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DENT PARISH NEWS
Click HERE for Parish
Newsletter Winter 2009
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DENT PARISH NEWS
Click HERE for Parish
Newsletter Winter 2009
(pdf file) |
July 2010The July meeting discussed the current situation regarding affordable housing provision, approved a new way of dealing with grant applications and heard a report on the refurbishment of public benches in the dale. a full account of the meeting, go to the COUNCIL MINUTES page of this website. HousingThe results of the housing needs survey that was carried out last year are now available and nine households in the dale have a need for affordable housing. A further 14 households felt they were in need, but because some did not submit enough details of their personal circumstances, they could not be included in the total. The overwhelming need was for housing for young people, and the survey showed that the demand locally is for property to rent rather than to buy. At the same time, the National Park is consulting with the public on a draft of its new housing development plan, which is designed to make it easier for affordable housing to be built within the National Park boundaries over the next 15 years. The parish council has responded to these two developments by forming a Housing Strategy Group consisting of Jock Cairns, Peter Knapton, Jenny Pilgrim and Ken Smith, to see what can now be done to encourage affordable housing to be built in the dale. Grants PolicyThe council approved new procedures for dealing with applications for grants from local organisations, in response to the problems that occurred last year when there was a considerable increase in the number of applications that were received. To try and make sure that the money goes to those who need it most, applicants for this year’s grants will be asked for more information about how the grant will be spent, and also to provide details of their organisation’s current financial state. Notices will be posted in the dale in September to invite applications. Public BenchesThe July meeting heard a report from Ken McClurg and Ken Smith on the maintenance work they had been doing on the public benches inn the dale. A coat of wood preservative and some strimming to clear the vegetation around them had resulted in a large number of the dale’s benches becoming usable again. Although the parish council doesn’t own many of the benches, it is now looking at whether it can carry out more major repairs on some of the more badly dilapidated ones. Newsletter fundingThe parish council newsletter is delivered by volunteers to every household in the dale, and feedback from residents has been very positive. The first three editions have been funded by a grant from South Lakeland Strategic Partnership, but this money has now run out. Each edition costs about £200 to produce, and the council agreed to fund the next edition this November, and include the cost of the two editions in 2011 in next year’s budget. Neighbourhood WatchThe council had ordered some new Neighbourhood Watch signs some time ago, but so far Capita had not produced them. Neighbourhood Watch and Farm Watch are regarded by the police as a useful deterrent to burglars, but they would work even more effectively if we had a co-ordinator in Dentdale. If you think you might be interested in taking on this valuable community role, please contact Jock Cairns (tel: 25655 or email: dentparishcouncil@btinternet.com) for more information about it. The duties are not onerous, as these days much information is passed on by email and phone. Next MeetingThe next meeting will be held at 7.30pm on August 2nd in the Sedgwick Room. As usual, the public are welcome to attend and to raise any matter that concerns them during the public forum at about 8pm.
June 2010The June meeting discussed a planning application for a track between the playing field gate and the pavilion, heard a report on recent police activity and approved in principle a pilot project for closer co-operation with the National Park. For a full account of the meeting, go to the COUNCIL MINUTES page of this website. Playing Field TrackGetting vehicles on to the playing field in wet weather without them getting bogged down can be difficult, and this causes potential problems for events such as the Dentdale Show. The Show committee have offered the parish council £3,000 towards the creation of hard standing by the gate and a track to the pavilion, and the June council meeting agreed to submit the planning application that this project requires. YDNPA Community Pilot ProjectOne of the objectives of the Dentdale parish plan was to improve the relationship between the Dentdale community and the National Park. In the last year, this relationship has been soured by a number of issues over planning, and so council members have been discussing with David Butterworth, the National Park’s Chief Executive, how this situation could be remedied. Partly in response to this, the Park has allocated budget of £10,000 as well as officer time for a unique 18-month pilot project with the Dentdale community. During the project, parish councillors and other members of the community will work closely with the Park’s officers on issues that meet both the aims of the National Park and the aims of Dentdale’s parish plan. The June parish council meeting agreed in principle to take part in the project, and full details will be worked out in the next few months so that it can start later this year. Play Area OpensA ceremony was held on June 12th to open the new play area on The Green. Eva Hogarth, Lauren Charnley, Greg Tebbett, Beatrice Deighton and Ellie McDowell cut ribbons and formally declared the new equipment open, before parents and guests held a picnic on the green to celebrate the occasion. In the parish plan survey in 2008, the children had requested a better play area in the Dale, and as a result a small committee consisting of Catherine Steele, Helen Winn, Jenny Robinson, Kate Cairns and Kate Tebbett took on the task of bringing this about. They obtained grants of over £45,000 to buy and install the new equipment, and both local people and second home owners in the Dale have made donations. The children have been involved throughout the project, designing the new area, conducting surveys of local residents and choosing the equipment. CPSO ChangesAt the end of June, PCSO Rachel Thomas takes over Karen Dakin’s liaison role in Dentdale while Karen is on maternity leave. Rachel’s contact details are tel: 0845 33 00 247 or email: rachel.thomas@cumbria.police.uk or KendalRuralNPT@cumbia.police.uk and from August she will be available at Dent Stores on the first Tuesday of each month to deal with residents’ concerns. Church Bridge and Barth BridgeConcern has been expressed at recent council meetings about the cracks appearing in Church Bridge and, to a lesser extent, in Barth Bridge as well. The council has reported these to Cumbria Highways and has asked for details of any action that is proposed, as some residents have been told that remedial work is planned for later this summer. YDNPA Planning DeptGraham Dalton reported to the June meeting that the National Park’s planning department is currently experiencing severe staffing shortages, as currently it has only one planning officer in post out of a total complement of six. This will inevitably take some time to resolve, and while planning applications are still being dealt with within the required time limit, it is not clear at present how long this can be maintained. New Bus ServiceThe lack of public transport in Dentdale is a recurring local concern, and so the extra Saturday bus journey this summer is very welcome. It will be provided by Apollo 8 between Sedbergh, Dent and Dent Station, providing connections with the late afternoon train from Carlisle to Leeds. Coupled with the Saturday morning bus, this considerably improves the bus service within the dale and to Sedbergh. If it is successful, it is hoped to run it again in future years, so we need to make sure it is well used if we want to keep it. Copies of the timetable below are available at Dent stores, Stone Close cafe & Dent station as well as on posters on the main barn door and bus shelter in Dent.
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| Burial Grounds | |
| St Andrew’s, Dent | £412 |
| St John’s, Cowgill | £187 |
| Methodist Chapel, Dent | £100 |
| Citizens Advice South Lakeland | £75 |
| Dales United Football Club | £100 |
| Dent C of E Primary School | £250 |
| Dent Folk Carols Weekend | £100 |
| Dent Football Club | £100 |
| Dent Music & Beer Festival | £250 |
| Dent Pre-school | £150 |
| Dent Reading Room | £150 |
| Dent Table Tennis Club | £132 |
| Dentdale Cricket Club | £150 |
| Dentdale Festive Lights | £125 |
| Dentdale Over 60s | £150 |
| Dentdale Show | £250 |
| Mencap | £0 |
| St Andrew's church bells | £100 |
| St Andrew’s church clock | £100 |
BT had informed the parish council that it intended to remove the telephone from the phone boxes at Gibbs Hall and Greenwell as they are little used, and had offered the parish council the chance to buy empty boxes for £1 each. As the lack of mobile phone coverage in Dentdale makes it difficult particularly for visitors to contact the emergency services, the parish council agreed to try and persuade BT to reverse its decision.
The playing field committee is currently looking at two issues: how best to combat flooding, and whether improvements can be made to the pavilion. A business plan is being produced, with input from Dentdale Show committee who have offered to help with funding if a suitable scheme can be devised.
Parish council members decided once again not to claim allowances for their work in the coming year. This means that although the council employs and pays three staff – the Clerk and the two Car Park Administrators – none of the councillors, including the Chair, are paid for what they do.
David Hartley, the vice-chair, resigned from the council at the end of October, after five year’s service to the community. This included chairing the car park committee and serving on the playing field committee and the planning group. A formal letter from the parish council has been sent to David to thank him for all his work on behalf of the community.
This means that there is now has a vacancy, so if you would like to know more about what is involved in becoming a councillor, please get in touch with any member of the council.
There will be no council meeting in January, so the next two council meetings will be at 7.30pm on December 7th and February 1st in the Sedgwick Room. They are open to everyone, and members of the public will be able to raise any issue that concerns them in the public forum which usually takes place about 8 o’clock.
The October meeting welcomed Colin Robertshaw to his first meeting as parish clerk, and discussed some of the issues that are outlined below. For a full account of the meeting, go to the COUNCIL MINUTES page of this website.
Although Dent car park is managed by the parish council, it is owned by the National Park and leased from them. The present five-year lease is due to end next March, so the parish council have been negotiating with the Park over its renewal. Terms have not yet been agreed, but it is hoped they soon will be so that the parish council can continue to control the level of charges and retain free parking for residents.
At the October meeting, the parish council discussed the latest developments over affordable housing in Dentdale. Some time ago, YDNPA asked landowners if they had any land which they would be prepared to release as sites for affordable and local occupancy housing. A number of landowners in Dentdale responded to this call, and the National Park has now decided which ones should be looked at in more detail. Although it recommended that three sites in Dent, including the field above Ghyllside, should be investigated further, it did not do so for the field adjacent to Glebe Fold. As earlier this year both the Bradford diocese and Two Castles Housing Association were proposing to apply for outline planning permission on this site, the parish council is very concerned about this, and unanimously agreed to press for it to be given further consideration.
In the last month, a meeting of Neighbourhood Watch co-ordinators identified who would cover which areas in the dale. PCSO Karen Dakin, who called the meeting, is hoping that additional volunteers will come forward to cover the gaps. If you would like to help, please contact her at her morning drop in sessions at Dent Stores on the first Tuesday of each month.
