Minutes of a Meeting of Colburn Town Council Held on Thursday 7Th
MINUTES OF A MEETING OF COLBURN TOWN COUNCIL
HELD ON MONDAY 13th APRIL 2015
COLBURN VILLAGE HALL
PRESENT
Mayor Angela Dale (Chair)
Councillors: Melanie Bell, Mary Dale, Lynn Nassau, Iain Scrivin, Jagannath Sharma, Stuart Styles & Michael Ward
Clerk: Philippa Graves
Deputy Clerk: Angela Pickersgill
There were 5 members of the public present.
1. APOLOGIES – Cllrs Lidia Gaina, Helen Grant & Kevin McGready
2. COUNCILLOR “DECLARATION OF INTERESTS” – Cllrs Nassau, Scrivin & Sharma are the Town Council representatives on the Joint Burial Authority
3. MINUTES OF THE PREVIOUS MEETING
Cllr Sharma wished to clarify his query mentioned in the minutes. Both he and Cllr McGready had questioned the consistency of the declaration of interests and felt that not all interests had been declared. He felt more training for councillors would be helpful. The Chair asked Cllrs if they had all received a full information pack when joining which they confirmed and they were asked to refer to the information such as the Code of Conduct if necessary.
It was RESOLVED that the Minutes of the meeting held on 16th March were approved as a true and correct record and were signed by the Mayor.
Matters arising
Statement of Persons Nominated for Colburn Parish – 9 people have been nominated for election and 2 further people can be co-opted within 35 days of the election day (26th June) to complete the quota of 11 seats. The lists for both the Parish Councillors and election of District Councillors have been put on the notice boards.
Cllr Sharma proposed and it was agreed that the rules of co-option to the Town Council be published in the minutes;
When a Town Council is authorised to co-opt a new member. The Town Clerk should:
· Advertise locally, place notices on parish noticeboards.
· Item should be on the next Town Council Meeting agenda, interested parties should be informed by Town Clerk and invited to attend the Town Council meeting.
· A successful candidate must have received an absolute majority vote of those present and voting.
· If more than two candidates for one vacancy and no one has the majority over the aggregate votes given to the rest then the remainder must then must be put to the vote again.
· This process must, if necessary, be repeated until an absolute majority is obtained.
· If however several candidates have obtained the same number of least votes and the aggregate of the others is less than a normal quorum(eg3:2:2:2:2), it may not be wise to strike off all those with the least votes.
· If negotiations for withdrawal fail, to strike them off one by one, in an order determined by lot or vote.
· If more than one vacancy and the number of candidates equals the number of vacancies, all the vacancies may be filled by a single composite resolution however
· If the number of candidates exceeds the number of vacancies, each vacancy must be filled by a separate vote or series of votes.
· The Council is not obliged to consider the claims of candidates who were unsuccessful at a previous election.
· The successful candidate/s sign their declaration of acceptance of office at or before their 1st meeting, in front of either the Town Clerk or Town Councillor and complete the Register of \Members interest form within 28 days of becoming a Town Councillor. The form is sent to the District where The District Councillor’s Monitoring Officer has to sign the form.
Notices can be placed immediately with the cut off dates for applying to both the 18th May and 15th June Town Council meetings.
Notes on Extraordinary Meeting of Colburn Town Council and Representatives of the Joint Burial Authority – it was amended to show Mark Bradbury as the Chair of Scotton Parish Council and not District Councillor.
Fence around Manor Grove Play Park – Gary Hudson,RDC, had confirmed that the fence was the responsibility of Colburn Town Council to repair.
Speeding concerns – Safer Richmondshire Speed Matrix Group have conducted a 7 day test with the data logger which commenced on 24th February on the A6136 in the vicinity of Colburn Fire Station. An average speed of 32 mph on the nearside (towards Catterick Garrison) and 33mph on farside (towards Colburn from Garrison) was recorded and it was agreed that the flashing matrix sign would be deployed for a standard 7 day period at this location to act as an educational message to motorists. North Yorkshire Police will also be requested to undertake periodic speed enforcement as and when they have capacity available (letter circulated at meeting).
4. POLICE MATTERS
PCSO Eric Corfield attended the meeting and distributed the report for April.
The following report for period 17th Mar to 13th Apr (circulated at the meeting and put on website). Crime report for same period 2013/14, 20 compared with 15 for 2014/15.
3 Criminal Damage – Report received of damage to garden fencing overnight. Enquires have been carried out, nothing was seen or heard by other residents, nothing of evidential value found and there was no CCTV coverage of the area. On-going enquires concerning damage to the front door of a flat. Report received of damage to vehicle tyres overnight. House to house enquires were carried out with negative gain, no CCTV coverage and nothing of evidential value found.
1 Sexual – enquiries are on-going for this.
10 Violence Harassment Intimidation Notices (HIN) have been issued to two individuals in connection with two of these reports. Five arrests have been made in relation to further reports of violence and appropriate action has been taken following enquiries made by police. One male attended the police station as a voluntary attendee, spoken to by police and has been reported for summons to court.
1 Theft Report received of theft from a shop. An offender was identified and as a result has been issued with a Community Resolution Disposal (CRD) with conditions to pay the amount owed.
Anti-social Behaviour – 20 reports (22 in the same period 2013/14)
There are no apparent repeat location/offenders for this anti-social behaviour. With the lighter nights please call police at the time the incident is occurring to help them take effective action.
Keep up to date with Catterick Policing by joining twitter and follow us @NYPCatterickSNT
Colburn Community Watch –Meeting held on the 23rd March. It was not as well attended as first meeting, but very positive matters were discussed and we are moving forward. We hope to get more people interested and attending next meeting on the 27th April 7.30pm
‘Supporting Victims’ in North Yorkshire
Julia Mulligan, the Police and Crime Commissioner for North Yorkshire, is funding this new service to help people to cope after crime and get their lives back to normal as soon as possible.
