A meeting of Hartington Nether Quarter Parish Council was held on Monday, 7th March 2016 at Biggin Village Hall.
Present: Mrs J Brindley, Mrs J Griffiths, Mr D Prince, Mrs J Bonsall, Mrs S McCurrach,
Mrs J Coles and the clerk, Mrs S Hampson. There was 1 member of the public in attendance.
16.3.1 Apologies
There were no apologies.
16.3.2 Declaration of personal and prejudicial interest of councillors
There was no need by any member present to complete an entry in the register.
16.3.3 Minutes of the previous meeting
The minutes of the previous meeting were read and signed as a true copy of the proceedings. (Proposed JG, seconded JB)
A spelling mistake/ typing error was corrected.
16.3.4 Matters arising from pre-meeting
A resident had brought to the attention of Mrs Griffiths an opening from the football field which can be accessed over private property on to Drury Lane. The issue was raised that a child could wander off the field and gain access to the road via this point although safeguarding of children is the responsibility of parents.
Resolved: Mrs McCurrach to have an informal chat with the owner of the property.
16.3.5 Public speaking procedures document
This was presented to the member of the public.
16.3.6 Public speaking
The member of the public raised a lack of reference to the clerk’s contact email address on the website. He further raised that the noticeboard is still full of condensation making it difficult to read the displayed minutes.
Resolved: The clerk to contact the website provider about the email address.
Resolved: The clerk to contact the joiner who made the noticeboard about the condensation issue with the noticeboard.
16.3.7 PCSO updates
The clerk advised that the new PCSO should now have finished his training.
16.3.8 County Councillor & District Councillor updates
Neither the County Councillor nor District Councillor were in attendance.
16.3.9 Highway issues, including Cardlemere Lane
The request for the sign at the end of Cardlemere Lane has been submitted to Derbyshire County Council (DCC) along with a request to attend to water collections at Washmere Corner, but an update had not been received in time for the meeting regarding either of these items. The footpath from Biggin to Newhaven has been cleared very well. Members discussed other missing and damaged highway signs in the village. The 30 mph signs in the village are in a very poor state. The directional sign for Biggin from the A515 which used to be near the Ivy House has been missing for some considerable time. Signage to warn motorists of the village primary school is also poor. Members also discussed more pleasant village name signs.
Resolved: The clerk to request new 30 mph signs and a new directional sign to Biggin near the Ivy House.
Resolved: The clerk to request improved signage to alert motorists of the vicinity of the primary school.
Resolved: The clerk to request details, including costs, of possible village name signs which are available of a more attractive nature
16.3.10 Planning applications and planning sub-committee
Members considered planning applications on Porridge Lane. One for a new build house and the other at Shortner Croft for a new window. Members also queried the reference to the latter as being ‘Off Drury Lane’ instead of Porridge Lane.
Resolved: To support both of these applications.
Planning decision notices were also received for:
Dale Head Farm, extension to dwelling to create dependent relative unit (granted),
The Laurels, installation of LPG tank (granted)
Dr D Burston, installation of field gate for sheep crossing on Main Street (granted) *
Friden Cottages, Friden, field shelter retrospective application (refused).
Appeal decision dismissed by the Planning Inspectorate for Hartington Creamery at Pikehall for a single wind turbine.
* Members reported that there are now 56 gaps in the wall on Main Street resulting in livestock not being securely contained on the land at this location.
Mrs McCurrach had recently attended a planning training event at Peak District National Park Authority (PDNPA). This had been very good value for money and Mrs McCurrach disseminated some information to the other members although there was too much material to refer to in the time available during the meeting.
Resolved: The clerk to contact the planning officer who had delivered the course to request an electronic version of the slides to pass to other members.
16.3.11 Bank mandate
The clerk had received an update from the parish council’s bank advising that the new mandate was complete. Mrs Bonsall is now an authorised signatory.
16.3.12 Cemetery issues
A letter had been received from the stonemason concerned with a memorial placed at the incorrect height in the cemetery. The letter confirmed that the memorial in question had now been restored to the correct height to comply with the parish council’s cemetery regulations. The clerk reported that the pest controller had removed 5 voles from the cemetery; however; members reported that there is still a vole issue in the old churchyard.
16.3.13 Noticeboard
The member of the public had advised that condensation is still an issue with the new noticeboard.
See resolution from public speaking to contact the joiner regarding this.
16.3.14 Damaged village seat
The clerk advised that she had contacted the grounds person to carry out preservation of the village seats including the damaged seat on returned to its usual site. Mrs Brindley had also been in contact with the grounds person to find out the details of the preservation material used on other village seats to enable the damaged seat to be treated with the same substance.
Resolved: Seat preservation to hopefully take place before the end of March.