Plans are underway for the second edition of the Parish Council newsletter, which will be delivered to every home in the dale towards the end of November. This issue will focus on the progress made in implementing the parish plan since its publication a year ago.
The parish council meeting heard that the Dentdale allotments have now received £2,000 in grants and that work will start on digging up the field at Sunnybank, next to Church Bridge, during November. Plots are still available – if you are interested in one, please contact the Secretary, Ken Smith (tel: 25688) as soon as possible.
The parish plan committee is considering its response to a recent comment from a visitor about the growth in the dale of two invasive plants, Himalayan Balsam and Japanese Knotweed. If you are interested in taking part in a mapping exercise next year to establish the scale of the problem, please contact Jock Cairns (tel: 25655) email: dentparishcouncil@btinternet.com
While most residents in Dentdale are registered with the GP practice in Sedbergh, a number of people use the Hawes medical practice instead. Each practice runs a regular forum to discuss issues with its local community, and Dent parish council is represented on both groups.
A meeting of the Hawes group at the end of September heard that Alpha Dental Services has been awarded the NHS Dentistry contract for Hawes, Leyburn & Bedale, though out of hours dentistry remains an issue. It also heard that the Friarage hospital in Northallerton is likely to receive reduced funding in the near future as a result of the economic climate. However, there are no plans to cut services, and paediatric and obstetric services will be resumed at the hospital at the end of October.
If you have any general issues about either practice you would like raised at future meetings, please contact the parish council’s representatives: Jenny Pilgrim for Hawes (tel: 25589) or Kate Cairns for Sedbergh (tel:25655).
The next council meeting will be at 7.30pm on November 2nd in the Sedgwick Room. It is open to everyone, and members of the public will be able to raise any issue that concerns them in the public forum which usually takes place about 8 o’clock.
At the September meeting, we were very pleased to appoint Colin Robertshaw as the new parish clerk. Some of the other items that were discussed are outlined below; for a full account of the meeting click on the COUNCIL MINUTES page of this website.
Colin Robertshaw is joining us as parish clerk from the beginning of October. Colin lives in New Hutton, and became clerk to Sedbergh parish council just under a year ago. He will be continuing with this role in addition to his new responsibilities as Dent parish clerk. It is increasingly common these days for clerks to be responsible for more than one parish, and one of the benefits this brings is a closer working relationship between the parishes involved. When we did the parish plan survey in Dent, one thing that people wanted us to do was to work more closely with other parishes, and so we are hoping that this appointment will help us to do this.
CPSO Karen Dakin announced that she would be arranging a meeting of Neighbourhood Watch and Farm Watch co-ordinators in the near future. In the discussion that followed it was suggested that all information from the police should be passed to members of both schemes in Dentdale, in order to obtain the widest coverage among members of the community.
One of the targets of the parish plan was to improve the children’s playground equipment in Dent. Since the plan was published ten months ago, a committee has been formed with a formal constitution to bring this about. They have set themselves the target of raising £35,000 to refurbish the play area and so far, they have obtained £10,000 from South Lakeland District Council and have applied for a number of other grants. At the September meeting, the parish council granted them a further £5,000 from the money that the car park profits have produced.
A member of the public reported that now that the barrier has been erected in Flood Lane, the extraction of gravel from the river seems to have increased at other points in the Dale. It was agreed that a representative of the Environment Agency should be invited to a future meeting so that the issue of gravel extraction could be discussed more fully.
Applications are currently invited for Parish Council Grants for projects that meet one or more of the following criteria:
Written applications should state the amount requested and indicate how the project will meet the above criteria. They should be sent to Dent Parish Council, c/o West Banks, Dent by 16th October 2009. They will be considered at the Parish Council meeting in November.
By now all households in the Dale should have received a copy of the housing needs survey from Cumbria Rural Housing Trust. The purpose of this survey is to establish the Dale’s current need for affordable housing, and its results will determine the willingness of Two Castles Housing Association to build houses here. A high response rate is necessary to ensure the survey’s accuracy, so if you haven’t done so already, please take a few minutes to fill it in and return it. Additional forms can be obtained from Dent Stores, and any information you give will be kept strictly confidential.
The next meeting will
be at 7.30pm on October 5th
in the Sedgwick Room. It is open to everyone, and members of
the public will be able to raise any issue that concerns them
in the public forum which usually takes place about 8 o’clock.
In addition to the August parish council meeting, a public meeting was held in Dent at the end of July about the extraction of timber from the Littletown plantation. The full council minutes are published on the Council Minutes page of this website.
About 40 people attended a meeting on July 28th in the Memorial Hall about the felling, extraction and replanting of the trees on the Littletown plantation. The meeting was addressed by Jim O’Neill from the Forestry Commission, Phill Hibbs, the Yorkshire Dales National Park Trees and Woodlands Officer and Steve Dresser from Euroforest Ltd,.
Jim O’Neill explained that parts of the plantation have already blown down, and its age means that there is now a requirement to fell it completely. This will happen over the next few months and the timber will be taken out of the Dale over Stonehouse Bridge. A six-wheeled lorry will make up to five journeys a day between the plantation and the Dent head viaduct, where the timber will be transferred to a larger vehicle and taken out via the Ingleton-Hawes road. The contractors, who had already carried out trial runs to establish the feasibility of their plans, intend to complete the extraction by May 2010 at the latest. Wherever possible, the timber movements will be timed to avoid the school bus run and any other known busy times. When the extraction is over, the lower part of the plantation will be replanted with mainly native broadleaf trees, while the upper part will revert to moorland.
Jenny Pilgrim will be liaising between the parish council and the contractors during the extraction, and if there are any problems, Steve Dresser, who will be managing the work, can be contacted directly on 07831 821397
Most people are aware of the need for affordable housing for local people in Dentdale, and Two Castles Housing Association is willing to build it provided that there is sufficient demand. To establish the extent of this demand, Cumbria Rural Housing Trust (CHRT), an independent charity that works to ensure homes are available and affordable for local people, is currently conducting a survey of Dentdale residents. So when you get the form, please take a few minutes to fill it in and return it. Any information you give will be kept strictly confidential by CRHT – it will not be shown to the parish council or anybody else.
The barrier is now in place in Flood Lane at the site where the fatal accident occurred last November. The parish council is continuing to press Cumbria Highways to alter the warning signs so that they give a clearer indication of the potential danger when the road is flooded.
The parish council’s section of this website has recently been updated, and now includes more information about parish council members and how they can be contacted. It also shows who is on the various council committees and contains full minutes of both council and committee meetings, as well as the council’s annual report and financial statement. In addition, copies of the council’s papers can be obtained by contacting the Chair or Clerk.
Graham Dalton reported to the August meeting that the National Park has recently published a study it had commissioned into the feasibility of generating hydro electric power in the Dales. Thirty-eight sites had been examined and the site at Rash Mill was one of 15 that were considered potentially viable. Site owners and local representatives will shortly be invited to a day-long seminar to consider the next steps.
The August meeting approved David Hartley’s election as Vice Chair of the council for a further three-month period. In addition, Graham Dalton was appointed to look after the council’s finances until a new clerk is appointed.
The August meeting was pleased to note that the external auditors had recently approved the 2008-09 annual statement of council’s finances. If you would like to inspect this document, please the Chair to make arrangements; alternatively, it can now be viewed online by clicking on the Finances link above.
The next meeting will be at 7.30pm on September 7th in the Sedgwick Room. It is open to everyone, and members of the public will be able to raise any issue that concerns them in the public forum which usually takes place about 8 o’clock.
There have been three meetings since the last report: the Annual Parish Meeting and two parish council meetings. The items discussed included some of those below, and the full minutes are published as usual elsewhere on this website.
The parish council has written to the organisers of the recent Music and Beer Festival to congratulate everyone who contributed to such a highly successful week-end. The council had supported the event with a grant of £1,000 and had provided the site free of charge, and was delighted that the festival had been such a resounding success.
David Butterworth, the Chief Executive of YDNPA, spoke at the Annual Parish Meeting on the topic of “Working with Communities in the National Park”. He expressed the wish to work in partnership with communities to make them viable and sustainable, but explained that difficult decisions often had to be made when balancing conservation with the need to preserve or create employment. He referred to the Dentdale Parish Plan, suggesting that an ongoing dialogue with the Park could identify opportunities for financial assistance with some of the smaller projects.
Cumbria Rural Housing Trust, an independent body who assess the need for affordable housing, have been asked by SLDC to conduct a survey in Dentdale, and Judith Derbyshire, the Trust’s manager, came to the July council meeting to discuss it. When you receive the survey in September, please take a few minutes to complete and return it. It is an important part of the process of deciding whether new affordable housing can be built in the Dale and a good response will ensure there is accurate information on which to base decisions.
The proposed extraction of timber from the Littletown plantation has been raised more than once at recent meetings. At the time of writing, the parish council is trying to arrange for the contractor and representatives of the National Park to come to Dent and talk to the public about the plans. This is likely to be at the start of the next council meeting, in the Sedgwick Room at 7.30pm on Monday, August 3rd.
Dog fouling is probably one issue that all parish councils spend time trying to tackle, and Dent is no exception. As you may have seen from the notices, the Playing Field committee is asking that dog owners now keep their dogs on a lead on the playing field, in order to reduce the amount of dog mess there. Generally the response to this has been very positive, and there has been no need to resort to the £75 penalty tickets that the Police Community Support Officer is able to issue to dog owners who don’t clear up their dogs’ mess.
A recent national report has highlighted the problems that Post Office outreach services throughout the country have been having since they were set up, and the difficulties with the electronic equipment that the Dent service has experienced is clearly part of a national problem. So if you have been inconvenienced at all by this, please don’t blame Christine or her staff for things outside their control – they are doing their best to provide the service. And please keep using the service in Dent, because that is the only way to safeguard its future.
At its last meeting, the council received the resignation of Peter Maples, the Parish Clerk, from the end of July. Peter was thanked for the extremely conscientious job he had done for the last nine months, and the council set in motion the recruitment process for his successor.
