Mungrisdale Parish Council

Troutbeck Camping and Caravanning Club Site, Hutton Moor end, Troutbeck, Penrith, CA11 0SX

Tel: 017687 79149

Minutes of the Mungrisdale Parish Council held on Monday 10th November 2008 in Mungrisdale Village Hall at 7.30pm

Present

Councillor Michael Bohling (Acting Chairman)

Councillors Adam Beeston, Alan Bird, Michael Bohling, Jennifer Stevenson,

Ernie Teasdale, Ronnie Wilson

Bob Watt joined the meeting after his election to the council by co-option

08/092 Apologies for absence

Lesley Smith

Roy Fisher, Eden District Council

08/093 Minutes

Resolved by unanimous agreement that the minutes of the meeting held on 8th September 2008 be signed by the Chair as a true record

David Huxley raised the question of documenting Matters Arising and the clerk will query it with CALC.

08/094 News from EDC / CCC - The new Chairman of EDC Tony Brunskill introduced himself to the council and stressed his availability to help with any issues the council has. He is particularly interested in concerns surrounding planning applications and communications of such.

08/095 Public Participation

The Chairman adjourned the meeting to allow electors present an opportunity to raise issues of concern or interest. The following matters were raised:

    1. Surface water around the village hall - parishioner Bob Watt informed the meeting that he had contacted Highways regarding the surface water across the road at the railings by the village hall which amongst other problems is causing erosion in the car park. Ernie Teasdale has also reported this and job numbers 218443 and 236584 have been issued.
    2. ‘Watching Brief’ for Greystoke Forest **- an e-mail was received from parishioner Anne Manger requesting the Parish Council keeps a ‘watching brief’ on M-Sport’s use of the forest for rallying and rally-car testing. The concern is that they are abusing the use of the forest which is supposed to be limited. Parish tree warden David Brammer is of the opinion that this activity is permitted within a 28-day period. The forthcoming events will fall within that time boundary.
    3. Replacement of rotten fencing – Colin Smith commented that in spite of the recent repairs undertaken to the road side fencing past the village hall there were still some rotten rails. (see 08/108vi)
    4. Fell pony incident – it was reported that another collision has occurred between a motorist and a fell pony, the impact of which was serious enough to leave vehicle debris in the road and the pony’s face damaged. Ernie Teasdale contacted the RSPCA and the police but had difficulty getting anyone to look into the incident. The police did come out to look at the horse and said it was ok but there is concern that it has a fever and has been affected. No action has been taken and the issue of fell ponies is a separate agenda item.

08/096 Declaration of interest

There were no declarations of interest

08/097 Departure of Les Wilson – The Chairman expressed thanks on behalf of the parish council to Les Wilson for the service he gave to the parish during his time in office.

08/098 Election of new councillor – Bob Watt was the only person to stand as replacement for Les Wilson. His appointment was proposed by Ernie Teasdale, seconded by David Huxley and unanimously accepted by councillors. Bob signed the declaration of acceptance of office and joined the meeting.

08/099 Accounts

Resolved that the following accounts be paid:

CALC AGM (Mike Bohling) £10.00

BDO Stoy Hayward (External Audit) £58.75

Clerk’s wages and expenses (undisclosed to public)

Honorarium payment to Judith Kent standing in as clerk

at July meeting £20.00

Honorarium payment to Anne Simpson (internal audit) £20.00 (vouchers)

United Utilities Mungrisdale £22.58

United Utilities Liscow £16.11

Income received:

- Monies from car parks £237.00

Budget and Precept for 2009/2010

Ronnie Wilson voted against and expressed concern at the increase in the precept from £2500 to £2750. Resolved by a majority to accept the proposed budget and precept

08/100 Planning Applications Received

08/101 Planning Applications Decisions

08/102 Council Surgery Report – No parishioners attended the surgery held on 4th October. Concern was expressed that the surgeries are not productive as only 4 parishioners have attended since they began in June. The next surgery is Saturday 7th December and it is proposed that if there is no turnout on this occasion the surgeries should not continue.

08/103 Noticeboards – Resolved by unanimous agreement to accept Andrew Tiffin’s quotation for the noticeboards. A new 3-door board will replace the 2-door one at Mungrisdale, funded by the Neighbourhood Forum grant.

Resolved by unanimous agreement that the next two boards to be replaced will be Mungrisdale Road End and Hutton Roof.

A new 2-door board will be commissioned for Hutton Roof, paid for out of the 2008/2009 budget (£600 was allocated for a new noticeboard). The existing 2-door board at the village hall will be re-located to the Road End. Clerk will contact LDNP re planning permission as the council wishes to site this noticeboard nearer to the road end which would be more accessible.

The 2009/2010 budget also makes provision for a further 2-door noticeboard at Bowscale

08/104 Registration of Parish Land - Resolved by unanimous agreement to investigate the feasibility of selling the parish land at Berrier and Well Foot. Michael Bohling stated that any proceeds made from such sales would be treated as capital and it would kept as a restricted fund. The monies could not be used for day to day running of the Council but the clerk will investigate whether interest payments from invested proceeds would be subject to the same restrictions.

