EAST BEDLINGTON PARISH COUNCIL

Minutes of a Meeting held on Tuesday 5 January 2010 at 6 pm at Bedlington Station Residents’ Association, Bedlington.

PRESENT:	

Councillors:	A Stewart (Chair)			A Pegg
D Armstrong				B Richmond
A Douglas				Alex  Wallace
R Major				

IN ATTENDANCE:		
Parish Clerk and 6 members of the public
 
OPEN SESSION

The Chair welcomed members of the public to the meeting and invited questions which would be limited to 3 minutes each for a maximum duration of 15 minutes.

There were no questions raised. 
		
CO78/09	1. APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE
Apologies for absence had been received on behalf of Councillors A Barrett, I Harbottle and Alyson Wallace.
It was agreed that the Clerk send a “get well soon card” to Councillor Barrett who was experiencing ill health.   

CO79/09	2. MINUTES OF THE LAST MEETING	
The minutes of the meeting held on 1 December 2009 were agreed and signed as a correct record.

CO80/09	3. MATTERS ARISING FROM THE MINUTES

		A member advised the Council that a resident living in West View had experienced increased noise nuisance of late due to additional freight running on the rail line. Whilst, the resident fully supported the campaign to re-open the Ashington, Blyth and Tyne line to passenger trains she asked the Council to do what ever it could to alleviate this problem in such an eventuality.   

	Member’s apprised the Council of the home coming parades of the 2nd Battalion of the Royal Fusiliers that they had attended.
	
Further to concerns raised in relation to the overgrown flower beds outside Sleekburn House a member stated that these were the responsibility of Wansbeck Homes. County Councillor Val Tyler (who sits on the Board of Wansbeck Homes) agreed to take this up. 

The Council was aware that a petition had been organised against the potential closure of Bedlington Station Library. The Council was also aware that 6 “low user” libraries had been put forward as potential budget cuts by NCC but that these had not been specifically identified. The Chair reminded the meeting that the Council had agreed to wait until it was officially notified before debating the issue.  

CO81/09	4. DISCLOSURE OF INTERESTS
Councillor Alex Wallace declared an interest in item 8.4, he being a Commissioner of the Port of Blyth.

CO82/09	5. NORTHUMBERLAND Strategic Partnership / South East   Northumberland Area Committee.

Further to minute CO69/09 which endorsed Councillor Brian Richmond as a candidate to represent South East Northumberland on the above committees a ballot paper had been received. 

Resolved
Members agreed unanimously upon their preference of the four candidates.

CO83/09	6. STYLE AND Name of the Council

Members considered the future style and name of the Council, minute CO07/09 having previously deferred a decision.

Resolved
It was agreed that the Council’s style and name would remain as East Bedlington Parish Council.  

CO84/09	7. CORRESPONDENCE

The Clerk commented on correspondence received since the last meeting as listed below. He provided details of actions taken and items requiring a decision of the Council.

In relation to item 35, the results of Northumberland County Council’s Place Survey, the response of residents of the Parish were noted. A member emphasised the importance of taking cognisance of the results in preparing the Community Plan.  

Ref No	Date	Name	Details	Action	
25	3/12/2009	NCC	Planning application – 10, Trevelyan Avenue	No Objection	
26	3/12/2009	Community Action Nothumberland (CAN)	NCC Voluntary and Community Grant Funding 2010/11	Noted	
27	4/12/2009	Lynda Fakir (NCC)	Partnership working with the Locality Development Officer	Meeting held 14/12/2009	
28	4/12/2009	NCC	Planning Application – 8a, Osborne close	No Objection	
29	4/12/2009	CAN	NSP News letter	Noted	
29(a)	7/12/2009	Wansbeck Homes	E-mail response regarding Moorland Cottages	Noted	
30	8/12/2009	South Northumberland Radio Group	Request for funding	Council decision required	
31	8/12/2009	NCC	Planning – Street Naming & Numbering Consultation	Support Name of Puddler’s Drive	
32	8/12/2009	NALC (A Wallace)	Agenda, contact details & notes of meeting held 5/12/2009	Noted	
33	9/12/2009	NCC	Proposals for play areas from 1 April 2010	Factor into budget process	
34	11/12/2009	CAN	Ballot for election on to NSP Board	Agenda item 5	
35	10/12/2009	CAN	Results of Northumberland Place survey	Noted	
36	15/12/2009	CAN	Direct Information Service	Consider subscription
£105	
37	15/12/2009	CAN	NSP Community Forum update	Noted	
38	17/12/2009	CAN	Growth Point Partnership stakeholder update	Noted	

Resolved

That the details of correspondence received, actions taken / proposed by the Clerk and member’s comments be noted. 

CO85/09	8. CLERKS REPORT

The Clerk gave a report in relation to actions on minutes of the previous meeting and provided details of events and meetings that he had attended.

Of significance, the Chair and he had attended a meeting of the Cambois and North Blyth Action Group. At that meeting Dr David Maunder (Res New Ventures Ltd) had given a presentation on outline proposals to build a wood burning power station at Battleship Wharf.   

RESOLVED: 
That the Clerk’s report be noted.

CO8609	9.  INVOICES AND PAYMENT VOUCHERS

The Council considered a schedule of expenditure for payment. The Clerk explained that the first item of expenditure was for information as these items had been reimbursed to Community Action Northumberland and deducted from the Council’s precept. It was established that election expenses previously believed to have been netted off against the Council’s precept would in fact be billed separately in due course and had therefore been removed from the transfer value. 

