Minutes of Parish Meeting - 17th May 2023

Meeting held at Bellingham Town Hall - 6.30pm

Councillors Present: Cllr Dickson-Green, Cllr Wilkinson, Cllr Tilley, Cllr Moore, Cllr Richards, Cllr Kirkbride.

In attendance: Clerk, 1 member of the public

Annual meeting of the Parish Council

The Chairman gave his report for the year which can be found in full on the Parish Council Website

Cllr Dickson-Green was re-elected as Chair, with Cllr Wilkinson re-elected as Vice-Chair.

Council policies were discussed and it was agreed to review the grant application wording to ensure that it included and exception policy that could be used by the Parish Council if they felt a cause not based in the immediate area was worthy of a donation. (Clerk to action)

Annual Parish Meeting

No members of the public raised any matters.

May Parish Council Meeting

Part A - Public Participation

There were no matters raised by members of the public. 

Part B - Parish Council Meeting

1. Apologies - Cllr Irving

2. County Councillor Report - None received

3. Declarations of interest - No new updates

4. April 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 and the bins at Lock-up Lane, as well as discussing drop kerbs. (Clerk to action).

5.2 The Clerk had asked NCC about resurfacing of the pavement to Riverdale and the flagstones near the new charger and this was being investigated (Clerk to action). 

5.3 Footpath repairs to the Boat Road riverside walk were being investigated by NCC.

5.4 Cllr Moore had met with the playground contractor and they were now undertaking playground 

6. Planning applications - None received

7. Finance

7.1 Income, expenses and bank balance

Income for the month:

• Interest: £9.54
• Honesty Box Income: £23.62

Invoices to be paid:

• B Dickson-Green (clerk pay) = £212.51
• CM Commercial (landscaping) = £957.60
• E Taylor (handyman) = £463.25
• Town Hall (rental for Mar) = £70.00
• DD - Wave (water rates) = £28.00
• N Green (cleaning) = £154.34
• J Arnup (Coronation concert) = £400.00

Bank account balances at 14/05/23 were:

• Current account - £34,313,51
• Reserves Account - £11,248.34
• Cemetery Maintenance Fund - £5,677.25

8. Correspondence

8.1 Cllr Riddle had been contacted to ask about the lining in the village and the conversion of the land at Foundry Yard into a car park. He confirmed both were still progressing but that no dates were available. 

8.2 A query had been raised about cars parked in a field down the Boat Road. It was confirmed this was not something that PC had any powers to deal with as it was on private land.  

8.3 Concerns had been raised regarding the felling of a tree near the Riverside Walk. The Clerk noted the tree was on private land and there were no tree preservation orders on it, meaning the PC had not control over this issue.  

8.4 The Parish had been copied into notification of council ward boundary redrawing plans. These did not affect the Parish boundary itself. The Parish had also received posters for future elections reminding residents of the need to bring ID - these were to be stored and publicised before any future elections.  

8.5 A request for a skip for the allotments was agreed - the PC noted the increasing costs of running the allotments and the need to consider future price rises to ensure the site was being run sustainably. 

8.6 After the recent flooding, National Parks had informed the PC that Hareshaw Linn was to be closed for the foreseeable future. They agreed to inform the PC of any further developments. 

8.7 A resident had been in touch asking about the possibility of a skateboard half pipe in the village. This was to be investigated (Cllr Kirkbride to action). 

8.8 Transport priorities for the coming year were to be submitted by the PC to NCC. It was noted that NCC had yet to action a single priority requested by the PC for the last several years. Councillors were to consider their priorities for the next meeting, as well as considering a complaint over the process not being fit for purpose. (Action all)

9. Borderlands - Concerns were expressed over the loss of all current staff members at NCC from the project and the long delay since the last meeting. 

10. Reports

10.1 New Councillors and Clerk

10.1.1 Cllr Dickson-Green noted that there were two vacancies on the PC to fill. The formal advertising period had started and would end by the next PC meeting. If NCC had not received sufficient requests for an election, Councillors could look to fill the posts by co-option (Clerk to action).

It was also noted that there had been several applications for the role of Clerk and that the vacancy would be held open until the end of May. 

10.2 Playground

10.2.1 Cllr Moore identified the range of new equipment that could be used to replace the existing broken tyre jump. A budget of £10,000 was agreed for the replacement and combinations of possible equipment were to be considered and then advertised to residents. It was agreed that priority would be given to inclusive play equipment. (Clerk to action)

11. Any urgent issues for consideration at the next meeting - None

12. Date of next meeting June 21st 2023. 

Meeting was closed at 7.48pm