SANDHOE PARISH COUNCIL

 

 

The minutes of the Council Meeting held on Wednesday 18th June 2008 at 7.00 pm in Beaufront County First School, Sandhoe, Hexham.

 

Present

 

Councillor R Macfarlane (Chairman of the Council in the Chair), Councillors Mrs E Rodger, M Baxter, J Pennie, H Learman

 

Also Present

 

Bill Grigg, Clerk to the Council, 7 residents of the Parish

 

Apologies

 

County Councillor Mrs J B Fearon, District Councillor N Fearon

 

Declarations of Interest

 

There were no declarations of interest.

 

 

1.       The Minutes of the Council Meeting held on the 16th  April 2008

 

         The minutes of the Council Meeting held on the 16th  April 2008 were signed as a correct record.

 

2.       Matters arising from the minutes of the Council Meeting held on the 16th  April 2008

 

         i)        Ref. 10(b) Belonging Communities (Northumberland)

 

Reports in the Press indicate that the new NCC administration have decided not to go ahead with Belonging Communities as proposed in the Unitary Council's bid to Central Government.  Parish/Town Councils have no information to hand; therefore we must await more information from NCC.  Councillor R Macfarlane, the Council Chairman was attending a meeting of Tynedale Partnership on 23rd  June 2008 when the issue will be discussed when the partnership will be discussing the re-organisation of the partnerships in Northumberland.

 

 

3.       Financial Matters

 

         a)       Income

 

                  Nil.

 

         b)       Payments                                                            £

 

W. C. Grigg (fee) (DD) £200.00, W. C. Grigg (fee) (DD) £200.00, NALC (subscription) £73.99, G Caldwell (Audit internal) £80.00, J Robinson (copying) £8.99, R Macfarlane (repayment website) £10.56, W. C. Grigg (administration) £48.00, NCC Rent of Room £15.00, W. C. Grigg (fee) (cheque) £200.00, W. C. Grigg (backdated fee increase) £60.00

 

         c)       Balances of Accounts at 18/06/08

 

                  Current account                 £1457.45

                  Deposit account                 £2920.86

 

         d)       Clerk's Fees

 

It was agreed to increase the Clerk's fees by £20 per month backdated to 1st April 2008.

 

e)       Audit 2007 - 2008

 

The Council fully agreed the Statement of Accounts and agreed the Chairman and Clerk sign the document.

 

The Council fully agreed the Annual Governance Statement and agreed the Chairman and Clerk sign the documents.

 

4.       Updates in regards to Egger UK Ltd

 

The Council agreed to suspend standing order during this item to allow residents to take part in the discussions.

 

a)       Councillor John Pennie has met with P. Dancer (Smiths Gore) Land Agent for the Beaufront Estate and A Cuthbert to discuss the tree planting scheme.  There is still a vast amount of work to be done and checking of land ownership, costings etc before hopefully Councillor J Pennie can take some costings to Egger UK in July with proposals.

 

         Residents strongly felt they should be fully consulted and kept informed of the proposals and local liaison with residents was very important.

 

b)       There is still a problem to local residents with noise, especially during the night.  Councillor J Pennie agreed to take these concerns to the next Egger Liaison Working Group at the end of July.

 

c)       Nick Barrett, Tynedale Council is still reviewing the monitoring points and looking to install two extra points.

 

d)       Jenny Green (Planning Officer/Case Officer for Egger UK Ltd) and Nick Barrett (Senior Environmental Officer) both of Tynedale Council are closely working together monitoring the planning permission and trying to sort out the unresolved breaches in their permission.  Ian Winkworth has been going through the planning documents and speaking to both officers in regard to the breaches and the action taken, or what action will be taken, by Tynedale Council.

 

5.       Residents' Participation

 

It was fully agreed standing orders be suspended to allow residents' participation.

 

a)       Parish Council Noticeboard

 

After discussion the Council agreed to divide the noticeboard into two sections; one lockable for Council notices and one for residents/public use.  The Clerk would seek the necessary costings and report back to next meeting of the Council.  The Council will review this in a year's time.

 

b)       Bottle Bank Rat Inn

 

It is not possible due to regulations for Tynedale Council to provide a bottle bank at the Rat Inn as this is classified as business and therefore would be charged as trade waste.  A request for a Community Recycling Bank is to be made to Tynedale Council and to ask Beaufront County First School to include this in its new design and building programme.

 

c)       Council's Standing Orders

 

The Council does have standing orders and a Code of Conduct which should be on the website.  Councillor R Macfarlane agreed to check this and check updates with the Clerk and make sure they are on the website.

 

d)       Site Allocation

 

Concerns were expressed that the land East of Egger was still being safeguarded for industrial use and what would happen during the transition period to the new unitary authority. Residents have taken advice from consultants.

 

Tynedale Council are still working on site allocations; these will be presented to Northumberland County Council who will publish a new Local Development Scheme later in the year.  This Council and residents will be consulted on this matter and this is the time to forward comments to the Authority dealing with the matter.