Present:- Cllrs. G. Wilkinson, A.J. Markley, R.W. Allison, C. Baty, I. Baty, W. Jefferson, A. Proud, M. Snaith, E. Wannop, A. Weightman. Also Ken Wannop, Wendy Jameson-Brown, PC Robertson, Insp. Barr & Sharla Burns.

279 Apologies:- Cllr. Hart.

There was two minutes silence at the start of the meeting in memory of two former Mayors, George Armstrong and Bill Johnston.

Cllr. Allison re: Allison Designs

None

The Chairman had attended the Prize Giving at the School, the Rotary Charter night and Bill Johnston’s funeral today.

The minutes of the meeting held on 16 January 2006 were approved by the Town Council and signed by the Chairman as a true record.

The Town Council considered the two candidates for co-option. After a secret ballot, Chrissie Baty received the majority vote and was welcomed as a member of the Town Council. Cllr. Baty signed the Declaration of Acceptance of Office. Following the sad death of Cllr. Johnston, there is currently another vacancy on the Town Council which needs to be advertised in the normal way. Sharla Burns was thanked for her interest and her name will be put forward for the next vacancy.

285 Police Report

PC Robertson and Insp. Barr attended the meeting. PC Robertson gave a detailed Police Report of incidents over the last month. PC Robertson reminded Cllrs. and the public that information can be reported to the Police and crimestoppers. The length of the report and type of incidents is worrying. Police are working hard to get results with offenders appearing at court. There are people travelling round the County carrying out crime who make a career of carrying out crime. Decision was made in November to sell the Police Station. Currently sorting out an agreement between CCC and Fire Station etc to use the Fire Station as a satellite post.

286 Adjournment of Meeting

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

a) Cumbria Community Foundation - Annual Review 2004/05. Put on circulation.

b) CALC Circular - January/February 2006. Put on circulation.

c) CALC - Events & Training Programme Spring - Summer 2006. Put on circulation.

d) Quality Parish Development Programme - Update 5 (January 2006). Put on circulation.

e) Voluntary Action Cumbria - West Cumbria Newsletter - January 2006. Put on circulation.

f) Community Development Centre - Information about the services provided at the Silloth CDC Centre.

g) North Allerdale Partnership - Minutes of the Executive meeting held on December 15 at Royal Oak, Wigton.

h) Cumbria Police Authority - Workington Police Area Community Liaison Forum - public meeting to be held on Wed 25 January at 7.30pm at Beacon Hill School, Aspatria.

i) Dogs Trust - Poster about the Canine Care Card.

j) NHS - Consultation re: configuration of Ambulance Service NHS Trusts in England. Letter acknowledging the Town Council’s response to the consultation. No decision has been made as to where the proposed North West Ambulance Service Trust Headquarters will be located.

k) CAPITA SYMONDS - re: Arboricultural Work. Trees in Silloth have not been pruned for at least 2 growing seasons and due to the amount of re-growth, resumption of the programme was not an option. Pollarding the trees will give a good base for a resumption of the thinning/pollarding cyclic programme in future years.

l) Allerdale Borough Council - re: Silloth Street Markets. Letter acknowledging receipt of the petition and giving an update on the situation re: the markets. Markets were closed when the level of traders fell below that which justifies the ‘closing’ of Criffel Street and the intention is to attempt to reintroduce both the Thursday and Sunday markets hopefully by Easter 2006.

m) HGP Maintenance - Details of the services that can be provided by HGP Maintenance.

n) Cumbria Highways - re: Trees in Silloth. Letter from Peter Marr who accepts the Town Council’s concerns regarding the need for a programme of tree maintenance. No funding has been set aside for such works. Site meeting is to take place with Trevor Cooke.

o) Cumbria Highways - re: Overgrown Hedges, The Crofts. List of addresses is to be compiled of offending hedges and occupiers will be written to asking that the footways are cleared on overhanging hedges.

p) Silloth First Response Team - Letter acknowledging receipt of the cheque for £950.40 towards the rental of the responders’ pagers.

q) NHS - re: Adult Community Services. There are no proposals to close any of the community hospitals in North Cumbria but there may be changes to some of the services provided in each facility in order to ensure the provision of safe, sustainable and affordable healthcare in the future.

r) Copy of a letter sent to Planning Department at Allerdale by Mrs Henderson regarding the development on land at rear of Beaconsfield Terrace, Silloth.

s) Allerdale Borough Council - re: Bill for contribution towards TIC. The invoice was incorrectly calculated using the Gross expenditure figure for 2004/05 as opposed to the Net expenditure figure. The correct amount is now £3128.

t) Crutes Mounseys - Registration of Lease of the Green, Silloth. Registration is now complete.

u) Email from Jimmy Lettice asking for info to help with a bid for funding by the Rugby Club.

v) Cumbria Constabulary - re: Former Police Station. Letter asking that equipment etc be removed from the garage attached to the Police Station. The station is in the process of being emptied, to enable it to be sold on the open market.

w) Letter from J.K. Catton of Barracks Bridge asking that efforts be made to have the public right of way from Carlisle road to Skinburness re-instated. The footpath is not a Public Right of Way and fell into disrepair due to a lack of use. No-one has ever applied to have it put on the Definitive map but they could apply.

x) Cumbria Highways - re: Dropped Kerbs. Letter asking for location details of the kerbs to be adjusted. A small number can be improved in the new financial year after April 2006. Cllr. Proud to draw up a report of the main dropped kerbs requiring adjustment.

y) Email from David Whitfield regarding the Trees and litter around the edge of the Playing Field to the bridge. If pedestrians use paths correctly and motorists used roads appropriately there would not be a problem. Trees are pruned back behind the line of the fence. Litter is collected.

z) Email from Ernie Davidson regarding the plans to expand the recycling centre to include a provision to recycle plastic. The Town Council welcomed the proposal.