In the absence of Jock Cairns, the May meeting was chaired by Graham Dalton. Some of the matters discussed are outlined below, and the full minutes are published as usual elsewhere on this website.
The meeting approved the end of year financial statement which the council will be sending to the auditors.
In 2008-09, it cost just over £13,500 to run the parish council, excluding the car park. This included over £4,500 given out in grants to local organisations. The expenditure exceeded the non-car park income by around £2,400, and as in previous years, the shortfall was met by using the surplus from the car park takings.
The car park took nearly £21,000 last year, and its costs were almost £16,000. The takings were down on the previous year by just over £2,500, probably as a result of the poor summer weather. A full breakdown of the figures can be found in the end of year statement elsewhere on this website.
The day after I sent in my report for the May edition of Lookaround, the parish council received a petition signed by 182 electors (33% of the electoral roll). The petition expressed full support for the planning application for both the health centre and the Spar store and asked the parish council to express this view to Sedbergh parish council and the YDNPA planning department.
The parish council has subsequently informed the Chair of Sedbergh PC of this petition and raised it at a meeting held in Sedbergh of representatives of Sedbergh, Garsdale and Dent PCs and the YDNPA planning department. It has also been passed on to YDNPA in writing as part of the consultation process on the application.
Last year’s parish plan survey identified residents’ concern about the relationship between the community of Dentdale and the National Park, and the action plan set the target of finding ways of improving it. As a first step in this process David Butterworth, the Chief Executive of YDNPA, will be coming to speak at the Annual Parish Meeting at 7.30pm on Monday 22nd June in the Memorial Hall. His topic will be “Working with Communities in the National Park”, and there will be an opportunity to put questions to him at the end of his talk.
The talk will be followed by the Parish Council’s Annual Report, and copies of this will be available both at the meeting and beforehand on this website.
The meeting is open to everyone, and members of the public will be able to raise any issue that concerns them.
The May meeting was the Annual Parish Council Meeting, at which the following roles of parish councillors were decided for the forthcoming year:
Chair of the Council: Jock Cairns
Vice Chair of the Council: David Hartley (for the first three months)
Car Park Committee: Jock Cairns, David Hartley, Ken McClurg.
Playing Field Committee: David Hartley, Jenny Pilgrim, plus two members nominated by the Football Club (currently Keith Burrow and Jill Mitchell) and two by the Cricket Club (currently Peter Moorby and David Hunter).
Parish Plan Committee: Jock Cairns, Peter Knapton and two council appointees, Heather Fraser and Mike Lawton. This committee also has two co-opted members, Matt Clayton and John Sibley.
Litter sub-Committee: Wendy Pontefract, plus nine council appointees.
Planning Working Group: Chris Evans, Peter Knapton, David Hartley, Jenny Pilgrim.
Highways Steward Liaison: Geoffrey Woof
Appointments were also made to the following bodies:
Dent Grammar School Foundation: Jock Cairns, Graham Dalton, Ken McClurg, Geoffrey Woof
Dent Combined Charities: David Hartley, Geoffrey Woof
Dent Primary School Governors: Bob Pontefract (council representative)
Dent Memorial Hall Committee: Graham Dalton
Sedbergh Community Office: Graham Dalton, Peter Knapton
Sedbergh Health Centre Patients' Forum: Kate Cairns (council representative)
Central Dales GP Practice Consultative Group: Jenny Pilgrim
In addition, Graham Dalton will be continuing with his role as the representative of Dent, Sedbergh and Garsdale parishes on the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority
As stated above, the next meeting will be the Annual Parish Meeting at 7.30pm on June 22nd in the Memorial Hall, which will include a report by the council of its work over the previous year. The meeting is open to everyone, and members of the public will be able to raise any issue that concerns them. Following this a short parish council meeting will be held to deal with urgent items.
April 2009
Below are some of the matters discussed at the April meeting, and the full minutes are published as usual elsewhere on this website.
The council discussed the planning application for a new Spar and health centre on the auction mart site in Sedbergh. Although the parish council is not part of the formal consultation process, it was felt that its views should be passed on to Sedbergh Parish Council and to the YDNPA planning department, as health facilities in Sedbergh are of concern to most Dent residents.
The joint nature of the application made it difficult to reach agreement, as the council supported the new health centre but was divided on the impact of a convenience store on the edge of the town. As a result, while the proposal to support the health centre was passed without opposition, the vote to support the joint application was less clear cut, with two in favour, one against and four abstentions.
The meeting was attended by PCSO Karen Dakin, as part of her regular visits to discuss matters of concern. As indicated elsewhere in the Lookaround, she will be holding drop-in sessions in Dent at the café in Dent Stores from 10am to 12 noon on the first Tuesday of each month, beginning on 5th May. This will provide the opportunity for anyone to raise matters with the police on a regular basis.
Last year’s parish plan survey asked for resident’s views on local health services. The GP services in Sedbergh and Hawes were well liked, but there was some dissatisfaction with the out-of-hours service. Similarly, the quality of service at Westmorland General Hospital was praised, but there was deep concern at the threat to acute services there – as there was about the lack of local access to NHS dentistry for new patients.
One of the members of the parish plan committee, Mike Lawton, passed these comments on to the Cumbria Primary Care Trust, and he has now received the following response:
The Trust has also offered to follow up specific problems with the out-of-hours service, and so if you have recently had a bad experience with it please contact Mike Lawton on 25122 or mdlawton@btinternet.com and he will pass your concerns on to the Trust. He would also be happy to pass on your views on other current health service issues, such as the new facilities at Westmorland General or the ambulance provision.
Dent PC recently convened a meeting in Barbon of ten local Parish Councils to discuss a joint response to proposals for the county, district and parish councils in this area to work together more closely. The seven councils who were able to attend, and the other three who were contacted afterwards, felt that the real problem at the moment is the lack of co-operation between the county and the district, and that a group that included the parishes could only make a difference if it had funding and the power to make decisions. These views were passed on to SLDC who had asked for comments on the proposals.
The next council meeting will be at 7.30pm on May 11th in the Sedgwick Room. The public is welcome to attend as always, and to raise matters of concern in the public forum item which takes place about 8pm.
The March meeting heard a presentation on the plans for the Music and Beer Festival, to be held from 26th to 28th June this year, and allocated the remaining grants for 2008-09. The full minutes of the meeting are published as usual on this website.
Grants to stimulate rural development in this part of Cumbria, totalling £8 million over the next four years, have recently been announced in the press. The grants are for farms, forestry, rural businesses and community groups and there are two levels – above and below £20,000. The local Development Officer, Dave Smith, has met members of the Parish Plan Committee and said he would be keen to support projects in Dentdale that apply for this funding. If you want more details he can be contacted at Cumbria Fells and Dales, The Old Stables, Penrith CA11 0DT, tel: 01768 869533, or email: info@fellsanddales.org.uk.
A ruling in the European Court seems likely to mean that local councils will be required to pay VAT on car park charges. For Dent, this will cost about £3,500 per year and will seriously reduce the Parish Council’s income and the funding available for distributing in grants to local bodies. We are currently investigating whether there is any way in which this charge can legally be avoided.
It has now been agreed that Karen Dakin, the Police Community Support Officer, will attend parish council meetings every three months, starting on the 6th April. If you have any issue you would like to raise with the police you will be able to do so at these sessions.
Following Karen’s attendance at the last meeting, a speed indicator was placed in Dent, but not in the area where speeding is most dangerous. The police have agreed to look at re-siting the equipment on a future occasion.
The Car Park Committee has looked again at the decision to ban campervans and motorhomes from using the car park overnight, and concluded that the policy which had been adopted was transparent, fair and easy to understand and to operate. It recommended that no change should be made to this policy and this was agreed by the parish council.
The meeting also agreed that bed and breakfast businesses, and holiday cottage and second home owners, should be allowed multiple permits for their visitors in return for the payment of one annual fee. To obtain a permit, please contact John Hyde or Hilary Firth on 25503.
Following the successful group litter picking event which was featured in the Westmorland Gazette, another litter picking session will be taking place after Easter. SLDC have donated more reflective jackets and litter grabs for it, and if you would like to be involved, please contact John Sibley on 25024.
The council awarded two grants at the March meeting: £250 towards the funding of the Music and Beer Festival, and £264 to the new table tennis club to help in the purchase of equipment. These grants bring the total awarded this year to £4,564, and means that we are not allowed to award any more until the new financial year starts in April. For that reason, the applications from Sedbergh Community Office and for the restoration of the St Andrews church bells will be considered at the next meeting.
As residents will be aware, we have not yet managed to repair the defective street lights in Dent. This is partly because many of the lights and their controls are now obsolete, and the first contractor we employed took a long time before admitting that he was not able to do the job. We have now asked a second contractor to carry out the work, and so we hope that progress will be made shortly.
Matthew Clayton came to the March meeting to give an update on the organisation of the Music and Beer Festival. He informed the council that there have been many expressions of interest from artists wishing to perform in and around Dent and to soak up the atmosphere. The music at the festival will be free and performed at a number of venues around the village, including the grass area below the car park where beer and food will be sold. Up to date information can be found on the Festival website at http://www.dentmusicandbeer.com.
After the proposal to form a single unitary local authority in Cumbria was rejected by the government last year, all local councils in Cumbria have been required to work more closely together. In the part of the County that includes Dent, a scheme is currently being developed to get all parish councils to form a local group with the district and the county councils, in order to control some services. The parish council thought that this could be an improvement on the present arrangements, provided that sufficient funding and support is available, and so Dent PC has set up a meeting of the ten councils and parish meetings in this area to discuss what we will need to work together effectively.
As reported last month, there will be a new survey carried out in the Dale in April to obtain an up-to-date picture of local housing need. If you receive a form, please take the time to complete and return it – we need an accurate picture of the current demand for housing before a housing association will build houses here.
Looking further ahead, there has been some progress on identifying possible housing sites. Partly as a result of the parish council’s encouragement, the recent call from the National Park for landowners to nominate sites for future housing development resulted in at least six being put forward in and around Dent and Gawthrop. It will be some time before we know whether any have been accepted by the Park, but if any are they will be available for development for the next fifteen years, and thus enable affordable and local needs homes to be built in the Dale in the future.
