RIBBLE BANKS PARISH COUNCIL
MINUTES OF THE MEETING
HELD AT
ON TUESDAY 19th JANUARY 2010 AT 1930
PRESENT.
Councillors – Mr.F.Higginson (Acting
Chair), Mr.R.Crabtree, Mr. I. Wright.
IN ATTENDANCE.
Mr. D. Abbott (Clerk), 2 Members
of the Public
10/01. APOLOGIES FOR
ABSENCE.
Cllrs.
Clarke and Houghton.
10/02. DECLARATION OF
INTEREST.
Cllr.Crabtree reminded the
meeting of the declaration of interest he had declared at the last meeting
regarding Rathmell Car Park, when the renewal of the Car Park lease comes up
for discussion on the agenda.
10/03. CONFIDENTIAL ITEMS
No items were regarded as
confidential.
10/04. REPORT FROM DISTRICT COUNCILLOR
The District Councillor was
not present at the meeting.
10/05. PUBLIC PARTICIPATION
No
items were brought to the attention of the Council.
10/06. MINUTES OF THE LAST
MEETING
The
minutes of a meeting held on 24th November 2009 were regarded as a
true record, subject to the following amendment – Page 2, second paragraph;
line 11 should read “the Parish Council was prepared to consider the adopting
of the Call Boxes”. Following that amendment the minutes were signed by the
Chair.
10/07. MATTERS ARISING.
10/07.1. - Minute 09/60 – CDC Revised Council Plan
2010/12 – following
the discussions on this topic at the last Parish Council meeting, Claire
Mazurke had reported back that the consultation document had been modified and
now included, amongst other modifications, a reference to performance
indicators. She also supplied a number of examples of performance indicators
that the Council is currently working to, and which would be included and
updated in the revised Council Plan. In addition she provided information on
where further details and comments on the Council’s recent performance could be
accessed. On the Council website she felt that useful documents to refer to
would be the Audit Commission – Use of Resources Report for 2008/2009, and the Statement
of Accounts 2008/2009, in particular pages 4 to 13, which provides an overview.
10/07.2. - Minute 09/64.1 – BT Public
Call Boxes – the Clerk reported that he had followed up the points raised
at the last meeting, with both BT and the solicitors. BT has confirmed that
there is an electricity supply to the Rathmell and Halton West Call Boxes, and
that the cost of disconnecting the supply would be £312 for the Halton West Box
and £470 for the Rathmell box. The solicitor has given an estimate of £300 per
Call Box for drawing up a legal agreement with the landowners on which the Call
Boxes stand, to continue in their existing positions, but that estimate would
be subject to any complexities that might arise. BT proved not to be helpful on
enquiring of them who might own the land on which the Boxes stood, saying that
most Boxes were situated on the public highway. This is clearly not likely to
be the case with either of the two Boxes being considered for adoption, and the
land ownership of the Rathmell Box in particular would have to be verified. If
both Boxes were to be adopted there could, therefore, be potential one-off
costs of £1400 – and this figure has been factored into some of the options
that Councillors are to consider later in the meeting when determining next
year’s precept.
The Clerk had received advice
from CDC Planning Department at the outset of this exercise that no Call Boxes
in the Parish were listed. Mr. Dean had reported that he believed that the
Wigglesworth and Rathmell Call Boxes were listed, and this was confirmed by
consulting the Council website for listed buildings. The Clerk consulted
English Heritage to establish owner’s responsibilities for listed property.
Historically telephony services have been improved and/or removed without there
being a need for planning procedures to be implemented. However, if there is a
proposal to alter the structure of a Box, or remove it or demolish it then the
owner is required to apply for planning and listed building consent before any
action can be taken. This would apply to BT or the Parish Council, depending
upon who is the owner. If such an application is submitted by BT then English
Heritage should be informed, and also the local council if applicable. There
are responsibilities placed on the owners to maintain listed properties in
keeping with their status.
Shortly before the meeting
the Clerk had received the following information from BT: –
-
they have
extended the deadline for Call Box adoptions to February 2010
-
they have
provided an option to adopt a Call Box with BT continuing to be responsible for
the electricity supply and the payments of that supply. However, they reserve
the right to disconnect the supply at some point in the future.
This could save £800 of the
one-off costs quoted above, if it was agreed to adopt with a continuing
electricity supply that was BT’s responsibility.
Discussions then followed on
the respective boxes.
