Minutes of the Meeting held on Monday 5th January 2009.

Present: Councillors Pete Barrass, John Davison (arrived 8.00 pm), Pete Duncan, Steve Gleadhill (arrived 8.10 pm), Ian Hall, Norman Hooks, Melna Martin, Dave Porter, Katharine Russell, Julia Sayce Mrs M Williams, Clerk.

Also present: County/District Councillor Mrs Anne Dale, District Councillor Colin Argent. Mrs G Brown (Hexham Courant). Mrs Helen Morris, Prof. & Mrs Madeley. John Smith, Carol Quinn and Sarah Wood representing Northumberland Youth Service and Prudhoe Youth Service.

Apologies: Diane Hinchcliffe, District Councillor Eileen Drew.

Mr Hall, Chairman, welcomed everyone present to the meeting and wished them the very best for 2009.

08/86 Declarations of Interest
Mr Duncan, Mrs Dale and Mr Argent declared an interest in Agenda item 7 Development at Stocksfield Hall.
Mr Hooks declared an interest in Agenda item 14c

08/87 Minutes
Minor amendments were made to the Minutes and proposed by Mrs Sayce, seconded by Mr Hooks and agreed.

08/88 Matters Arising
Gullies - Mrs Dale advised that she had sent an e-mail to the Chief Executive of the County on this subject. He had responded that the gullies should have been cleared in November but that routine maintenance had been held up by flooding earlier in the year. It was noted that the gullies had now been cleared.

Advisory Groups – Mrs Russell said that she was willing to serve on both the Play Facilities and Environment Groups.

ICT Suite at Broomley School – This was now complete and would be formally opened in due course.

08/89 Youth Service
Ian Hall welcomed John Smith (Assistant Head of Youth Service for Northumberland County Council), Carol Quinn and Sarah Wood (Prudhoe Youth Service) and outlined the background to the reason for inviting them to attend the Parish Council meeting. Basically he said that parish councillors felt that they were getting poor value for the money that the Parish Council was contributing to the Youth Service.

John Smith opened his remarks by saying that he would ask Carol Quinn to answer queries and thanked the Parish Council for their support.

He said that the County split the Youth Service in 14 areas and that the budget was based in providing a service to the number of 13-19 year olds in an area. Currently the budget equated to £1.72 per month per 13-19 year old. He said that the Youth Service relied heavily on support from town and parish councils and other funders. The count of young people is based across the board and is not restricted to those attending County High Schools. He stressed that County funds can only be used to fund activities to support 13-19 year olds. There is more flexibility to use funds from other sources for children and young people outside this core group.

It was stressed that 16-17 year olds tend to leave “organised” activities which is why youth workers “work on the streets” with young people.

After the 2008 summer holidays only 2 young people attended the Youth Club at SICA. Mr Hooks said that the SICA Management Committee had asked if the Youth club is what young people want.

Councillors asked if we can specify what the Parish Council grant is spent on and were advised that they could.

John Smith advised that youth workers agreed that what was being offered in Stocksfield was not what the current young people wanted. It was felt that SICA was a difficult venue for young people. Tuesday nights in Stocksfield was not a good night for a youth club as there were already a wide variety of activities on that evening such as football training. Mr Duncan said that in his experience, the young footballers were now aware of the Stocksfield Youth Project. The Youth Project has been advertised at Ovingham and Prudhoe schools and with posters.

It was felt that young people preferred the Baptist Church as a venue.

Mr Hooks advised that SICA Management Committee was actively look at what can be put on instead on Tuesdays – suggestions at the moment include music, table tennis.

John Smith said that youth work core activity was to provide informal education, social education and personal development for young people rather than provide activities for young people.

John Smith said that the youth service in Stocksfield was to be the subject at the forthcoming staff conference. Councillors said that they would like to see the proposals by the February meeting. It was also suggested that SICA should also be informed of the proposals so that they can plan the use of the room accordingly.

Councillors were advised that it was now possible to target reports on NE43 dwellers. Councillors felt that this was useful to know as they need to know how many young people from the Stocksfield area benefit from the Youth Service. A quarterly report was felt to be sufficient.

It was noted that the Youth Service in Prudhoe was currently short-staffed because Lucy Roberts was on maternity leave and her replacement was on sick leave.

It was stressed that young people do not necessarily want or need to contact the youth service.

It was also stressed that everything the youth service do is based around consultation with young people.

The youth workers were thanked for attending the meeting and left.

08/90 Public Participation
Additional Dog Bin – It was suggested that this might be situated near the Common or near the top of Well Road. Councillors were asked to consider these suggestions and advise the Clerk accordingly.