The next Meeting will take place in the Sedgwick Room of Dent Memorial Hall (entrance at the side) at 7.30pm on Monday 6th April. Everyone is welcome to attend and there will a public forum about 8pm where time is set aside for anyone to raise issues with Council members.
The items below were some of those discussed at the February meeting, which started with a discussion with Karen Dakin, the local Police Community Support Officer. To view the full minutes click on Minutes of Dent Parish Council above
Karen noted the request for a more visible presence, and invited anyone organising a community event to contact her about police involvement. She also said that she would ask for a speed indicator to be placed at the entrance to the village.
In April, SLDC will be commissioning a new survey in the dale to obtain an up-to-date picture of local housing need. If you receive one of these survey forms, please take the time to complete and return it in so that an accurate picture of the current demand for housing in the dale can be established.
The February council meeting also discussed the accident in Deepdale, where a car overturned and rolled off the road after losing control in icy conditions. Cumbria Highways do not grit this section, but the road is to be reviewed by them in the next financial year. The parish council have asked North Yorkshire County Council for better signage at the A65 end of the road, and Cumbria Highways for a sign at the junction with the Occupation Road.
There was a lengthy agenda for the December Parish Council meeting and the items below were some of those discussed. To view the full minutes click on Minutes of Dent Parish Council above
Citizens’ Advice £100
Dent C of E Primary School £500
Dent Oral History Project £250
Dent Pre School £200
Dent Reading Room £200
Dentdale Choir £100
Dentdale Cricket Club £300
The December meeting discussed the draft Parish Council budget for 2009-10. The projected expenditure of £13,315 exceeded the projected income of £9,230 by £4,085. This excluded car park income and expenditure and assumed that the Parish Council’s share of the council tax (the precept) stayed the same as last year. The deficit would reduce to £2,499 if the projected surplus from the car park was added.
After discussion, it was decided to meet the shortfall by:
In taking the decision about the precept for 2009-10, the Council compared Dent’s position with the other Cumbrian parishes:
Click on the link above to see the budget in detail.
Since Christmas, there has been a further serious accident, this time in Deepdale, where those involved were fortunate to escape with relatively minor injuries. The Parish Council’s response to this will be discussed at its next meeting in February.
The November meeting was held in the Sedgwick Room. A warm welcome was extended to Wendy Pontefract on the occasion of her first Council Meeting, and also to the newly appointed Clerk, Peter Maples. Peter can be contacted on 21295 or emailed at Parishclerkdent@aol.com .
To view the full Parish Council minutes click on Minutes of Dent Parish Council above
The Action Plan for the next five years contains a wide variety of projects, and many of them need a similar level of involvement. Groups have already started work on some of them, and others will follow in the New Year. Turning all the aspirations expressed in the survey into reality will be quite a challenge for us as a community – the Parish Council can achieve some things, but we will only really succeed by working together. So if you want to see the plan put into action, please help – choose a project in the booklet and get involved. To discuss any of them first, please contact me (details below), or Heather Fraser, Parish Plan Secretary, on 25727 or email: dentpp@btinternet.com.
Dentdale Festive Lights £250
St Andrew’s Church, Dent £550
St John’s Church, Cowgill £250
Applications have also been received from the following bodies, and these will be considered at the December meeting when the overall budget is reviewed.
Dent Oral History Project
Dent Pre-school
Dent Reading Room
Dentdale Choir
Dentdale Cricket Club
Dentdale Over 60s
Dent C of E Primary School
Citizens Advice South Lakeland
Jock Cairns
Chair, Dent Parish Council
Tel: 25655
Email: dentparishcouncil@btinternet.com
October 2008
The October meeting was held in the Sportsman’s Inn, and Margaret Harrison once again took the minutes. The issue of the cutting of roadside verges was raised by several members of the public, who felt that Cumbria Highways had once again failed to do a satisfactory job.
To view the full Parish Council minutes click on Minutes of Dent Parish Council above
The meeting agreed to send a letter to the organisers of the recent Whernside Fell Race to thank them for all their hard work. The race, which had not been run for a number of years, attracted 172 runners and many of those who took part told the organisers how much they had enjoyed it.
The Parish Council approved the draft Parish Plan document which sets out the results of the surveys carried out in the last year and outlines the actions that the Parish Council and community groups will be taking over the next five years to deal with the issues raised. The Plan will be printed shortly and then distributed to all households in Dentdale.
One of the outcomes of the Parish Plan has been the formation of a group of volunteers to help keep the dale clear of litter. The group is being organised by John Sibley, and the Parish Council agreed to use the Council’s public liability insurance to cover their work. For a long time, many public-spirited individuals have picked up litter as they have gone about the Dale, but it is hoped that this group will be able to tackle the problem in a more coordinated way.
The Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority is committed to reviewing all its conservation areas over the next few years, and has decided to carry out an appraisal of the Dent conservation area between now and next March. The aim is to define those qualities that should be preserved and to look for any improvements that could be made, as well as to identify any potential problems. YDNPA has asked the Parish Council to be involved in this appraisal, and three members – Jenny Pilgrim, David Hartley and Ken McClurg – will be representing us, which means we will be able to put forward our views as the review takes place.
In spite of Cumbria Highways promising that the verges would be cut at the end of August this year, the contractor did not carry out the work until the start of October. A number of members of the public expressed strong dissatisfaction at this, and at the poor quality of the work that had been done. The Council agreed to try two approaches to the problem: first, to make County Councillors aware of the issue by raising it with the Local Committee for South Lakeland, and secondly to consider what action could be taken at a local level.
The next meeting will be at 7.30pm on November 3rd in the Sedgwick Room. The public is welcome to attend as always, and to raise matters of concern in the Public Forum item which takes place about 8pm.
September 2008
The September meeting was held in the Methodist schoolroom
again as the Sedgwick Room remained out of action. Chris
Evans and Wendy Pontefract were co-opted to fill the two
vacancies on the Council, and Margaret Harrison kindly stood
in as minute taker. Bob Pontefract was nominated as the
Parish Council’s representative on the Primary School
governors.
To view the full Parish Council minutes click on Minutes of Dent Parish Council above.
The committee organising the Church Roof Appeal have obtained 10 Christmas trees from the Forestry Commission, and are planning to place them throughout the Dale over Christmas to coincide with the planned Christmas Market on Saturday December 6th. They have been looking for funding to help meet the cost of lighting these trees, and with the Parish Council’s support have applied for a grant from the Neighbourhood Forum.
The meeting agreed to send a letter to the Dentdale Show Committee following the recent show. In spite of the bad weather in the preceding week, the committee had succeeded in organising a very successful event over the August Bank Holiday week-end and the Parish Council wanted to thank them for all their hard work.
The Council’s accounts for 2007-08 have been approved without comment by the external auditors working for the Audit Commission. The Financial Statement for 2007-08 can be inspected on the Dentdale website.
Applications are currently invited for Parish Council Grants for projects that meet one or more of the following criteria:
Written applications should state the amount requested and indicate how the project will meet the above criteria. They should be sent to Dent Parish Council, c/o West Banks, Dent by 15 October 2007. They will be considered at the Parish Council meeting in November.
Last year we were concerned about the problem of people tipping rubbish on to the bonfire site. Some of it was unsuitable for burning, and created problems when the site was cleared afterwards. The appeal we made in Lookaround this time last year for people not to do this worked well, and so we would like ask the same thing again this year: please do not tip any rubbish on the bonfire site.
The October meeting will be at 7.30pm on October 8th in the Sportsman’s Inn. The public is welcome to attend as always, and to raise matters of concern in the Public Forum item which takes place about 8pm.
The August meeting was held in the Methodist School Room as the Sedgwick Room was not available owing to the building work currently taking place. As the Clerk’s post had not been filled, Margaret Harrison took the minutes.
To view the full Parish Council minutes click on Minutes of Dent Parish Council above.
It was agreed that the Parish Council would buy the marquee that had been ordered by the Dentdale Show Committee for this year’s show, subject to funds being transferred from the Show committee. It was felt it would be a useful community asset, which could be offered for hire to anyone in the community, either in conjunction with the playing field or separately from it. The Playing Field Committee would be responsible for bookings, and also for storing, erecting and dismantling it.
The National Park Authority is reviewing the places in Dentdale where it will allow affordable or local needs housing to be built in future. At present, the only places where this is permitted are in Dent village and in Gawthrop. The Parish Council has discussed this issue on several occasions, and has concluded that the best option would be to follow the ancient pattern of settlements in the dale, where dwellings have been built at regular intervals along the spring lines.
Consequently, it has asked YDNPA that Cowgill, Stonehouse, Backstonegill, Gibbs Hall, Slack and Helmside be added to the list of places where such housing could be built. This does not mean that small estates would be built in these places, but that if a suitable site was available, one or two new houses or conversions should be allowed.
The Council heard that the Parish Plan Steering Group had been holding a series of meetings to discuss the best ways of implementing some of the ideas brought up in the survey. So far, meetings have been held with Tim Farron MP, County Councillor Joe Nicholson and the three District Councillors, and further meetings are planned with other local parish councils and with the Chief Executive of the National Park. Because the Parish Council has limited powers, it is important to work with these other bodies to deal with issues that they are responsible for, and discussing them with them at this stage will help to produce a more realistic action plan.
In order to help the Parish Council to implement the Parish Plan when it is produced, the Council agreed to make the Steering Group a Parish Council committee.
The post of Parish Clerk is still vacant, and it is being advertised again in this edition of Lookaround. If you would like to be more closely involved with your local community (and be paid for it!) this could be just what you are looking for, and I would be very pleased to discuss it with you.
The next Parish Council meeting will be held on 1st September at 7.30pm. As the Sedgwick Room may not be available then, the venue will be notified later. Everyone is welcome to attend as always.
