COUNTY COUNCIL LOCAL COMMITTEE FOR COPELAND
Minutes of a meeting of the County Council Local Committee for Copeland held on Tuesday 20 July 2010 at 11.00 am at Cleator Moor Civic Hall.
PRESENT
Mr F I Morgan (Chair)
Mrs S E Brown Mr G P R M Roberts Mr R S Cole Mr A C Ross Mr N Clarkson Mrs S Skillicorn Mr M Hawkins Mr D E Southward Mr T J Knowles Mr J Woolley
Also in Attendance:-
Mr P Atherton - Area Support Manager (Allerdale) Mrs C Cowperthwaite - Acting Passenger Transport Manager Mrs J Currie - Legal and Democratic Services Ms A Dockeray - Whitehaven, Egremont and District Credit Union Mr K Melville - Acting Area Engineer Mr A Moss - Assistant Director – Highways Ms M Pritchard - Neighbourhood Development Office Mr D Stephens - Programme Manager – Inclusion Ms D Taylor - Senior Accounting Technician Mr A Townsend - Programme Manager – Performance Ms N Wingfield - Sustrans Area Manager Mr J Youdale - Cleator Moor and District Credit Union
PART I – ITEMS CONSIDERED IN THE PRESENCE OF THE PUBLIC AND PRESS
40. APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE
An apology for absence was received from Mr A W Wonnacott.
41. DISCLOSURES OF INTEREST
Mrs W Skillicorn declared a personal and prejudicial interest in relation to Agenda Item No.5 – Financial Inclusion and Credit Unit Development, as she is a Director of Whitehaven, Egremont and District Credit Union.
During the course of the meeting, Mr F I Morgan declared a personal interest in Agenda Item No.19 – Stronger Performance Reports as his daughter works for Workington CAB.
42. EXCLUSION OF PRESS AND PUBLIC
RESOLVED, that the press not be excluded from the meeting during consideration of any items on the agenda today.
43. MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETING
RESOLVED, that the minutes of the meeting held on 2 June 2010 be agreed as an accurate record and signed by the Chair.
44. FINANCIAL INCLUSION AND CREDIT UNION DEVELOPMENT
Mrs W Skillicorn left the meeting at this point.
The Programme Manager – Inclusion presented a report to members which updated them on achievements in developing and expanding the Credit Union movement in Copeland utilising the funds allocated last year. The report sought the Local Committee’s agreement on priorities for the allocation of ring-fenced budgets to support debt rescue and develop Credit Union work across Copeland for this financial year. The Development Officer from Whitehaven, Egremont and District Credit Union and the Chair of Cleator Moor Credit Union were invited to discuss with members developments within their own Credit Unions during the past 12 months. In relation to Whitehaven, Egremont and District Credit Union the Development Officer outlined a summary of increase in membership, shares, and loan book for the period October 2009 to June 2010. Over the past 12 months work had been taking place to merge Whitehaven and Egremont Credit Unions, and the transfer took place on 16 April 2010. To meet the demand and capacity of members now using the facility the Credit Union had recently moved into new offices. Opening hours had been extended from three days a week to five days a week from October 2009 with similar services being provided in the Egremont office.
In relation to the Cleator Moor and District Credit Union the Chair said the funding received from Copeland Local Committee was used to support revenue costs including staff costs. The funding assisted the Credit Union in the delivery of affordable financial services to the local community. The funding also assisted the Credit Union in securing an additional £22,000 from the Coalfields Regeneration Trust.
The Programme Manager – Inclusion highlighted the increase in membership, shares and loan book for Millom and District Credit Union to members.
Members were asked to consider two options for the allocation of ring-fenced budgets to Credit Unions for this financial year. The two options included;-
Option 1 - To split the available budget to support debt rescue and develop credit union work across Copeland equally between the Credit Unions (£5351 each) to be spent as according to the priorities of their individual business plans
Option 2 - To utilise the whole £16,054 to support the merger and expansion of existing credit unions in Copeland within the context of moving towards a County wide Credit Union. This option would require one of the Credit Unions (most likely Cleator Moor & District) to lead on this work and provide support to the other two
Members were aware of the vast amount of work undertaken to amalgamate the Whitehaven and Egremont Credit Unions, and for this reason they felt that Option 1 was their preferred option for funding Credit Unions in the forthcoming year.
