WOLSINGHAM PARISH COUNCIL

MINUTES FOR MEETING HELD

TUESDAY 14TH FEBRUARY 2023

7.00 PM

TOWN HALL, WOLSINGHAM

                                                                                                                                              

                PRESENT: D. Sugden (Chair), A Savory, Y Bell, J Bell, A Vipond, D Jones, I Rodgers, O Gardner,

    T Willis, A Bonar, Sarah-Ann Baxter (Clerk)

 

                MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC: S Jack, D Mortemore, G & B Pybourne                                                        

 

1. APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE: Mrs P Dobson
2. TO RECEIVE QUESTIONS FROM MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC: None
3. DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST: Cllr Savory declared an interest in planning due to her duties on the DCC Planning Committee.
4. MINUTES OF MEETING HELD  10TH January 2023: agreed & signed as a true record
5. MATTERS ARISING:
   1. Mr Jack & Mr Mortemore presented their proposal to organise a 5 or 10k trail run utilising the facilities at the St Anne’s centre. This will be a charity-based event with involvement from the community with the hope of encouraging visitors to Wolsingham. At the moment there is no set date but looking at May or June with 200-400 runners taking part. The Council agreed to consider any proposals they have, Cllr Rodgers suggested they contact the Safety Advisory Group and Cllr Savory suggested the school or cadets could be involved.
   2. BBQ provision – Cllr Sugden read out the correspondence that had been received. Cllr J Bell & Cllr Jones both agreed that BBQ’s should be discouraged and Cllr Willis pointed out the safety issue of using BBQ’s. Another alternative was brought to the table by the Parish Clerk who had seen a design in forests is Scotland, a simple metal plate secured to the top of the existing picnic tables to prevent scorching. It was agreed that the cost of this alternative be explored.
   3. Christmas Lights – Cllr Savory has kindly agreed to fund the lights in the market place from her AAP budget, the cost being around £13200 to provide the new electrical supply, new tree lights and six motifs for the lamp columns as required by Durham County Council. Cllr J Bell raised the issue of no lights in the trees at the St Anne’s car park, as this would be an additional cost it was agreed that a working party of Cllr Jones, Cllr J Bell, Cllr Savory and Parish Clerk would look into this and report at the following meeting.
   4. Coronation – Cllr Sugden read out the one suggestion that had been received to celebrate the coronation, which was to mainly utilise the recreation ground and St Anne’s centre. Wolsingham School are holding an event on the Monday, the Methodist Chapel have an event on the Sunday morning, the WI are working on bunting. It was agreed that a working group of Cllr Willis, Cllr Savory and Cllr Y Bell would look into this further and report at the next meeting.
   5. DBS Checks for Councillors – having considered advice from CDALC and other Parish Councils it was agreed that DBS checks would not be beneficial.
   6. Litter Pick – The Council have now purchased litter picking equipment and Terry Buckle has taken on the organising of a monthly litter pick – anyone wishing to attend should meet in the St Anne’s car park at 10am on the third Saturday of the month.
6. CORRESPSONDENCE:
   1. Demesne Mill Car Park – Correspondence has been received highlighting the number of potholes in the car park. These have already been assessed and repair work has already been arranged to happen in the near future. It was also brought to Councils attention that the lining in the car park has worn off and could be replaced, this will be arranged.
   2. Weardale Renewables – this group is looking to develop renewable energy resources within Weardale, Cllr Sugden has spoken with them and the Parish Council is open for further discussions.
   3. Allotment Wall Repairs – A letter has been received from Mr Pybourne along with three quotes for wall repairs. All quotes require the existing trees to be completely removed prior to any work commencing and the letter contained a threat of possible legal action against the Parish Council. Cllr J Bell wanted to know what could be done if all three quotes require tree removal, Cllr Rodgers pointed out that there are examples of stone masons working around trees to maintain both the wall & tree. The Council decided to uphold their previous decision, having already completed pollarding and tree reduction in the area, that the offer made on 14/11/22 to Mr Pybourne was valid for six months only.
7. Thornley Village Green – Cllr Rodgers provided evidence to show that Thornley Village Green and Angate Hill Green are common land registered to Wolsingham Parish Council. Therefore these two areas will now be added to the annual risk assessment strategy and any necessary maintenance will be carried out by the Parish Council.
8. Thornley Woods – Cllr Rodgers highlighted the issue with poaching in the area, the increase in dog fouling and an issue with the gate being left open into the woods. Cllr Savory agreed to pass on the information to the Police and dog warden. The Parish Clerk would look into new signs and a spring closure for the gate.
9. Jack Walker Bridge Footpath & Seat – Cllr Willis pointed out that this footway is dangerous in bad weather and several people have fallen. The Parish Clerk informed the meeting that the footway is the responsibility of Durham County Council Rights of Way who had already been informed of the issues in this area, Cllr Savory to chase up this matter. The seat in this area is in severe disrepair and Cllr Savory would look into whose responsibility this seat is.
10. Review of Safety Policy – Cllr Jones highlighted the change in legislation that requires the Parish Council to provide essential PPE to any contractor where it is required. It will now be a requirement that the Health & Safety policy be amended and it was also agreed that other policies and guidance notes would be reviewed in the coming months.
11. Lighting in Demesne Car Park – Cllr Willis has been approached regarding providing lighting in the Demesne car park as there is a concern for safety during the winter months. This matter had been raised previously and there was resistance from residents and also the cost to provide lighting was inhibitive. Providing solar powered low level lighting was discussed but due to the amount of trees in the area this would not be effective. Cllr J Bell also noted that when the playground had been lit it attracted people at more unsociable times, Cllr Bonar also pointed out that long term parking is happening in the car park. Cllr Y Bell suggested bringing in parking charges for the Demesne car park, which will be looked at in the June meeting and Cllr Bell suggested locking the gates overnight, again this will be deferred to a later meeting to discuss.
12. Wheelchair Walk – Cllr Willis highlighted the deterioration of the wheelchair walk. Cllr Savory would pass this onto DCC Clean & Green team.
13. Parish Council Social Media Profile – The Parish Clerk raised the possibility of the Council having its own Facebook presence. The Council agreed with Cllr Savory suggesting a trial for six months. Cllr Gardner agreed to be an administrator for the site alongside the Parish Clerk. A working group of Cllr Rodgers, Cllr Gardner, and Cllr Willis has been set up to investigate the possibility of having council contact emails rather than using personal emails, as this would help with security and transparency.
14. Catering Provision at Recreation Ground – Cllr Sugden and the Parish Clerk have met with the owners of the existing ice cream van who wish to provide a slightly larger unit to enable and expanded menu to be provided. Council were in agreeance, however Cllr Bell pointed out that it would be beneficial to know exactly what food would be on the menu so that it didn’t contravene the planning application for the proposed kiosk in the recreation ground. Cllr Bell raised the point that the crepe van was now back in the market place every Thursday evening and asked should they be charged as previous stall holders have been. There was a discussion regarding fees and it was agreed that the crepe van be approached with a suggestion of a nominal monthly fee of £20.
15. Incident 24/7/22 – Cllr Sugden updated the meeting as the incident had been reported to DCC monitoring office, who had now reported that ‘the complaint had been rejected for consideration under the Code of Conduct for Members because Cllr J Bell was not alleged to have been acting in his capacity as a Member at the time of the conduct alleged’. Cllr Sugden reported that this meant the matter was now closed. Cllr J Bell then asked if any action would be taken against the parents or child for causing damage to his property, the Council agreed that the matter having been investigated by the Police and no further action taken, the matter was closed.
16. Finance
    1. Cheques for payment January – agreed
    2. Reports to end of January – agreed
    3. Online banking – Parish Clerk explained that due to Stanhope branch of Barclays closing soon and the need to move to online banking all future payments of invoices would be able to be completed by the Parish Council, all payments would still be required to have two person approvals
    4. Update on Maintenance Work – the following works have been completed:

