Minutes of the Parish Council Meeting s3

141 Minutes of the Parish Council Meeting Held in the Stillington Community Centre Lowson Street, Stillington Tuesday 1 st October 2013 Present Chair: Cllr. J Turner Cllrs: B Bardsley, J Davies, D Foster, K Johnson, P Rogers, J Wills District Cllr. A Stephenson PCSO R. Townsend Mrs. G Dunn, Clerk 1. Apologies for Absence There were apologies for absence from Cllrs. J Lithgo and R Tingle, 2. Declarations of Interest in Items on the Agenda Cllr. J Turner declared a personal prejudicial interest in item no.14, planning application for Forest Park, Stillington, as she is a friend of the applicant. 3. Minutes of the Last Meeting Cllr. J Turner signed the minutes of the Parish Council meeting held on 3rd September 2013 as a true and correct record. Proposed by Cllr. J Wills and seconded by Cllr. P Rogers. 4. Public Discussion PCSO Rob Townsend gave a summary of work he had undertaken recently in the area. He has carried out patrols in Stillington Forest Park, accompanied on a couple of occasions by an Environment Agency Officer. Some fines have been issued to anglers who did not have a licence to fish. The Clerk was given a poster to display in the Forest Park reminding people that a licence is required. A resident had been warned about driving a motor scooter inappropriately. One Member reported that there had been a theft of metal from the Industrial Estate and that the Police are investigating this. The rise in incidents of theft of catalytic convertors from cars in the wider area was discussed. PCSO Townsend encouraged Members to record the number plates of any vehicles that appear to be acting suspiciously and pass the details on to him. 5. Finance - To consider the payment of accounts Proposed by Cllr. Johnson and seconded by Cllr. Turner the sum of £226.80 to Stockton Borough Council for wet pour repair in the West Street Playground (cheque nos. 100818). Proposed by Cllr. Davies and seconded by Cllr. Rogers the sum of £237.76 to The Clerk for salary and expenses (cheque nos. 100819). The Clerk informed members that she had submitted a form to reclaim all of the VAT that the Council had paid during the financial year 2012/2013. The total of the claim is £620.70. 6. Progress Reports P649 Proposed Lambs Hill Wind Farm Development, Stillington – update The Clerk had received an email from Lewis Stokes, the Development Relations Co-ordinater for Banks. He informed the Clerk that Banks are still in the process of resolving some of the more technical issues with the Lamb’s Hill development. He will get in touch once this task has been completed. He also 142 stated that once the issues are resolved, Banks will be looking to set up a liaison committee for this development – this will be made up from representatives from Banks, local Parish Councils and Community organizations. P649 Other potential wind turbine developments in the local area – update The Clerk informed members about a planning application for one turbine (77metres high) in the Wynyard area. P649 Missing Street Nameplate –report A new nameplate had been installed for South Street, Stillington. The Clerk informed members that following a request from a local resident she had contacted SBC about the possibility of having a road sign on the main route through Stillington that directed people to the health centre and the post office. The Clerk had noticed similar signs in other areas of the Borough. Members agreed that a sign of this nature would be useful for visitors to the Village. The Clerk agreed to follow up her initial request and try and get a definite response from SBC. P649 Drainage around the West Street Subway – update Network Rail had informed the Clerk that an Asset Drainage Engineer will come to Stillington at some point to survey the subway and the area around it. To date the engineer has been collating historical information and looking for old drainage records. An update will be sent in due course. While discussing flooding Cllr. Turner reported that there had been further incidents of localised flooding in the Mount Pleasant Area. Cllr. Wills reported that he had received notification from Northumbrian Water that some work is due to be carried out near his property soon. He agreed to pass a copy of the letter and the accompanying plan onto the Clerk for her records. P650 Improvements to Mount Pleasant Playing Field – Progress Report The Clerk had been asked to provide a couple of paragraphs about the community consultation that has been undertaken for the proposed MUGA for the Design and Access statement that would accompany the planning application for this site. The Clerk had drafted a piece for the statement and copies were circulated to Members. The statement was approved and the Clerk agreed to forward it to SBC. P650 Future Plans for Stillington Community Centre – update Cllr. Rogers provided a report from a meeting held on 26th September with Catalyst and the progress made by Catalyst to establish an organization called ‘Onsite’. It is hoped that Onsite will take over the management of 4 community centers in the Borough from April 2014. A meeting is due to be held on 9th October when the formation of a governing body for Onsite will begin. The possibility of reducing potential room hire rates slightly for regular users was discussed at the meeting. Cllr. Rogers said that local people may need to form a ‘Friends of Stillington Community Centre’ group in the future to try and raise funds to put towards hall hire fees and support community groups in other ways. P650 External Insulation – update About 25 residents attended the public meeting on 9th September. Names and addresses were collected from people who are interested in having their property surveyed. Letters about the scheme had been sent out to all residents who lived in suitable properties and also to people who may benefit from loft and cavity wall insulation. Quite a lot of residents would like the work to be undertaken and a few 143 definitely do not. Go Warm are hoping to begin work within a month. There is some concern that other organization are going to properties and offering similar schemes – that perhaps are not as established as Go Warm - which may lead to some confusion. P650 Network Rail work request – Park Crescent – update The Clerk reported that no work has been undertaken to cut back bushes behind the properties in Park Crescent. She agreed to try and find out if any work is due to take place. P651 Future withdrawal of subsidies for bus services in Stockton The Clerk had not received any further information since the last meeting. The withdrawal of the subsidies is on the Agenda for a Public Transport Forum Meeting that is due to take place on Saturday 12th October. Cllr. Wills hopes to attend. P651 Event in Community Centre – 22 nd September – feedback Cllr. Foster asked for it to be minuted that this was a very well organized and excellent occasion. The many years of community work by Arthur Gregory, Bob Tingle, Monica Tingle and Jim Wills had been recognized. Thanks were given to Cllr. Turner for organizing the event. A recording had been made of the afternoon’s proceedings and copies had been given to all of the children who had participated in the dancing and martial arts displays. P652 Catalyst Conference – 24 th October – confirmation of details The Clerk had booked two places at this conference for herself and Cllr. Turner. P652 Tree trimming around streetlight on Mount Pleasant The Clerk had reported this issue to SBC, she was not aware that any remedial action had been taken as yet. P652 Cleaning request – South Street Bus Stop A request for cleaning had been submitted to SBC. There had not been any response to say whether any action would be taken or not. P652 Pot hole repair request – South Street – update The work requested had been carried out by SBC. P652 Cleaning cenotaph – arranging date for work Cllrs. Turner and Rogers agreed to try and undertake this task before the end of October. The Clerk asked to be informed when they decided to do the work as she may be able to assist. Cllr. Wills agreed to arrange for the wreath to be supplied for the Remembrance service on 10th November. 7. Grass Cutting – Wildflower Area – West Street Playing Field The clerk had made a request to SBC that this work be undertaken soon. 144 8. Christmas Tree and Lights – confirmation of arrangements for 2013 It was agreed that the Clerk should order a tree for Whitton and any parts that are required for the Stillington lights to ensure that they are in working order. It was agreed that the lights in Whitton will be turned on at a gathering at 6.00pm on 4th December and in Stillington at 6.00pm on 5th December. 9. Salt Bins – organizing locations and filling for 2013 The Clerk has one salt bin in hand and it was agreed that this should be placed on the junction of Kirk Street and Redmarshall Street. Cllr. Turner agreed to mark the Parish Council bin so it could be easily identified. The two other Parish Council salt bins are on Jasper Grove and Weare Grove – these are already labeled. The Clerk was asked to approach the manager of Metabrasives to see if the company would be able to provide some salt for the Parish Council bins as they had in the past. After correspondence between the Clerk and SBC it was agreed to accept that the Parish Council bin that had been located on Manor Drive has probably been stolen. 10. Health and Safety Checks in the Parish The Clerk circulated copies of an asset register that she had drawn up for the Council. She asked if anyone noticed any items had been omitted to let her know. Cllrs. Turner, Rogers, Davies, Bardlsey Johnson and the Clerk were all allocated items or areas to check and report any potential health and safety problems. 11. Date of next meeting – to discuss altering scheduled date of November meeting The Clerk explained that she may not be able to attend the next scheduled meeting on 5th November. It was agreed unanimously that the date of the next meeting should be moved to Tuesday 29th October. 12. Correspondence – September 2013 SBC Community Protection Updates SBC Openness and Transparency on Personal Interests – update SBC Invitation to Clerks Meeting Barclays Confirmation of signing arrangement amendments Barclays Statements Banks Email re Lambs Hill Wind Farm CLCA Updates from NALC Cleveland Fire Brigade Letter of Appreciation re Community Games Co. Durham and Cleveland Data Protection & Freedom of Information Act Training Event Training Partnership SLCC Notice of AGM SLCC News Bulletin SRCGA Invitation to AGM TVRCC Invitation to launch of Tees Valley Transport Brokerage TVRCC Rural News and Grant Information

