2017/06

June Newsletter

Annual Parish meeting (Annual Assembly)
At our Annual Parish meeting in March Mr Andrew Frankish, Environment Officer (Environment Agency), gave a presentation an account of which can be found in the minutes of the Annual Parish meeting on our website.

Annual Parish Council Meeting
Councillor Bond resigned as Chairman at our Annual Parish Council Meeting in May after 10 years of being in office. We thanked Councillor Bond for his achievements during his term of office and we appreciate all his hard work and dedication. We elected Councillor Bennett as our new Chairman and Councillor Houghton was elected as Vice-Chairman. We wish them both well!

Bus Service
We might lose our bus service when the current contract expires. We are inviting residents to form a working group to review the bus service and find ways to promote its use to help justify its continuation; we also ask that you record any alleged instances of the bus not keeping to the timetable and report them to the Parish Clerk giving as much detail as possible – the information will be passed on to the operator so that they can check against the records from their satellite based tracking system and advise of any reason for the discrepancy. We are putting up maps showing the bus route at the bus stops, on the notice boards and at various tourist spots by way of publicising the service.

Defibrillator
We have decided to install another Community Public Access Defibrillator in the village and approached the Bowling Club about the possibility of one being stored at the roadside there – the Bowling Club agreed and they are looking at providing an electricity supply to the site.

Tenders
Public toilets – we received one tender for the cleaning of the public toilets and that this was from Mr Paul Williams for £2,760. We accepted Mr Williams tender with effect from 1st April.
Website – Mr Steve Lamb will continue to maintain our website until 1st June 2018 on the same terms as his current contract.
Grass cutting – 4 contractors supplied tenders for grass cutting (St. John’s Avenue and Woodwell). We accepted Mr Hull’s tender (£512 pa) with effect for 18th May for 12 months.
Parish Contractor – 3 contractors submitted tenders – we accepted Mr Tim Lambert’s tender (£3,600 pa) with effect from 18th May for 12 months.
County Councillor Philippa Williamson
Philippa Williamson is the newly elected County Councillor for our area. Councillors Bennett and Houghton met with her in May and raised various issues namely: the library; the road junction of the A6 and Nineteen Acre Lane; delivery time waiting restrictions outside the Co-operative store; the Co-Responders scheme; highways/gulley clearing/verge maintenance; the bus service and County Councillor attendance at parish council meetings. Councillor Williamson gave her apologies as she was unable to attend our June meeting (she was on holiday), but intends to attend the July one.

Library and Information Hub
The Library Working Group has been working extremely hard and their application for an Independent Community Library was approved by Lancashire County Council in March, however, things changed when the Conservatives became the controlling group in May as one of their election pledges was either to re-open all the libraries that had been closed or to provide extra support to help community operated libraries flourish. The Library Working Group met with County Councillor Williamson and with County Councillor Peter Buckley (Cabinet member for Community and Cultural Services) this month to discuss options. The County Council is unable to commit to anything until after their cabinet meeting in July, but we have asked for the interim re-opening of the library as soon as possible whilst the Library Working Group considers its preferred long-term option.

Playground
The metal gate at the entrance to the playground has been reworked to include new posts, hinges and an automatic closing mechanism.; this will be installed soon.
In addition to routine repairs etc we have changed the surface for the aerial runway – the woodchip has been taken out and replaced with top soil, matting and grass. The area has temporarily been taped off whilst the new grass is established.

Benches
Three benches have been reconstructed recently and Councillor Bennett has carried out a survey of all the benches with Mr Tim Lambert – 9 more have been identified as needing some re-work. We will decide on what action to take at our next meeting.

Leeds Children’s Holiday Home
A planning application for the demolition of camp buildings and siting of 25 static caravans’ pitches and manager’s dwelling and site reception at Leeds Children’s Holiday Home has been refused by South Lakeland District Council. We made representations by letter to the SLDC planning committee objecting to the planning application.

Emergency Plan
Following the severe weather and flooding in our region in 2015/16, we invited to apply and subsequently gained approval, for a grant to improve our resilience to such events in the future. The Gaskell Hall has been agreed as our Emergency Centre. A diesel-powered generator is being installed to allow the lighting and the heating systems to be operated in the event of a mains power failure. Low energy LED lighting has been installed at the Hall, which will also reduce the everyday bills and the carbon footprint. Modifications are being carried out on the wiring to allow for the connection of the generator. It is planned that the system will be ready before the beginning of September.

Police
PC Massingham attended our June meeting and advised that reports of anti-social behaviour on the playing field have reduced; he believes that the increase in police patrols of the area has had an impact. He urged us to report all incidents, no matter how ‘minor’ to the police. Non-emergency incidents can be reported by phoning 101 or via the Lancashire Constabulary website using the general enquiry contact form or ‘contact an officer’ link or by emailing Morecambe.NPT@lancashire.pnn.police.uk.