Minutes of a Meeting of Casterton Parish Council Held at Casterton Village Hall on Monday

Minutes of a meeting of Casterton Parish Council held at Casterton Village Hall on Monday 21st July 2014 at 7.30pm.

Present were Councillors Enid Hastings (Chairman), John Bye, Ken Humphris, May Mackie and Claire Wildsmith, six members of the public and the Clerk Mr K M Price. Apologies for absence were received from County and district Councillor Nick Cotton, and District Councillors Kevin Lancaster and Evelyn Westwood.

Mr Terry Simpkins addressed the Council with an update on the Community Speed Watch Scheme. The success of the scheme in Endmoor was highlighted, but up to the present time there have been no volunteers from Casterton for this. The Council's long-standing request for a 20mph speed limit through Casterton was mentioned, but the Police would not enforce this, should it ever be achieved, and it was wondered if it might be better not to pursue the requests after all. This will be an agenda item for the next meeting and it was agreed to invite Stuart Braithwaite, of CCC Highways, to meet representatives of the Council and representatives from the school, in order to discuss safety issues further.

14/56 Public participation:

a. Councillor Bye, as a member of the public, thanked everyone who had contributed to the provision of a new boiler for Holy Trinity Church. This is now installed and is up and running.

b. The Chairman felt the Police should be asked to attend the Council Meetings at least once in a three month period. The Clerk will mention this to PCSO Mandy Coleman.

14/57 Requests for Dispensations: None.

14/58 Declarations of Interest:

There were no Declarations of Interest made in respect of any items on the agenda.

14/59 Minutes:

The minutes of the meeting held on 29th May 2014, having been circulated were accepted as a true record and signed by the Chairman.

14/60 County and District matters: None.

14/61 Police Report:

This had been circulated prior to the meeting.

14/62 Chairman and Councillor's announcements:

a. The Chairman and Vice-Chairman attended a very useful and positive meeting with School personnel last week. A wide variety of issues were discussed including the possibility of the public use of school facilities including the pool and tennis courts. Written communication from the school could be included in/or attached to the Newsletter and delivered to every residence. School personnel were invited to attend Parish Council meetings and give a report to the Assembly meeting. There is shared concern that motorists speed through the village and it was agreed to consider various options to reduce this problem. The school maintenance department will continue to treat the Knotweed in the Pinfold. The Proposed Plans and developments on the school site were explained and it was agreed Casterton Residents would be kept informed as appropriate.

Discussion by Council decided that of the school facilities, the use of the swimming pool would be the preferred priority by residents.

b. The CALC AGM will be held on 18th September at Gilpin Bridge

c. The quarterly Newsletter was delivered earlier this month.

14/63 Officer's Reports and updates:

a. Rights of Way. Councillor Wildsmith presented her report, which is appended to these minutes.

b. Highways. Councillor Bye reported that, following the last Tripartite Meeting, he had reported the overgrown trees at Lowfield Hill and these had been dealt with by CCC Highways. The remainder of Councillor Bye's Report is appended to these minutes.

c. Village Hall. Councillor Mackie reported that the work on the new windows, ceiling and lights commences on 11th August; thereafter there will be a big clean and volunteers are welcome. New guttering and down pipes have been fitted, flag stones re-set and white lanes have been painted on the steps.

d. Broadband. Nothing to report.

e. Website. Nothing to report.

14/64 Village maintenance:

a. Drains: Owners of both fields have been contacted and agreed to work being done to improve drainage. Two more drains have been identified near Old Manor and are now included on the Contractors list.

b. The Council is still waiting confirmation from ENW that they will provide electricity to a new site by Church gate.

c. Two new litterbins have been delivered and will be sited securely this week and the old ones will be removed. SLDC will empty these bins at a cost of £3.00 per bin per week. The amounts in each bin will be monitored.

d. Green waste bins have been delivered for waste from the Green, verges and Village Hall

14/65 Appleby Fair 2014:

There were fewer problems this year as travellers moved steadily through towards Appleby.

The problems that occurred were:

a. Early arrival of caravans and vehicles on the Friday – the Loop Road site was not officially open untilthe Tuesday after the Bank Holiday. The Police did not move them, and this resulted in there being no parking available for visitors and illegal parking on A683 followed, with horses tethered on verges, motor bikes arriving on the Sunday plus a large horse transporter which unloaded horses on to field allocated by Wood Close Caravan Park for horses with the Bow Tops. Up to 30 horses were put on Jubilee field and Police were unable to move them for 48hours – when they did, it started movement of travellers towards other sites.

b. Horses were put in farmer’s field opposite Jubilee Field

c. Horses were put in Jubilee field after the Fair for 24hrs.

At the public feedback meeting post Fair in Kirkby Lonsdale – only one resident attended.

The Respect Meeting has been postponed until November

Allan Muirhead and Enid Hastings attended the Upper Eden feedback meeting in Kirkby Stephen. There had been the same problems there and it was felt the Police did not enforce the law, the travellers were treated differently to residents, and motorised caravans should have to use the same parking as other ‘caravanners’

14/66 Village Green:

Councillor Humphris had been quoted a maximum of £30 for the provision of a plaque for the Village Green and it was resolved to go ahead on this basis. This will be placed on a tree if possible.

It was resolved to apply for a grant from the Casterton Community Trust for the cost of the seat refurbishment. The next meeting of the Trust is on 30th October and the Clerk will apply just before then.

14/67 World War 1 Commemoration:

Councillor Mackie said that there is to be a further meeting with Rev Richard Snow in September and there will be more to report after that. The group continues to seek the families of the fallen and of those who returned and are having a few breakthroughs.

14/68 Complaints procedure:

The Complaints Procedure in operation at Natland Parish Council had been circulated to all Councillors and it was resolved to adopt this. The Clerk will make adjustments and Councillor Humphris will place it on the website.

14/69 Clerk's Report: None.

14/70 Finance:

a. It was resolved to pay the following accounts:

HMRC£188.00PAYE (noted)

Enid Hastings£34.002 plant tubs

Society of Local Council Clerks£27.39Subscription (12% of £249)

K M Price£129.52Quarterly expenses to 30th June

(includes use of home office)

b. The cash and budget statements were noted.

c. Councillor Bye proposed a vote of thanks to all who work so hard to keep the village looking clean and tidy.

14/71 Planning:

The following decisions, notified to the Council by the Planning Authority, were noted:

SL/2014/0530 Field Edge Casterton. Change use of part of agricultural field to domestic curtilage and formation of new vehicular entrance (revised scheme SL/2014/0298). Granted.

SL/2014/0218 Folly Farm, Casterton. Conversion of redundant farm buildings to form two dwellings. Granted.

CU/SL/0004 Land off A683 (adjacent to Devil's Bridge). Change of agricultural building to dwelling. Refused.

The withdrawal of the planning application for wind turbines at Killington (SL/2012/0845) was noted.

14/72 Date of next meeting:

Due to refurbishment in the Village Hall, it was resolved to change the date to Monday 1st September 2014 at 7pm at Casterton Village Hall. The first part of the meeting will be in private and the public are invited to attend from 7.15pm, when refreshments will be provided.

The meeting closed at 9.15pm.

Signed:

Dated: