CARTINGTON PARISH COUNCIL

The Meeting of Cartington Parish Council was held in the Dovecote Room at the Jubilee Hall on Monday 18^th January 2010.

PRESENT : Councillors I Armstrong (Chairman)

                                          I Fletcher

                                         G Duff

                                         C Macey

APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE : Apologies were received from Councillor Stephen Bridgett, Northumberland County Council and the Police.

DECLARATION OF INTEREST :  This was discussed.

 MINUTES : The Minutes of the last meetings were circulated, confirmed that they were in order and signed by the Chairman.

MATTERS ARISING FROM THE MINUTES : Community Messaging – most people in the area had been given the Police Community Messaging form to complete.

ACCOUNTS FOR PAYMENT : It was agreed to pay Mrs A Winter £317.25 - £265.25 honorarium and £52.00 for hire of the hall over the year.

PLANNING :

A/2009/0548   -  Installation of 9 x eye bolts for the purpose of safety at

                            Cragside Mansion, Cragside – No objection.

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION  : Councillor Macey had looked into this and the Parish Council have to publish their terms under the Freedom of Information act with charges etc. set out.  He thought the best bet would be to make a Parish Council Web site to publish this and had discussed it with Mr M Hodgson who gave a few ideas on free sites to use to host this Parish Councils business.  Mr Hodgson also suggested Robin Murray as he now has a lot of experience in council web sites.  It was agreed to ask Mr Hodgson to come and talk at the next meeting regarding web sites.

Councillor Armstrong felt that Cartington Parish is a bit remote and that it would be nice to be able to reach the people in the parish and notify them of meeting dates in Over the Bridges (for a small donation).  It was agreed to put the meeting dates with the Chairman and Clerks contact details in Over the Bridges.
 

Councillor Macey was thanked for doing a splendid job looking into the FOI act and web sites.

CORRESPONDENCE :  For information Northumberland County Council - minutes on the Standards Committee; NHS North of Tyne - The NHS Constitution : a consultation on new patient rights; Rothbury Joint Burial Committee - minutes; Northumberland Association of Local Councils -Annual Report; NSP Revising the Sustainable Community Strategy for Northumberland; Community Action Northumberland  - Annual Report; Homes for Northumberland - Annual Report.

Alnwick Playhouse and Community Action Northumberland wrote asking for financial assistance.  It was agreed to give £20.00 to Community Action Northumberland.

NCC wrote regarding Northumberland Charter for Local Councils.  There is an increasing role for town and parish councils in this charter and they are expected to manage and to be financed by their precept for things like allotments, bus shelters, parks, etc.  Fortunately there are no new implications for this Parish Council.

CLUSTER MEETING : Councillor Macey gave a short report about the Cluster Meeting held in December 2009.  £33 million needed to be saved out of the NCC budget, 15 million had been saved and there was still the rest to find.  Things were going to get worse before they got better.  There had been an interesting presentation about the road bridge in Rothbury, giving the history etc and showing the plans to repair the bridge.  This would be over a three year span.  This year building the Bailey bridge along side the road bridge, next year repairing the road bridge and the following year taking the Bailey bridge down.  There would probably be a one way system along Bridge Street, Haw Hill and Church Street.

Councillor Macey concluded that we should give our support to these Cluster Meetings and that Cartington Parish Council should be represented at the meetings.

DATE OF NEXT MEETING:  The date of the next Parish Council meeting was arranged for Monday 26^th April 2010.