ABOVE DERWENT PARISH COUNCIL

Minutes of the Parish Council Meeting held on Wednesday 21st September 2016 at 7.15pm in Portinscale Village Hall

PRESENT: Councillor Richard Kealey (RK) - Chairman

COUNCILLORS: Bob Kemp (BK), Don Thorburn (DT), Geoff Davies (GLD), Geoff Davidson (GD), Cllr Joe Bennett (JB), Margaret Throp (MT) Keith Harryman (KH) Joy Pemberton-Piggot (JPP) and Paul Barnes after co-option

OTHERS: 3 members of the public

75 /16 Apologies for Absence Resolved that apologies for absence were received from: Cllr Lesley Bowlby Cllr Alan Bowness (CCC) Cllr Adrian Davis-Johnston (ABC) Cath Johnson (LDNPA) Roy Henderson (NT) Mike Anderton 76 /16 Minutes of Previous Meeting Resolved that the Parish Council agreed to allow the Chairman to be authorised to sign, as a correct record, the minutes of the Parish Council Meeting held on 17th August 2016 Pages 13 – 17 77 /16 Declarations of Interest Geoff Davies – Item 84.1 – 7/2016/2210 78 /16 Public Participation Robert Canham attended the meeting to discuss the CCC Highways Order served on Braithwaite Shop for the removal of the bench, seats and tables. ADPC confirmed that they had not been made aware of this by CCC. The siting of a seat for over 20 years was mentioned. It was agreed to put the item on the agenda for the October meeting. Clerk John Brooks attended the meeting to discuss the footpath alongside Newlands Beck to the new bridge at Little Braithwaite upstream to the road, there are overgrown gorse bushes. GLD to contact LDNPA regarding this. John Brooks also mentioned that river needing gravel extraction GLD 79 /16 National Trust Representative Roy sent his apologies for the meeting. Clerk Again, the Clerk advised there has been no response to the request from the previous meeting, the Clerk to continue asking for the information required. 80 /16 National Park Representative Cath sent her apologies, and the following update:  The LDNPA expect to have a decision from the RPA regarding our application for £3 million from the Countryside Access Fund, for practical improvement and flood resilience works to our rights of way network, in November.  The LDNPA are still working towards funding the repairs to the bridleway at Hallgarth – this cannot be funded through the RPA bid as it received European funding following the 2009 floods. They have estimated that this will cost around £15K to repair and make resilient to future flooding events.  The LDNPA hope to complete flood recovery works to four bridges around The Howe / Bog House area by the end of October. 18

