PRESENT: Councillors – P Hill (Chairman), D Coxon (to 8.05pm), Mrs A Hall, Mrs E Kelly, H Lakin, J Stoddart and L Tarr; the Clerk; PCSO Kayleigh Largue; and, 4 members of public (Mrs E Brown, Mrs L Cooper, Ms R Hext and D Walton).

1. PUBLIC PARTICIPATION: The Chairman welcomed the public but there were no matters for discussion other than those on the agenda.

2. APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE: D Adams and J Carroll.

3. DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST: Cllr Hill (all matters relating to E.ON), Cllr Coxon (all matters relating to LDNPA and Cumbria Landscaping, and Plan.App.No.7/2008/5183) and Cllr Lakin (Plan. App. No.7/2008/5104).

4. MINUTES OF LAST MEETINGS: The Chairman was authorised to sign, as correct records, the minutes of the Meeting of 17th March 08.

5. MATTERS ARISING from those Meetings:

5.a. Highways: Cllr Mrs Kelly had persuaded Highways that the repairs to the Brow steps were urgent needed and could not wait until August and pointing and painting was completed.

5.b. Library: Cllr Mrs Hall said that there would be a meeting of interested parties in the Library on 22nd April.

5.c. Quality Parish Status: The clerk intends to complete the submission by the end of April.

5.d. Kendal Town Council Visit: The proposed visit of Kendal Town Council to Coniston on Thursday 20 March was postponed.

5.e. Centenarian: Mrs Fleet will celebrate her 100th birthday in June.

5.f. Head of Lake Work: Mr Loxham said work would commence on 22nd April.

6. MATTERS ARISING Since that Meeting:

6.a. Parish Council Election: The council approved the poster prepared by the clerk to advertise the 13 candidates.

6.b. Quarterly Update: The council approved the May edition for publication.

6.c. Bowmanstead Footpaths: The clerk received an email from Tony Hill, Park Ranger, on 1st April: I have taken a look at the stile and the other gates on the approach from Bowmanstead. I agree that the stile you highlight is not easily accessible. I will now speak with the tenant and the NT to see whether they are prepared to replace with a wicket gate, not only there but also at the gate and wooden step stile coming from the road into their field. I will let you know the outcome.

6.d. Low Hall Garth: (i) On 16th April the clerk had been contacted by Gordon Humphreys of the Yorkshire Ramblers about the state of the road to Low Hall Garth. He proposed that after the election he will invite councillors and NT representatives to have tea and a bun to site-visit the changes being made to the YR buildings and to inspect the road with a view to determining a strategy for its improvement. (ii) Mr Loxham subsequently contacted the clerk: I have been informed, just a few weeks ago that Highways will be undertaking works on the access road in April/May. Dave Huck at the Kendal office gave me this information last month. It may be worth contacting him to see when they are to start. (iii) Cllr Mrs Kelly was able to confirm that Highways will be undertaking works on the access road in late April/ early May.

7. FINANCIAL TRANSACTIONS: RESOLVED:

7.a. To issue cheques:

101403 Allianz for Insurance Renewal £1,095.10

101404 Amey IS Ltd Lighting Maintenance £688.24

101405 Coniston Institute for Room Hire £111.00

101406 E.ON for Street Lighting (Mar) £80.00

101407 CPFA Subscription 08-09 £15.50

101408 CALC for Conference fee £10.00

101409 R J Airey for Bus shelter maintenance £36.00

101410 C Sargeant for Clerk’s salary & expenses £270.00

7.b. To approve statement of accounts for signing by the Chairman.

7.c. To receive Audit for 2007-08.

8. PLANNING ISSUES:

8.a. Planning Applications: RESOLVED: to support both the applications below:

8.a.i. Plan.App.No. 7/2008/5104 Location: Steam Yacht Gondola, Pier Cottage, Coniston LA21 8AJ Observations: The council considered the construction of the external store to accommodate blazer logs as a necessary part of an imaginative project to make the yacht more environmentally friendly. The store is designed and sited to cause minimum impact upon the immediate landscape. The choice of building materials is appropriate to those it is joining. Some concern was expressed that the removal of the leylandii and privet hedging which serves as a screen was a loss but it is hoped that this will be offset by the rebuilt stone wall. The promise to recycle the packaging and ash residue is a plus. Access would not seem to create problems but rather ease them. Cllr Harry Lakin declared an interest and did not participate in the decision making but, as he and his family live in Pier Cottage, the council took into consideration his declaration that he thought the change would make little difference to them.

8.a.ii. Plan.App.No. 7/2008/5183 Location: Thurston, Coniston LA21 8AB Observations: The council thought that the erection of an outdoor activities room would be a valuable addition to the educational facilities at Thurston. From the Design and Access Statement, the council were satisfied that sufficient thought has been given to the development not to impact greatly on the environs.

