Clerk / RFO: Mrs Suzanne Smith

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

Tel: 017687 79149

Chair Lesley Smith

Councillors Adam Beeston, Alan Bird, Mike Bohling, David Huxley, Ernie Teasdale, Ronnie Wilson

Cumbria County Council Bert Richardson

Cumbria Police PC Andy Holliday

Parish Council Jennifer Stevenson Bob Watt

Cumbria Police’s primary focus over the past few months has been the weather, firstly the floods and latterly the snow and ice. Many people have been stuck on the fells. Additonally:

• The car abandoned at Swineside will be removed as soon as the weather improves
• PC Holliday is happy to help try and speed up any Highways issues such as potholes
• Diesel thefts are occurring in the wider Penrith area
• ‘The Pledge’ has been initiated by the Home Office to specify deadlines which the Police should be meeting
• A newsletter has been set up called ‘Penrith Rural’
• Farm Watch is being improved so that information is specific and relevant to the people who receive it

Cumbria County Council’s Highways Hotline has had thousands of calls over recent weeks but is still the correct contact for Highways related issues.

• If anyone is unhappy with the response from Highways then Bert Richardson is happy to get involved in escalating the issue.
• Mr Richardson has been unhappy with the lack of action from Cumbria Highways regarding the gritting and clearing of rural roads and has expressed this dissatisfaction to the leader of Cumbria County Council.
• There is a large pothole along the Mungrisdale road between the lane end and the Village Hall which Mr Richardson will raise with Highways, although no potholes will be getting filled at the moment due to the higher priority of clearing and gritting roads.
• Mr Richardson will review a list of Mungrisdale Parish’s Highways issues and will work more closely with the Parish Council in ensuring our Parish is getting fair treatment from the Highways department.
• The next County Council meeting is on 19^th January and one of the agenda items is to debate the lack of gritting and planning for dealing with inclement road conditions in rural areas.

The Chairman adjourned the meeting to allow electors present an opportunity to raise issues of concern or interest. The one elector did not wish to raise anything so the Chair reconvened the meeting.

Councillor Ronnie Wilson declared an interest in item 10/011 as he is a tenant of the Parish Council.

Payments

Clerk’s wages and expenses Not declared to the public

United Utilities - Field 7264 Mungrisdale £21.68 (Direct Debit)

United Utilities – Liscow Gardens, Troutbeck £19.33 (Direct Debit)

Mungrisdale Recreation Room (Hall Hire) £72.00

Report on income received and current financial position

Income Received:

Monies received from car parks £91.95

It was deemed appropriate to write an official letter of thanks to Mike Sutton who collects the car park monies on behalf of the Parish Council.

Financial Update

An update was given on the financial position of the parish council and the council bank balances –excluding the reported transactions - currently stand at £5788.02.

A letter has been sent to the Parish Council requesting financial assistance for the upkeep of the churchyard for 2010/2011. Councillors proposed and unanimously agreed to grant £350.00 to the PCC towards maintenance of the churchyard which was an increase on the £300 donated for the past few years.

Following the recent devastation of homes and businesses in the North and West Cumbria from the floods, parish councils have been informed that donations to the Cumbria Flood Recovery Fund would be permitted under Section 137(3) of the Local Government Act 1972. Councillors debated whether or not a donation from Mungrisdale Parish Council would be appropriate. Councillors unanimously agreed a donation of £50.00 would be a kind one-off gesture.

• Proposed upgrade to the Scales layby and cycleway by Amey Mouchel
• Proposed improvement to the Sportsmans Inn junction off the A66

The Parish land has still not been registered as the process is very lengthy. The current rents from the land at Wellfoot (£4.00) and Berrier (£20.00) are not actually covering Parish Council costs at the moment. It was proposed the rents be increased to £15.00 and £40.00 accordingly. Councillors unanimously agreed to accept these proposals.

It was proposed that the arrangements for Mungrisdale Field 7264 and Liscow Gardens should remain unchanged for the next twelve months and will go out to tender. Councillors accepted this proposal unanimously.

The budget for parish land maintenance was set for 2010/2011 as £400 on the basis of a quotation for two full days’ work. It was suggested that this may be more suitably apportioned as four half-days. Councillors unanimously agreed to setting up a working party.

The working party was set up to discuss the details of what is required, such as tending the roadside edges and the village green, plus trees in the parish such as those in the beck. The working party will also discuss and agree the timescales for the work and appoint a contractor.

Despite numerous communications to Anthea Jones from the Lake District National Park Planning Authority no update has been received to date, although the Enforcement Planner confirmed that the case is no longer being dealt with as an enforcement issue.

The report from the last Eden District Council planning meeting stated that M Sport had exceeded the permitted entitlement of activities for 2009 but no remedial action would be taken for this. The enforcement department has been given additional powers to deal with the situation going forward should it be necessary. Retrospective planning has been applied for in relation to the track works and the requirement of an Environmental Impact Assessment is currently being considered.

At the last Parish Council meeting it was minuted from public participation that the forest tracks had been concreted. A councillor has stated that in fact concrete has not been used during the development.

Eden District Council has saved the telephone boxes at Hutton Roof and Mosedale in full working order by using its powers of veto under community safety grounds. Mungrisdale’s telephone box was not on BT’s list to Eden District Council so this has now been added and vetoed also. Applications for listing of the boxes at Mosedale and Mungrisdale have also been sent to English Heritage. BT have got the opportunity to appeal these decisions but no information has been received regarding such an appeal as yet.

Graham Standring will report back from the Caldbeck and Ulldale Executives Committee meeting to be held on 1^st February 2010, but to date 16 stallions have been gelded and freeze-branded. There are about eighty horses on the fell currently and in 2009 six ponies or foals died. The castration exercise is ongoing.

There is no progress on the noticeboard at present. There was some debate as to the need for a noticeboard to remain at Bowscale as there are noticeboards nearby at Mosdedale and Mungrisdale but it was reported to the meeting that Bowscale residents wished it to remain. It was unanimously agreed by councillors that a noticeboard will stay at Bowscale.

The new noticeboard for Bowscale will have to be re-located though and this issue will be suspended for debate until the new noticeboard at Berrier is in situ.

At the last Parish Council meeting it was unanimously agreed the council will write a letter to Steve Purdham to convey the Parish Council’s dismay that the road repairs have again been treated as a low priority job. No letter was sent, however, as the Parish Council’s highways liaison person David Huxley had a meeting with Rob Lawley from Cumbria Highways. Mr Lawley accepted that Mungrisdale was not being treated with high enough priority and will review Mungrisdale Parish’s list of requests. Presently the Highways Steward is off ill.

John Robinson from Cumbria Highways communicated to parish councils that a quantity of salt / grit mixture would be delivered to parishes if requested, as an interim measure for parishioners to cope with the conditions of the roads. Mungrisdale requested two piles, one at the layby on the Mungrisdale road and one at Bowscale. Both requests were met and the mix is available for parishioners to collect if they need it.

This was held on 1^st December and Mungrisdale Parish Council was represented. Items discussed included what was expected of parish councils and what can happen in cases of complaint. Mungrisdale Parish Council appears to be on track with its conduct.