley. Julia Sayce make enquiries with the Highland Cattle Centre re numbers of visitors and cars and then report back to the Transport and Highways Group.

09/14 Reports from Advisory Groups and Council Representatives

a. Parish Plan – nothing to report.

b. Council Representatives – The inaugural meeting of the East Tynedale Community Forum was held on 7th May 2009. Dave Porter advised that any member of the Parish Council can attend and he will email details of the next meeting to all councillors.

c. Sports facilities – The management agreement for MUGA was accepted and signed by Mrs Martin. Mrs Sayce will arrange for the additional signatures.

d. Play Facilities – It was reported that a fence panel had been damaged and would need to be repaired.

e. Footpaths, Gardens & Environment – The report on the formation of a River Watch Group was circulated and accepted.

f. Community Development
Stocksfield Festival – In the absence of any other bank account signatories it was agreed that Mrs Sayce would countersign the cheque with Mrs Martin. Mrs Sayce requested a loan from the Parish Council should the need arise. This would go towards the printing costs of programmes. Bookings and payments had been received and the funds would only be called upon if necessary. It was agreed to loan up to £1,500 to the Stocksfield Festival.

g. Community Garden – Mrs Martin will be holding a meeting with the committee and will give an update at the next meeting.

h. Transport & Highways
Station Car Park – Work on the north side is about to start. New metal bollards have been erected. Ian Jobling spoke to Pat Cox from Northern Rail who was happy with the discussions and progress. DFT is to pay _ costs, £45K.

j. Finance & General Purposes – deferred to June.

k. Policy Group – deferred to June.

l. Local Government Reorganisation – deferred to June.

m. Communication – deferred to June.

09/15 Date of the next meeting
1st June 2009 in the Richardson Room at the Community Centre

The meeting closed at 9.30pm.