Meeting December 2023

LOWCA PARISH COUNCIL

Minutes of the parish council meeting held on Wednesday 20^th December 2023 at 7.30pm in Lowca Village Hall.

The chair declared the meeting open at 7.30pm.

Present: Cllrs M Oliver(chair), R Barwise (vice-chair), S McNee, T Milligan, K Thinnesen.

Cumberland Councillor: Mrs Gillian Troughton (from 7.39pm).

Clerk: J Coltman.

Members of the public: None

240.00 Apologies.  Received from Cllr Egan and Cllr H Thinneson.

241.00 Declaration of interest. None

242.00 To approve and accept the minutes of the last meeting held on Wednesday 18^th October 2023, as a true record.

Resolved to approve the minutes. Minutes signed by Chair.

243.00 Public Participation.  None present.

244.00 Police Matters.

244.01 Clerk had circulated the e-newsletters issued by Cumbria Police.

245.00 Platinum Garden and Millenium Garden Updates

245.01 RB – Platinum garden had been cut but need raked and yellow rattle seed put in, but that couldn’t be done yet due to snowdrops, which they did not want to disturb

245.02 MO – The Millenium garden had been cut and weeded and was being kept on top of.

246.00 Parish Councillor Vacancy.

246.01 JC – vacancy was in the Lowdown

246.02 MO – 2 people had expressed an interest.

246.03 JC – they would need to complete the eligibility form. MO would ask them to email the Clerk.

247.00 Report from the Village Hall.

247.01 SM – the Christmas Fair had been successful.

247.02 SM – There were new members of the Village Hall Committee and they were having a drive to encourage bookings as they needed to consider the long term sustainability of the Hall.

247.03 MO – thanked SM for all his hard work.

248.00 Progress Report, Clerk.

248.01 Councillor & Clerk vacancies had been included in the Lowdown.

248.02 Email sent to Moresby PC requesting funding from Howgate

248.03 Open spaces had confirmed that they had cut the path from A595 to the Church.

248.04 Christmas Tree Licence application had been submitted.

248.05 Street light had been reported and fixed.

248.06 The road from A595 had been resurfaced

Page 341 (1 of 3) signed chairman……………….………………………………………….17^th Jan’ 2024.

248.07 The matter raised by Cllr Ennis regarding his privet hedge had been looked into. The previous Clerk had advised that the work was done on behalf of the Village Hall, that the Council had made a donation towards the Village Hall’s costs, but had not commissioned the work. He would need to raise the matter directly with the Village Hall Committee. Cllr Ennis had been informed of this.

248.08 An invoice for grass cutting had been received from Cumberland Council, but the maths was wrong, so had been returned for correction.

248.09 A E Yates had promised the planings to help fill the pot holes on Stamford Hill, but their senior manager had blocked this as they said it could be toxic. The Clerk had asked if anything else might be available, but could not make any promises.

248.10 The Lowdown had been printed and the copies had been brought to the meeting for distribution arrangements.

249.00 Lowca Parish Councillor Reports.

249.01 RB – Cllr Egan had read at the church carol service on behalf of the Council.

249.02 RB – The roadworks outside of the church were due to a power issue but had been resolved.

249.03 MO – Dog fouling on Ghyll Grove had been reported and the dog warden would call round.

249.04 MO – There were new village signs.

249.05 MO – The school had asked for a donation towards their Christmas party, but as there was no meeting, she had put out Facebook appeal and collected 65 crackers. She suggested that the Council consider making a regular donation towards this so that it isn’t missed in future years.

250.00 Matters Concerning Cumberland Councillor.

250.01 There was a consultation on the TRO looking at speed limits due to be circulated.

251.00 Confirmation of the Budget for 2024-2025

251.01 JC read through the budget with explanations of each expenditure.

251.02 Resolved to agree the budget without amendment.

252.00 To agree the Precept for 2024-2025

252.01 Resolved to increase the precept by 3% from £8000 to £8240 and use the reserves to balance the budget if required.

253.00 To Approve the Procedure for Clerk Recruitment.

253.01 MO and RB would interview and select the new Clerk, including agreeing terms, contract etc.

253.02 JC would send sample advertisements to MO & RB. The adverts would be sent to CALC and could be shared on Facebook. Word of mouth was key for sharing the vacancy.

254.00 Correspondence.

254.01 Planning Application for extension to Seagrove. Resolved No objections

254.02 Retrospective Application for change of floor levels. Resolved No objections

254.03 Great North Air Ambulance. Request for donation Resolved to donate £100

254.04 Free Biodiversity forum. The Council has a duty to consider biodiversity and must take first steps by January 1^st. KT said that she would attend and report back to the Council.

254.05 A change of terms had been received from HSBC but did not appear to affect the Council.

254.06 The Cumberland Council grass cutting invoice had been returned for correction.

Page 342 (2 of 3) signed chairman……………….………………………………………….16^th Jan’ 2024

255.00 Payments for Approval

M Milner:                             £141.40         Salary

J Coltman:                           £357.06         Salary

J Coltman:                          £41.80           Expenses                  Total £398.86

HMRC:                                £104.80         PAYE

Great North Air Ambulance:   £100.00         Grant

Resolved to approve the payments.

256.00 Date and time of next meeting.

Confirmed as Wednesday 17^th January 2024, 7.30pm in the Village Hall.

The meeting closed at 8.14pm

Page 343 (3 of 3) signed chairman……………….………………………………………….16^th Jan’ 2024.