Halton West
– this Call Box was not listed. It was situated on Yorke estate land, and it is
understood that the estate would be willing to maintain and inspect it on a
regular basis. In these circumstances there would appear to be no need to incur
legal costs in drawing up an agreement for the continued use of the land that
it stood on. The majority decision was to adopt the Call Box with BT being
responsible for the on-going supply of electricity, and should they disconnect
that supply sometime in the future, so be it. ACTION CLERK
Rathmell –
this Call Box is listed, and thus carries owner responsibilities. There is a
lack of clarity regarding the ownership of the land that the Call Box stands
on, and this would require further investigation. The majority decision was not
to adopt this Call Box because of these factors, particularly the potential for
incurring significant costs in establishing ownership of the land and drawing
up a legal agreement. It was noted that because the Call Box is listed that certain
obligations must fall to BT.
Wigglesworth
– it was confirmed that a case had been put forward for the retention of
telephony services. The onus was now on BT to take this matter further or not,
and to date nothing further has been heard from them. It was noted that as the
Call Box was listed that certain obligations must fall to BT.
10/07.3. - Minute 09/64.2 – War Memorials – the Clerk reported that due
to bad weather the contractor has not yet been able to complete the job. ACTION CLERK
10/07.4. - Minute 09/64.3 –
10/07.5. - Minute 09/65 – Community Governance Review –
the Clerk
informed the Councillors of the feedback that had been received from Colin
Iveson (Head of Democratic Services), in response to the Parish Council’s
comments on the initial consultation document, discussed at the last meeting.
Any issues that Councillors wished to incorporate into this review had to be
submitted by 11th March 2010, and the Parish Council would then be
consulted again to give their comments on the Draft Proposals, during the
period 15th June to 14th September 2010. The Councillors
had no issues to submit to this Governance Review process for investigation.
NB. Subsequent to the
meeting revised dates for the Review have been received, with the deadline for
submission of issues for review now being 14th May 2010, and the
consultation period for draft proposals now being 18th August to 17th
November 2010.
10/07.6. - Minute 09/66 – NYCC Budget and Council Plan
consultation – Councillors were briefed on the responses submitted by the Chairman on
their behalf, to this consultation document received from NYCC. He had broadly
supported the NYCC’S initiatives on efficiency measures and service priorities,
but emphasised the need to increase public transport in the region, not to cut
back the essential services that supported childcare, the disabled and older
adults, education or transport. These services were fundamental to the quality
of life to people in our community. In addition he highlighted the need to
improve the Highway maintenance services in the region, and to reinstate easier
access to officers with local knowledge of the roads and gullies.
NYCC
are to be encouraged to continue their process of efficiency savings, and
investment in the essential services identified. If this was deliverable, then
council tax increases of 2-3% would be supported.
10/08. FINANCE.
10/08.1 Current Bank
Balances.
The
Clerk tabled a statement showing the movement of funds between 31st
October and 31st December 2009, with the balances as at 31st
December 2009 as follows:-
Deposit
Account £6336.23
Current
Account £2384.61
Total Funds £8720.84
Current
commitments/expenses totaled about £3606, including War memorial repair costs,
Clerking fees, legal fees for drawing up car park lease, annual insurance
premium.
10/08.2 Settle Swimming
Pool.
A
request has been received from the Trustees of the Settle Swimming Pool
Committee for the Parish Council to consider making a grant towards the pool costs.
Following discussions it was AGREED to make a donation of £400 to this
community facility, as was the case last year.
ACTION CLERK
10/08.3. Payments to be
Authorised.
The
above amounts received authorisation for payment, and the appropriate cheques
were duly signed at the end of the meeting.
10/08.4. Budget/Precept
for 2010/2011.
The
Clerk explained that the Budget Consultation Paper-Version 2- that he had
circulated to Councillors included £1183 for forthcoming election costs(an
estimate submitted by CDC); and had also been updated by any further
information received regarding future expenditure estimates, since the last
meeting. It was noted that as a result of the decisions taken earlier in the
meeting regarding the BT Call Boxes, the Precept Options Nos. 4 – 7 year-end
bank balances would be increased by £1400.
Following
discussions on the options the Councillors agreed that a 2010/2011 year-end
bank balance of approximately £3200 would be a reasonable figure to aim for, to
cover for contingencies and potential increased running costs through the year.
They
then moved on to discussing the request to cover the running costs for
2010/2011 of the Rathmell Reading Room of £2311, submitted by Mr.R.Stone the
Chairman of the Reading Room Management Committee. He explained that as an
organization it was under capitalized, and that fund raising efforts to cover
running costs generally did not leave anything over to cover maintenance,
repair and improvement costs. There were a number of such costs looming –
repairs to the roofs, maintenance work on the timber floors, upgrading of
kitchen facilities, car park drainage improvement, etc.