RESOLVED, that funding be split equally between the three Credit Unions (£5351 each) to support debt rescue and develop Credit Union work across Copeland. This funding to be spent according to the priorities outlined in their individual business plans.
45. LOCAL COMMITTEE DEVOLVED BUDGET 2010/11 – MONITORING REPORT – COMMUNITIES BUDGET
Mrs W Skillicorn returned the meeting at this point.
The Local Committee considered a report from the Corporate Director – Resources which set out the actual expenditure and commitments recorded against the Local Committee’s Community budgets as at 31 May 2010.
The Senior Accounting Technician asked members to note the carry forward of Local Committee balances from 2009/10 into 2010/11 had been presented for approval at the County Council meeting held on 24 June 2010. The underspent but committed balances were approved for carry forward, however, any unallocated unspent balances were not allowed except for those in respect of Early Years Designated Schools Grant allocations.
RESOLVED, that members
(1) note the budget allocations for 2010/11 and the commitments and expenditure recorded to date;
(2) note the unallocated resources in the Communities Revenue budgets of £296,355;
(3) note the unallocated resources in the Local Member Capital budgets of £151,000.
46. LOCAL COMMITTEE DEVOLVED BUDGET 2010/11 – MONITORING REPORT – HIGHWAYS BUDGET
The Local Committee considered a report from the Corporate Director – Resources which presented the actual expenditure and commitments recorded against the Local Committee’s Highways Revenue and Capital budgets as at 31 May 2010.
RESOLVED, that members
(1) note the budget allocations for 2010-11 and the expenditure recorded to date;
(2) note that the Revenue budget currently has a projected unspent balance of £30,893;
(3) note that the Highways Stewards Budget has a projected balanced budget;
(4) note that the Detrunked Budget has a projected underspend of £40,207;
(5) note the NPRN budget is showing a projected unspent balance of £29,434;
(6) note the APM budget is showing a projected overspend of £4,142.
47. ROTHERSYKE EROSION
Members had before them a report by the Corporate Director – Environment which advised them of the extent the erosion by the River Ehen of land supporting the C4014 adopted highway from Gully Flatts to Kersey Bridge and the options available to the Local Committee.
The C4014 Gully Flatts to Kersey Bridge Road had been constructed in part along the top of the high ground alongside the flood plain of the River Ehen. The condition of the bank and the extent of the erosion had been monitored by Cumbria County Council and Capita for many years. Capita had previously installed a monitoring borehole in this location but this had been washed away a few years ago. In 2001/2 the sum of £25,000 was offered to the Environment Agency as a contribution towards whatever protection works the Agency might deem to be necessary. The offer was not taken up and no protection works were undertaken.
In 2008 a landslip brought down most of the trees in this location and caused an emergency road closure. Capita Symonds carried out a subsequent geotechnical inspection which advised that further failure of the slope could incur without warning. This had led to the road closure being continued for the full 18 months after which Secretary of State approval would be required for the stopping-up of the road. The existing 18 month temporary road closure would expire on 26 September 2010. If members agreed with the recommendations contained in the report the County Council would have grounds for an extension for a further six months.
RESOLVED, that
(1) Cumbria County Council should continue to monitor the road and the stability of the bank but not at this stage commit to doing any works on the protection of the bank from erosion by the River Ehen which is classified as a main river until further legal advice on the duties of the County Council, The Environment Agency, Copeland Borough Council and the Management Act 2010 has been sought;
(2) the Local Committee instruct the Area Engineer to commence the procedure to make a permanent prohibition of all traffic in respect of the area marked red on plan numbered G110/09/4023/LC/AMO having taken into consideration the matters contained in 122(2) of the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 which are more specifically referred to in 7.2 of this report. The Council also considers that the provisions of section 3 of the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 shall not apply as it is satisfied that the order is necessary for avoiding danger to persons or other traffic using the road or to prevent the likelihood of any such danger arising.
48. WEST CUMBRIA CYCLEPATH PARTNERSHIP
Ms N Wingfield the Area Manager from Sustrans was also in attendance for this meeting and gave members a short presentation on work undertaken by Sustrans on the West Cumbria Cycleway Network between August 2009 and July 2010. As well as outlining work undertaken during the past year the Area Manager highlighted to members some of the difficulties the Partnership would face if funding was cut.
