Beckermet with Thornhill Parish Council Mrs S Tucker (Clerk) 3 Wilton Mews s.tucker3@btinternet.com Wilton 01946 820607 Egremont Cumbria CA22 2PJ Minutes of Parish Council Meeting held on Wednesday 17 th February 2016, 19:00hrs, at Thornhill Social Club 1) Present J Edwards, P Manning, S Caddy, K Cook, S Meteer, P Sherwood, B Taylor, D McGhee, S Tucker (Clerk), 2) Apologies D Humpreys, K Woolley 3) To declare any interest in items on the agenda BT declared an interest on item 7 regarding the Thornhill library. 4) To consider approvals of the minutes of previous meeting The minutes of the January 2016 meeting were approved. 5) Public participation There was no public participation at the meeting
6) Finance It was resolved that the following payments should be made: To Pay Comments Amount Sian Tucker February Salary 362.00 Clerk Monthly Salary - 339 Internet - 15 Travel - 8 Thornhill Social Club February Meeting 30 7) Budget Update The budget report provided by the Clerk was accepted without comment. At 15 February 2016 the Parish had spent 78% of the 13,871 precept for 2015/16. The Parish Council discussed the 2016/17 precept requirement and agreed to request the same amount that the council received in 2015/16. ST agreed to notify Copeland Council of this requirement immediately after the meeting. 8) Progress Reports Police Report A reports had been received from PCSO Kane which was noted by the Council. Traffic and Highways Report The report was noted by the Council. JE has agreed with highways that slow road markings will be positioned in both directions close to the bend near the church in Beckermet. Work has started in Beckermet on replacing the lighting columns. BT noted that a traffic sign is still needed near the school at Thornhill. Website Update The website is up to date. British Telecom will be holding a digital inclusion event at the Beckermet reading rooms on the 5th April, which will be advertising superfast broadband in the village. Lengthsman issues ST attended the lengthsman meeting held on 28th January. ST will request a list of jobs that have been completed since December. It was agreed during discussion that the Council would consider whether or not to continue to support the lengthsman scheme at the April meeting. ST agreed to provide a list of work carried out by the lengthsman in 2015/16 so that Councilors could establish if the Parish was getting value for money. Thornhill Library The library will be closing on 19th February 2016 because of lack of funding. PM attended a meeting on the 9th February to discuss the closure. It was agreed that ST would write
10) a formal letter to Cumbria County Library to request that the mobile library stops at the Thornhill Social Club. The mobile library visits the area about every 5 weeks and at present only stops at the Blackbeck Hotel car park. It was also agreed to send a gift voucher to Mary Dixon who will be retiring from the Thornhill library, to say thank you for all her work over the years. ST to write letter to Cumbria County Library. ST to send gift voucher to Mary Dixon. Bus services-- It has been announced that the Number 6 bus service which goes through Beckermet is to stop running. PM reported that he had attended a meeting to consider a replacement service for the Number 6 bus and it was feasible that an alternative less frequent service would be offered if councils were prepared to sponsor such a service. The cost of providing an alternative service was still being determined. After discussion the Parish Council agreed to sponsor a service providing the cost was no more than about 750 per year. KC noted that Rural Wheels would be starting to provide an additional service through Beckermet from 24 February. Passengers needed to sign up to the scheme and book a seat on the bus by 12 noon the day before they travel. This service will initially be operated on a twice per week basis and uses an eight seater vehicle provided by Gosforth Taxis. KC and ST agreed to put posters up about the Rural Wheels service in the village. Thornhill playing field, Kissing gate SM noted that DH had discussed with the land owner the possibility of a kissing gate in the field next to the football pitch in Thornhill. It was agreed that this should be discussed at a future meeting when DH had the opportunity to make a clear proposal to all Councilors. Thornhill Football Club Agreement JE noted that the agreement had been revised to reflect comments made at the January meeting of the Parish Council. SC agreed to pass it to the Clubs concerned and to update the council at the March meeting on progress towards signing and implementing the agreement. Thornhill bus shelter SM reported that Gen2 have agreed to make a seat/perch for the bus shelter during their apprentice week in March 2016. Planning Applications It was noted that this should be a permanent agenda item. ST agreed to try to obtain updates on recent applications from Copeland Borough Council. NuGen Discussion
Nugen representatives attended the meeting to up date Councillors on progress made on their Moorside project. Further site characterization work started in December and will continue until summer. The work will be on shore as well as off shore and will involve drilling work to obtain soil and rock samples as well as some seismic testing. A second period of public consultation is scheduled to begin on 14 May 2016 for a period of 11 weeks. NuGen are planning to hold a public event associated with the consultation on 19 May at the Beckermet Reading Rooms. PM reported that JE, KW and himself had attended a Moorside Search Area meeting on 26 January and that JE and himself had attended the Moorside Technical Group meeting on 11 February. It was noted that NuGen were considering a number of options for new roads to access Sellafield site and that Parish Council members had been invited to a meeting 23 February to comment on the options being considered. 11) Parish Action Plan JE noted that a questionnaire containing 13 questions had been developed taking in to consideration comments made at the January meeting and by e-mail to JE since that meeting. After some discussion Councillors accepted the proposed questionnaire and ST agreed to produce a draft pamphlet and estimated printing costs for 800 copies for consideration at the March meeting. The intention is to circulate the agreed pamphlet after the March meeting and to obtain completed feedback forms by 30 April. ST agreed to ask the White Mare if they would be prepared to be the collection point in Beckermet and SM agreed to ask if the Thornhill Post office were prepared to be the collection point in Thornhill. 13) Meetings at which the council is represented The council noted that they had been represented at the following meetings; PM attended the Site Safety Group meeting on the 2 nd February. PM attended the Sellafield Stakeholders Group. The meeting finalised its response to the new NDA strategy. This was in line with the views submitted by our Parish Council. 14) Councilors reports The following actions were agreed: ST agreed to contact CBC regarding the litter and fly tipping issues at Cop Lane. JE to add road repairs to Thorny Road, Thornhill to the highways report.
SC will be contacting CCC regarding the footpaths at Blackbeck, Haile Bank and Yeorton Brow which need clearing. ST will contact Sustrans requesting a litter pick along the A595. ST will write a letter to CBC about the need for the dog enforcement officer to be seen in and around Thornhill. This is especially needed out of hours to enforce fines. 15) Next meeting The next meeting will be held on Wednesday 16 th March, Beckermet Reading Rooms, 7pm.