The Clerk showed members a couple for recent press articles about the Village – one was a thank you article in the Evening Gazette to Darchem and SBC for the Picnic benches in the Forest Park – this had 145 been submitted by G Dunn on behalf of the Friends of Stillington Forest Park. The other was a mention and photograph in the weekend Telegraph from 4th September as part of a follow up article to the community games events that took place around the country over the summer.

The Clerk informed members that she had expressed an interest in attending the Data Protection & Freedom of Information Act Training event. This is being planned for next year.

13. Standards/Code of Conduct Issues

The Clerk had received some new guidance on openness and transparency regarding personal interests. Details of the main changes were outlined to Members.

14. Planning Applications 13/2353/FUL 17 Forest Park, Stillington, Application for erection of conservatory to rear Cllr. Turner declared an interest and left the meeting. There were no comments on this application. Cllr. Turner returned to the meeting. 13/2075/FUL Whitton Moor Lodge, Stillington Proposed two storey extension, single storey extension and balcony to front This application had been refused planning permission The Clerk informed Members that the planning application for a new house in Old Stillington that Members considered in October 2012 and had subsequently been turned down by SBC had been approved on appeal. 15. Councillors Reports and Items for Future Agenda The Clerk was asked to request SBC highways dept. that the tree remains in the hedge between Stillington and Whitton are removed. The Clerk to request that the brambles are cut back from around the subway and that the lights are cleaned. The Clerk clarified that the Parish Council contact details that usually appear in the Parish News had been missing for a couple of months. Other items that related to the Parish had taken up the space instead – the usual box should be back in the next edition. Cllr. Turner explained that TVRCC has received funding to work towards improving the superfast broadband in the area. It is possible that improvements may happen within the next 2 years. 16. Date of Next Meeting The next meeting of the Parish Council will take place on Tuesday 29th October 2013 in the Stillington Community Centre.

Signed: ……………………………………….. Dated: ………………………….……. Proposed: …………………………………… Seconded: ……………………………….