Members thanked the Area Manager for the presentation and the arguments for not reducing the funding. The County Council had received huge reductions in budgets from Government this year and although they regretted the decision to reduce the funding to the West Cumbria Partnership by 10% they felt they had little choice but to do so.
RESOLVED, that Copeland Local Committee agree to continue to fund the Cyclepath Partnership but at an agreed reduction of 10% allocating £15,000 from the routine Highways Maintenance Revenue budget and £5,700 from the General Provisions budget.
49. ENGINEER’S REPORT
The Local Committee considered a report from the Corporate Director – Environment, and presented by the Area Engineer, which sought to advise the members of meetings attended on their behalf, to highlight any issues raised, update members on current issues and agree a number of recommendations to try to resolve some of these issues.
The Area Engineer asked members to note that since the report had been written he had received notification of proposed reductions for the APM budget for this financial year, and he therefore withdrew the recommendation in 3.1 of the report.
He outlined a number of points of interest including:-
The Oaks A5093 Highway Improvements
The Area Engineer had attended a number of meetings with residents at The Oaks, Millom following concerns raised by residents due to the installation of the permanent traffic lights and the effect they would have on the properties of local residents and also issues of access to these properties.
Coach Road Drainage
The Engineer had attended meetings with United Utilities and Copeland Borough Council regarding the discovery of a watercourse which may be able to be used to alleviate ongoing highway flooding issues. Further investigations were being carried out and members would be notified of the outcome when known.
There was still an ongoing issue with the road humps in this location and members were asked to fund replacement of these rubber humps with concrete ones.
Proposed Crossing Point Jacktrees Road Play Area
Following a request from the Chair of the local committee the Area Engineer had been investigating the possibility of constructing a controlled/uncontrolled crossing point on Jacktrees Road. To establish if this would meet the criteria for such a crossing a design and cost proposal would need to be completed. Members were asked to consider funding this.
The local member for Millom thanked the Area Engineer for his patience and understanding when dealing with the residents at the Oaks.
In relation to the Cumbria Shootings members thanked the Cumbria Highways staff for the work they undertook to ensure that locations were in a presentable state when visited by friends and families of loved ones who were tragically lost in this incident. This must have been a harrowing experience but it was carried out in a professional manner.
All members agreed that although cuts were being announced on a daily basis they felt that there was a need to ensure the Whitehaven infrastructure scheme was not affected by these. This was agreed.
RESOLVED, that
(1) in relation to Jacktrees Road members agreed to allocate £3,000 from General Provision to complete design and survey works;
(2) in relation to Coach Road Maintenance members agreed that all rubber humps be replaced with pre cast concrete type humps at a cost of £26,680, to be funded from any underspend that may be carried forward with the balance being funded from this year’s revenue budget.
50. RESOLVE MEDIATION SERVICE
The Local Committee considered a report by the Chief Executive and presented by the Allerdale Area Support Manager, which set out the details of an application for funding support from Resolve Mediation Service.
Mediation was a way of dealing with disputes that helped everyone involved decide how things get sorted out and Resolve Mediation Service was the only such specialist service in Cumbria.
The Area Support Manager said officers had impressed on the charity’s officers that any grant awarded must be considered to be a one-off as the Committee was not in a position to consider recurring applications and policies did not make ongoing revenue commitments from its grants fund.
RESOLVED, to approve a grant of £3,000 from the social care grants budget line.
51. WEST CUMBRIA LSP DISSOLUTION
Members had before them a report by the Chief Executive which set out the background to the recent dissolution of the West Cumbria Local Strategic Partnership (LSP) and updated members on the development of successor arrangements.
RESOLVED, that
(1) members are asked to note the dissolution of the West Cumbria Strategic Partnership;
(2) members are asked to note the arrangements to develop a successor partnership for Copeland and to agree that Cllr Morgan be requested to take part in discussions about these arrangements and to represent Cumbria County Council at any formal initial meeting of the Copeland LSP.
52. LOCAL CAPITAL SCHEMES (ELECTORAL DIVISIONS)
Members considered a report by the Chief Executive and presented by the Area Support Manager for Allerdale, which sought to commit elements of the Local Capital Schemes budget, approval was being sought for a capital grant for funding towards a new kitchen for Cleator Moor Celtic Football Club, and implementation of the second phase of road widening at Burnmoor Avenue.