In
their deliberations Councillors noted that there were 3 village hall facilities
in the Parish, and that it would require a considerable increase in the precept
to cover similar requests from all 3 establishments. It has not been the
practice in the past to cover running expenses of organisations, and it was
felt that this philosophy should continue. The Councillors stated that they
would continue to give consideration to requests for assistance towards capital
expenditure, but believed that the covering of running costs was something that
each organisation had to be responsible for.
Councillors
then reverted back to considering the level of precept to be set for the
forthcoming year. It was proposed, and unanimously AGREED, to set the
precept at £6000 for 2010/2011, this covered for the estimated election costs
of £1183 and would also give the desirable year-end bank balance. The Clerk was
asked to notify Craven District Council of this decision. ACTION CLERK
10/09. CDC BUDGET
CONSULTATION
The
Councillors considered the circular received 10th December 2009,
which summarised CDC’s budget position now and over the next two years. It
revealed that there was still an urgent need to continue to make efficiency
savings over those years to recover the current financial deficit. Given the
format of the information presented Councillors did not feel able to offer
suggestions on further efficiency measures or levels of services provided by
CDC.
10/10. FORTHCOMING PARISH
COUNCIL ELECTIONS
Councillors
discussed the need to bring to the attention of all Parishioners that at the
next Parish Council elections, probably to be held in May 2010, that there will
be a need for new people to put themselves forward for election to the Parish
Council, as there will be several vacancies. In particular, Councillors hoped
that some younger people would consider putting themselves forward for
election.
The
two current Councillors representing Rathmell will be standing down at the next
election, as will one of the current Wigglesworth representatives.
It
was AGREED that the Clerk should look to circulate all properties within
the Parish with some appropriate information, to bring this to everyone’s
attention. ACTION CLERK
10/11. PARISH PLAN REVIEW
It
was noted that the existing Parish Plan was now some years old, and it was
AGREED that it would be appropriate to review this Plan when the new
Council has been elected.
10/12. PLANNING MATTERS
10/12.1 – No.72/2009/10046
– Tithe Laithe Barn, Wigglesworth – resubmission of expired approval (72/2003/3903) for
conversion of barn to business workspace with ancillary accommodation. The
Council had no comments to make.
10/12.2 – Littlebank Farm,
Rathmell –
proposed diversion of Footpath No. 05.35/6 – revised proposal to the original
request submitted in October 2008. The Council had no comments to make.
10/13. CORRESPONDENCE.
The
key items on the correspondence list were brought to the attention of
Councillors.
10/14. REPORTS FROM
COUNCILLORS AND COUNCIL REPRESENTATIVES
Chairman
Nothing
to report.
Halton West.
Nothing
to report.
Wigglesworth.
It
was confirmed that funding was now in place to allow the renovation of
Rathmell.
The
sterling work carried out recently by Mr.A.Harper in clearing the snow and ice
from many of the roads in the Parish was noted, and the Clerk was asked to send
a letter of appreciation from the Council. ACTION CLERK
Clerk.
Nothing
to report.
10/15. VILLAGE
ENVIRONMENTS, RIGHTS OF WAY AND HIGHWAYS.
-
10/15.1 - Minute 09/71 – Highways Matters Progress
Report – the
Clerk informed Councillors that due to the recent and prolonged bad weather
NYCC Highways department has not yet been able investigate the drainage problem reported in Hesley Lane,
Rathmell. He has received a promise that it will be investigated. The Clerk has
not received a reply to his letter to Mr.Garnett requesting that his
overhanging hedges in
-
A salt bin in Halton West was reported missing. Cllr. Higginson would
investigate
ACTION
CLLR.HIGGINSON
-
The Clerk was asked to establish the possibility of a salt bin being located
at the
top of
-
The Clerk was asked to enquire when the damage to
10/16. ANY OTHER BUSINESS.
A request
from Tosside Community Link, dated 16th January 2010, for assistance
towards the cost of upgrading catering equipment was considered. The Council
considered this to be a running expense, and did not feel able to support such
a request on this occasion. ACTION CLERK
10/17. DATE OF NEXT
MEETING.
The date of the next
meeting has been rescheduled for Tuesday 30th March 2010 at 7.30pm, at Rathmell
Reading Room.
The
meeting closed at 2115