Minutes of Parish Meeting - 15th March 2023
Meeting held at Bellingham Town Hall - 7.00pm
Councillors Present: Cllr Dickson-Green, Cllr Irving, Cllr Wilkinson, Cllr Tilley, Cllr Huddleston, Cllr Moore.
In attendance: Clerk, 6 members of the public
Part A - Public Participation
Alex McLennan from Forestry England/JLAF attended to discuss several matters. It was noted that Northumberland County Council (NCC) wished to set up connected gravel trails and forest roads from the Sill to Kielder via Bellingham. The Parish Council (PC) agreed to publicise this to local residents as more information became available.
The Roger Clark Rally on the 26th November was being considered to be routed through Bellingham. It was noted that local businesses should be given as much notice as possible in case they wished to open on the day given possible large numbers of visitors.
Rights of Way review was to be undertaken shortly by NCC and the PC was to be a consultee for this. Any improvements/amendments to local rights of way were to be considered by all councillors over the coming months (Action ALL).
The possibility of reopening the old railway lines as footpaths was also being reviewed on a relatively informal basis by several volunteers.
Rural crime was also to be monitored via the Northumberland Partnership Against Rural Crime (NPARC) and Councillors were made aware of this.
The owners/managers of the Black Bull pub attended the meeting. Concerns were raised that the February minutes had noted resident queries regarding whether the venue had an appropriate licence. Cllr Dickson-Green noted that the previous minutes had simply noted that a resident query had been raised and that the PC were legally required to raise such resident queries with NCC. The Parish had confirmation that all licensing was present and up to date from NCC. The Black Bull noted their desire to get involved with and support any local events or projects.
A local resident raised several queries regarding the state of the river in Bellingham, which was to be raised with the Environment Agency (Clerk to action), issues with the Boat Road river walk where some boarding had become damaged (Clerk to action) and queried the lack of speed of development in the new housing development near Briar Hill.
Part B - Parish Council Meeting
1. Apologies - Cllr Kirkbride
2. County Councillor Report - None received
3. Declarations of interest - No new updates
4. February meeting minutes - agreed with no amendments
5. Matters arising from the minutes
5.1 The Clerk was in the process of arranging a meeting with NCC regarding village maintenance (Clerk to action).
5.2 The Clerk had advertised for the new playground/cemetery contractor and two quotes had been received. After discussion one was selected by Councillors (Clerk to action).
5.3 Local community transport, as well as new playground item was left as points forward to the next meeting. (Cllr Kirkbride, Cllr Moore to action)
5.4 Items relating to chapel lighting, Christmas lights and memorial plaque were to be left as points forward to the next meeting (Cllr Dickson-Green to action).
5.5 The company offering Government funded car chargers for the village were focusing on street light mounted chargers which were not appropriate for Bellingham’s infrastructure. The company would get back in touch when they were restarting charger installation of other types.
6. Planning applications
6.1 23/00629/PRUTPO The Rectory, Bellingham Tree Height Reduction - 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: £7.54
- Market income - £10.00
- Allotment income - £100.00
Invoices to be paid:
- B Dickson-Green (clerk pay) = £212.51
- CM Commercial (landscaping) = £957.60
- E Taylor (handyman) = £438.50
- Town Hall (rental for Jan) = £20.00
- DD - Wave (water rates) = £94.34
- N Green (cleaning) = £154.34
- TyneRede (payroll) = £288.00
Bank account balances at 12/02/23 were:
- Current account - £21,999.16
- Reserves Account - £11,234.84
- Cemetery Maintenance Fund - £4,746.02
8. Correspondence
8.1 Glen Sanderson had responded to a request for a meeting regarding the Middle School and had suggested waiting until after a meeting between NCC and the Governors in March.
8.2 The steps at Percy Terrace had been reviewed and, while NCC would not light them, they confirmed that they would take on maintenance for them as they are a well used highway.
8.3 Guy Opperman MP had been in contact regarding a Community Champion scheme to help recognise local people who have undertaken work for the community. This is available through his website.
8.4 The Parish had been copied into several emails from residents to NCC relating to the Mart Field development and the developer’s decision to market the new site as a retirement village, 8.5 The Environment Agency had been in touch regarding possible pollution in Hareshaw Burn and asking if the Parish had any information on sewage maps of the area. The Clerk confirmed that the Parish did not.
8.6 Lloyds Bank had been in touch to enquire whether the Parish was still happy with the mobile bank visiting the village weekly. There were no concerns noted.
8.7 A resident had queried the safety of the narrow streets in Westlands after the recent chip van fire and the lack of off road parking. The Clerk had given them the relevant contact details for Cllr Riddle and Highways at NCC as this was their responsibility.
8.8 It had been confirmed that the trees to be planted in the Jubilee Field were of an appropriate type - placement was to be agreed with Cllr Moore.
8.9 It was agreed to chase Cllr Riddle with regard to the yellow lining/car park space marking out in the village as this was now severely overdue. (Clerk to action)
9. Borderlands - No further reports were available on this
10. Reports
10.1 Cllr Tilley noted that there had been complaints about youths at the garages in Hillside, as well as litter and smoking of pot. This was to be referred to Karbon as it was occurring on their land. Residents were to be encouraged to dial 101 if they had concerns. (Clerk to action)
11. Any urgent issues for consideration at the next meeting - None
12. Restricted business
12.1 Alexandra Richards was co-opted as a Councillor.
13. Date of next meeting April 19th 2023.
Meeting was closed at 9.00 pm.
