RIBBLE BANKS PARISH COUNCIL

MINUTES OF THE MEETING

HELD AT RATHMELL READING ROOM

ON TUESDAY 11^TH MAY 2010 AT 1930

PRESENT.

Councillors – Dr.D.Clarke (Chair), Mr.F.Higginson, Mr.M.Dean

IN ATTENDANCE.

Mr. D. Abbott (Clerk), Mr.K.Gerrard, Former Cllrs. Crabtree, Houghton and Wright, Mr.D.Rawsthorne, Mr.R.Stone

10/42. APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE.

Mr.B.Bell

10/43. DECLARATION OF INTEREST.

There were no declarations of interest relevant to the agenda

10/44. CONFIDENTIAL ITEMS

No items were regarded as confidential.

10/45. REPORT FROM DISTRICT COUNCILLOR

The District election held on 6^th May 2010 has resulted in a new District Councillor being elected, and the Clerk will make contact with the new Councillor Mr. David Staveley, to invite him to future meetings.

10/46. PUBLIC PARTICIPATION

No items were brought to the attention of the Council.

10/47. MINUTES OF THE LAST MEETING

The minutes of a meeting held on 30^th March 2010 were regarded as a true record, and signed by the Chair.

10/48. MATTERS ARISING.

- 10/48.1. - Minute 10/24.1 - BT Public Call Box – Halton West – Cllr. Higginson reported that records had now been set up to record the details of regular inspections of the Call Box.

- 10/48.2. - Minute 10/26.0 - Minutes of Annual Parish Meetings –

Halton West – Cllr. Higginson would forward a copy of the draft minutes of the

recently held Annual Parish Meeting.

Rathmell – Mr.I.Wright reported that 18 people had attended the Rathmell Annual

Parish Meeting, held on 27^th April 2010, and he had forwarded a set of the draft

minutes of that meeting to the Parish Council

Wigglesworth – Cllr.Clarke reported that a good Annual Parish Meeting had been

held on 28^th April 2010, and that a set of the draft minutes have been forwarded to

the Parish Council. It was noted that there were a number of concerns expressed

regarding the condition of various roads in the Parish, and the Clerk was asked to

take these matters up with the Highways Department. ACTION CLERK

- 10/48.3. - Minute 10/29.0 - Rubbish/Recycling Concerns – the Clerk reported

that he had emailed the Recycling Team at Craven District Council on two occasions

with details of the Parish Council’s concerns on the new arrangements for collection

and recycling of household rubbish. To date he had not received a reply.

- 10/48.4. - Minute 10/28.0 – NY Fire and Rescue Service Draft Integrated

Risk Management Plan 2010/13 – Cllr.Clarke confirmed that he had responded

to this document on behalf of the Parish Council, and that he had found that it

matched up to previous statements and targets. The document was available for consultation on the service’s website.

10/49. FINANCE.

10/49.1 Current Bank Balances.

The Clerk tabled a statement showing the movement of funds between 31^st March 2010 and 30^th April 2010, with the balances as at 30^th April 2010 as follows:-

Deposit Account £ 3337.34

Current Account £ 3377.78

Total Funds £ 6715.12

Current commitments/expenses totaled £ 276.88, including the Clerk’s salary and administration costs.

Two further items for financial support were considered.

1. Cllr. Clarke explained that Wigglesworth Parish Meeting had previously promised some financial support to the owners of the Plough Inn, Wigglesworth if they screened from public sight the rubbish collection bins. The work has now been carried out, and he was requesting a contribution of £300, to cover the costs of the materials, to be paid out of the ring fenced money attributed to Wigglesworth Parish Council. A supporting copy invoice was handed over. It was AGREED to meet this request.
2. A request for financial support has been received from the Rathmell Village Website committee. They were seeking a contribution of £200 towards the running costs of the village website, and a contribution of £400 towards the costs of producing and distributing a recently launched monthly village newsletter. Information has been provided to support these requests. Following discussions Councillors APPROVED the request of £200 for the website, and were prepared to contribute £200 towards the costs of the newsletter, to encourage its progress. However, they did not wish this to be seen as a project that the Parish Council would commit to on a long-term basis, believing that such projects should be self- funding. They would appreciate a report from the committee in 6 months time, reviewing the progress and success of the newsletter.

10/49.2. Payments to be Authorised.

The above amounts received authorisation for payment, and the appropriate cheques were duly signed at the end of the meeting.

10/49.3. - Minute 10/25.3 - Parish Council Assets – Rathmell Parish Meeting had submitted what it considered to be assets that existed within Rathmell that were the responsibility of the Parish Council, and Wigglesworth Parish Meeting had submitted a similar list of what they considered to be Parish Council assets within their village. Similar details were awaited from Halton West. ACTION CLLR.HIGGINSON

The clerk had approached the surveyor who carried out a survey of the War Memorials to see if he could offer a valuation on the memorials, but he felt that a stonemason would be the more appropriate person to approach. The Clerk had also sought an opinion from the contractors who had carried out the recent work on the memorials, but they had not responded. It was suggested that the Clerk consult with North Yorkshire County Council to see if they could offer advice. ACTION CLERK

10/49.4. Cheque Book – it was agreed that the spare cheque book should be held by the new Chairman.