July 2008
At the July meeting, David Hartley was elected to fill the vacant post of Vice Chair, and the issue of parking around The Green was raised in the regular Public Forum item. The resignation of John Ioannou, the Parish Clerk, was received and arrangements were made to recruit his successor.
To view the full Parish Council minutes click on Minutes of Dent Parish Council above.
A member of the public raised the problem of vehicles parking near the junction of Flintergill with The Green and the inconvenience it causes for residents. Last January The Parish Council had requested Cumbria Highways to provide revised parking restrictions, but so far no progress on this longer term solution had been made. Following discussion, it was agreed to provide slips to be placed on the windscreens of offending vehicles, requesting them to be parked elsewhere, and to contact the police and others to enlist their help.
Although the replacement of the permanent Post Office counter by an outreach service is not likely to happen before September, the Parish Council was informed that the private business side of Dent Post Office will close on 3rd August. After that date, Dent Stores will provide a number of additional services, including newspapers, prescriptions and dry cleaning.
More details have been given to the Parish Council about the new Highway Stewards scheme. The County Council have appointed a number of Highways Stewards to carry out minor maintenance work on roads and verges throughout the county. The local Steward covers 13 other local parishes besides Dent, and so he will only spend one week in fourteen here. An important part of the scheme is that each Parish Council will have a Parish Representative who will help the Highways Steward to identify problems as they arise. Dent’s representative is Geoffrey Woof (tel: 25424), so please contact him about any matters of concern.
Whilst extra resources from Cumbria Highways to deal with road maintenance are very welcome, this Parish Council and others are not yet convinced that they are adequate for the work that needs to be done, and so we will be closely monitoring the new scheme.
Following representation by the Parish Council and a recommendation by the County Council’s Ecologist, Cumbria Highways have agreed to bring forward the cutting of the verges in Dentdale to the end of August. In addition, two members of the Parish Council have carried out a survey of all the verges in the Dale to identify places where self-sown saplings are likely to cause a problem, and this information has been passed on to Cumbria Highways.
The Parish Council gave its support to a proposal from artist Jenni Danson to put a bright yellow knitted streamer across a field in the Dent area, as part of FRED - a festival of public art taking place across Cumbria this autumn. The purpose of the streamer, which will be pegged to the ground, is to ‘bring attention to the landscape and to pay homage to the renowned knitters of Dent’. FRED has become Europe's largest annual festival of site-specific art, and in previous years, over 350 artists have created 164 projects in over 250 locations.
Following recent resignations, the Parish Council currently has two vacancies. If you think you might be interested in joining the Council and would like find out more about what is involved, contact me on the telephone number below, or speak to any other member of the Council.
The Playing Field Committee reported that it had managed to sell the old gang mowers and the old ride on mower at auction for £963, which would help meet the costs of maintenance and mowing.
Thanks were expressed to John Ioannou, who resigned as Parish Clerk at the end of July, for the work he has done during his time in the post. Until a new Clerk is appointed, please contact any member of the Parish Council about matters of concern.
The next Parish Council meeting will be held on August 4th at 7.30pm. As the Sedgwick Room may not be available then, the venue will be notified later. The public is welcome to attend as always.
The June Parish Council meeting was a relatively short one, but the issue of noise in the village at weekends was raised in the regular Public Forum item. This agenda item takes place every meeting about 8pm and is an opportunity for anyone to raise any issue that they wish.
To view the full Parish Council minutes click on Minutes of Dent Parish Council above.
Following the discussion at the Annual Parish Meeting in April, agreement has now been reached with Sedbergh Post Office for the Post Office outreach service on Tuesday and Thursday mornings to be sited in Dent Stores. A number of technical issues are now being investigated by the Post Office, and so it is unlikely that any change will take place before late August or early September at the earliest. When this outreach service is set up, its existence will only be guaranteed for twelve months. Beyond that, it will depend entirely on how much it is used, so it really will be a case of “use it or lose it”.
When the small group of volunteers from the annual parish meeting met to consider the whole issue, Catherine Vinsen offered to co-ordinate support for the new scheme. If you would like to help with this, please contact her on 25815.
Joe Nicholson, the local County Councillor, reported that Cumbria Highways were introducing a Highways Stewardship scheme to cover the whole county which would be similar to the Lengthsman scheme proposed a year or so ago. In essence, all parts of the County will have locally-based workers responsible for the roads in their area. They will be able to carry out minor repairs themselves as well as maintaining verges, drains and culverts. More details will be released at a meeting in Sedbergh in early July, but the Parish Council felt that on the information received so far, the scheme had the potential to improve roads maintenance in the Dale.
A member of the public raised the issue of noise in the street made at weekends in the early hours of the morning by customers of the George and Dragon. The Parish Council undertook to raise the matter with the pub’s owner.
Thanks were expressed to Ann Wilson, who resigned from the Parish Council at the end of June. Ann has served on the Parish Council for a number of years, during which time she has been Chair and Vice-Chair as well being closely involved with the management of the car park and with planning issues. Her detailed knowledge of Dentdale and the people who live here will be considerably missed.
The decision to give planning permission for the 12 affordable houses on the field above Ghyllside was reported last month. Those who have looked at the YDNPA’s website will be aware that the plans that have been approved are for stone-faced houses, with only five elevations – those facing the beck – to be finished in painted render.
The next Parish Council meeting will be held on July 7th at 7.30pm in the Sedgwick Room. The public is welcome to attend as always.
May 2008
At its May meeting, the Parish Council approved the Annual Financial Statement for 2007-08 and elected the Chair for 2008-09. It also heard from PC John Orr, the local Community Beat Officer and two of his colleagues. The following day, members of the Parish Council addressed the May meeting of the National Park’s planning committee about the Ghyllside proposal.
To read the full minutes, click on Minutes of Dent Parish Council above.
At its May Planning Committee meeting, YDNPA gave planning consent for the twelve affordable houses for local occupancy on the field above Ghyllside.
There have been extensive discussions over the last few months between Two Castles and the planning department on the details of this scheme and about the concerns expressed by residents and by the Parish Council. As a result, the original plans have had a number of modifications. More details can be found on the YDNPA website.
When the houses are built, applicants for them will be selected from the following parishes in order: Dent, Sedbergh, Garsdale, Middleton, Firbank and then the rest of the National Park.
The Parish Council has supported this proposal from the outset, because Dent needs affordable housing for young families in order maintain a vibrant community. It was encouraging to note from the discussion at the YDNPA meeting that members of the planning committee appeared to accept this need and were keen to overcome the difficulties of providing affordable housing in the National Park.
In the light of the views expressed at the Annual Parish Meeting in April, the Parish Council arranged for discussions to take place between Eddie and Rita Smith and the postmistress in Sedbergh to see if the proposed outreach service could be located in Dent Stores. Although no decision will be taken until after the end of the consultation period towards the end of May, at the time of writing it looks likely that this will go ahead.
The people who volunteered at the Annual Parish meeting to look at the Post Office closure proposals in more detail have now met. They considered the relatively small amount of business currently transacted at the Post Office, and concluded that outreach provision for two mornings a week was a reasonable way forward. They also agreed to contact Christine at Sedbergh PO to offer their support for the new outreach arrangements.
As a result of these developments, the Parish Council decided to write to the Post Office expressing its support for the provision of the outreach service.
The Parish Council has received a letter from the Governors of Dent Primary School about the County Council’s “Strategy for Primary Schools” document. Although a recent article about it in the Westmorland Gazette suggested that the school in Dent may be under threat of closure, this is highly unlikely. Its numbers are projected to rise over the next few years, it is too far for young children to travel to the next nearest primary school and because the school is Voluntary Aided it is very unlikely that the Bradford Diocese would allow it to close.
Although some small scale repair work has been done to the Coal Road recently, the continuing extraction of timber means it is likely to deteriorate again very quickly. The Parish Council is extremely concerned about this, and has asked Kevin Lancaster, at District Council level, and Joe Nicholson, our local County Councillor, to put pressure on Cumbria Highways a) to repair it properly and b) to take action to prevent it being damaged further.
The end of year financial statement for 2007-08 has been agreed, in preparation for the annual audit. The Council’s income, excluding the car park, was £7,358 compared with expenditure of £10,161. The car park income was £23,457 against expenditure of £15,426.
This resulted in a closing balance of £26,705, an increase of £7,712 on last year. Of this, £15,000 of this is held as a contingency fund for the car park, most of it against a potential liability for VAT on car park charges which is currently the subject of a test case. A further £11,500 is being held for the preparation and outcome of the parish plan.
The full financial statement can be seen by clicking on Dent Parish Council Annual Financial Staement above.
The May meeting was the Parish Council’s Annual Meeting. Jock Cairns was elected as Chair for 2008-09 and appointments were also made to the following committees and organisations:
Car Park committee David Hartley, Ken McClurg, Jock Cairns
Playing Field committee: Jenny Pilgrim, David Hartley; reserve Geoffrey Woof
Dent Grammar School: Jock Cairns, Graham Dalton, Ken McClurg, Geoffrey Woof
Dent Combined Charities Geoffrey Woof, David Hartley
Dent Memorial Hall committee Graham Dalton agreed to represent the Parish Council
Sedbergh Community Office Graham Dalton, Peter Knapton
The election of Vice-chair and the appointment of a governor for the Primary School were deferred to the next meeting.
The next Parish Council meeting will be held on June 2nd at 7.30pm in the Sedgwick Room. The public is welcome to attend as always, and to raise matters of concern in the Public Forum item which takes place about 8pm.
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The April meeting of the Parish Council was a short one which followed the Annual Parish Meeting. Only urgent matters were dealt with, including a number of planning issues and the grass cutting contracts for the playing field and car park picnic area. As a result, this report is briefer than usual. To read the full minutes, click on Minutes of Dent Parish Council above.
About 50 people attended the Annual Parish Meeting at which Councillors commented briefly on their work over the last year, as well as reporting on the work of the committees which run the car park and the playing field. Comments were also made about the Council’s finances, including the £4,879 that was awarded in grants last year to sixteen local bodies. As in previous years, the Parish Council had cost more to run than it received in income, which is why the precept had been increased in 2008-09 from £5,875 to £7,170.