81 /16 Ward Representatives – Alan Bowness – Alan sent his apologies Borough Council - Adrian Davis Johnston – Adrian sent his apologies for the meeting. The following update was send from Adrian: Braithwaite Toilets - As you all know ABC have completed their review of the two bids for the toilet block and decided to dispose of the toilet block to one of the bidders, subject to planning approval. The other bidder has not accepted this outcome. I am of the position that ABC went through a proper and diligent evaluation process which in my view, based on the evidence and bids submitted (which I have seen) came to correct conclusion. ABC won't be in a position to share these owing to commercial confidentiality. I would suggest that ADPC need to detach themselves from this issue as much as possible as fundamentally the disposal of the asset has nothing to do with ADPC. ABC Boundary Review - Very Important - ABC have resolved to cut the number of councillors representing the borough by 8 to 48. This has been submitted to the Local Government Boundary Commission for . The next stage is looking to allocate polling districts to form borough council wards. This is where there will no doubt be a bun fight. Derwent Valley Ward at the moment doesn't contain enough constituents to remain as a ward without changes. It consists of 5 polling districts, 3 are in ADPC (AA - Braithwaite and Thornthwaite, AB - Portinscale and AC - Stair and Newlands) and 2 in PC (AP Watendlath and grange and AO - Rosthwaite, Seatoller and Seathwaite). The rules at the moment are that you can't split polling districts and we are trying not to split Parish councils between two wards. So there are two likely places where ADPC will end up - joined with Keswick or joined with Embleton and Wythop. There is a possibility that you could be connected to Lorton PC but the numbers don't add up. I need to know who you guys would rather be joined with - Keswick, Embleton & Wythop or Lorton. The PC will be consulted by the Local Government Boundary Commission. Please note that this review has nothing to do with the parliamentary Boundary review where the recommendation is that ADPC would be part of the new Penrith and Solway constituency as Copeland constituency is in effect abolished. – It was agreed to discuss the boundary review at the October meeting. Clerk Phone Boxes - As you know phone boxes are under review across the county. Following work with ABC and BT, we managed to secure the future of the Seathwaite phone on safety grounds as there is no mobile signal. The phone boxes at Longcroft Braithwaite (33 calls in the last 12 months), stair (0 calls), Portinscale (2 calls) and Thornthwaite (0 calls) are all earmarked for decommissioning. Seathwaite had 378 calls in the last 12 months and was still earmarked for decommissioning. There were over 10,000 letters of objection received - a record! The only grounds for objection looking at the guidance are safety grounds (e.g. They are located at an accident hotspot or there is no mobile coverage at that location). Let me know if any of these 4 fall into this category. Braithwaite Shop Seats - Following Daphne's social media campaign, I contacted Alan Bowness and Eric Nicholson (who is on the local highways committee) and asked whether a pragmatic solution could be found. I was contacted by Karl Melville from highways who is going to discuss a practical way forward with Daphne and Alan. Lake District National Park - Geoff Davies - The written report from GLD was circulated prior to the meeting. 82 /16 Consultations / Projects requiring action or decision Members approved the following motion due to the legal nature of item 82.9: ADPC resolve to exclude the press and public from the above item. This is in line with the exclusion of Press and Public (Public Bodies Admission to Meetings Act 1960) 82.1 Parish Councillor Vacancy – The Clerk informed ADPC that there has been one application Clerk/ for the first vacancy, Paul Barnes, who duly completed the Declaration of Acceptance of PB Office. The Clerk to forward PB the relevant documentation. 82.2 Above Derwent Community Website – BK informed ADPC that GLD has resigned from the Editorial Team, and that LB has outlined her intentions to also resign from the tem. BK also informed ADPC that GLD has withdrawn from any management, maintenance and operation of the website. ADPC thanked GLD for all his work over the years. The Clerk to 19

write to GLD. The Joomla website was discussed, and it was agreed to discuss the item Clerk further at the October meeting, as to how the website will move forwards. 82.3 Proposed removal of telephone boxes – the proposed removal of the telephone boxes in Clerk the parish was discussed. ADPC found no grounds to object to the removal of the telephone boxes in Braithwaite, Thornthwaite, Portinscale and Stair. ADPC agreed to the possibility of the phone boxes remaining and used to house a defibrillator and possibly a 999 service. The Clerk to respond to Allerdale BC letter dated 6th September stating ADPC had no objection to the “normal” service being removed but are investigating the possibility of using the phone boxes to house a defibrillator. The Clerk to contact Community Heartbeat Trust. It was unanimously agreed for the Clerk to contact Keswick Lions and the Rotary Club to see if any donations would be available to put towards the costs of placing defibrillators in the 4 telephone boxes. 82.4 CALC – the support and help from CALC over the recent months was discussed, and it was Clerk agreed to invite a representative to a future ADPC meeting. The Clerk to research alternative memberships. 82.5 Above Derwent Pilot Steering Group – the parish council representative for the steering Clerk group was discussed, and it was agreed that a member of APDC would join the group. To be discussed at the October meeting to agree on a representative. 82.6 NALC Community Lead Housing Plan – It was unanimously agreed for DT to submit the DT survey on behalf of ADPC 82.7 Nominated person for liaison with the NT regarding Chicken Bridge - BK volunteered to be the liaison person between ADPC and NT. This was agreed by all 82.8 Land Ownership following discussions with NT - the email from NT regarding the land ownership was noted. 82.9 Above Proposed legal action - It was agreed by all that ADPC exclude the press and public from this agenda item (Public Bodies Admission to Meetings Act 1960). 83 /16 Action Reports/Updates from Councillors 83.1 Policies – An update from the Policy Review Group was received, which included the GLD/ update of the following policies: BK/ As the above schedule, the following Policies were circulated and agreed for adoption: Clerk  Policy for Non-compliance with the Code of Conduct  Equality and Diversity Policy  Code of conduct  The Policy review group to circulate the policies scheduled for review at the October meeting prior to the meeting for any comments. 83.2 ADFAG – An update was received including several meetings have been attended, including visiting Patterdale and Glenridding, who have been invited back to Braithwaite. Works have started, and stopped regarding the gravel extraction. 83.3 Highways – A visit by a CCC representative who looked at some areas in the parish has resulted in an emergency road closure of the Whinlatter road, due to needing urgent repairs. The highways schedule to be circulated The email from Robert Canham was discussed, and the majority of the issues are to be included in phase 2 of the works. The Clerk to contact CCC regarding the cats eyes at Braithwaite road end. Clerk 83.4 Commons Group – the maps to be purchased. MT 83.5 Lengthsman Update – an update regarding the work of the lengthsman was given by KH, the majority of the works undertaken are works to drains. KH is happy with the works.

