Meeting June 2023 Agenda

LOWCA PARISH COUNCIL

Minutes of the parish council meeting held on Wednesday 21^st June 2023 7.30pm at Lowca Village Hall.

The vice-chair declared the meeting open at 7.30pm in the absence of the chair.

Present: Cllrs Mrs R Barwise (vice-chair) acting chair, S McNee, Ms K Thinnesen, B Ennis,    T Milligan. Ms C Egan.

Cumberland Councillor, Mrs Gillian Troughton.

Apologises. Cllrs Miss M Oliver(chair), D Wrench, H Thinnesen (LPC)

Clerk, M Milner. No members of the public.

166.00 Apologises.  As noted above.

167.00 Declaration of interest. None

168.00 To approve and accept the minutes of the last meeting held on Wednesday 17^th May 2023, as a true record.

168.01 Minutes had been circulated to Cllrs before the meeting. Chair asked for a show of hands for those in favour of acceptance, unanimous vote in favour, duly approved and signed by chair.

169.00 Public Participation.  No reports from last meeting and no public present tonight.

170.00 Police Matters.

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

171.00 Matters concerning Cumberland Councillor.

171.01 Cllr G T advised that there was not anything of significance to report. She did wonder if Lowca had complaints about grass verge cutting overdue, but no was response.

171.02 clerk asked if Cllr G T had any knowledge of state of Moresby parish council, as that parish still has £3130.34 on behalf of the Howgate/Distington Partnership, in its parish bank account. Lowca clerk advised he had no intention of taking on permanent commitment to running a resurrected Howgate Partnership.

171.03 Cllr B E recalled that the Howgate/Distington Partnership provided funding for parish projects, it had contributed a substantial sum to the Lowca/Parton beck footbridge. Cllrs finally decided that the clerk should respond to the enquiry about the current funding and future monies and include the clerk of Parton and Distington plus chair of Moresby in the reply. He would request that the funding be released to the 4 parishes for use at the parishes, “for the health and recreation benefit of local children.” Lowca has a play area project and Cllrs were certain the other parishes would have a similar project for children.

171.04 Chair invited Cllr G T to remain for the rest of the meeting, invitation accepted.

172.0    Applications for development. None.

173.00 Reaffirm Lowca Parish Council’s Standing Orders. Copy circulated prior to the meeting.

Page 325 (1 of 4) signed chairman……………….………………………………………….19^th July 2023.

173.01 Clerk advised that the standing orders they were being asked to support were those provided by the National Association of Local Councils and used by the majority of parish councils in England and Wales. They had been the governing document for decades.

173.02 Cllr K T proposed their acceptance and that was seconded by Cllr S M and approved unanimously.

174.00 Update on A595 viaduct repair, including pathway and fence between St Bridget’s and A595.

174.01 clerk asked if he could just update his points. He had received from Highways, after the first weekend’s chaos a flyer, which Cllr K T had put on the community page about a bus replacement service and a number to ring if there were problems. He also explained that Parton Cllr Steve Tumelty had responded to the overgrown grass on pathway between church and A595, within 24 hours of the complaint on community page, grass cut and main viaduct contractor E A Yates will replace the broken fence along the pathway.

174.02 Cllrs briefly discussed the gas leak issue the previous week-end, but concluded it was a genuine concern not a ruse to close the local system.

174.03 there was discussion about the north entrance point to the village, there seemed to be very little interaction between the gate keeper, sitting in his cab, and those approaching, but all agreed in general the village was quiet on the roads during the closures, no rat run traffic occurring. Cllr B E admitted that if there were serious traffic issues, he would be shouting loud and hard.

175.00 Platinum Garden update.

175.01 Cllr R B was pleased to advise that in the Platinum Garden wild flower meadow there were Viper’s Bugloss, which is in the top 5 wild flowers for pollinators. Cllr B E advised      Cllr R B that he would paint the new seat armrests black and also cut the three short tree stumps that are on the road side of the wall in the garden are. Clerk confirmed no bird nesting issue as short stumps with no nests in them.

176.0   Update on refurbishment of Playdale Adventure trail in Millennium Garden and grant application progress for East Road refurbishment.

176.01  Cllr K T was delighted to announce that she had successfully obtained a National Lottery Grant totalling £9776 and with the £2k obtained last month she had now raised £11776 towards the £46k target for the refurbishment. She had other irons in the fire and was hoping for more success.

176.02  One of the criteria of one of the large funds she was applying for is it requires an appropriate minute note to record the parish council approve the application and two signatures to the fund application. Cllrs all approved that she could make the application with approval of her name and that of Cllr S M as a signature to the application and clerk to be responsible the accounts side and provide bank details and statements to confirm identify as appropriate. There would be a requirement to provide match funding but that would be approx. 5% by the parish council.

176.03  Clerk had circulated a quote from Playdale totalling £2383.51 ex VAT. This was to repair the Adventure Trail equipment in the Millennium Garden. Cllr B E and clerk stressed the necessity for the refurbishment as one of the CISWO criteria for the land was that as long as the area had a functioning piece of play equipment even if the building closed the Millenium Garden remained for parish council use, not sale and development.

Page 326 (2 of 4) signed chairman……………….………………………………………….19^th July 2023.