08/91 Development at Stocksfield Hall
Ian Hall invited Prof. Madeley to address the meeting. Prof.Madeley’s letters on the subject of the development had been circulated.

Prof Madeley made the following points:

• Everyone wanted to encourage a firm to establish a base in Stocksfield, however “not anything goes”.
• He tried to make comments dispassionate.
• The bulk of the buildings had increased and will encroach on the Green Belt.
• Umbilical chord provided by access lane is out of proportion.
• No where does it say what height the proposed building is.
• Traffic plan – the survey had been limited.
• Bulk of employees probably cannot get to the site in 15 minutes.
• The ecological survey is suspect.
• The archaeology aspects have been dismissed.
• Consideration of other sites has been biased by the installation of a fibre optic cable between Riding Mill and Stocksfield Hall.

Mrs Madeley made the following additional comments:

• They had not questioned plans for the earlier developments on this site.
• The level of road lighting is inappropriate at present
• They have concerns about building the car park on good arable land.
• Concerns about the increase of traffic onto the site.
• Concerns about sight line at the entrance to the site – there have been no accidents at this point but several near misses. Currently, at times there is a queue on the lane which could back-up to the road.
• Access by rescue services could be impeded.
• The lane is already breaking up – the sleeping policemen only slow cars not commercial vehicles.
• Is the bridge over the burn strong enough for the proposed increase in traffic?

Mrs Morris said that she had concern about the height of the proposed development. Stocksfield Hall is a four-storey building on the highest point of the site. Car parking is already a problem. Access for delivery vehicles and emergency vehicles in currently constricted. It is known that there are bats, owls and badgers on the site.

Mr Porter then made the following comments: The Planning Group and Councillors had looked at the whole proposal in the limited time available prior to the start of this evenings meeting. He said that their main concerns were:

• There is no mention in the plan of the height of the proposed buildings. The building appears to be three-storey.
• Car parking – the 222 spaces appears not to be sufficient for the proposed number of employees and those who currently work at Stocksfield Hall.
• There are concerns about the extra traffic on the B6309, the A695 and the A69.
• There are concern about the level of traffic and access to the site, particularly where drivers are seeking to join the A69 from Stocksfield.
• Concerns that this development was on Green Belt.
• It was felt that the applicant had chose Stocksfield Hall over other sites because they had already invested in a fibre optic cable between their head office in Riding Mill and their current office in Stocksfield.

Mr Barrass said that there were others items of concern.

Mrs Sayce said that some members of the public are in favour of the proposals, particularly with regard to future employment prospects for residents of Stocksfield. She also said that the Parish Council needs to be clear as to what its concerns are.

Mr Hooks said that he was disappointed that the application did not appear to have addressed the concerns raised by those who attended the public consultation events.

Mr Gleadhill said that the tenet should be that the Parish Council needs clarification on certain point.

[Suspension of Standing Orders –it was agreed that Standing Orders should be suspended and the meeting should continue until 10.00 p.m.]

Mr Hall called for a recommendation on which councillors could vote.

Mr Porter, as Convenor of the Planning Advisory Group, proposed the motion that:

The Parish Council cannot support the application by the Engineering Group to develop offices and additional car parking at Stocksfield Hall in its current form because of the issues outline above.

This was seconded by Steve Gleadhill and Pete Barrass.

Mr Hall called for a vote on the proposal by a show of hands.

In favour of the proposal 7
Against 0
Abstentions 3

Mr Duncan, having declared an interest did not vote.

The motion was passed.

Councillors and visitors were thanked for the contribution to the debate.

08/92 Correspondence
The correspondence received had been listed on the Agenda and was noted.

Hexham Courant – Tynedale Visitor – A letter had been received requesting entries to the 2009 Tynedale Visitor. The Clerk had drafted an entry and councillors were requested to let her have changes by mid-January.

Tynedale Council – A letter had been received offering supplies of “poop bags” for distribution around the village. It was agreed to obtain a supply for distribution to local shops and SICA. Mrs Russell offered to contact the Dog Warden and to walk round the village with him.

NALC/NSP – an e-mail had been received regarding consultation on the role, structure and composition of the reformed NSP. Comments are to be sent to the Clerk.

Communities & Local Government – A consultation document had been received requesting views on the code of recommended practice on local authority publicity – discussion on this was deferred until the February meeting.

08/93 Finance
The accounts for December were accepted.

The Bank Reconciliation for November was noted.

