Mungrisdale Parish Council

Clerk / RFO: Mrs Suzanne Smith

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

Tel: 017687 79149

(Draft) Minutes of the Mungrisdale Parish Council held on Monday 11^th July 2011 in Mungrisdale Village Hall

Present

Chairman                                                   Michael Bohling

Councillors                                                Alan Bird, Anne Edwards, David Brammer, David Huxley, Karen Freestone, Lesley Smith 

Eden District Council                             David Huxley

11/066 Apologies for absence

Adam Beeston and Jennifer Stevenson sent their apologies

11/067 Minutes

Resolved that the minutes of the meetings held on Monday 9^th May 2011 be signed by the Chairman as a true record.

11/068 from EDC/CCC

No local issues were raised to Eden District Council since the last meeting. Possible future actions from EDC include:

-          Sharing council with the Chief Executive of Carlisle

-          Selling Mansion House

-          Moving the meetings around the local parishes, meetings to include a leader plus approximately five councillors and public attendance would be welcomed. Mungrisdale parish would like to be included if the proposal is accepted.

No representative from Cumbria County Council attended the meeting.

11/069 Public Participation

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

• Referring to item 11/074 a parishioner gave a brief summary of the alleged encroachment of the highway at the Horseshoe Inn at Hutton Roof. Since 2005 a lot of time has been spent on the matter by local residents and the parish council and in 2008 the County Council became involved. The parishioner’s view was that the Cumbria County Council legal department and councillors have been hopeless, treating various bodies – including the parish council – disgracefully. The recent Local Committee meeting was held in private ‘for legal reasons’ and the County Council opted to close the issue and take no further action. The parishioner feels that the parish council should obtain a free legal opinion from NALC or CALC to see if the encroachment is actually illegal and to confirm whether the parish council and residents were right to spend the time on the issue or not. Local residents are left feeling very disgruntled. The question was raised as to whether different versions of the land boundary map were in existence and it was stated that only one official version exists. The other version was drawn up for the purposes of a land sale, not in relation the area of land being discussed.
• It was reported that recently more than twenty cars were parked along the grass verge in the village and it was suggested that maybe an honesty box would at least bring some income from it which could be put towards the cost of maintenance of parish land. Councillors advised that this might actually encourage the practice and the opinion was also expressed that parish land maintenance costs should be met by the precept.
• It was reported that the bench on the verge along the river had gone missing but one of the councillors explained that he had removed it as it was in need of essential repair. It will be fixed and returned shortly.

No other issues were raised and the Chairman reconvened the meeting.

11/070 Declarations of interest

Lesley Smith declared a personal interest in item 11/.

11/071 Accounts

Payments

Resolved unanimousy that the following accounts be paid:

Authorisation is required for the following payments

Clerk’s wages and expenses for quarter 01-Apr-11 to 30-Jun-11 (information provided separately to councillors)

John Bennett Groundworks for parish land maintenance                             £375.00

United Utilites Standing Water Liscow                                                                   £14.64 direct debit

United Utilites Standing Water plus Water Charges Mungrisdale                               £15.04 direct debit

Monies Received

                Car Parks                                                                                                                             £217.77

Update on financial position

                Parish Council pre-meeting account balances currently stand at £5639.28

11/072 Planning Applications Received

·            7/2011/3087 Miss K Pigg, Rose Cottage, Heggle Lane, Hesket Newmarket, CA7 8HX – Change of use of barn to dwelling. A comment was made that although the planning notice displayed a tick in the priority species box there is no further information regarding which species is affected.

·            7/2011/3069/3088 Mr C Hockley, Blake Beck Farm, Troutbeck, Penrith CA11 0SZ – Conversion and change of use of disused farm building to study and studio. This is a reapplication of an existing application.

11/073 Planning Decision Notices

• 7/2010/3054 Mr D Millar, 90 Legavallon Road, Dungiven, Londonderry – Agricultural workers dwelling including new access drive, package sewage treatment plant and drainage mound. Permission granted with 11 conditions.
• 7/2011/3033 Mrs F Southernm Marks House, Hesket Newmarket, Wigton, CA7 8HX – Installation of small conservation roofllight. Permission granted with 2 conditions.

11/074 Horseshoe Inn Land at Hutton Roof The opinion was given that the situation was handled badly as far as Cumbria Highways is concerned. The parish council has recently had various conversations with different people and departments. Local residents and the parish council feel let down that they were not represented at the Local Committee meeting despite assurances that they would be and that the meeting was held in secret. The County Council’s legal department will not divulge why this was so other than that they were legally advised to do so. There has as yet been no response or opinion from the County Councillor. It was suggested that the parish council writes a letter to the owner of the Horseshoe Inn to explain that whilst the parish council does not agree with the decision made it will not be pursuing the matter further at this time. It does however reserve the right to do so in the future. A copy should go to the Land Registry, the Highways department and the Lake District National Park Authority (LDNPA). The LDNPA refused planning permission at the property for an extension until the proposed fencing was removed from the plans. It was observed that the local County Councillor’s absence from the Local Committee Meeting was not minuted in the apologies and that his views on the matter had been strongly stated as ‘land theft’.

11/075 Land Formerly Occupied by Caravan at Berrier The site formerly occupied by the static caravan at Berrier has not yet been made good and Adam McNally - the enforcement planning officer - does not believe the condition was ever imposed. The dialogue remains open.