 176.04 Cllr C E asked if the existing timber structure could not be used for swings rather than the adventure trail. Clerk advised that he had that evening inspected the ground safety area and felt it was still suitable for the equipment, but if a swing or swings were added then the safety area would have to be substantially extended to allow for the swing arc and the individual swinger falling over a larger area.

176.05 Cllr T M thought the expenditure was inappropriate and the equipment had long been in need of repair, but not undertaken. Cllrs acknowledged the repair was long overdue, but the issues with the village hall building over the recent years had highlighted the necessity to make the repair to safeguard the Millennium Garden as community ground.

176.06 Cllr B E proposed the refurbishment was undertaken and that was seconded by     Cllr S M, a show of hands indicated 5 in favour and 1 against. Clerk to organise repair.

177.00 August Lowca Show content and promotion.

177.01 Cllr S M was aware the show was on the August Bank Holiday weekend but he would promote in the Lowca Lowdown and on the community page. He would be contacting the school headmistress to get the children involved. Clerk would organise further rosettes and certificates. Last years judge David Banks would be approached to resume his judge duties and Cllr G T, Cumberland Councillor, confirmed she was free that Saturday at lunchtime and would be happy to help in the judging process. Cllr S M also said it would remain free to enter.

178.00 Lowca Lowdown content for the July edition. Editorial deadline.

178.01 editorial deadline 15^th July. Cllr K T would contact the rugby club for content, clerk will contact the school and Cllr R B will provide the church content and Platinum Garden update. Obviously there could be an update for the A595 works which in theory should complete after weekend 21^st to 24^th July. Also, content about other community activities and promote the 2nd Village Show.

178.02 Cllr G T confirmed she would provide the magazine distribution list for the church to assist with the distribution of the Lowdown.

179.00 Progress reports, clerk.

179.01 clerk has requested the figure for the cost of the footbridge insurance from Zurich Insurance and then will request 50% of that figure from Parton parish Council.

179.02 Cllr R B had provided the clerk with a photo yesterday showing the school warning traffic sign opposite 10 Ghyll Grove is damaged. Clerk had provided the Highways with a reminder of the issue and Highways the job is still live on their system E1/98763, it was first opened by parish council on 25/11/2022. On going case.

179.03 Howgate/Distington Partnership discussed 171.03 these minutes.

179.04 There are pecuniary interest forms that councillors must complete.

179.05 Clerk had circulated a UU meeting invite originally supplied by Cllr G T. He had now received the same email at all his parishes and felt attendance by internet and asking localised area questions will be problematic.

180.00 Lowca Parish Cllrs reports.

180.01 Cllr B E confirmed the fly tipping mentioned at the last meeting had eventually been removed yesterday.

180.02 Cllrs pointed out that they were aware that the local nursery owner was buying all available land and concerns were raised about Stamford Hill unadopted Lonning.

Page 327 (3 of 4) signed chairman……………….………………………………………….19^th July 2023.

180.03 Cllr B E still not resolved his boundary fence with Pay Back team.

180.04 Cllr K T noted that there was thick black smoke from off the Blomfield site the other day, clerk has received two reports of the problem.

180.05 Cllr S M noted that community page had reference to tipped powdered lime on land of the old Micklam Farm. The material is correctly on private land, the problem is dogs are not aware of boundary lines so running into the lime, not recommended.

180.06 clerk read out the chair’s actions over the past month, apologised for non-attendance this evening only second time since she took over as chair.

180.07 Cllr R B raised the issue of the footpaths from St Bridget’s down to Lowca, the pavements becoming overgrown by the weeds. Clerk to report to Highways. There were also concerns about the rubbish on the verges on the north of Lowca from the start of the National Highways speed limit to former Copeland boundary line. Again, clerk to alert Highways to the situation and request a litter pick by Cumberland team.

181.00 Correspondence.

181.01 Parton clerk had supplied copies of emails her exchange with Stagecoach and No 1 bus service.

181.02 Zurich had acknowledged insurance premium payment.

181.03 Clerk had exchanged emails with Cumberland Monitoring Officer after undertaking a self-referral to the officer after the May meeting.

181.04 The Data Protection registration was due for renewal for the next 12 months, clerk had completed the online routine and paid the £40 fee, it was reclaimed in his expenses.

181.05 email rec’d 3^rd June with photographic evidence of illegal burning of waste at Bloomfield’s on 2^nd June at 17.45. EA advised. Second report to clerk.

181.06 Report on Community page about the grass pathway from St Bridget’s to A595, issue resolved.

181.07 email from Cumberland’s Bus service officer about changes to No 1 service, but appeared to involve Parton rather than Lowca. Placed on community page.

181.08 clerk has received a final reminder for councillors about electoral expenses.

182.00 Payments for approval

IntPay 279 M Milner, clerk, £424.84, salary £365.94, expenses £58.90

IntPay 280 HMRC clerk’s PAYE £71.80p.

Bank charges from HSBC for June £5.00.

All approved.

183.00 Date and time of next meeting Wednesday 19^th July 2023, 7.30pm in Lowca Village Hall.

Meeting closed 8.40pm.

Page 328 (4 of 4) signed chairman……………….………………………………………….19^th July 2023.