To read the full text of the Council’s Annual Report click on Dent Parish Council Annual Report above.
Thanks were expressed to Margaret Fothergill for her work on the Parish Council in the light of her resignation at the end of April. Margaret has been involved with a lot of the detailed work on planning decisions whilst she has been on the Council, and her contribution will be considerably missed.
The Annual Parish Meeting started with a talk by Dr Lumb in which he explained the proposals for the new Health Centre in Sedbergh and the reasons why he felt a move was necessary. Members of the public were appreciative of Dr Lumb’s work in developing the idea, and raised a number of points about the proposal. In discussion, it was generally felt to be a welcome development and Dr Lumb was thanked for his presentation.
The Annual Parish Meeting also discussed the proposed closure of the permanent Post Office counter and its replacement with an outreach service. Many people felt concerned about the impact the proposals would have on the sustainability of the community and particularly on those that did not have a car. Others expressed the view that because only 55 people used the Post Office regularly it was difficult to argue that there was sufficient demand for a permanent service. A number of people felt that any outreach service should not be sited in the Sedgwick Room, and the meeting heard that other possible sites in the village were already being investigated by the Post Office. At the end of the discussion, six people offered to meet and consider an appropriate response to the Post Office consultation.
From time to time litter is left around the recycling bins in the car park, rather than being put in the appropriate bin. If you see anyone doing this and are able to challenge them, it would help us keep the car park clean and tidy for everyone to use.
As a result of Margaret Fothergill’s departure noted above, the Council has a vacancy which will be filled in due course either by election or co-option. We would welcome new members, so if you would like to know about what is involved please get in touch with any of the councillors for an informal chat.
Because of the Bank Holiday, the next Parish Council meeting will be held on the second Monday of the month on May12th at 7.30pm in the Sedgwick Room. The public is welcome to attend as always, and to raise matters of concern in the Public Forum item which takes place about 8pm.
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March 2008
The March meeting agreed the Parish Council’s further response to the proposed affordable housing development above Ghyllside, and since then Two Castles have been given funding for the scheme. The news of the proposed Post Office closure came after the meeting took place, so it will be discussed at future meetings. To read the full minutes, click on Minutes of Dent Parish Council above.
Since the Parish Council met in February, the architect for the Ghyllside proposal has submitted a revised site plan in which the middle block of houses is rotated through 90º to run across the slope instead of up it. The architect and the YDNPA planning department have been engaged in detailed correspondence about this and a number of other issues, including the design of windows, the landscaping of the site, parking spaces, road construction and turning areas, drainage and traffic issues. Although many of these were unresolved at the time of the March Parish Council meeting, it was expected that the application would be considered at the next meeting of the Planning Committee. The Parish Council agreed the wording of its written response, and two members agreed to attend and speak at the planning meeting.
Since then, Two Castles Housing Association has been awarded the funding needed for the scheme by the Housing Corporation. This has taken the pressure off Two Castles to get the planning application dealt with quickly, and so the Planning Committee agreed to defer the application in order to give the architect time to try and resolve the outstanding issues with the planning department.
As a result, the proposal is not now likely to considered by the YDNPA until the May meeting.
The public consultation period about the replacement of Dent Post Office with an outreach service runs until May 27th, and between now and then the Parish Council will be gathering the views of residents in order to make an informed response. In addition to informal contacts with individual councillors, there will be opportunities for people to express their views at the Annual Parish Meeting on April 7th and at the Parish Council meeting on May 12th.
Details of how to make comments directly to the Post Office can be found in the leaflet announcing the closure, available from Dent Post Office.
The grass cutting equipment that is used to mow the playing field is reaching the end of its life, and so rather than replace it the Parish Council agreed to combine the cutting of the Car Park picnic area with cutting the playing field. A small group of councillors were asked to draw up a specification, seek tenders from contractors and make a recommendation to the April meeting when a decision will be made.
When the ban on smoking in public places was introduced last year, a lot of the media attention focused on the effect on pubs. However, the ban also applied to other public places – so to comply with the law, no smoking signs have recently been put up in Dent’s bus shelter and car park toilets.
The Parish Council has recently received a letter from Stephen Jessel, an Englishman who has lived in France for some years, asking if Dent would like to be twinned with his village of Sahune in Provence. If anyone is interested in exploring the idea further, or would simply like more details about it, please contact me on 25655 or John Ioannou the Parish Clerk on 25023.
There was a lively discussion at the March meeting about the number of applications for retrospective planning permission that had been made recently, and some strong views were expressed by members of the public about the YDNPA’s planning department. As a result, it was agreed to invite a member of the planning department to a future Parish Council meeting to explore the issue with us in more detail and see if there was any action that either the Park or the Parish Council could take that would be helpful to residents who were going through the planning process.
Dr Lumb has kindly agreed to speak at the Annual Parish Meeting about the proposals for a new Health Centre in Sedbergh. The meeting will take place at 7.30pm in the Memorial Hall, and Dr Lumb’s talk will be followed by the report of the Council’s activities for the last year, after which there will be an opportunity for members of the public to raise any topics they wish.
The next Parish Council meeting will be held on Monday April 7th at 9pm in the Memorial Hall, after the Annual Parish Meeting.
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February 2008
The February Parish Council meeting considered further
evidence of housing need in Dentdale in connection with the
proposed affordable housing development above Ghyllside. It
discussed the closure of the Business Forum and reviewed the
current budget situation. To read the full minutes, click on
Minutes of Dent Parish Council
above.
The February meeting looked at new evidence of the housing need within the dale, as this has always been one of the central issues about the proposed affordable housing development above Ghyllside.
When it was announced that the Bradford diocese were going to build two houses in the village, the Church and the Parish Council received nine informal enquiries about housing in the dale, including some about shared equity housing. Eight of the nine were from families living within Dent parish (the ninth was from Sedbergh), and seven were from young couples or families with young children. All of them appeared to be from people who are serious about finding a place to live in Dent.
Since then, the Bradford diocese has so far received five formal applications for these rented houses, and as the application process is still open this may not be the final total.
The Parish Council agreed to send this further information to the National Park’s planning department, so that it could be taken into account alongside the survey of housing need SLDC conducted a few years ago.
Since the meeting, the Parish Council has received amended plans for the proposed development, showing some changes to the design of the houses and their layout. These can be inspected on the National Park’s website, www.yorkshiredales.org.uk.
In response to a request from a resident, the Council agreed to write to United Utilities to ask why they had not fulfilled their promise to fell the trees near Littletown that were being blown down by high winds and damaging the power cable. The legal responsibility for keeping the power line clear of trees was unclear, and so it was also agreed to ask United Utilities for a clear statement of the position.
Following the closure of the Dentdale Business Forum, the Parish Council agreed in principle to take over the administration of the Forum’s remaining funds and the Hidden Britain exhibition. This is subject to clarification of the grant awarded to the Forum for signage, and of the Bier Room lease.
The meeting received the income and expenditure figures for the period up to December 31st, which showed that the car park revenue for the last three months of that period was down by £1,227 compared with last year. Overall, the projection to the end of the financial year showed that the Council was likely to stay within its budget.
The Annual Parish Meeting will be held at 7.30pm on Monday April 7th, when Dr. Lumb will talk about the proposals for a new Health Centre in Sedbergh. Details will be posted around the Dale when they have been finalised.
The Parish Council agreed to send a letter of support to the Skipton-East Lancashire Rail Action Partnership in its attempt to re-open the Colne to Skipton rail link, as it was felt that any improvement in rail services in the area would be of benefit to the Dale.
The March meeting will be at 7.30pm on Monday March 3rd in the Sportsman’s Inn, Cowgill. The public is welcome to attend as always, there will be an opportunity to raise any matter of concern in the Public Forum which takes place about 8pm.
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January 2008
There was no Parish Council meeting in January – the next one is at 7.30pm on February 4th in the Sedgwick Room. The public is welcome to attend as always, and to raise matters of concern in the Public Forum item which takes place about 8pm.
December 2007
The December meeting approved the comments submitted to the National Park on the proposed affordable housing development above Ghyllside. It also agreed the 2008-09 budget and set the precept for 2008-09. To read the full minutes and a detailed breakdown of the budget figures, click on Minutes of Dent Parish Council above.
The December meeting discussed the draft Parish Council budget for 2008-09 which projected an expenditure of £12,680 (excluding car park costs). If the precept remained unchanged at £5,875 the total income would be £7,725 leaving a deficit of £4,955. If the projected surplus from the car park was added and parking charges remained unchanged, this would reduce to £3,295.
A number of options were considered and rejected to cover this shortfall, including introducing a £5 annual charge for residents’ parking permits, increasing the 2-hour car park charge, reducing the amount allocated in grants to local organisations and removing the amount set aside for contingencies. After discussion, it was decided to increase the precept by £1,295 (equivalent to an extra 4.5 pence per week per household) and reduce by £2,000 the reserves held for unforeseen major repairs in the car park and toilet block.
The Parish Council’s formal response to this proposal was agreed at the December meeting, which incorporated issues raised by members of the public including the level of demand for hosing in the Dale, the external appearance of the houses, traffic issues and drainage. Since then, the National Park Planning Committee members have held a site meeting to familiarise themselves with the layout of the site, and at the time of writing, the application for planning permission is still being processed by the National Park.
In last October’s Lookaround I explained that in order to take action on the street parking issues raised by residents in July’s survey, the Parish Council would need to meet with Cumbria Highways as they were the body responsible for implementing any changes. That meeting has now taken place, and as a result Cumbria Highways have agreed to:
Following further discussions with Cumbria Highways, they are giving further thought to their proposal to put legally enforceable width restrictions and bollards at Stonehouse Bridge, as the matter is not easy to resolve. There is a legal restriction on vehicles over 8’ 3” wide on all roads, and so Cumbria Highways’ will not put a width restriction on any road unless it is for 7’ 6” or less. As some farm vehicles are wider than this, a 7’ 6” restriction would not be helpful at Stonehouse, where the problem is not so much the width of the bridge – it is at least 8’ 4” at its narrowest – but the angle at which it is approached, particularly when coming down the dale.
