Bellingham Parish Council | January 2022 Minutes

Minutes of Parish Meeting - 19th January 2022

Meeting held at Bellingham Town Hall - 7pm

Councillors Present: Cllr Dickson-Green, Cllr Wilkinson, Cllr Brebner, Cllr Tilley, Cllr Irving

In attendance: Clerk, 2 members of the public

Part A - Public Participation

A local resident attended the meeting to ask for advice regarding parking for a Women’s Institute event in September. It was agreed to advertise this event on the Parish Council website. The resident noted that another parishioner in the middle of the village had been given a resident parking badge for their car. Councillors noted that there was no such scheme in the village by NCC.

Part B - Parish Council Meeting

1. Apologies - Cllr Kirkbride, Cllr Riley, Cllr Moore, Cllr Huddleston

2. County Councillor Report - Cllr Riddle attended the meeting and presented details of the proposed plans for parking in the village. This was to include 3 new EV chargers (two fast and one rapid) with 6 spaces being marked off for EV parking near the public toilets, marked out parking bays throughout the village and some sections of double yellow lines. Councillors were asked to review the plans and reply with their feedback. It was discussed and a set of proposed amends are to be circulated by the Clerk after an electronic version of the plans are sent to him by NCC - before being approved and sent to Cllr Riddle (Clerk to action). Concerns were raised over the volume of parking in the village and the possibility of expanding parking in the grassed area at the entrance to Westlands was discussed. It was agreed to ask Cllr Riddle formally to investigate the feasibility of this (Clerk to action).

3. Declarations of interest - None

4. December meeting minutes - agreed with no amendments

5. Matters arising from the minutes

5.1 Ideas for council initiatives were carried forward to next month when more councillors would be present (Action ALL), as was ideas for the Platinum Jubilee events. (Cllr Huddleston to action)

5.2 The Clerk noted that Cllr Kirkbride was now progressing with his application to be a Governor for Bellingham Schools.

5.3 Planning comments had been submitted regarding the Youth Hostel site proposals. GNAAS had not replied to repeated emails regarding bank details for the payment of the grant they had applied for. All the play items had been purchased for the toddlers play group and these would be dropped off and publicised the following week, with the delay due to COVID disruption (Clerk to action).

5.4 The agreed precept figure had been submitted by the Clerk to NCC, along with agreed communications to Corsenside PC, contractors and employees regarding pay rises and Transport NE regarding electric bus proposals.

5.5 It had been discovered that Hexham cemetery does not use bespoke software regarding the management of the cemetery - instead relying on a database system. The Clerk would look into the feasibility of this. (Clerk to action)

5.6 The Environment Agency and Northumbrian Water were contacted regarding sewage discharge and the capacity of the sewage system in Bellingham and a reply was being awaited. NCC had been contacted regarding queries on the Borderlands committee, but again no reply had been received.

5.7 Storage had been arranged for £10 per month with NT&RCP at Station Yard, and an invoice for this was included this month.

5.8 Cllr Irving was to chase for written permission regarding the siting of the new defibrillator at the Fire Station (Cllr Irving to action). The Clerk noted an update from Cllr Kirkbride, mentioning that the placement of a defibrillator in the local police car may have logistical issues and would be discussed at a later date.

5.9 The speed watch kit had been returned to the local police and Bellingham would need new volunteers to run this - however there were currently no training courses due to COVID. Once these were available again work could be undertaken to find new volunteers.

5.10 Inspection of a possibly damaged tree in the lower cemetery is to be carried forward to the next meeting. (Cllr Moore to action) as is signage for Briar Hill, Jubilee Field and the notice boards for Charlton and Redesmouth. (Cllr Dickson-Green to action).

6. Planning applications -

6.1 21/04931/FUL Restoration of water course near Hole Farm Cottage

Councillors had no objections to these proposals.

6.2 21/03415/FUL Construction of 64 dwellings - Bellingham Mart Field

Councillors undertook a detailed analysis of the amended proposals submitted by the developers. It was noted that the new plans increased the density of dwellings, which would place added strain on local facilities and infrastructure, especially given a reduced number of parking spaces in the new proposals. Increasing the height of the site would lead to additional risk of neighbouring properties becoming overlooked. Footpath access to the rest of the village had been removed. No more work had been done on the mix of housing and no further evidence had been presented by the developer regarding the need for the scale of social housing being proposed. The amount of rental housing was still far outside NCC and Government guidelines for new developments. Issues with water run off, pollution and green areas had not been addressed, or had been made worse. Concerns by residents and NCC over the appearance of the site had been inadequately addressed. Proposals to manage the impact of the building works on residents had not been advanced and a proposed public consultation by the developer and Karbon had been dropped. Some work had been done to improve the environmental impact of the site with wiring for car chargers, but the proposed solar arrays were agreed to be a token effort, too small to be of any practical use.