Payment reference	Details	amount	
V1 – Transfer	Community Action - £1200 CAN Support costs; £262.50 public Liability Insurance	£1,462.50	
v2	Community Action - £305 Can support; £99.10 Room Hire;£1111.05 Advertising; £76.00 Wreaths	£1591.15	
v3	Community action – Nalc subscriptions 2009/10	£251.47	
v4	Rose’s – 1st prize Xmas shop window competition	£50.00	
v5	Bedlington Resident’s Association – 2nd Prize Xmas shop window competition	£30.00	
v6	24/7 Private hire 3rd prize Xmas shop window competition	£20.00	
v7	Parish Clerk’s expenses – 2 Printer cartridges £27.94; Envelopes £1.86; Lever arch files £2.00; Notebook £2.00	£33.80	
V8	Bedlington Residents Association – Rental of Office & meeting room (November & December) 8 weeks at £50 per week.	£400.00	

Resolved
That the expenditure schedule be approved as amended.

CO87/09	10. SMALL GRANT SCHEME

Section 137 of the Local Government Act 1972 empowers local councils to make a Grant to voluntary bodies where, in the Council’s opinion, the grant would benefit any part of its area or any of the inhabitants.  

Member’s considered a draft scheme which was consistent with that in operation in a neighboring parish. A member commented that no financial limit had been specified and that this needed to be considered.

Resolved
(i)  That the Small Grant Scheme as submitted be approved.

(ii) That the Finance Working Group consider applications and make recommendations to the Council.

CO88/09	11. Request For Funding

Member’s considered a request for funding from the South Northumberland Radio Group (SNRG).

Resolved
That an application form is forwarded to SNRG and that they are invited to apply for funding in accordance with the newly approved Small Grant Scheme.

CO89/09     12. ALLOTMENT RENTS FOR 2010/11

The Council considered the level of allotments rents to be charged for 2010/11. 

Resolved 
That the level of allotment rents remains unchanged for 2010/11, as follows;

Plot size 	Rent (per plot)	
Allotment Association	£7	
Greater than 300 sq yards	£65	
Less than 300 sq yards	£54	
Less than 150sq yards	£48	

CO90/09      13. Forecast Financial outturn 2009/10, BUDGET 2010/11 & Parish Precept

The Council considered the forecast financial outturn for 2009/10 and a draft budget proposal for 2010/11 as recommended by the budget working group which met on 15 December 2009. The Clerk’s working week was considered in conjunction with the budget proposal.

The Clerk advised the Council that he had been further contacted by Northumberland County Council and provided with revised figures for the running of play areas and an option to defer taking these on until 2011/12. In addition Public seats would not now be transferred until 2011/12.

Resolved 

(i)	That the Council defers setting the 2010/11 Budget and Precept until more detailed financial information is available and pending consultation with other parishes in South East Northumberland in accordance with minute CO71/09. 

(ii)	That the Parish Clerk’s hours be increased to 20 hours per week with effect from 1 April 2010 in recognition of existing work load and additional services to be transferred from Northumberland County Council.

(iii)	That the Parish Clerk’s working hours is further reviewed during October 2010.

CO91/09	14. Working Groups

			14.1 Publicity, Communications and Civic Events 
			
Civic Carol Service
Councillor Armstrong reported that the event had been affected by the severe weather conditions that had restricted numbers attending but had nevertheless, been a success. He wished to thank Father John and his wife Grace for providing the service and the staff at the Bedlington Station Resident’s Association who had provided the refreshments afterwards.

Finally, he thanked everyone who had attended and those involved in organising the event.

Christmas Lights

Councillor Alex Wallace provided an update. He explained that the County Council would be transferring ownership of the Xmas lights to the Parish and that they would be stored above Keenleyside’s shop. The Xmas Shop Window competition had been judged by the Parish Clerk and the winners were as follow;

1st Prize	Rose’s Florist					£50
2nd Prize	Bedlington Station Resident’s Association	£30
3rd Prize	24/7 Private Hire					£20

14.2 FINANCE

Councillor Richmond reported that:

(i)	The Council had now opened a bank account at LloydsTSB and arrangements had been made to transfer the balance of the 2009/10 precept.
(ii)	The Finance working Group had met and draft budget proposals for 2010/11 had been recommended
(iii)	There was now recognition by NCC that the original date for setting the precept (8 January 2010) was unrealistic and that most Parish Council’s would set their precept mid to late January 2010.  

14.3 ENVIRONMENT

Councillor Wallace recapped on the Council’s plans for environmental improvements in the Bedlington Station area. However, there had been no significant progress since the previous meeting.

Resolved
			That the reports of the working groups be received.

CO92/09 	15. MATTERS FOR DECISION

	Subscription to the Direct Information Service

Member’s considered subscribing to the DIS fortnightly news service which provides the latest information relevant to Local Council’s at a cost of £105 per annum. 

Resolved

That the Parish Clerk be given delegated authority to subscribe to the Direct Information Service subject to his evaluation.   

CO93/09	16. ANY OTHER BUSINESS

	There were no items raised.

CO94/09	DATE AND TIME OF THE NEXT MEETING
	The next meeting would be held on Tuesday 2nd February 2010 at 6.00pm at Bedlington Station Resident’s Association.	

Meeting Closed 8.40pm.

Signed by the Chairman: …………………

Date:………………………………………...