Present:- Cllrs. G. Wilkinson, A.J. Markley, I. Baty, S. Hart & W. Jefferson. Also Wendy Jameson & PC Andy Robertson.

Cllrs. Jefferson & Hart signed their Declarations of Acceptance of Office. The Clerk to get any outstanding declarations signed.

Cllrs. R.W. Allison, C. Baty, A. Weightman, M. Snaith & E. Wannop. Also Ken Wannop

None.

It was agreed to exclude the Press & Public whilst items 19 & 20 are discussed.

The Chairman had attended the official opening of the Sports Hall and presented trophies at the darts league presentation night. Also attended the Annual Town Meeting.

Minutes of the meeting held on 14 May 2007 were approved by the Town Council and signed as a true record.

695 Adjournment of Meeting

There had been no requests from members of the public to raise any matters of interest in the meeting.

a) British Nuclear Group - Public Information for the demolition of the Chapelcross Cooling Towers.

b) Cumbria County Council - North Allerdale Community Board - A Development and Learning Pilot. Meeting to be held on 31 May at Rosley Village Hall at 7.30pm.

c) Government office for the North West - The Panel Report following the Examination in Public of the submitted draft Regional Spatial Strategy (RSS) for the North West of England was published on the 8 May.

d) CALC - consultation on unitary Cumbria Proposal - update on CALC’s current activities and views with respect to the Unitary Cumbria proposal.

e) Details of neighbourhood drop in sessions being held by PMP, who were appointed by Allerdale Borough Council to undertake an open space, sport and recreational facilities audit and local needs assessment.

f) Silloth Football Club - Letter of thanks for the Council’s donation of £500.

g) CALC - Amendment to the consultation on the new parish charter.

h) Allonby Parish Council - The Parish Council have been unable to obtain a decision regarding the additional funding towards the grass cutting and therefore feel it would be best if the Town Council cease cutting any more grass.

i) Solway Coast Neighbourhood Forum - Next meeting on 11 June at Allonby Village Hall at 7.00pm.

j) Allerdale Borough Council - Copy of a letter received by Allerdale enquiring as to the availability of a small building on Silloth Green to establish a small café facility. It was felt there are already enough facilities in the Town and there are no buildings on the Green which would be suitable.

k) Allerdale Borough Council - Letter from Ernie Davidson regarding the provision of bins and also asking the Town Council for permission to extend the current ‘footprint’ of the recycling centre. The recycling centre is a high profile site. It was agreed to request a site meeting with Mr Davidson to discuss the proposal and also the provision of bins. The current site of the recycling centre is better than the previous location. Recycling is important now and there may be a need to consider another site.

l) Bank Mill Nurseries - re: Closure of Allonby to Silloth road. Letter from Bill James asking for the Council to discuss the recent road closures and consider what can be done to help. The Council sympathises with the comments made by Mr James but the road is closed for safety reasons when the tide is over the road. The problem is the length of time the road is being kept closed which needs to be monitored better. Letter to be sent to the Cumbria Highways to ask that it be better monitored and that the road be cleaned and re-opened a.s.a.p.

m) Allerdale Borough Council - re: Government Consultation on Cumbria County Council’s Bid for a Single Council for Cumbria. Consultation will last until 22 June 2007. County Council have put a bid in for unitary authority. Allerdale have missed it and didn’t put in a bid in January. Districts are fighting against the County Council plans. If County Council plans don’t go ahead, then they will have to start working with the Districts. Cumbria is lying third at the moment and has been given the Amber light. Cumbria as a unitary authority is too big. Allerdale do not have a good track record of handling local representation. The answer is probably to have two authorities - North and South. Allerdale are proposing that there be 4 MPA’s. The North Allerdale Community Board is up and running and comprises of various representatives from Allerdale, Parish Councils etc. By 2009 the Unitary authority will be up and running. There will be 5 community boards set up in Cumbria which are working as pilots. There was no time for an election therefore people had to be appointed onto the boards.

n) Cumbria County Council - re: Proposed Local Government Reform in Cumbria. See item m) above.

o) Allerdale Borough Council - re: RNLI Slipway extension. Work is due to start on 11 June and contractors have asked Allerdale if three areas could be made available for the temporary storage of materials. The Town Council have no objection to the areas proposed to be used for the storage of materials.

p) Email from Mr Gus Proud seeking clarification on a number of points. The footpath from the Promenade to the side of the Amusements ends up on grass and is not suitable for wheelchairs, therefore there is no dropped kerb. The Changing Rooms are only used by the Football club and therefore it is acceptable for the club to have a sign up. SRP are currently working to get the Green project up and running but upgrading the sports area is high on the list of priorities. The Youth club is not being used and hasn’t been for quite some time. Funding was given to Silloth Festivals to cover the cost of training door staff which is a health and safety necessity. This only covered 50% of what it actually cost and the staff will be available to cover other events. The Tennis club now pay a nominal amount of rent for the use of the tennis courts.