11/076 Registration of Parish Land with the Land Registry Historically advice was given to parish councils that all land under their ownership should be registered with the Land Registry. One of the main obstacles to the process is actually proving ownership. A sub-group of three councillors has been formed to work on the registration process.

11/077 Appointment of New Parish Clerk Councillors unanimously agreed accept Veronica Stockdale as the new clerk.

11/078 Community Recycling in the Parish The idea of siting a recycling facility behind the village hall was revisited and would be feasible if a plastic cage was not included. The alternative is to site it at the layby where there is currently a garden waste skip and screen the area with hedging. There is some opposition to the visual impact of this and the proposal was rejected by the Lake District National Park Authority in 2003 (although it is believed that their opinion changed at a later date). The area behind the village hall belongs to the hall, not the parish council, so the village hall committee would have to be approached.

11/079 Rural Broadband A meeting was held last Friday involving the various parties involved in the project. Northern Fells Broadband is moving very quickly. Out of a total collective parish population of 1397 households, 781 have registered an interest. Mungrisdale has achieved 67% of its households registering an interest so far.  The bodies involved in deciding which area will be awarded the pilot scheme comprises Cumbria County Council, DEFRA and 4 or 5 contractors including BT, Fujitsu and Cable and Wireless. Within the parish a lot of work has been done by Michael Bohling, Alan Bird, Bob Clarke and Steve Woolley. The website is up and running. The Northern Fells Broadband group is well-positioned to move forward and the contracts have to be awarded in November. The pilot scheme will be announced shortly afterwards.

11/080 Parish Stones Grant Application The Friends of the Lake District have requested the parish council submits a formal application having read the initial project overview so this looks promising. They are keen to know what other funding is coming in too. The Neighbourhood Forum Grant application is still under review as the budget has only just been agreed. It is hoped an award of the full £750  requested will be granted within the next week.

11/081 Diamond Jubilee Celebrations A discussion took place regarding appropriate celebrations of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee in 2012. The suggestion of a Jubilee Field  possibly including some play facilities for children was raised and supported although discussions would have to be undertaken between the parish council and local landowners to agree a suitable location. Using some of the parish land would reduce the parish council’s income from land lets. Councillors unanimously agreed to open up negotiations locally by first of all drafting a full proposal for the next meeting.

11/082 Mungrisdale Swaledale Ram Show Society – Annual Mungrisdale Show The parish council has received an official letter of thanks for allowing the parking of vehicles and trailers on the land through the fell gate during this year’s show held on 18^th May. The Society is requesting this facility for future years on Show Day and would like to know if an annual request is required. Councillors unanimously agreed that permission should be requested annually.

11/083 Highways Update

·            Resurfacing work has taken place from the church to Stone Ends but the other end of the road will not be resurfaced until the next financial year.

·            Extensive potholing repairs have taken place but no major roadworks are proposed.

·            Maintenance of parish land is ongoing and it was agreed that the work is enhancing the appearance of the parish.  Hutton Roof residents would like to know the rota for grass-cutting in their village as they will do additional maintenance in between rounds.

·            A gully cleaner went through the parish last week in a seemingly random fashion. Nothing past the Round House was done.

11/084 Mungrisdale Telephone Box The door to the phone box was recently removed by BT as it had been damaged by weather. There is no intention at present of replacing it. The parish council will pursue the issue further.

11/085 Annual Joint Meeting Between Cumbria County Council Local Committee For Eden and Parish and Town Councils in Eden The parish council was represented at the recent meeting which was addressed by Eddie Martin, leader of Cumbria County Council. The council is currently £300m in debt but has made £44m of savings, including 700 redundancies. The County Council invites parish and town councils to put forward what devolved powers they would be prepared to undertake. So far Mungrisdale maintains its parish land and has put a snow plough and spreader in place for clearing snow and de-icing the roads. There are only 3 library vans remaining in service and they are getting older and expensive to maintain. The cost of the service works out at about £75 per book. The work of the Highways department was discussed and it was apparent that other parish councils have little or no contact with the Highways teams working in their parishes. Broadband was also discussed.

11/086 Correspondence

·         CALC Circular

·         Confirmation of the result of the recent election to appoint a Parish Member to the National Park Authority for the Eden District. Judith Cooke received a majority vote and was therefore appointed.

·         Letter from Alan Houghton of Eden District Council regarding another BT review of telephone boxes in the area. He has reiterated to BT the need to veto decommissioning of many of the telephone boxes in the district including the ones in Mungrisdale parish.

·         Letter from one of the organisers of The Lake District Mountain Trial which will be held on Sunday 11^th September and starts from Mungrisdale. The event organisers have been working closely with Graham Standring (Park Ranger) to plan the routes and have obtained permission from the various landowners. More information can be found at www.ldmta.org.uk

·         NALC Revised First Edition of Standing Orders is now available from CALC at £25 per copy.

·         Information was received regarding the closure of Penrith County Court.

·         The latest LDNPA Local Development Framework Consultation has commenced and closes on 4^th August 2011

·         Notification of planning application 7/2011/3063, St Kentigern’s Church, Mungrisdale – installation of an eco air to air heat pump system

·         Notification of planning application 11/0341 at Berrier End – plans were available to view at the meeting

·         CALC are running a New Councillor training session at Cockermouth on 20^th July 2011 between 7pm and 9.30pm, venue to be confirmed

11/087 Date of Next Meeting Monday 12^th September 2011, 7.30pm, Mungrisdale Village Hall