New locks fitted within the office at the Town Hall, Carpet refitted at entrance to the library, new tap & waste pipes fitted at St Anne’s hall kitchen, new heating pump fitted at St Anne’s hall, and locks and new toilet seat fitted at Angate Street toilets.

 

10 a) PLANNING:  DECIDED

DM/22/03602/TCA    10 Stanhope Road, Wolsingham. Crown reduce and reshape by 3-4m T1 Ash tree – Raise no objection

DM/22/03537/VOC   8 Front Street, Wolsingham. Variation of condition 2 on planning permission DM/22/00151/FPA to amend roof design on the rear elevation – Approved

DM/22/03351/TCA    Land to the rear of 24 The Causeway, Wolsingham. Fell T1 Pine – Raise Objection

DM/22/03324/TPO    14 Leazes Lane, Wolsingham. Fell T1 Sycamore and Fell T2 Sycamore – Refused

DM/22/03146/FPA    11 Riverside, Wolsingham. Single storey extension to rear - Approved

 

b) PLANNING : NOTIFIED;

DM/23/00181/FPA    13 Market Place, Wolsingham. Change of use to dwelling and formation of bay window to rear – Comment to be made concerning lack of parking and loss of commercial property.

DM/23/01832/FPA    Land West of 1 Durham Road, Wolsingham. Discharge of condition No.5 (charging points) relating to application DM/21/01832/FPA – No Comment