288 Planning Applications

The Town Council have approved the following:-

* Demolition of existing garage and security fencing and erection of 9 flats (1 unit of 4 and 1 unit of 5) (Resubmission 2/2005/0947) on Land at rear of Beaconsfield Terrace, Silloth

Allerdale Borough Council have approved the following:-

* Alterations and extensions to form garage, kitchen and additional bedroom (retrospective) at 78 Skinburness Road, Silloth

* Certificate of Lawful use or development for demolition of detached timber framed garage and replacement with rendered masonry detached domestic garage at 9 Prospect Place, Silloth

* Erection of conservatory to rear of building & porch to front of building at 154 Skinburness Road, Silloth

* Replacement of existing timber frame windows with UPVC to front & rear elevations at 16a & 16b Lawn Terrace, Silloth

* Erection of conservatory/lounge at Chichester Hall, Dick Trod Lane, Skinburness, Silloth

None

None

Committee memberships need to be reviewed - item to be included on the next Agenda.

A meeting of the Parks Committee to be arranged to look at the Pagoda.

291 Reports from Representatives on outside Bodies

Primary School There is a surplus budget and the school is looking to spend the money by replacing windows and Improving the interior of the building.

Joint Advisory Committee Continues to progress. Sustainable Development Fund of £100K per year - trying to spend the money visibly in amounts of £1000+. Educational programme - full-time officer now in place who is arranging visits with schools. There is further scope for development. It was questioned what work is being done at Beckfoot - Cllr. Jefferson to find out.

Silloth Tourist Action Group No report.

Silloth Regeneration Partnership Trying to put together a scheme for the Green which will be brought back to the Town Council. Meeting with Karen Spriggs. Outlined what we are looking at and seeing what funding can be obtained. Meeting tomorrow with a lady from Luton with a view to appointing someone to put together a proper scheme.

North Allerdale Partnership Nothing happening. Waiting for projects to be put together. Aspatria are trying to buy the old cinema. Wigton are behind us.

Sea Dyke Charity No meeting.

Longcake Educational Trust Jim attended the last meeting. £120 has been allocated to each of 4 schools. Next meeting is on 8 June.

Silloth Health Matters Report has been done to Allerdale Community Fund on progress of the group. A lot of projects are bearing some fruit.

Allerdale Scrutiny were looking at the fit for purpose review. Scrutiny found that it was not necessary to spend the proposed £50K but the Chief Executive has delegated powers to spend £50K without the approval of officers. When the structure of Local Government changes in 2 years, the Town Council needs to be making steps towards Quality Parish Status.

County Council No money available. There will be a meeting on Thursday to set the budgets which will probably be a 4.95% increase. Waste management is a big thing. More waste is being produced but the Government is not giving any money for industries to produce biodegradable waste. Increases in council taxes put a burden on ratepayers. If Council’s are not getting funding from central Government, then Councils need to make a stand and refuse to do it. Some of the cost cutting measures are hitting the poorer people of the community.

General maintenance has been carried out. There has been serious damage to the Pagoda. One of the corner pillars is almost burnt right through. Ken has spoken to Jimmy Johnston to see how much it would cost for galvanised steel pillars and steel panels which would cost approximately £5250. Need to get the insurance company involved. The roof is a significant feature of the building. The Pagoda needs to be fenced off to keep people out of it and notices put up warning them of the danger. The Pagoda is a historical feature. Insurers to be contacted and a meeting of the parks committee to be held to decide what to do. Ken is also trying to find a source for telegraph poles.

Suzie Shepherd, Headteacher of Solway Community Technology has asked if she could attend the next Town Council meeting. This was agreed by the Town Council.

The Town Council approved the list of payments to 13 February 2006.

The Town Council considered the comments made on the External Auditor’s Certificate and Opinion in relation to the above, following the completion of the audit for the year ended 31 March 2005. Minutes need to be initialled on each page, formal risk assessment need to be carried out and a policy put in place regarding Internet banking. These will be attended to in due course. The Clerk was praised following the completion of the audit.

It was agreed that a letter be sent formally asking if the Town Council’s offer to buy the building still stands. It was questioned whether the Town Council could buy the building with a view to selling it on.

Cllrs. Wilkinson, Markley, Jefferson and Proud met with Steve Long and Trevor Cooke. Trees have not been pruned for the last two seasons. Pollarding will give a good base for continuing the cyclic programme of maintenance. The Town Council were first told that there was no money but some work can now be done, although there may not be any money available for future years. Trees along the front street are to be left untouched unless there are any dangerous branches. Other trees within residential areas will be pollarded. Order has been placed to get the work done on 7 February. Council may need to look at maintaining the trees ourselves in future years.

In hand.

The Clerk and Chairman were thanked for putting together a workable agenda.