Members asked that their thanks be recorded to the Neighbourhood Development Officers for the assistance given in working up these bids.
RESOLVED, that
(1) in respect of Cleator Moor North and Frizington Electoral Divisions, £4,000 be allocated to Cleator Moor Celtic Football Club towards new kitchen facilities, as part of their overall building refit to promote widest possible community usage;
(2) in respect of Mirehouse Electoral Division, £12,000 be allocated to implement the second phase of road widening at Burnmoor Avenue to accommodate residents’ parking needs.
53. COPELAND LOCALITY PARTNERSHIPS
Members had before them a report by the Chief Executive, which provided them with copies of four locality partnership documents and offered members the opportunity of agreeing to join and work as partners within these locality partnerships where appropriate.
Members would be well aware of the many reports presented on the gradual development and roll-out of Locality working across the Copeland area. The development had now reached a point where four of the 5/6 localities in Copeland had developed documents which, in broad terms, could be described as partnership governing documents.
Broadly, at present, these four documents represent two distinct types of partnerships.
Those from Howgate/Distington and North East Copeland represent governance arrangements for locality partnerships with representation from all 3 tiers of local government together with 3rd sector and other partners such as the private or business sector.
Those from Five Rivers and South Copeland at present represent Parish level partnerships with formal partner membership limited to the parish tier only.
RESOLVED that members
(1) note the existing partnership governance arrangements for the four locality areas of the Howgate/Distington partnership, Regen NE Copeland Partnership, the Five Rivers Parish Partnership and the South Copeland Partnership;
(2) acknowledge the Howgate/Distington and the Regen NE Copeland Partnerships, as defined by the governing documents, as locality partnerships;
(3) agree to work with the Five Rivers Parish Partnership and the South Copeland Partnership as they develop towards full locality partnerships;
(4) agree the expectation that the county council’s representative to these local partnerships would normally be the respective local member(s).
54. APPOINTMENTS OF LA GOVERNORS
RESOLVED, that subject to their approval the following be appointed:-
School Representative
Community, Nursery and Primary
Bookwell Mrs J Graham 1 Southey Avenue Egremont CA22 2HH
Frizington Community Mr S Leyton Primary Arlecdon Howe Farm Arlecdon Frizington CA26 3UW a re-appointment
Millom Infant Ms K James 133 Albert Street Millom LA18 4AD
Secondary
Millom Mr D Gabbert 38 Festival Road Millom LA18 5AN
55. SERVICE 6 PASSENGER TRANSPORT
The Acting Passenger Transport Manager presented a report, the purpose of which was to provide information on the performance of the additional journey supported by Copeland Local Committee which had been operating on the service 6 since 26 May 2009.
All Passenger transport contracts in West Cumbria supported by Cumbria County Council were tendered early in 2008 and new contracts were awarded to operate from September 2008. This resulted in changes to the bus services, some of these were made by the Council and others were due to changes made commercially.
Following the commercial changes by Stagecoach Service 6 did not operate between Whitehaven and Seascale after 1.45 during the school holidays.
Following the changes the County Council received a number of complaints. Many of these related to the reduced opportunities to travel back from Whitehaven at a later time during the school holidays. In response to these complaints members of Copeland Local Committee agreed to provide funding for a limited period of time to see if this was successful
The additional journey had had low patronage with a high cost per passenger. The relation between the cost of the service and the income received was in the region of 10% and consequently this part of the service was not considered good value for money.
Members were disappointed with the usage of this service but felt in the current economic climate they had no choice but to cease paying for the additional journey.
RESOLVED that with effect from 4 June 2010 the additional journey on Service 6 ceases to operate.
56. NEIGHBOURHOOD DEVELOPMENT
56.1 Neighbourhood Development Activity
The Local Committee considered a report from the Chief Executive which provided members with an overview of community engagement activity for the first quarter of the financial year.
RESOLVED, that the report be received and noted.
56.2 Referral from Bransty and Harbour Neighbourhood Forum
The Neighbourhood Development Officer presented a referral from the Bransty and Harbour Neighbourhood Forum.