If you
change your car please don’t forget that you will need a new
residents’ car park permit. New permits can be obtained from
Dent Post Office on production of the old one. If you need to
renew your £60 annual permit for a holiday cottage, second
home, camper van or business vehicle, please contact the Car
Park Administrators, John Hyde or Hilary Firth, or the Parish
Clerk, John Ioannou.
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The Council awarded the following grants at its last meeting:
| Citizens Advice South Lakeland | £100 |
| Dent C of E Primary School | £500 |
| Dent Folk Festival | £200 |
| Dent Football Club – for Gym | £100 |
| Dent Oral History Project | £150 |
| Dent Pre-school | £200 |
| Dent Reading Room | £200 |
| Dentdale Choir | £100 |
| Dentdale Cricket Club | £300 |
| Dentdale Over 60s | £300 |
| Sedbergh & Dist. Community Office | £250 |
It also agreed to donate £250 to St John’s church, Cowgill and £550 to St Andrew’s church, Dent for the upkeep of burial grounds, and £300 to the North West Air Ambulance.
Plans for the proposed 12 affordable houses for local occupancy were displayed in the Memorial Hall and discussed at the Parish Council meeting. 13 members of the public made written comments – of these, 8 were in favour of the scheme, commenting that it was a good scheme on a good site and that it would blend well with the village. The different sizes of houses were liked, as was their flexible design that allowed for expansion if a family grew.
Other people were uncertain whether there was a need for the houses, and concerned about how they would be allocated. Some expressed the view that they should be built on the other side of the village; others raised concerns relating to the increase in traffic, the drainage of the site and parking spaces. The Parish Council undertook to include all the points raised in its response to the Planning Authority.
The National Park had asked for the Parish Council’s views on the construction of stepping stones at Hippins, in order to re-instate the public footpath that crosses the river at that point. The Council felt that the proposal was potentially dangerous, given the proximity to campsites and the village, and recommended that the Park consider a footbridge crossing instead.
The National Park had also asked for the Council’s views on restricting motor vehicles on the route from Barth Bridge to Garsdale Foot. The Council decided to ask the Park both to repair and maintain the route, and to place legal restrictions on its use.
The last meeting received statements of the Council’s current financial position. The car park takings for the first six months of the financial year were £16,255, down from £17,250 for the same period last year. The projected expenditure of £17,102 for the whole year without contingencies compared with £17,289 for 2006-07.
The projected cost of running the Parish Council this year, excluding the car park, is £10,461 whereas the projected income, again excluding the car park, is £7,610. This means that the car park is continuing to subsidise the cost of running the Parish Council to a considerable extent. The next Parish Council meeting will return to this issue when next year’s budget and precept are considered.
The recently introduced Rural Wheels scheme has added to the limited choice of public transport in the Dale. The Voluntary Car Scheme is another option that has been running for some time, which enables a car to be booked through Dent Post Office for journeys within the County. The scheme needs more drivers to call on – so if you are able to offer to help, even occasionally, please call in at the Post Office for more information.
Following our lengthy correspondence with them, the County Council have now asked us if we want them to place width restrictions on Stonehouse Bridge and erect bollards either side of it. The Parish Clerk is currently discussing with local residents the best way of doing this without unnecessarily narrowing the roadway even further.
The December meeting will be at 7.30pm on December 3rd in the Sedgwick Room. The public is welcome to attend as always, and to raise matters of concern in the Public Forum item which takes place about 8pm.
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October 2007
The October meeting, at The Sportsman’s Inn, Cowgill,
discussed the road closure at Denthead and proposals regarding
street parking in Dent. These and other topics are summarised
below, and as usual the full minutes are published elsewhere
on this website.
Considerable anger was expressed by Cowgill residents over the way the road closure at Denthead had been handled by Cumbria Highways. The signs that had appeared at Sedbergh and elsewhere had been so vague that people thought that the whole Dale was shut. Both the Parish Council and Ron Martin contacted Cumbria Highways, and thanks to Ron’s persistence the signs were eventually modified.
Cumbria Highways have still not carried out the modification to the gutter in front of Flintergill Close, which they promised to do before the end of September. When asked what was happening they said they had assumed the work had been completed. The Parish Council has written to the Audit Commission, as it did in connection with Stonehouse bridge, to express its concerns that the County Council still does not seem to be monitoring its contractors effectively. When Cumbria CC is next audited, this instance and the problems with road closure signs will be used as evidence.
Following the recent responses from householders and businesses in Dent village about street parking, the Parish Council agreed the following actions:
· to try and acquire control over the land opposite the Sun and opposite Dent Stores, in order to allocate spaces on some of it for use by holders of Residents’ Car Park permits. Parking on the rest of the land will remain unrestricted as at present.
· most people wanted no parking on the cobbles, but did not want yellow lines or signs attached to buildings. In view of this, the Parish Council agreed to try and control parking in this area through persuasion and requests for people’s co-operation.
· to allow holiday cottage owners to buy as many car park permits as they wish
· to ask Cumbria Highways to repaint the parking bays around The Green, and make the signs clearer
· subject to YDNPA approval, to erect direction signs to the car park for visitors
The Parish Council has to work through other bodies on parking issues, so the next stage is to hold discussions with Cumbria Highways and the National Park.
Members continue to be concerned about the state of the roadside verges in the Dale, which are classified as of special interest because of their wildflowers. Making the roads safe can conflict with conservation, and so the verges are currently cut in late September. The County’s ecologist carried out a survey of verges in 2002, which concluded that they should be cut in late August in future. The Parish Council has asked Cumbria Highways to alter the cutting regime in line with the new recommendations.
In the last Lookaround, I said that the plans for this proposed development were available for inspection by the public on the YPNDA website, and after a slight delay this is now true. In addition, the Parish Council will be organising a display of the plans in the village; details will be posted around the dale in due course.
The Parish Council has been concerned recently about the problem of dog mess on The Green and on the playing field. Young children and sports players are particularly at risk because they are more likely to come into contact with it, as have children on The Green recently. This is not only extremely unpleasant – it can have more serious consequences. Contact with dog faeces can cause a toxocara infection, which can cause permanent partial loss of vision. Responsible dog owners have been aware of this for some time, and dispose of their dog’s mess in a bin. Please be prepared to challenge anyone you see who doesn’t clear up after their dog, as it will help make clear the community’s views on the subject.
The Parish Council is advertising elsewhere in Lookaround for a part-time Car Park Administrator and for an Internal Auditor. In addition, adverts have been posted around the dale for a Cleaner for the car park toilets. Please contact me if you would like more details about any of these posts.
Finally, a reminder of the request in the last Lookaround, when I asked people not to tip rubbish on to the bonfire site. The Football Club, who are building the bonfire, have all the material they need.
The November meeting will be at 7.30pm on November 5th in the Sedgwick Room. The public is welcome to attend as always, and to raise matters of concern in the Public Forum item which takes place about 8pm.
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September 2007
The September meeting discussed the Neighbourhood Watch scheme and the proposed affordable housing development in the village. These and other topics are summarised below, and the full minutes are published elsewhere on the Dentdale website.
Two Castles Housing Association are currently finalising their plans for six three-bedroom and six two bedroom houses in the field above Ghyllside. By the time this article is published, these plans should have been submitted to the National Park for planning permission and be available for inspection by the public on the YPNDA website.
The Parish Council is concerned about the following issues, and has written to the planning authority accordingly:
South Lakeland District Council has set aside money from council tax on second homes in order to enhance affordable housing projects, and the Parish Council is pressing them to release some of this money for this project
Applications are currently invited for Parish Council Grants for projects that meet one or more of the following criteria:
Written applications should indicate how the project will meet the above criteria and be sent to The Parish Council, c/o West Banks, Dent by 15 October 2007. They will be considered at the Parish Council meeting in November.
A lorry delivering ballast for repairs to the railway has caused damage to roadside walls on its way through the dale. The Parish Council have written to Network Rail to complain, and to suggest that the railway is used for future deliveries.
Andrea Bell, the Neighbourhood Watch Officer for South Lakeland, gave a short presentation on the Neighbourhood Watch scheme at the last meeting. She is intending to meet with all those in the scheme in Dent in the near future to evaluate its current effectiveness.
Thirty-six households responded to the letter sent to residents about street parking in the village. A large number of people disapproved of parking on the cobbles, and there was support for an approach based on persuasion rather than coercion. Opinion on what to do with the pieces of land opposite The Sun and Dent Stores was fairly evenly divided, with twelve households wanting this land freely available for any parking, and nine wanting parking on it restricted to adjacent householders. Parking by the playing field was not perceived to be a major problem, but ten households identified a parking problem on the roads around The Green.
The response also produced a large number of useful ideas to improve things, and based on these a number of recommendations will be put to the next Parish Council meeting. It is likely, however, that any proposals will need to be discussed with Cumbria Highways before they can be implemented.
Last year a number of people – some from outside Dentdale – took advantage of the Dent bonfire night to tip rubbish on to the bonfire site. This required a lot of work to clear up after the event, as some of it was not suitable for burning. So this year, please do not tip rubbish on the bonfire unless you have been asked to do so by the Football Club.
The October meeting will be at 7.30pm on October 8th in the Sportsman’s Inn. The public is welcome to attend as always, and to raise matters of concern in the Public Forum item which takes place about 8pm.
August 2007
When the Parish Council met at the beginning of August, the foot and mouth outbreak in Surrey was in its early stages, and so a small group of members including Geoffrey Woof and David Hartley undertook to monitor developments and advise the Parish Council if there was any action it could take which local farmers would find helpful. At the time of writing this article, it looks as if the outbreak may have been contained, so thankfully this monitoring will not be needed.
Full details of the whole meeting can be found in the minutes.