As Councillors considered that the developers had made many issues with regards to the new site worse than in the original proposals, it was agreed to submit new comments to the online planning portal and change the Parish Council’s stance from ‘neutral’ to ‘object’. (Clerk to action)

7. Finance

7.1 Income, expenses, bank balance and budget review

Income for the month:

Interest - £0.03
Indoor Market fees - £114.00
Advertising - Jubilee Field - £90.00
Toilet Honesty box - £4.00
Allotment fees - £25.00
Burial fees - £20.00
Cemetery rates refund - £2,281.51

Invoices to be paid:

B Dickson-Green (Clerk pay and £18.99 expenses) - £208.73
CM Commercial (landscaping) - £957.60
E Taylor (handyman) = £459.75
DD - Wave (water rates) = £44.00
N Green (cleaning) = £137.80
M Bacon (public toilet repairs) = £20.00
Park End (fitting of water fountain) = £216.00
Calico (internet domain and SSL) = £100.80
Redeswood Farm (Christmas light removal) = £360.00
Bellingham Town Hall (rental) - £70.00
NT&RCP (storage for year) = £120.00
A. Taylor (Xmas lights power) = £20.00
S. Evers (Xmas lights power) = £20.00
J. Crozier (Xmas lights power) = £20.00
D. Hudson (Xmas lights power) = £20.00
M. Clarkson (Xmas lights power) = £20.00
M Dickson-Green: £243.93 made up of:
- Tinsel = £21.68
- Stamps = £7.92
- Chapel paint = £135.00
- Sign for new drinking fountain = £48.19
- Web domain = £1.19Web hosting annual renewal = £29.95

Bank account balances at 13/1/22 were:

Current account - £35,020.75
Jubilee Field account - £2,217.08
Cemetery maintenance fund - £3,710.79

Investment fund available at the end of September was approximately £21,000.

8. Correspondence

8.1 The village handyman had noted that a stepping stone was needed next to the dog waste bin at Hareshaw Linn car park due to mud to allow access for users. It was agreed to fit a slab here, as well as slabs under the feet of two picnic tables in the Jubilee Field which had sunk into the ground (Clerk to action).

8.2 A tree in the centre of the village had been noted to be in poor condition and in possible need of removal. It was agreed to get the tree assessed and a decision made on its replacement after this. (Clerk to action)

8.3 It was noted that NCC was still undertaking the collection of old Christmas trees at Station Yard near the recycling facilities. The Clerk had asked in future to be given a collection date so this could be circulated to the public nearer the time.

8.4 The Parish had received a request for approval of a sign near St Cuthbert’s steps thanking organisations involved with funding for them. It was agreed this would be acceptable, with the preference being that the sign was sited on the wall. (Clerk to action)

8.5 Glen Sanderson had hosted a monthly environmental Q&A session, but this clashed with the Parish Council meeting. Any Councillors who wish to watch the session could contact the Clerk for a link to the recording.

8.6 The Clerk noted that in spite of repeated communication, Pod-Point was not paying the Parish Council the revenue they were owed from the Town Hall car chargers. The current bill had reached £614.84 - though not all of this was yet overdue. The Clerk noted that he was investigating debt collection services as all communication with Podpoint to resolve this issue had failed. It was agreed to keep the chargers open regardless of this for now, until alternative chargers became available in the village. If the matter was still unresolved, the chargers would be temporarily paused to avoid the debt being increased further.

8.7 South Cambridgeshire District Council had contacted the PC asking them to allow information about their charger installation to be used to help train their local parish councils in car charger sourcing and siting in their area. It was agreed to do this, but note the problems encountered with payment by Podpoint. (Cllr Dickson-Green to action)

8.8 NCC had contacted the PC about a £70,000 fund that could be applied to by parish councils to fund Jubilee celebrations. Clerk to forward this to Cllr Huddleston. (Clerk to action)

8.9 A quote had been received to re-seat the mats under the zip line in the play area at the Jubilee Field - the cost was for £1,500 + VAT. This was agreed, on the understanding that it would be investigated if these could be sited on something more hardwearing than the current proposal. (Clerk to action)

8.10 The Clerk had been in touch with the defibrillator cabinet company and the first cabinet was expected to be shipped next week.

8.11 A resident had been in touch regarding the planting of trees at Catholic Corner to commemorate the Platinum Jubilee. It was noted that there were already two trees to be planted elsewhere in the field as commemoration. The Catholic Corner site was not suitable for more tree planting, as trees had had to be removed from the area several years before to maintain visibility for drivers. It was agreed to contact Bellingham Golf Club about the possibility of planting trees between the course and the Fairstead in advance of a potential lease of the site by the Parish (Clerk to action).

9. Reports

9.1 Cllr Irving noted that NCC was still not clearing the footpath to Riverdale of leaves, making it hazardous. Clerk to contact NCC. (Clerk to action)

9.2 Cllr Irving identified a manhole cover at Westlands that had sunk and was a trip hazard. It had previously been reported to NCC, but this was to be chased. (Clerk to action)

9.3 Speed watch issues had been discussed during matters arising so no further discussion was required.

9.4 Plans for the year ahead were agreed to be pushed forward to next month when more councillors would be present. Cllr Dickson-Green noted that the May parish meeting would come round quickly and having some plans in place before then to start off ideas would be valuable. (Action ALL)

9.5 After a vote, it was agreed that Cllr Dickson-Green and Cllr Kirkbride would represent the Parish Council on the Borderlands committee and their details would be forwarded to NCC. (Clerk to action)

10. Any Urgent Business

Cllr Tilley asked about the progress of the Honorary Freeman award agreed in December. Clerk to get contact details and progress this. (Clerk to action)

11. Date of Next Meeting - Wednesday 16th February

Meeting was closed at 8.44pm