The local residents expressed their dissatisfaction at the lack of progress with regard to their ongoing complaints about resident’s parking provision in Whitehaven Town Centre. Following on from a special meeting held in July 2009, a report listing resident’s concerns/issues re parking in the Town Centre was presented to the Highways Working Group (HWG), where it was agreed that a report be produced for the County Council Local Committee for Copeland, suggesting that this issue be considered by both Cumbria County Council and Copeland Borough Council. This matter has been discussed at both the HWG and Copeland Local Committee however, after a recommendation from the Area Engineer it was agreed that any investigations into these issues should await the outcome of the County Council Countywide Parking Review. It had since emerged that this review had not as yet commenced and is not planned to take place in the near future.
Forum members were not happy with this situation and were very frustrated by the lack of action, and have requested that this matter is referred back to HWG to be reconsidered in the light of the information received about the Countywide review. The Assistant Director – Highways said he felt the issues had been confused. The countywide review was in relation to the delivery of the enforcement process. If members of the public had concerns about the effectiveness of parking within Copeland this could be looked at, it was a separate issue to that of the enforcement process.
It was AGREED that the Assistant Director would speak to the Area Engineer about carrying out a review of parking in Whitehaven, and that the results would be brought back to Copeland Local Committee in Spring 2011. Members suggested that this be done via the Copeland Highways Working Group.
57. COMMUNITY GOVERNANCE REVIEW OF BECKERMET
The Local Committee considered a report by the Chief Executive which set out the proposals of changes arising from the review recently carried out by Copeland Borough Council.
Copeland Borough Council was carrying out a community governance review under Section 86 of the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007 covering parts of the Parishes of Egremont, St Bridget’s Beckermet, St John’s Beckermet, Hail, Ponsonby and Lowside Quarter.
Following initial publication of draft proposals Copeland Borough Council had received a number of objections and representations which had now been reflected in revised proposals. These proposals had been consulted upon in April 2010, but unfortunately members were seeing these proposals after the closing date for submissions has passed.
RESOLVED, that the report be received and noted.
58. STRONGER PERFORMANCE REPORT
Mr F I Morgan declared a personal interest as his daughter works for Workington Citizen’s Advice Bureau.
The Programme Manager – Performance presented a report to members which addressed the outcome of ‘Stronger Communities’. It contained community engagement performance information, monitoring and performance of the Countywide Money Advice Service provided by the Citizens Advice Bureau. It was presented at Copeland area level with comparisons to the whole County and other areas where available.
RESOLVED, that the report be received and noted.
59. CUMBRIA TRANSPORT PLAN 2011-2016
A report by the Corporate Director – Environment introduced, and sought Members views on, the draft Core Strategy of the 3rd Local Transport Plan for Cumbria (2011-2026). The Draft Core Strategy (Appendix 1 to the report) set out the transport vision for Cumbria for the next 15 years, refreshing the context and outcomes of the second LTP. Public and stakeholder engagement on the draft Core Strategy was taking place between 30 June and 3 September 2010 using a web based approach via the Council’s website. To stimulate debate on the Strategy, views were being sought on 15 key questions which focused around options for where and how investment should be prioritised in transport. Local Committee’s response to these questions, and to the strategy document as a whole, were invited.
Members were disappointed with the references in the document to the A595, which they felt was not highlighted strongly enough. The Assistant Director noted these comments.
Members again reiterated the need for the Whitehaven Interchange Project to be protected from funding cuts as this would be crucial to the regeneration of the area.
The issue of a need for a countywide policy for speed limits was discussed but the Assistant Director explained that this was not part of the LTP3 process. It would be much more cost effective to await the outcome of the Portsmouth Pilot before deciding on a countywide policy for speed limits.
RESOLVED, that
(1) the Draft Core Strategy of the 3rd Local Transport Plan for Cumbria Strategy be noted;
(2) any further views on the Strategy be made to the Transport Policy team.
60. NUCLEAR ISSUES
The Cabinet member for Transport and Environment asked members if they would be interested in receiving a report for the next meeting on nuclear issues for Copeland. This was agreed.
61. ITEMS FOR INFORMATION
The following items were received for information:-
61.1 Notes of Copeland Seminar – 17 June 2010 61.2 LDNPA Management Plan
62. CHANGE OF DATE OF NEXT MEETING
RESOLVED, that the date of the next meeting be changed from 11 October 2010 to 24 September 2010.
The meeting closed at 2.45 pm.