Draft Minutes of Parish Meeting - 15th February 2023
Meeting held at Bellingham Town Hall - 7.00pm
Minutes will be agreed and signed off at the March meeting
Councillors Present: Cllr Dickson-Green, Cllr Irving, Cllr Wilkinson, Cllr Tilley, Cllr Kirkbride, Cllr Huddleston, Cllr Moore.
In attendance: Clerk
Part A - Public Participation - None
Part B - Parish Council Meeting
1. Apologies - None received
2. County Councillor Report - None received
3. Declarations of interest - No new updates
4. January meeting minutes - agreed with no amendments
5. Matters arising from the minutes
5.1 The Clerk had met with Kompan and they had stated that the repairs to the Zip Line at the Jubilee Field had been completed properly and did not need any further work.
5.2 The Clerk had advertised the Parish Council vacancy and one application had been received.
5.3 The Clerk and Cllr Dickson-Green had attended the NCC Local Council conference. The Clerk had discussed the lack of road sweeping and bin emptying in the village and was to meet with a member of NCC to discuss this. (Clerk to action)
5.4 The Clerk had responded to Northumberland Estates regarding the proposed contract for the Fairstead. As the Estates were unwilling to make any changes to the proposed contract this had been rejected. There had been no reply from the Estates,
5.5 As no reply had been received from Highways relating to several queries, this was to be escalated. Cllr Sanderson had replied to express his willingness to have a meeting with the PC regarding the Middle School, but asked this be delayed until after March, when a meeting with the Governors of the Middle School was scheduled.
5.6 The Clerk had been in touch with NCC planning department regarding the lack of s106 agreement before the Mart Field development was approved. NCC noted that the amount of s106 had been agreed by County Councillors - the amount requested by planning officers had been slashed by more than half by these County Councillors when making a decision. Cllr Kirkbride noted that this was disappointing and that the money available through s106 to boost local facilities was going to be minimal.
5.7 Cllr Irving had passed on the query relating to the fire station security light to the relevant station managers.
5.8 Cllr Kirkbride was continuing to look into options for community transport vehicles. Cllr Dickson- Green noted that Kielder School had an underused minibus that they would be likely to happily rent out on an ad-hoc basis. (Cllr Kirkbride to action)
5.8 Cllr Moore noted that the broken tyre jump in the Jubilee Field needed removing and replacing. The Clerk was to provide the latest brochure to allow consideration of a replacement. (Clerk and Cllr Moore to action)
5.9 Chapel lighting, Christmas lights replacement and memorial plaques were left as a point forward (Cllr Dickson-Green to action)
5.10 Councillors approved the job description for a playground/cemetery maintenance operative and it was agreed to put this out to tender (Clerk to action). A final description for a replacement street operative was to be agreed after the Clerk’s meeting with NCC regarding street maintenance.
6. Planning applications
6.1 233NP0010 West Highridge - there were no concerns raised regarding this planning application.
7. Finance
7.1 Income, expenses, bank balance and budget review
Income for the month:
- Interest: £8.14
- Podpoint (EV charger income) - £132.74
- Allotment income - £37.50
Invoices to be paid:
- B Dickson-Green (clerk pay) = £212.51 CM Commercial (landscaping) = £957.60 NCC (grave inspection) = £134.17
- E Taylor (handyman) = £500.50
- Town Hall (rental for Jan) = £20.00
- DD - Wave (water rates) = £19.00
- N Green (cleaning) = £154.34
- David Allen (Christmas Lights) = £1,500.00
- C.A. Taylor (Christmas light power) = £20.00
- Rocky Road (Christmas Light Power) = £20.00 Fountain Cottage (Christmas Light Power) = £20.00 S. Evers (Christmas Light Power) = £20.00
- Michael Bacon (toilet repairs) = £15.00
Bank account balances at 12/02/23 were:
- Current account - £26.046.77
- Reserves Account - £11,229.55
- Cemetery Maintenance Fund - £4,743.78
7.2 Grant Application
A grant application from Bellingham in Bloom for £650.00 was approved.
8. Correspondence
8.1 NCC had contacted all PCs to offer more electric vehicle chargers for their parishes.
8.2 The Parish had been copied into complaints from several local residents to NCC regarding planning concerns over the Mart Field planning and concerns over Bellingham Middle School.
8.3 Correspondence had been received from Northumberland Estates relating to an old lease relating to land in the centre of the village. The full terms of the lease were to be requested before back payment was made. (Clerk to action)
8.4 A local business had been in touch about planing trees at the Fairstead. As the lease was not to be proceeded with it was agreed that they may be able to be planted at the Jubilee Field. The Clerk was waiting to hear back about the types of trees.
8.5 A letter had been received relating to the personal behaviour of a Parish Councillor. The letter did not have the address or contact details of the complainant. The Clerk noted that the process for complaining about Councillor behaviour was on the Parish website. Any complaint must relate to actions in their role as a Parish Councillor. A complaint must identify the parts of the Parish Council Code of Conduct a Councillor is alleged to have breached. Using the form available on both the Parish and Northumberland County Council websites, this information can be sent direct to NCC for review. The Clerk noted that the Parish Council has no ability legally to investigate or deal with complaints about Parish Councillors as this is a matter for Northumberland County Council. As there were no contact details on the letter received by the Parish Council, the complainant could not be contacted to be provided with this information. It was therefore agreed to ensure the detail of the correct procedure was placed in the minutes so it was available for them to review.
9. Borderlands - No further reports were available on this
10. Reports
10.1 Black Bull
Cllr Irving noted that several residents had raised queries over whether the new pub had an alcohol licence as there had been no formal advertising or planning for this. There had also been claims that alcohol was being served from an outside bar. As this had formally been raised, it was agreed to raise this query with NCC. (Clerk to action)
10.2 Flagstones
Cllr Irving noted the poor state of some of the flagstones around the new NCC car charges.
NCC was to be contacted to review these. (Clerk to action)
10.3 Cemetery
10.3.1 Cllr Irving noted a number of graves were sinking badly in the Cemetery. It was agreed that when the new contractor was taken on for cemetery/playground maintenance this would be something they would be asked to look into.
10.4 Car Chargers
It was agreed to proceed with offering space at the Jubilee Field car park for car charger installation as this could provide additional services to the local area as well as income for the Parish. (Cllr Dickson-Green to action)
11. Any urgent issues for consideration at the next meeting - None
12. Date of next meeting March 15th 2023.
Meeting was closed at 8.10 pm.
