Minutes of the Coxhoe
Parish Council meeting held on
S Dunn in the chair
Present: G Shotton, D Smith, J Taylor, R Mayo, C Thirlaway, B Hepplewhite, C
Wigham and K Pounder
Apologies for Absence: P Dodsworth, County Councillor
Morgan, City Councillor Plews
7.29
Questions
from the public
There were no members of the public in attendance,
but the following queries had been received by Councillor Dunn:
a) Concern had been expressed relating to
the state of the public right of way along the bypass at Coxhoe. This issue had
already been raised with County Council and a response was awaited.
b) Mr Jones had again raised the issues
relating to Quarrington Hill churchyard. The Clerk had passed all of the
correspondence on to the Diocese to action but the Parish Council was unable to
assist further. Maintenance in the old part of the churchyard was discussed.
Resolved: the Clerk to contact the countryside rangers
team to ascertain when if and when it was best for works to be carried out.
07.30. Minutes from Meeting held on
Minutes of the previous meeting were agreed and
signed as a true record
07.31. Police Report
On this occasion no report
had been received and the police were not represented at the meeting.
07.32Points to Note
The following
details were noted:
a)
No further progress had
been made at this time due to the school holidays.
b) Training
The Clerk detailed the
training course for Councillors, which would commence at
c) Maintenance
of public rights of way
The Clerk had contacted the
County Council about the state of the old railway line walk and had been
advised that it was a priority 3 walk scheduled for maintenance once a
year. This would be carried out in the
near future. Walkways that were the
Parish Councils responsibility had been recently cut.
07.33. Reports
of the Clerk
The Clerk
reported on the following issues and the details were noted:
a) Planning Applications
The following planning applications had
been received and were noted without objection:
i) Erection of a single storey pitched
roof extension to rear elevation of existing dwelling at 1
Meadow View, Coxhoe
ii) Erection of a single storey pitched
roof extension to rear of existing dwelling at 27
Beechfield Rise, Coxhoe
iii) Erection of a single storey pitched
roof extension to side elevation of existing dwelling at
52 Petterson Dale, Coxhoe
iv) Erection of a single storey pitched
roof extension to side/rear of existing dwelling and
conversion of garage to a habitable room
at 1 Blackgate West, Coxhoe
v) Confirmation had been received of the
planning approval for tyre storage at Joint Stocks
Quarry and further details were provided
Councillor Hepplewhite declared an
interest in item ii) and took no part in the discussion
b) Traffic management
Information had now been received from the
County Council on the various schemes.
i) The order had been placed for the
temporary works at Gem cafι.
ii) There were 7 objections to the revised
Avenue scheme and a Highways Committee
meeting would be held to hear these
objections.
iii) Works had been ordered for the
chicane east of Cassop school
iv) Cushions were to be proposed between
the crossroads and the chicane and were
currently under consultation.
v) Proposals were being finalised to
extend the street lighting and speed limit at the west of
the village.
Resolved: the Clerk to contact the County to see if
the objections at The Avenue relate to
the scheme revisions. A further meeting
with Gordon Wingrove be arranged for Thursday
6th September and the police be
invited to the meeting.
c) Members Code of Conduct
Members had previously adopted the model
code of conduct. The City Council had
now
confirmed that the had adopted the model
with one addition relating to members interests
Resolved: the addition be incorporated into the
code of conduct and duly adopted.
d) Quality Council
The clerk had attended the first mentoring
session and had started to put together the first
modules of the portfolio. An item on
quality status would be included in the latest
newsletters. The Clerk had written an
information document on quality status for inclusion
on the Councils website and this was
approved.
e)
Maintenance of Seats
The two seats placed in the churchyard at
Coxhoe were in need of painting and the one
next to the church had become insecure
Resolved: the Clerk to order the redecoration and
repair of the seats. This to be funded
from the allocation for new seats in the budget.
f)
Draft Public Rights of Way Improvement Plan
The plan was a large document that did not
refer to specific areas or improvements needed.
The Clerk provided details of a P3 training
event on the 29 September.
Resolved: the Clerk to contact the County Council
and ask for someone to attend a future
meeting to explain the effect of the plan
on the parish.
g) Budgetary Update
The Clerk circulated an up to date bank
reconciliation and budgetary statement and the
details and its implications were discussed
at length. The Clerk provided an update
on the
possible sale of gardens at
left the room at this point and took no
part in the discussion of this item. The
possibility of
the provision of a Community Development
Officer if funding was available to move forward
the parish plan was discussed
Resolved: i)
the budgetary process would be discussed in detail after further cost details
were received on traffic management and
the working party had looked at parish plan
implications ii) the Clerk to contact the
Community Council about funding
The following
correspondence was received and noted.
a)
A letter had been
received from Mr Wilson relating to the garden to the rear of his property and
requesting that he keep the tenancy during the period that his property was let
to tenants.
Resolved: Mr Wilson to be advised that he can retain the tenancy, subject to the
possible sale of land.
b)
Review of Licensing Policy
A consultation document had been received
from the City Council on this policy and was
circulated to Members.
c)
Policing Plan 2007/08
The Clerk provided details of the
availability of this policy on the website www.durham
pa.gov.uk
d)
Local Government Reorganisation
The Clerk circulated a letter from Durham
County Council advising of the latest
developments on reorganisation.
e)
Bus shelters
A letter had been received from the County
Council detailing the procedure on the removal
of a bus shelter
07.35
Other Issues
a)
Parish Plan and Action Plan/Partnership Updates
Following the joint meetings of the Parish
Council with Quarrington Hill Village Partnership
and Coxhoe Together updated documents on
the current situation were circulated and
discussed.
organised for October. Tarmac paths at
Coxhoe churchyard had been reinstated.
Resolved:
i) to write to the MP
requesting assistance in the bid to get additional housing for
Quarrington Hill ii) the Clerk to contact the County Council regarding unoccupied
industrial
units at Quarrington Hill iii) the Clerk to contact other local
parish councils to get support for
a revised bus service to Gilesgate (Tesco) iv) Councillor Smith to find more
information on
action that can be taken relating to
unsightly properties v) work to be
carried out on
including issues from the Quarrington Hill
website on the Parish Council website and
updating it.
b)
Coxhoe Churchyard
A cardboard camp had been made among
bushes at the churchyard
Resolved: to contact the City Council to ask for
its removal
c)
Hedges- Quarrington Hill
Hedges were overgrown on land opposite
Belle Vue and youths were congregating there
Resolved: to contact the Countryside Ranger team
to ascertain ownership of the land and
to rectify the problem
07.36 Accounts
for Payment/Requests for Financial Assistance
a) A request was
received from the 12 Villages Community Network for a donation towards the cost
of new projects
Resolved: on a vote it
was agreed that the request was received. No action to be taken.
b) A request was
received from Quarrington Hill Community Centre for a donation towards their
banner project.
Resolved: The Clerk to
look at similar funding requests and further details to be requested from the
group via an application form to consider the level of donation.
c) the invoice
from Kantara included a renewal of the domain name as part of the website
service
Resolved: to continue with
the website domain name through Kantara
d) The Clerk detailed the
accounts for payment and the following were approved:
Creditor Reason Amount
Minute
Kantara Ltd Website service/domain name £175.08 07.28c
Thinford Nurseries Hanging baskets/watering QH £756.94 313
Thinford Nurseries Hanging baskets/watering Coxhoe £1828.07 313
N King Salary
July 07.18fi
TP Gardens Grasscutting July £540.00 249
Signed as a true copy of the meeting
Chairman
. Clerk
(Pages 14 17 inclusive)
. Date