PC Andy Robertson attended the meeting and provided a written Police Report. The street drinking ban signs have arrived and will be put up soon. SID’s scheme is running quite well. There are three devices now, with two schemes running. The devices are moved around the parishes and there has generally been positive feedback from their use. PCSO Lindsey Noblet is on restricted duties as she is pregnant and will be doing more ‘office based’ work. PC Robertson had to attend an accident at The Tarns which disrupted the Police surgery.

The Town Council have approved the following:-

* Proposed 2 storey extension (Resubmission 2/2006/0099) at 86 Skinburness Road, Silloth

* Change of use of land adjacent to plot 15 to provide extension to residential curtilage at Plot 15, Greenrow Meadows, Silloth.

Notification from Allerdale Borough Council that:-

* Appeal has been made against the refusal to grant Planning Consent for ‘Extension to existing dwelling to provide additional living accommodation and attached garage’ at Maxwell House, Blitterless, Silloth.

None

None

Primary School Meeting tomorrow.

Joint Advisory Committee Meeting took place 10 days ago. School programme is running well, with 40 schools having visited the Discovery Centre and AONB in the last 12 months. The store at the back has been done and the fencing put up. AONB is known for producing quality publications and recently produced a set of leaflets promoting cycle routes in the AONB.

Silloth Tourist Action Group Nothing to report. No meeting due to Secretary being ill.

Silloth Regeneration A report from Bill Allison was given out in the meeting. The application for the Project Planning Grant to Heritage Lottery has to be in by the end of June. Liz Carlisle has provided four briefs for four plans which have been sent out to various consultants asking for tenders for the production of each plan. Max grant is £50,000. Once the consultants have been chosen, the application will be submitted, the result of which will be known in September, when real work can start on Stage 1 of the Heritage Lottery Bid. Allerdale officers are preparing a plan to improve the area between the Lifeboat Station and the harbour entrance. £80,000 partnership funding has been set aside for this work, between Allerdale and NAP executive.

North Allerdale Partnership Meeting on Thursday. Things are progressing since Mike and Denise have got involved. A lot of projects are being approved, although one was refused.

Sea Dyke Charity No meeting.

Silloth Health Matters No report.

Longcake Education Trust No report.

Solway Community Technology College No report. Sports Hall has now been officially opened.

Allerdale - all about the future plans.

County Council - various road works are to be done. Next Neighbourhood Forum meeting is to be held on 11 June at Allonby. Cllr. Hart will attend and represent the Council for the application for funding re: Christmas Lights.

No report. There have been a number of complaints about the Paddling Pool not being open.

Letter has just been received from P. Scott furnishers, offering a memorial California Red wood tree for the Green. The matter will be considered at the next meeting.

Letter received from the Golf Club asking for permission to use the area next to the Rugby Club for parking during forthcoming national/international events. Clerk to reply, to say that there is no objection from the Town Council but that the Rugby Club & Football needs to be contacted.

Letter has been received from Cumbria Highways providing details of work to be done to various footpaths in The Crofts to allow for water mains refurbishment which will start from 18 June and will last approx 5 days.

Letter needs to be sent to United Utilities about the raised manhole cover at New Street which is causing damage to cars. Item to be put on next agenda to consider what can be done to improve the road into New Street which is an un-adopted road.

The Town Council considered the application for financial assistance from Silloth Tourism Action Group. The Grand Turk will be coming to Silloth on 18 June for 7-8 days. It would normally cost £25K but have offered to do it for £4K. Other ships will follow free of charge. STAG has no funding available and hence the reason for the application. Obtained £500 from the Community Fund. Also applying to Neighbourhood Forum. Silloth Festivals and Silloth Regeneration have agreed to provide funding. Planning to do school trips. Organising a Jazz evening on the Friday as the ship is licensed for 250 people. Also a pop band on the Saturday. The event needs to be well advertised. STAG promotes tourism and it was agreed to provide funding of £1500 towards the costs.

The Town Council approved the list of cheque payments to 4 June 2007.

In view of the nature of the business to be transacted it is advisable in the public interest that the public be temporarily excluded and they are instructed to withdraw.

Allonby Parish Council have been unable to obtain a decision from Allerdale Borough Council regarding the additional funding towards the grass cutting and therefore feel it would be best that the Town Council cease cutting any more. It was agreed that a bill be sent to Allonby Parish Council for the work done up to date but also provide them with a price for an individual cut should they decide they would like the Town Council to continue on an ad hoc basis. Cllr. Markley will continue to press Allerdale on the matter.