84 /16 Applications for Development Clerk 20

84.1 Resolved that the following applications are received and the Parish Council delegate power to the clerk to submit observations to the Lake District National Park Authority, including the following: Ref no. Description Location Observation 7/2016/2210 Proposed local needs Middle Ruddings Support - subject although housing Hotel, Braithwaite, concerns regarding highway Keswick, CA12 5RY safety and access 7/2016/2201 Alterations and single Grasslees, Portinscale, Support – proposal improves storey extensions to Keswick, Cumbria, symmetry of the house at the rear and front of CA12 5RH front, and the extension at the house- resubmission of rear covers a blank 7/2016/2066 uninteresting wall covered by services Note: GLD abstained from discussions and vote 84.2 - Resolved that the following notification of determinations made by the Lake District National Park Authority have been received: Description Location Decision Date 7/2016/2098 Braithwaite Institute Granted 13/06/1016 7/2016/2126 Lingholm, Portinscale Granted 29/06/2016 7/2016/2139 Finkle Lodge, Portinscale Granted 06/07/2016 7/2015/2304 Lingholm, Portinscale Granted 21/07/2016 7/2016/2155 Oaklands, Braithwaite Refused 10/08/2016 7/2016/2130 Blackwood Farm, Thornthwaite Notice of 29/06/2016 Intention - approval

85 /16 Clerk’s Report Correspondence: CALC Changes to Constitution – Noted 86 /16 Police The written report from the police was circulated prior to the meeting 87 /16 Financial Matters 87.1 - Resolved that the following payments for year ended 31 March 2017 be approved Payee V.N. No. Cheque No. Budget Head Amount R Ferard 22 SO Lengthsman (June & July) £853.33 R Kelly 23 100168 Wages £475.08 R Kelly 23 100168 Home Office £45.99 R Kelly 24 100169 Expenses £21.60 Braithwaite Institute 25 100170 Rent £10.00 BDO 26 100171 Audit £240.00 87.2 – Resolved – that the following balances at the bank as at 1st September 2016 be noted Business Money Manager £16,500.70 Community Account £3,787,80 87.3 - Resolved - The chairman was authorised to sign the cashbook reconciled to the bank statement. 87.4 - Resolved - The external audit by BDO was noted 88 /16 Date of next meeting - The next meeting is scheduled for Wednesday 19 October at The Institute, Braithwaite, 7.00pm to view Planning Applications and 7.15pm for the formal meeting.

Meeting closed at 9.15pm Chairman......

Date......

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