8.b. Planning Decisions:

8.b.i. Notice of Grant of Planning Permission: Planning Application: 7/2007/5712 Location: Hill Top, The Banks, Coniston LA21 8HF

8.b.ii. Notice of Grant of Planning Permission: Planning Application: 7/2008/5024 Location: The Ruskin Museum, Yewdale Road, Coniston LA21 8DU

8.b.iii. Notice of Grant of Planning Permission: Planning Application: 7/2008/5043 Location: Fairfield House, Tilberthwaite Avenue, Coniston LA21 8ED

9. CORRESPONDENCE: (other than that referred to elsewhere in the Minutes)

80414 BDO Stoy Hayward LLP Extranet for local councils

80402 CALC Letter & form 2nd Parish Rep for CCC S Lakeland Committee

80401 CALC Email: Circular April 2008

80401 CALC Letter, Notes & Form Election Parish Member to PA

80414 CALC Training & Development Events Programme April 2008

80421 CALC Email: Lake District Parish Councils - Meeting Monday 28 April

80412 Cancer Care Silver Jubilee Garden Party, Leck Hall, 20 April

80414 Cumbria CC Letter & leaflets Community Transport

80327 Cumbria CC Letter & doc Cumbria & Lakes Rider Transport Guide

80309 Cumbria CC Letter & docs Cumbria Minerals & Waste Develop Framework

80402 Cumbria CC Letter Transforming Passenger Transport

80402 Cumbria CC Email: Highway Steward scheme delayed.

80416 Cumbria CC Email: Meeting about PO Closures - Councillor Tony Rothwell attending for District Association

80404 Cumbria Community Foundation Newsletter Spring 2008

80414 Cumbria CVS Newsletter April 2008

80417 Cumbria Rural Enterprise Agency Email request for a list of parish magazines, newsletters and websites along with contact details.

80402 DEFRA Poster The Carbon Reduction Commitment

80414 FofTLD Annual Report 2007

80327 GONW Letter Draft NW Regional Spatial Strategy

80318 LDNPA Creation Agreement Park Coppice footpath

80327 LDNPA Parish Council Tours 15 & 16 May

80402 LDNPA Poster WHS Roadshow Coniston 12 April

80414 NALC Letter & publicity NALC Conference 2008

80408 Old Hutton & Holmscales PC Email: Banks wind farm at Old Hutton

80415 Planning Portal Questionnaire

80404 Resource Cumbria A Guide to the county’s strategic waste partnership

80404 Resource Cumbria Letter & Review Issue 9 March 2008

80319 Reverend Mark East Letter re Proposals for Changes in St Andrew’s

80412 SLCC Info & form Regional Conferences

80412 SLDC Council Meeting Agenda 27 March

80312 SLDC Letter & doc Parish Charter

80320 SLDC Letter & doc Remuneration for Parish Councillors

80405 SLDC Letter & doc Statement of Persons Nominated

80318 SLDC Letter & docs Parish Council Elections 1 May

80324 SLDC Letter & Info:Fraud,Corruption,Malpractice& Whistleblowing

80402 SLDC Standards Committee Agenda 10 April

80327 Standards Board Newsletter March 2008

80414 Ton Class Association Ton Talk April 2008

80402 VAC Letter Cumbria Calor Village of the Year

10. PUBLIC QUESTIONS: Ms Hext asked if anything could be done about the parking on the Coppermines Valley Road below Holywath. She said the narrowing of the road caused traffic flow problems and was a threat to the emergency services needing to use it.

11. REPORTS:

11.a. Police Report: The Chairman welcomed PCSO K Largue who spoke about recent operations locally: 1.monitoring of speeding traffic; and, 2. patrols targeting thefts in and around car parks. PCSO Largue will be working in the Coniston-Hawkshead area.