08/105 Telephone Box at Mungrisdale – The clerk informed the meeting that BT has rejected replacing the door on the telephone box at Mungrisdale, deeming it too expensive. Michael Bohling will give details of the contractor commissioned to paint the door (who removed it) to the clerk so he can be contacted and further information can be obtained.

08/106 Fell Ponies Update – Graham Standring from the LDNP is in discussion with Mr Brough who owns the ponies and is meeting with the vet to discuss corralling some of the young male ponies with a view to castrating them. Ernie Teasdale again raised the issue of installing a cattle grid and David Huxley explained that Mr Purdham from Cumbria Highways had responded to this question saying the Highways were unable to commit to a cattle grid. Mr Teasdale requests that the parish council increases the pressure for the installation of a cattle grid in order to prevent the possibility of ponies accessing the A66, although there was some debate and mixed views regarding the suitable location and effectiveness of a grid. David Huxley has agreed to investigate the possibility further with Highways re location and cost estimates. The question was raised whether the parish council would potentially be able to fund a cattle grid from the sale of land.

08/107 Mole Damage in Mungrisdale – Work will be starting shortly to resolve this issue.

08/108 Update on Highways Steward – David Huxley (DH) presented a report following his latest meeting and tour with the Highway Steward. The following issues were raised:

  1. the frequency of visits is inadequate. Resolved by unanimous agreement the clerk will write a letter to Keith Masser at CCC or Rob Walker at Cumbria Highways to request that our steward only looks after 5 parishes, facilitating more frequent visits. The next visit will not be until 9th Feb.
  2. there is a lot of debris (eg leaves, mud) on the roads which needs to be cleared. DH will write to Sean Mitchell at EDC to instigate this.
  3. the gorse bushes at Swineside are still encroaching the road. Clerk will write to Dalemain to request attention is paid to this matter.
  4. Sean Mitchell at EDC has agreed to put in a new culvert under the road at the top of ‘the narrows’ at Bowscale. This would go under a hedge and into a ditch on land owned by Shirley Mandale. Lesley Smith will speak to Mrs Mandale about this.
  5. the water on the road at the bottom end of ‘the narrows’ at Bowscale will only be alleviated by digging up part of the land being tenanted by Ernie Wilson. DH will speak to Mr Wilson to obtain consent for this work to be done.
  6. the railings by the village hall are deemed not to be sufficiently in disrepair by Sean Mitchell to necessitate their replacement this year.
  7. the spring on the other side of the road to the railings by the village hall will be dug out with a JCB and piped away, possibly using the existing pipe.
  8. Road surface water outside Brow Top at Hutton Roof requires piping across to the drain on the opposite side. DH will put in a call to the hotline to raise this.
  9. the drains at the top of the road in front of the Bowscale houses and the lip where it joins the main road are being looked at by Sean Mitchell.
  10. rubble and mess around the track to Bowscale Tarn created by building work seems unnecessary. Michael Bohling agreed to go and have a look at it to determine whether any council action is required.
  11. DH commented on the effectiveness of the new steward and the efficiency of the hotline ticket system.

08/109 Common Land at Hutton Roof – pub landlord at Hutton Roof has erected fencing around an area of common land. Residents of Hutton Roof have provided documentary evidence to Mr Purdham at Cumbria Highways (which has since been mislaid) to show that the land belongs neither to the pub nor to the parish council. Resolved by unanimous agreement the clerk will write to Mr Purdham confirming that this land does not belong to the parish.

08/110 Tree Warden report on Hutton Roof – David Brammer (DB) has been surveying the trees at Hutton Roof and has made the following observations:

  1. trees against the dry stone wall on the northern boundary will remain fairly small and providing the lower growth is cut back shouldn’t pose any problem for the wall.
  2. advice was given to residents regarding suitable species for native specimen trees for the area around the pond
  3. some of the thinning out that has been done to an area of dogwoods and cherries has resulted in the trees looking spindly. Coppicing would improve the appearance of this area without any expenditure.
  4. a lack of fencing would give grazing animals direct access to the area so any new trees planted would need protecting.
  5. trees planted by the LDNP in ‘the quarry’ a while ago have self-seeded. Improvement could be made by taking out some of the sycamores and coppicing the hazels.
  6. the bird cherry which has suffered wind damage can be salvaged
  7. one of two oaks in this area is being compromised by a poor Douglas Fir so this should be removed.
  8. some attention needs to be paid to some of the trees by the telephone box, particularly the horse chestnut, cherry and rowan trees.

Most of this work could be undertaken by residents during boon nights. JS to organise?

DB also commented on some collapsed trees along Glenderamackin in Mungrisdale and has offered to complete any chainsaw work that is required.

08/111 Cumbria Rural Housing Trust Survey – 40% of surveys issued has now been returned which is considered to be a good uptake. Forms are still coming in and there will be a further update at the next meeting.

08/112 Recycling in the Parish – Deborah Garnett’s response to Michael Bohling (MB) regarding the possibility of recycling facilities within the parish confirms that there are currently no funds available as any spare funds are being spent on maintaining existing facilities. MB will put a note in the parish magazine to this effect.

08/113 Report on LDNPA / Parish Councils Meeting – Lesley Smith was unavailable to report on this meeting

08/114 Correspondence

08/115 Next meeting – 12th January 2009 at 7.30pm in Mungrisdale Village Hall.