10/50. PLANNING MATTERS

10/50.1 – Minute 10/27.0 – General Planning Matters – the Clerk reported that despite a number of telephone and email communications with various people within the CDC Planning Department, he had yet to receive a reply to his requests for information on a number of items. Given the fact that the CDC Recycling team were also failing to respond to enquiries it was AGREED that the Clerk should write to the Chief Executive of Craven District Council expressing the Parish Council’s strong feelings that communications with CDC were far from satisfactory. It was also suggested that the newly appointed District Councillor should be copied in on this correspondence.

ACTION CLERK

10/51. CORRESPONDENCE.

The key items on the correspondence list were brought to the attention of Councillors.

- and it was noted that the Parish Council would probably have a response to make to the North Yorkshire Mineral and Waste Development Framework, when details on the Waste proposals become available.

- and that the Chairman and Clerk would be authorised to respond, on behalf of the Parish Council, to voting for an appropriate candidate onto the CDC Standards Committee, once details of nominees were received.

- Cllr.Clarke handed over correspondence he had received from David Pemberton, former Trustee of the Thomas Foster Charity. It was noted that in the Minutes of the Annual Rathmell Parish Meeting that Mr. B.Adshead had agreed to be Rathmell’s Trustee representative on this Charity.

10/52. NYCC PARISH CHARTER PROPOSAL.

Discussions followed on the proposals received from North Yorkshire County Council to develop a Parish Charter between NYCC and Parish Councils/ Town Councils/ Parish Meetings and District Councils. The general feeling was that this was perhaps yet another process that might meet the aspirations of NYCC, but it was not likely to be of much benefit to the other Councils. Standards and targets already existed in most areas, so why consider proliferating them. Also it was felt that different approaches to larger and smaller councils would be more appropriate. Cllr. Clarke offered to draft a response to this document on behalf of the Parish Council, and bring it to the next meeting.

ACTION CLLR.CLARKE

10/53. CDC INFRASTRUCTURE AUDIT – FEEDBACK.

The general view was one of disappointment with the feedback received to the concerns/issues raised by the Parish Council, in this consultation exercise. Within the responses there appeared to be no initiatives being taken by CDC, only referral to other bodies.

The full report was rather large, but it was AGREED that it would be appropriate to place copies of the pages relevant to Ribble Banks Parish Council on each of the village notice boards. ACTION CLERK

10/54. REPORTS FROM COUNCILLORS AND COUNCIL REPRESENTATIVES

Chairman

Nothing to report.

Halton West.

Cllr. Higginson reported that work has commenced in restructuring the riverbank in Halton West, at the point where the recently installed gas pipeline goes under the river. This work, which involves the removal of 4000 tons of topsoil, is intended to prevent an overload occurring on an incorrect length of pipe that was installed by the contractors engaged to lay the pipeline.

Rathmell.

Mrs. B.Houghton reported that some temporary repairs to the pot holes in Hesley Lane had recently been carried out. She had been informed by the Highways Inspector that more permanent repairs should be carried out in June/July.

Wigglesworth.

Cllr.Clarke explained that the restoration of the Clarke’s Old School would face some delays whilst a number of issues are resolved with CDC Planning.

Clerk.

Nothing to report.

10/55. VILLAGE ENVIRONMENTS, RIGHTS OF WAY AND HIGHWAYS.

10/53.1 - Minute 10/30.1 – Highways Matters Progress Report –

- the situation in Hesley Lane has previously been minuted.

- the pot holes in Main Street Rathmell have been temporarily repaired, and it is expected that more permanent repairs will be carried out in June/July.

- Highways have not removed the Halton West salt bin. They intend to carry out an audit of salt bins and heap locations in the district, and once that has been done each Parish would be informed of the outcome, and it is anticipated that any salt bins/heaps that meet the audit criteria would be put in place during October.

10/56. ANY OTHER BUSINESS.

None

10/57. DATE OF NEXT MEETING.

It was AGREED to hold a Special Meeting to consider the nominees for co-option onto the Parish Council. This will be held on Tuesday 15^th June 2010, at 1930 hours, at Rathmell Reading Room.

The date of the next ordinary Parish Council Meeting will be Tuesday 13^th July 2010, at 1930 hours, at Rathmell Reading Room.

Provisional dates of future ordinary meetings of the Parish Council are as follows:-

21^st September 2010, 23^rd November 2010, 11^th January 2011, 17^th March 2011, 17^th May 2011 – with all meetings being held at Rathmell Reading Room until further notice.

The meeting closed at 2120