Minutes of the New Hutton Parish Open Meeting on Wednesday 13th May, 2015
1. Formation of the Parish Council
a) Declarations of Acceptance of Office and Declarations of Financial and Pecuniary Interests were received
b) The Code of Conduct was issued
2. Election of the Chairman of New Hutton Parish Council for 2015 to 2016
Martyn Welch was elected as Chairman and his Declaration of Acceptance of Office was received
3. Open meeting
No issues were raised
Minutes of the AGM of New Hutton Parish Council on Wednesday 13th May, 2015
1. Present
Pat Bell, Hazel Hodgson, Henry Robinson, Kath Twist, Martyn Welch (chairman), Stan Collins (CCC), Peter Thornton
(SLDC), Arthur Robinson (clerk) and two parishioners
2. Apology
Mike Burke
3. Election of the Vice-Chairman of New Hutton Parish Council for 2015 to 2016
It was decided that a Vice-Chairman is not needed.
4. Minutes of the last AGM held on the 20th May, 2014
These minutes were confirmed to be a true and accurate record on 22-07-2014.
5. Chairmans report for 2014/15
See the report at the end of these minutes.
6. Review and adoption of appropriate standing orders and financial regulations
Revised standing orders were adopted on 20-11-2013; financial regulations were adopted on 04-08-2009.
7. Review of inventory of land and assets
The values of these items were reviewed
8. Review and confirmation of arrangements for insurance cover in respect of all insured risks
a) The parish council currently has the standard policy from Zurich Insurance (premium 243.80) for the period
13-10-2014 to 12-10-2015.
b) The replacement values of all items on the assets list were reviewed for insurance cover.
9. Review of the Councils membership of other bodies
a) These are CALC [current subscription 130.00] and the Upper Kent Local Area Partnership [no subscription].
b) Pat Bell and Henry Robinson were appointed to be the two Parish Council representatives on the New Hutton
Lambrigg Wind Farm Funding Committee.
c) Hazel Hodgson was appointed to be the Parish Council representative on the Armistead Farm Funding
Committee.
d) Pat Bell and Kath Twist were appointed to be Parish Council representatives at the Upper Kent LAP meeting.
10. Review of the Councils procedures for handling requests made under the Freedom of Information Act 2000
and Data Protection Act 1998
None has been received.
Chairmans Report for 2014/15
No one issue dominated the work of the Parish Council this year. Several proposals which the Council felt were
undesirable were successfully resisted. Although Killington Wind Farm gained planning permission from SLDC, the
developers withdrew the application when the decision was referred to the Secretary of State. Planning permission for
a single wind turbine elsewhere was refused by the Planning Inspectorate. Of a different threatening character is the
spread of invasive weeds. A group of parishioners pulled out Himalayan balsam at Millholme and South Cumbria
Rivers Trust cut it along the becks. They also sprayed patches of Japanese knotweed. For the second year, litter was
cleared from verges along all roads except the A684.
The Council dealt with five domestic planning applications, five agricultural ones and four others. The Parish Council
will continue to support local businesses as much as possible. One of the persistent difficulties homes and businesses
have is the lack of access to superfast broadband. We are part of only 5% of Cumbria which has been excluded from
the Connecting Cumbria/BT project; it has promised us only 2Mb/sec. Various schemes have been mooted over the
years but nothing has happened yet. In April we heard about the B4RN (Broadband for the Rural North) network
spreading into Cumbria. This might give us some hope for superfast access to the internet in the coming year.
The Parish Council has made some improvements to our general environment. Some of our narrow lanes did not
have warning signs that they were unsuitable for HGVs and long vehicles. The Council bought suitable signs and
installed them on Beehive Lane and Fairthorns Lane. We also received a grant from First Responders for a
defibrillator cabinet which is now fixed to the Institute for public use in an emergency. One of the items on the parish
plan is to plant free trees where landowners want them in hedges and on spare land. So far, seven owners have
asked for them and this project will be tackled next winter. More landowners would be welcomed.
At the end of this year, with an election due, the Parish Council gave heartfelt thanks to Tony Ellis for his 25 years of
service as a councillor. His local knowledge is unrivalled. The Council also said goodbye to Tony Porter who was a
councillor for ten years, latterly a most competent chairman with sound judgement.
Minutes of the New Hutton Parish Council meeting on the 13 th May, 2015
150513-1 Present
Pat Bell, Hazel Hodgson, Henry Robinson, Kath Twist, Martyn Welch (chairman), Stan Collins (CCC), Peter Thornton
(SLDC), Arthur Robinson (clerk) and two parishioners
150513-2 Apology
Mike Burke
150513-3 Acceptance of the minutes of the previous meeting
The chairman signed the minutes of the parish council meeting on 29-04-2015 as a true record.
150513-4 Chairmans announcements
none
150513-5 Declaration of interests
none
150513-6 Open session
Stan Collins reported that CCCs priorities for road spending this year are drainage and white lines at junctions. The
lane from Ewebank to the sub-station will be resurfaced.
150513-7 Planning applications
a) Applications submitted requiring council comments:
SL/2015/0406 demolition of dilapidated farm buildings and erection of livestock building at High Butterbent
The Parish Council agreed to support this application
SL/2015/0411 change of use of ancillary accommodation to holiday let at Hayfellside Farmhouse. The
Parish Council agreed to object to this application
b) The progress of the following applications was noted:
SL/2013/0159 conversion of a garage to an affordable dwelling at Birks permission granted subject to the
receipt of a section 106 agreement about affordability no progress
SL/2015/0317 new sheep and cattle building with yard on land near Fisher Tarn for Mr Ladds. The Parish
Council had no objections in principle to this application but had very serious concerns about some of the
details of it no decision yet
150513-8 Payment of accounts
Payment of the following amount was authorised:
130.00 to CALC for the 2015/16 subscription
150513-9 Financial report
All five parish councillors were authorised to sign cheques.
150513-10 Correspondence
The following item of correspondence was received since the last meeting:
01-05-2015 From CALC May newsletter [forwarded to councillors]
150513-11 Superfast broadband in the parish
The Parish Council resolved to join Old Hutton and Holmescales to extend the B4RN (Broadband for the Rural North)
optical fibre network from the Junction 36 auction mart into and throughout the parish. Mike Burke, James Hodgson
and Martyn Welch agreed to be the parishs representatives on the working party.
150513-12 Date of the next meeting
The next Parish Council meeting will probably be in the week starting 20th July; exact date is to be announced
Arthur Robinson, parish clerk, Over Bleaze, Old Hutton, Kendal, LA8 0LU
Telephone 01539-725955