16.3.15 Public telephone box at Newhaven
The contact at BT had advised the clerk that PDNPA has confirmed there are no objections to the removal of the public telephone box at Newhaven. BT will progress the work and the disconnection of the power source which will take up to 5 months. BT queried why the parish council had requested monitoring as the box had not been used for over 12 months. Mrs Bonsall advised that it had not been used because the telephone was broken. Members still thought that a public telephone in this area would be useful as, despite BT’s assurance of good mobile phone signal, this is not the case from all mobile providers. The proprietor of the nearby garage has expressed interest in acquiring the old kiosk. Members wondered if it would be possible to have a public phone facility at the garage.
Resolved: The clerk to find contact details of the garage and to send this to BT with an enquiry about the possibility of a public phone at the garage.
16.3.16 Hearing Loop
Mrs Griffiths reported that a hearing loop had now been set up in her own home but she had not yet been provided with a portable loop for use at council meetings. Details had been provided to the village hall committee with a view to consideration of installation at the village hall if grant funding could be obtained.
Resolved: Mrs Griffiths to contact the provider again regarding a portable hearing loop for council meetings.
16.3.17 Items of account, salaries, HMRC
| Cq 870 | Shelter Maintenance Ltd | Bus shelter cleaning | £20.04 | |
| Cq 871 | HMRC | Quarter 4 income tax | £203.20 | |
| Cq 872 | S Povey | Vole removal | £25.00 | |
| Cq 873 | S Hampson | March clerk’s salary | £174.24 | |
| Cq 874 | S Hampson | Reimbursement of expenses | £15.46 | |
| Cq 875 | G Tilson | March net salary | £96.83 |
The clerk advised that she had forwarded the standard Pension Regulator letter to Mr Tilson in advance of the Pension Staging date in June 2016.
16.3.18 Village pavements
The village pavements from the church corner on Main Street up to the A515, on both sides, are in a poor state of repair and are overgrown.
Resolved: The clerk to report this to DCC.
16.3.19 Former POW camp
A lengthy response had been received from PDNPA regarding the deteriorating state of the former POW camp buildings. PDNPA state that there is no evidence of works at the site but there is no breach of planning law. The disrepair is not causing enough visual impact to issue a Section 215 notice and if it was, the owner would most likely remove all of the buildings as the most economical solution. The buildings are not protected within a conservation area. PDNPA state that the parish council could pursue assessment for designation via Historic England but information would have to be gathered to compare this site with other designated POW camp remains in the country to ascertain if it is of national importance. PDNPA suggested contacting DDDC’s Environmental Health Department regarding potential asbestos although PDNPA considered the risk to be low, if left in-situ. PDNPA will continue to monitor the buildings but will not take any further action at present.
Members acknowledged that many of the original features of the POW camp buildings have now been lost. The original construction was reported to be red brick but this has now been replaced with block work. In addition, when the buildings were used for education purposes by the primary school many years ago there was some very attractive art work on the ceilings.
Resolved: The clerk to contact a resident who has attended the parish council meetings on a number of occasions to gather information to enable an application to Historic England to be considered by members of the parish council. The clerk to forward a copy of the PDNPA response regarding the POW camp buildings.
16.3.20 Correspondence and communication
Mrs McCurrach advised that dog fouling in the village is worse than ever. Some visitors to the village do not clean up after their animals but the majority of the problem is caused by dogs of residents in the village either roaming without their owners or owners not being responsible and not disposing the waste in an appropriate manner in the numerous dual purpose bins in the village. Some new warning signs have been erected but some are faded. There have been fewer cases of dog fouling in the cemetery.
Resolved: The clerk to contact DDDC for advice on implementing fines, dog wardens and best course of action to be taken.
Other correspondence and communication included:
DALC circulars, DDDC Area Forums; bus consultation (website address provided to members to view the survey); Highway Asset Infra-structure questionnaire; Derbyshire County Council services poster. The Biggin Village Hall Committee is pleased to accept the offer from the parish council to pay £10 per meeting for hire of the meeting room. A tenant of land on Main Street had responded to the clerk’s enquiry about pulp paper being deposited in the fields advising that this was not hazardous.
A Heathcote resident had advised that the verges on the lane approaching his property had been damaged by a lorry and that the parish council supported destruction by one its ‘friends’. One of the parish councillors had visited Heathcote but reported that remaining verges in through the village were in far worse condition typical of the time of year.
Resolved: No response to be issued regarding the Heathcote verges.
The clerk advised that she had liaised with DALC regarding the submission of an application through the Transparency Fund for a dedicated laptop and scanner. The clerk had applied for a sum of £450 but the outcome of this application may take some time to be determined.
16.3.21 Items for the next agenda
POW camp, village pavements, telephone box, dog fouling. Additional items to be compiled by the clerk.
16.3.22 Date of the next meeting
Resolved: Due to the clerk’s annual leave, the next meeting will be Monday, 18th April.
Resolved: Due to the May parish council meeting falling on a bank holiday the May parish council meeting will be deferred until Monday, 23 May
Apologies were received in advance for both the April and May parish council meetings from Mr D Prince.
The meeting was declared closed at 9.10 pm
Mrs S Hampson
Clerk
10th March 2016
©Hartington Nether Quarter Parish Council minutes remain draft until approved by the parish council at the next meeting.