Cllr Ward asked if this was the same system as Victim Support (nationwide). PCSO Corfield replied that it was a separate system applying to North Yorkshire only but with the same purpose and outcome.
National 24 hr non-emergency number 101 or call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111
PC 138 Gary Treweek
PCSO 6607 Katie Whitehead
PCSO 6602 Corfield
Speeding – was discussed in the light of the confirmed data from Safer Richmondshire. Cllr Scrivin asked how we could task Speed Watch and PCSO Corfield suggested the use of mobile cameras. The Chair of Hipswell PC (public) was asked about their 3 flashing matrix signs which they had the periodic use of by joining a scheme a few years ago. They did not own the equipment as it was expensive to calibrate. Cllr Scrivin proposed that the Town Council approach 95 Alive Partnership concerning traffic control over the A6136 and this was agreed. The clerk to action.
5. DISCUSSION ON THE BURIAL BOARD RECENT EVENTS AND THE PROCEDURES ADOPTED BY COLBURN TOWN COUNCIL
The minutes of the meeting held on 12th March and the agenda for the meeting to be held on 15th April had been circulated with the agenda. Request for 10% match funding was noted to be brought by Cllrs Sharma, Scrivin & Nassa. The clerk had requested that all financial matters are directed from clerk to clerk to ensure that they are put on the agenda for discussion.
Cllr Scrivin initiated the debate as he had written the original email requesting a closed meeting following the Extraordinary Meeting held with members of the Burial Authority on 2nd March. He rejected the point inferring that the Burial Board members had not been informing the Town Council of events as there was no agenda item for a report. The Chair of Hipswell (public) was asked how their members reported and she stated that as and when matters of interest arose they simply informed the Parish Council at the next meeting and contacted the clerk for an agenda item if required.
Discussion took place on the role of sub-committees and how information is relayed back to the Town Council. The Chair felt it was essential that we learnt from this incident how to communicate in a more satisfactory and clear way for the future. It was RESOLVED that future agendas would include “reports from other Bodies and sub-committees” in the same way that is currently operated with reports from County and District Councillors.
6. QUESTION TIME WITH COUNTY COUNCILLOR HELEN GRANT
Cllr Grant had sent apologies but had taken the following actions after the last meeting:-
a) Traffic issues at Broadway/1st Avenue – following a site meeting Highways suggested implementing a short length of “No Waiting At Any Time” on both sides of 1st Avenue from the new traffic lights back around the corner to include the corner of Walkerville Avenue and has requested comments on this proposal before the necessary process of Consultation and Public Advertising (email and map circulated with agenda).
Cllr Styles felt it was necessary to use double yellow lines although unless parking/waiting restrictions were enforced they would be ignored and the present situation would continue. Councillors agreed with this view and also requested that the “keep clear” road markings be removed. The clerk to contact Cllr Grant and Highways.
b) Broadway lights –the light which appears to show red when turning right is to have a funnel placed on it so that it can only be seen by those who need to react to it.
7. TO RECEIVE AN UPDATE FROM DISTRICT COUNCILLORS ON RDC MATTERS RELEVANT TO COLBURN – No report.
8. CORRESPONDENCE –
a) Communities Opportunity Fund 2015-16 – latest information from RDC confirming grant applications can be received from Colburn for between £5,000-40,000. Deadline for applications less than £5,000 is 31st January 2016 and 15th December 2015 for over £5,000 requests. Funding will close when the total of £500,000 has been reached (letter circulated with agenda).
b) Area 1 Surface Dressing Programme 2015 – NYCC will be undertaking carriageway surface dressing at various locations within Richmondshire during April and May. Clerk has full details and map which can be emailed on request.
c) Transparency Code for Parish Councils and smaller bodies with an annual turnover not exceeding £25,000 – Legal briefing from NALC that the new framework effective from 1 April 2017 will exempt smaller councils from external audit (information circulated at meeting).
9. SEWERAGE ISSUES IN COLBURN
Maria Nusser, the Yorkshire Water representative for this area, has been contacted and is willing to come to a meeting to answer questions. Since the last spillage from the main pipeline in 2009 Yorkshire Water has spent sums of money repairing and improving the pipe and she has reports taken after it is jet flushed regularly. She has spoken to the land owner, David Wood, and is unaware of any recent leaks or complaints from him. She confirmed that there is sufficient capacity for the current agreed developments as the problem is not so much additional sewerage but the surface water system that can become overwhelmed in extreme weather with high density developments which can then find its way into the foul system.
Councillors were unsatisfied with the response given previously to the number of tankers using Colburn Lane and the number of daily return trips. The clerk was asked to invite Ms Nusser to a summer meeting which would include further information on the tanker usage of Colburn Lane.
10. PLANNING MATTERS
Plans received and agreed by Colburn Town Council:-
Approval of Reserved Matters for Residential Development of 47 dwellings at Inpipe Products Lrd, Catterick Road, Colburn DL9 4RR (closing date for comments 30th April)
The application had been received on Monday 13th and brought to the meeting in view of the size and importance of the development and not left to delegation to the Planning Sub-committee. Again road access and the problems of joining/turning off the A6136 arose. The existing road leading off the A6136 into the site and beyond to the Colburn Sports Centre is narrow – can this be widened? The main concern is the increased traffic that this development will bring to the A6136 creating 3 junctions within a 400 metre approx. length of road: traffic turning in/out of Walkerville Estate, Fourth Avenue and this new access point. All this is only a short distance to the Lidl roundabout with a busy garage beyond.
It was noted that there are only 8 low cost houses, no bungalows or disabled access houses. The clerk to action.