Additional Cheques –
It was agreed to pay
Tynedale Council - £3191.73 for grass cutting

Payment of final grant to Youth Service – it was agreed to defer a decision on this pending the report from the Youth Service.

Allocation of Beacon & LPSA grant from Tynedale - £2600 – it was agreed that expenditure of this grant should be considered at a later date. Current suggestions included:

The repair of the field drains on the cricket field
Supply of an item of “adult” play/exercise equipment
A contribution towards the cost of the Community Garden at BEPA
More benches at BEPA

It was agreed that the Community Garden Committee be asked to let the Parish Council see its “vision plan”.

Repair to Field Drains at Cricket Field – Mrs Sayce advised that the field drains at the Cricket Field needed urgent repair and that the contractors currently on site had priced their repair at £14.50 per metre. It was suggested and agreed that the whole cost of this repair should be borne by the Parish Council and that the funds for the repair should be taken from the Recreation Areas Development Fund and Recreation Areas Maintenance Fund.

08/94 Purchase of Branch End Toilet Site
The Finance & General Purposes Group had discussed this issue, in the light of a letter received from Tynedale advising that the Parish Council could purchase this site at a cost of £25000 provided that contracts could be signed by the end of February 2009. John Davison does not feel that purchase of this site is suitable use of Parish Council funds.

There was a discussion on this issue and the salient points were:
• Delay in the purchase could take the decision out of Tynedale’s authority to the new County Council’s authority
• The Parish Council needs time to consider potential uses for the site.
• The Parish Council needs time to build a management plan.

08/96 2009/10 Precept
The revised figures had been circulated.
Pete Barrass proposed, Julia Sayce seconded and it was agreed that the Precept for 2009/10 be set at £54,400.

08/97 Parish Plan
Steve Gleadhill and Pete Duncan tabled the draft of the parish plan which has been based on the Action Planning Events and the survey or residents.

It was agreed that at some point the Parish Council needs to draw up a specific Action Plan based on the recommendations contained in the document. It is expected that it will be possible to launch the Parish Plan at the Annual Parish Meeting in April. It was agreed that the priorities highlighted in the Plan should be debated at the next meeting of the Parish Council. Comments on the draft should be sent to Steve Gleadhill and Pete Duncan at the earliest opportunity.

Mr Hall thanked Messrs Gleadhill and Duncan for all their efforts in producing the Plan.

08/98 Brief Reports from Advisory Groups and Council Representatives

a) Play Facilities
Branch End Play Area – it had been reported that one of the pieces of equipment in the toddler area had been damaged. It was noted that the new access ramp was now complete with the exception of the barrier on the road side. It was agreed to contact Kompan about the installation of the goal posts and the repairs to the damaged equipment.

Kates Plain – no further progress had been made on the removal of the tyre.

RoSPA Play Areas Inspection Report – in Mrs Hinchcliffe’s absence this is to be deferred until February.

b) BEPA Community Garden – nothing to report.

c) Finance & General Purposes
The Group is to meet in the next few days.

Annual Parish Meeting – It was agreed that no outside speaker would be invited to attend and that the main topic of the meeting would be the launch of the Parish Plan.

Northumberland County Council Budget – figures had been made available on the County website, but it was felt that there was insufficient information available to enable councillors to have an informed discussion. Mrs Dale advised that the opposition parties on the Council would be putting forward their own versions of the budget. She said that the income from Band D Council Tax in Northumberland was £1285m. There are to be discussions throughout the county on the budget and councillors will be advised of the dates as soon as they are known.

d) Policy Group
Gambling & Licensing Acts – a letter had been received from Tynedale on this subject and it was agreed to make no response.

e) Planning
The Planning report for December had been circulated.

A consultation document had been received from Northumberland County Council regarding the “Preparation of Statement of Community Involvement”. The Planning Group is to consider this. Pete Duncan offered to attend the next meeting of the Planning Group.

f) Footpaths, Gardens & the Environment
Flooding – this matter is still being considered by Tynedale and as it is a legal matter no comment can be made.

Tynedale Environmental Clean Up – the question of whether to have a Spring Clean Event this year and if so when is deferred until February.

g) Local Government re-organisation – nothing to report.

h) Sports Facilities – deferred to February

i) Communication – nothing to report

j) Transport & Highways – nothing to report

k) Council Representatives – nothing to report

08/99 Any Other Business
It was reported that Mary McArthur had retired as Warden of the Community Centre and that Beth Gascoigne had been appointed as Centre Manager. It was agreed to write appropriate letters to each of them.

08/100 Date of Next Meeting:2nd February 2009 in the Richardson Room at the Community Centre.

The meeting closed at 10 p.m.