Corsenside Parish Council Meeting
Minutes of the meeting held on Monday 15th of April 2024
Corsenside Parish Hall, West Woodburn at 7.00pm
Present:
Councillors: C. Hamilton (Chair), (Vice- Chair), D. Mole, S. Smith, D. Anderson & K. Traill.
Clerk: C. Woodcock. Members of the Public: One.
Apologies for absence: Cllrs A. Wilson, C. Hawman.
Code of Conduct (Declaration of Interest): Cllr Smith is no longer officially involved with Bellingham schools.
Opportunities for members of the public to raise issues: None.
Minutes of Parish Meeting held on Monday the 4th of March 2024: Signed as a true and accurate record.
Matters arising from the minutes: i. The clerk and Councillor Smith attended a flood meeting with representatives from NCC, the environment agency, Bellingham Parish Council and Bellingham flood wardens, in order to discuss the road by Little Ridsdale which regularly floods. Andy Olive of highways explained that two new large signs will be mounted by the roadside and local flood wardens will be able to use them to indicate if the river is in flood. A suggestion from the environment agency was to further explore passive signage for the carriageway, very simple markers of the water depth. Interactive LED signs were discussed and it was agreed to revisit that idea if necessary depending on the effectiveness of the current plans. ii. NCC were also able to confirm that the 40 mile an hour roundels in Ridsdale will be repainted when weather permits and new signage announcing to drivers that they are approaching a 40 mile an hour zone are currently in discussion. iii. Next year's Christmas play has been confirmed as a matinee performance for Sunday, the 3rd of January. iv. The reported damage to the wall neighbouring the a 68 and affecting the pedestrian path has been repaired. v. The Clerk has spoken to Esh, currently working at the Bellingham Mart site, to ask for their cooperation combating speeding construction and delivery drivers within our parish.
Notification of any other business for discussion, at the Chairman’s discretion, under item 19 below: 1 point.
County Councillor’s Report: None.
Ongoing Issues: 91. TWM have passed the Ridsdale signs to SWARCO for inspection but have not yet had a response. The council now feels enough time has passed without improvement that the Clerk should speak to the managing Director of TWM and escalate our case. A swift resolution is required in light of the terrible customer service and ongoing issues with both sets of speed signs.
Play Area: i.During Councillor Hamilton’s inspection the climbing wall was found to need cleaning. CH to action. ii. One of the infant swings has broken so it has been raised up and put out of use. Clerk to order replacement. iii. The annual ROSPA inspection has been booked for June. iv. The gates for the former school field have sustained some damage and a lat from the fence will also require attention, CH to action. v. Following an observation from the landscape contractor about how the area has degraded, it is feared there is a water leak at the village green. CW to report to Northumberland water and ask for an asset map. vi. The tyre jumps within the school field area are slippery and becoming dangerous CW to find quotes to have these removed. vii. A call is to be put out on Facebook for paving slabs to be used at the entrance to the play area. viii. Clerk to seek funding for the rubberised matting around stepping stumps.
Volunteers and Community Spending: The new defibrillator on Armstrong Street is now in place.
Wind Power Stations & BANTR: The Ray wind farm fund have explained that the business side of the grants scheme which was always part of the plans is now up and running. This explains the noticed increase in private companies receiving money. CPC have been advised that recipients must show that their work provides value to the local community or increases employment within the windfarm’s catchment area. Some concern was expressed by the council about the favouring of some local businesses over similar competitors also based within local parishes.
Parish Hall: i. The hall enjoyed a very successful Easter event and recent dramatic performance, more plans are in the works to build on this success. ii. Federica McComb has kindly agreed to be the official nominee of CPC and liaise between both organisations.
Landscape Tender: Contractor Chris Mowatt has applied for the landscape tender with an increase in costs which was felt to be reasonable his application has been successful. CW to ask if he can also keep an eye on the planters.
Emergency Plan: i. The examples of emergency plans taken from other parish councils were discussed and one was selected to act as a basis for adaptation. Clerk to prepare for discussion at the next meeting. ii. The concerns raised to Guy Opperman and then by Guy Opperman to BT over the removal of copper lines have still not been addressed. The Ofcom response was felt to merely be concerned with areas of low signal and not grasp that in our area mobile phone signal is also dependent on power supply. The Clerk has been advised by B4RN that their planned infrastructure has resilience built in and should be more reliable in a power outage.
Safeguarding Policy: It has been suggested that CPC introduce a safeguarding policy, suitable templates were discussed. CW to reword and discuss next month. It was noted that plans to apply for funding to Green Rigg must be put on hold until this policy is in place.
Planning Matters: Planning Matters a) For decision – None b) Decisions from NCC – None
Other correspondence: i. A resident has contacted us with concerns over the stepping stones across the river Rede. This has been escalated to the footways department within NCC for their assessment. ii.The Parish Show committee requested use of the village green on the 21st of September, this was agreed unanimously. iii. The parish Shaw program will be published soon, it was decided that CPC should take out an advert Clerk to action. iv. Head of NCC Glenn Sanderson responded to our letter of complaint to suggest a virtual meeting. Councillors to think about exact requests which can be put to him. Clerk to action arranging meeting with Councillor Hamilton in attendance.
Finances: a) Invoices for payment – i. Hexham Courant - £184.03 ii. Clerk Wages – £247.14 iii. EnrolPay - £7.20. All approved. b) Bank Balance c) Budget Update, end of year - the clerk shared a summary of the years spending which was found to be acceptable. d) Payment options for account - The Clerk is to clarify whether the multi pay card can be used as a debit card or whether an automatic direct debit can be set up to clear the bill free of charge on a monthly basis if these conditions are met this card is to be instituted.
Matters for discussion at the chairman’s discretion: i. Councillor Smith shared complaints over the lack of official notification, advance warning and accurate signage during the recent major closure of the A68. Similarly plans to close the road in front of the Bellingham Mart site have come at very short notice. Clerk to complain to NCC.
Next Meeting: The next meeting will be held on Monday 13th May at 7.00 – Corsenside Parish Hall. 13th of May Annual Parish Meeting beginning at 7 pm Annual General Meeting following at 7:30. Clerk to extend an invite for reports from all groups operating within the parish.
Meeting ended 9.00 pm.
Action Point List (April):
CW to escalate complaint with TWM
CW to continue to explore better speed signage for Ridsdale with NCC
CW to order new swing
CW to get quotes to remove tyre jumps
CW to seek paving slabs
CW to speak to NWL about possible leak
CW to apply for funding for rubber matting
C.Ham. to fix gate and clean climbing wall.
CW to organise payment card.
CW to draft parish emergency plans
CW to draft parish safeguarding policy
CW to complete green rigg application
CW to organise Parish Hall liaison
CW to organise advert for parish show
CW to ask CM to keep an eye on planters
CW to organise APM
CW to complain about poor communication re road closures.