These days, local authorities are often required to consult with the public before making any changes to their policies, and YDNPA is no exception. The Parish Council took some time at its August meeting to discuss and respond to the following issues as part of the latest consultation from the National Park on possible changes to its housing policy:
Affordable housing. Surveys suggest that the National Park needs 88 new houses each year for the next five years. Of these, Dent, Sedbergh and Garsdale have been identified as needing 22 per year between them. The Parish Council felt that as Dent is the only service village in the Sedbergh area, this level of development was too high. Twelve new houses are likely to be built above Ghyllside, and so it is unlikely that any more would be needed in Dent for several years.
Identifying potential sites for development. The Council felt that it is sensible to identify possible new sites, but these should be in existing Dentdale hamlets, rather than in just in Dent village.
Types of housing. The Council thought that for both environmental and economic reasons, it could sometimes be acceptable to build other types of housing than the traditional stone built Dales house. Because this is a sensitive subject, though, each case should be considered on its merits in order to protect the essential character of Dentdale and other dales.
Meeting local housing needs. The Council felt that although the present local needs policy has not been in place long enough to assess its success, allowing a developer to build a mix of open market and affordable housing might produce more houses for local people. However, the Council also thought that ‘local needs’ should be defined to reflect the special requirements of settlements close to the National Park boundary, where there is a need to allow people to live in the Park and work outside it.
Tony Playfoot, who has administered the car park since the Parish Council took it over in 2005, has decided to give up his job from the middle of August. David Hartley, the Chair of the car park committee, has taken over the role on an interim basis until new arrangements can be made. The Parish Council would like to thank Tony for the work he has done over the last two and a half years.
As reported in last month’s Lookaround, the Parish Council was opposing the application by the owner of Church Cottage in Dent to convert his workshop into living accommodation, on the grounds that the application did not meet the National Park’s local needs criteria. Ann Wilson and Margaret Fothergill attended the YDNPA Planning Committee meeting on August 14th to put the council’s case, and the application was refused by 13 votes to 1, with 1 abstention.
The saga of Stonehouse Bridge goes on, as the National Park has asked whether it should continue to press for a better quality repair to the bridge parapet. Members of the parish council have received a number of comments from residents about the poor quality of the work, so it was agreed to ask the National Park to carry on with its efforts to persuade Cumbria Highways to make a better job of it.
Many thanks to everyone in Dent village who responded to my letter about street parking. A number of people have made suggestions about how the situation might be improved, and they will be very helpful when the Parish Council’s car park committee meets this month to discuss the issue and make recommendations.
The September meeting will be on the first Monday of the month as usual (September 3rd), but this year the October meeting will be a week later, on the second Monday of the month, October 8th. Both meetings will be at 7.30pm in the Sedgwick Room, and the public is welcome to attend as always and to raise matters of concern in the Public Forum item which takes place about 8pm.
The July Parish Council meeting was a busy one, and dealt with a number of topics. Full details can be found in the minutes – follow the link at the top of this page.
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June 2007
The meeting at the beginning of June was a relatively short one, and some of the issues discussed are summarised below.
Playing Field Charges
The Playing Field committee has been
developing a charging policy for the use of the playing field
by the sports clubs that use it regularly and by other
organisations that use it occasionally. As these other
organisations sometimes receive grants from the Parish
Council, it was decided that in order to be even handed, the
charges should be kept separate from any grant allocation,
which would be decided separately according to the Council’s
normal criteria.
Unitary Authority for Cumbria
The government has asked parish
councils in Cumbria for their comments on the proposal to
abolish district councils and form a single unitary council.
After discussion, the Parish Council agreed to include the
following points in its response:
· The south-east part of Cumbria naturally has Kendal as its focus, and so a unitary council based in Carlisle would seem remote from residents.
· If the present district and county councils are merged, it may result in some of the district councils’ assets being sold off in order to balance the County Council’s present liabilities. If this were to happen, the fear is that it may result in a reduction in the level of services offered to residents.
· The quality of the representation provided by the new councillors is likely to be reduced, as each councillor’s area would be too large for them to cover effectively.
Camper Vans
It was agreed that large camper
vans that occupy more than one space in the car park should be
required to buy an annual permit if they use the car park as
their normal parking space during the summer months. The
current rate is £60 per year, obtainable from John Ioannou,
the Parish Clerk.
Recycling
Concern was expressed that some
people were putting cardboard in the newspaper bins in the car
park, as this resulted in the bin being emptied in a landfill
site as it could no longer be recycled. Members of the public
were asked to put only newspapers in the bins so that the
contractor can recycle them as intended.
Bridge
Closure
The Parish
Council were notified that Lincoln Inn Bridge, on the A684
between Sedbergh and the M6, is likely to be closed from
Monday Sept 3rd for up to six weeks, as it is badly
in need of major structural repairs. The alternative route,
leaving Sedbergh, will be down the Kirby Lonsdale Road (A683)
and then right on the B6256 back onto the A684
Next
meeting
The next
meeting of the Parish Council, to which members of the public
will be welcome as always, will be on Monday July 2nd
in the Sedgwick Room.
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May
2007
At the Parish Council’s
Annual meeting on April 30th Jock Cairns and Ann
Wilson were elected Chair and Vice-Chair respectively for a
further year. In addition, the following appointments were
made:
|
Jenny Pilgrim, David Hartley |
|
Ann Wilson, David Hartley, Jock Cairns |
|
Graham Dalton, Ken
McClurg, Geoffrey Woof, Jock Cairns |
|
Geoffrey Woof, David Hartley |
|
Ann Wilson |
|
Graham Dalton |
|
Peter Knapton, Graham Dalton |
The following issues were also discussed at the meeting:
Street Parking in Dent
The problems
caused by cars parking on the street in Dent was raised at the
Annual Parish Meeting at the beginning of April, and the Car
Park Committee was asked to consider the matter in more detail
and report back to the Parish Council with some possible
solutions.
Assessment of Housing
Need
The Annual
Parish Meeting had also asked the Parish Council to consider
the best way of keeping an accurate and up to date list of
housing need. Whilst this is the responsibility of SLDC as
the housing authority, councillors felt that this information
was likely to be collected in the next few months by the
Bradford Diocese in order to allocate its two new houses in
the village. In addition, the survey to be undertaken as part
of the Parish Plan should also provide information on this
subject.
Financial Statement of
2006/07
Councillors
approved the financial statement for 2006-07, which showed an
income of £33,217 and expenditure of £29,093. The council is
currently holding reserves to cover unexpected expenditure on
the car park, as well as expenditure as a result of the parish
plan. The full statement can be accessed on the Dentdale
website
www.dentdale.com.
Allowances for Parish
Councillors
Each year,
the Parish Council receives a letter from South Lakeland
District Council (SLDC) asking if councillors wish to be paid
a small allowance for their work which would be paid for out
of the precept. As in previous years, councillors regarded
their role as a voluntary one and so did not want to be paid
for it.
Parcels for the Armed
Forces
There is
currently a proposal to abolish free parcel post to British
forces serving overseas, and the Parish Council, in common
with number of local authorities including SLDC, decided to
write to the government to protest about it.
Next meeting
The next meeting of the Parish
Council, to which members of the public will be welcome as
always, will be on Monday June 4th in the Sedgwick
Room.
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April 2007
There have been two
well-attended public meetings in Dent recently: the first,
at the end of March, was about producing a parish plan, and
the second was the Annual Parish Meeting at the beginning of
April.
A Plan for Dentdale
This
meeting was attended by about 100 people. It discussed
whether the community should try and have some control over
how Dentdale develops in the future by producing a parish
plan. Julia Wilson, from Voluntary Action Cumbria, who has
helped a number of parishes with their plans, spoke about
how carrying out a survey of
local opinion
means decisions taken by the Parish Council are much more
likely to reflect the views of the public. The evidence
from a survey also makes it
easier to access
sources of funding and to influence the actions of other
bodies like the County Council and the National Park. In
addition, the process of producing a plan often brings
people together and reinforces the sense of community.
Paul Rogers, who as Chair of Burton-in-Kendal Parish Council had worked on its parish plan, spoke about the practicalities. He stressed the importance of involving as wide a cross-section of the community as possible in its production.
At the end of the meeting, a show of hands resulted in almost unanimous support for having a plan, and over 30 people volunteered to be involved in its production in different ways.
Affordable Housing
At the
start of April, over 60 people came to hear John Hay from
Two Castles Housing Association talk about the proposal to
build a mixture of small houses and family-size dwellings on
the field above Ghyllside.
In the discussion, it was felt that it was important that we had an accurate and up to date list of housing need, and the Parish Council agreed to look at how best to do this.
Concern was expressed about whether any houses built would always be affordable. In response, John Hay said that both rental and shared-equity (up to 80%) options would be available, and it was likely that the planning regulations would be used to keep the prices down to as much as 30% below open market rates in the future.
Several people asked whether the houses would be for local occupancy, and remain so in future. It was explained that South Lakeland and Two Castles would jointly allocate the houses using the current criteria, which give priority to local people. Since the last houses were built in Dent, new legislation has made it easier to ensure houses stay with local people when they change hands.
Questions were also asked about the appearance of the houses. John Hay explained that the YDNPA will insist they fit with existing Dentdale dwellings, and may require them to be stone faced like the existing Ghyllside ones, rather than rendered like the Glebe Fold houses.
Annual Parish Meeting
and Report
The Parish
Council Report was presented to the Annual Parish Meeting.
It can be accessed in full on the Dentdale website
www.dentdale.com. In the
subsequent discussion the issue of street parking on the
cobbled area in Dent village was raised, and the Parish
Council undertook to try and find a solution.
Flintergill Close
Our
attempts to persuade Cumbria Highways to modify the cobbled
gulley that runs along the entrance to Flintergill Close
have met with some success. At a recent on site meeting,
they agreed to remove the cobbles from a small section of
the gulley to enable elderly and disabled residents to cross
more easily.
Next meeting
The next meeting of the Parish
Council, to which members of the public will be welcome as
always, will be on Monday June 4th in the
Sedgwick Room.
|
