Parish Council Minutes February 2007

You can download a copy of these minutes here (PDF file).

Broomhaugh & Riding Parish Council

Minutes of the Parish Council meeting held on 12th February 2007 in the Supper room of the Parish Hall at 7.45pm

Present: Councillors Horton, Ryder, Howey and Heslop. Also present were County Councillor Thompson (part); 9 members of the public and a member of the Press.

1. Apologies were received from Cllr Nitsch, Cllr Cairns, Cllr Dunhill and Cllr Latham.

2. Minutes: The minutes of the previous meeting were agreed as a true record.

3. Matters arising:
a. Tender: These should be received by the end of February.
b. Website: Cllr Ryder noted that the website was now up and running. She encouraged organisations to be aware and put their information up on the site. This is a continuous process as the webmaster will update on request through the Clerk. Cllr Ryder agreed to put a bit in the parish news about it. The Clerk would ask Dave Porter about the number of hits the site is getting. Cllr Horton will approach the Wellington again about advertising on the site.
c. Hexham courant: Cllr Ryder agreed to write the small article about Riding Mill for the Tynedale Visitor. Helen Compson from the Courant agreed to ask Mr Hoddenot to contact Cllr Ryder about last year’s article.

4. The Nick: Correspondence has been received from the Sandy Bank residents Association about public liability insurance on the Nick. This was gifted to the Parish council on the understanding the maintenance was managed and undertaken by the residents. Although the Parish Council have the standard Public Liability insurance of – £5,000,000 this will not apply where the responsibility lies elsewhere. A number of alternatives were discussed such as the Parish Council paying for the premium or part of the premium as long as the Residents Association keeps up with repairs. It was noted it would only cost a similar amount if the other unadopted roads were insured collectively. This avenue would be approached over the next year. In the meantime it was agreed the parish council would pay – £200 towards the premium for the Nick. This was agreed from an amendment put by Cllr Ryder for a one- year period, during which the other unadopted roads would be considered. In all cases the responsibility for repairs is that of the frontagers.

5. Fly Tipping: It was agreed to put up a sign at the top of Whiteside Bank where there is a significant amount of fly tipping. Tynedale Council will remove the waste when requested but cannot do anything about the fly tipping unless they have photographs or vehicle details to follow up on. Mr Watson in the village had kindly offered to make the sign for free. Suitable wording would be circulated by the clerk to councillors. Another note would also be put in the Parish news.

6. A695: The state of the road between Corbridge and Riding Mill is particularly bad, especially in the Farnley area. It was agreed to write to Corbridge Parish Council to make a joint approach to the County Council to pressurise them for repairs. The contact details for the local County office would also be put in the Parish News so that individuals can also write or email.

7. Footpaths: The footpath officer, Keith Gibbard was in attendance for this item and formal thanks were noted to him for his ongoing hard work. The current problem lies in obtaining a suitable form of map from the county council that we can put onto the website, highlighting the main walks around the village. This would be pursued and it was also agreed that Cllrs Horton and Howey would go over the walks with Mr Gibbard. A pictorial map of the village with information and walks is needed.

8. Planning:
2006/1295 Red Hemmels, stables Refused
2006/1536 The Wellington, sign relocation Consent given

It was felt the refusal for stables at Red Hemmels was unreasonable and the Clerk should write to the District Council.

9. Correspondence:
a) General, for circulation

10. Finance:
a) The financial statement and receipts were accepted by all councillors
b) The following payments were authorised by all councillors:-

M F Anderton/Salary/Dec – £352.42
M F Anderton/Expenses/Dec – £54.36
Carter Bus. Systems – £17.63
Radiopages – £634.00
M F Anderton/Salary/Jan – £352.42
M F Anderton/Expenses/Jan – £31.62
VHT/Rent – £44.00
Ron Robinson roofing – £1,253.46
VHT – £411.16
Repayment to L/ac (1) – £700.00
SLCC conf (one day) – £70.50
Viking – £82.56
CWC / knotweed – £293.75
Sports field grass – £1,086.36
Other grass cutting – £1,044.93

c) S.137: The following donations were agreed by all councillors; NTC – £50; Air Ambulance – £50; Lifespan – £100; Age Concern – £50; CAN – £50; and RM Flower Festival – £100.

11. Minor matters:
Cllr Heslop commented on the state of the village and it was agreed to hold a village tidy –up day. The Clerk would approach Tynedale about a skip and bags etc. and it was decided the event would be held on the morning of 31st March. However, cleaning up could happen for the week up to that day. The WI, and village associations would be approached and the work divided up. Cllr Horton would inform Mrs Niven and Cllr Howey would approach the school. A notice would go up.

The Clerk would write to Tynedale again about sweeping the footpath. Cllr Heslop also reported on attending the meeting organised in Hexham regarding the potential unitary authorities.

At this point the main part of the meeting was closed and in accordance with Standing Orders, the meeting was cleared of Public and Press to discuss confidential matters.

(It was resolved under Section (1) of the Public Bodies (Admissions to Meetings) Act 1960 that the public be excluded from the meeting during discussion of the following item because the publicity would be prejudicial to the public interest).

The meeting closed at 8.50pm

CONFIDENTIAL MATTER: brief minute

Item 12.

There was discussion concerning some individual covenants. There was also discussion about ways and means of maximising the Council’s time most efficiently.

The meeting finally closed at 9.15pm