11.b. Housing Report: Email correspondence Alastair Cameron (20 April 2008): There has been some significant progress on the housing projects during the past two weeks. Below are a few notes on this progress. Church Field and Parish Rooms sites. In my last note to the Parish Council I voiced some concern about the timing of the development on the cemetery overflow site at Church Field and the fact that Eden Housing Association and the Coniston Parochial Church Council had not agreed on: • A value for the land, • The number of dwellings that would be included in the project, • The timing of the development. Since then I have had a number of meetings / discussions with Eden Housing, the Coniston PCC and, indirectly, with the agent for the PCC. It seemed to me that things were grinding to a halt and the project needed a concerted kick forward. Rev Mark East and Nick Monk provided me with data on burials in the cemetery and I graphed the number that had taken place each year between 1985 and 2007. At a meeting last Friday between the PCC, Eden Housing Assoc., myself and Mairi Lock (LDNPA planner) I was able to show that there was clearly a reducing trend in the number of burials. We used this data to predict that there was sufficient room remaining in the cemetery field for 74 years of burials. The PCC feels that the village should retain 100 years of burial space in the cemetery. We calculated that the shortfall of 26 years could be corrected by reducing the size of the Church Field development by three units. Plans are now being re-drawn by the architects to take this into account. We also discovered that the ‘bottleneck’ in the overall negotiations appeared to be caused by Eden Housing Assoc. and it was agreed that they would be given a lot of encouragement to put the Coniston Project at the top of their ‘to-do list’. This project should now progress much more quickly. The development will be carried out in one phase rather than two. It will commence in April 2009 and both the Church Field site and the Church Rooms project will run together meaning that only one site office and compound will need to be set up. This is sensible as it will considerably reduce disruption to the village. One important thing that I forgot to put in last month’s note is that Elsa Brailey, the Home Housing representative, has commented that she doesn’t always hear of problems with their properties and/or tenants and she asked that if the CPC hear of any issues they should contact her directly. This might seem like doing their work for them but at least we have a good line of communication with Home Housing through Elsa if we are worried about any of the tenancies. I can always be the contact if necessary. Finally I believe the period of this parish council has been a landmark period. You have been a unique council and it has been really good working with such a progressive team and knowing that they fully support what we have been trying to do. As an epilogue I sense that there are big issues and concerns arising in Lakeland communities over the plans for the Lake District to bid for World Heritage Status. I believe that this must be watched very carefully. A number of communities have objected. I intend to object on a personal basis because I don’t believe it’s necessary to protect the Lake District any more (it is protected enough as it is by being a National Park). Up to now the communities have not been consulted at all, although the authorities have now been told they must do so. The real reason the authorities want to bid for this status seems to be for the glory and also for a misguided belief that it will drag more visitors into the District; something that many village communities don’t want.

11.c. CLLR HALL: (i) Wished the pc to consider the use of solar lights to replace those difficult to reach to repair.

(ii) Urged United Utilities be contacted to make repair to the Coppermines Valley Road from the Museum to Silverbank.

(iii) Distributed cards to register protest against BorderTV closure.

(iv) Was concerned about the damage being caused by off-road vehicles and motorbikes to the fells. Cllr Hill to publicise the threat on the Crake Valley website.

11.d. CLLR LAKIN Drew attention to the parking difficulties in The Garth. RESOLVED: the clerk to contact South Lakes Housing.

11.d. CLLR STODDART: (i) Reported Mrs C Carroll’s concern about the hole in the roadside wall on Devonshire Terrace.

(ii) Asked if the damage to the handrail on the road to Devonshire Terrace had been reported. Cllr Kelly said the matter was in hand.

(iii) Requested safety measures for the junction of A593 and B5285.

(iv) Questioned the threat to health from the breach of the asbestos (?) contained in the bus shelter roof. Mr Walton suggested in was concrete boarding but Cllr Stoddart felt that was just as dangerous.

11.e. THE CLERK: Presented the Minutes of Local Consultative Group Meeting, 28th February 2008, at the Forestry Commission Offices, Grizedale, submitted by Julie Saunders: Present: Mark Street, Development Manager, Forestry Commission , Julie Saunders, Admin Officer, Forestry Commission, Alan Russell, Community & Business Partnership Officer, Barbara Brown, Hawkshead Parish Council, Liz Cringle, Satterthwaite Parish Council, Charles Sargeant, Coniston PC, Hayley Skipper Arts Officer Forestry commission, David Hall Cumbria Constabulary Apologies: Tania Crockett and Mike Thornley, Forestry Commission, David Robinson, National Park. 1.Approval of minutes: The minutes were approved and signed by the chair. 2.Update of Bus Link and upcoming work: Alan gave an update of his work to date. The bus link fromHaverthwaite to Grizedale. The contracts have now been signed and the contract has been awarded to Blueworks of Backbarrow. They have been established for over 10 years. They also run the X12 from Coniston to Ulverston. Charles felt that they had provided a good, friendly service that catered for the local community needs. The bus will be the X30 and will run from 21st March to 2nd November 2008. It is a 16 seater minibus. There will be a 24-hour in advance notice pre-booking facility for groups of 6+, available details on the timetable. Alan showed a draft of the timetable. He is currently working on the livery for the bus and once this is in place there will be another press release. Blueworks are working with Mike Hodgkiss (CCC) on looking a through fare from Barrow. The timetable will be distributed around the local TIC. Mark felt that this was a big financial commitment on behalf of the FC and a big step forward. On his community role Alan is talking to various Education panels especially in Barrow concentrating on the deprived urban areas before moving out into the local rural community. He will also be talking to Barrow Community Police Officers to encourage kids to become active in the forest. He is researching the Forest Schools concept with a view to funding opportunities and providing definite programmes for the kids to do positive activities. The new Education ranger Suzanne Kennedy is starting 25th March. Alan is doing a lot of the groundwork for her and has created a database of schools. He is meeting with Richard Greene who is Area Development Manager of Cumbria Tourism , amongst other things he will be looking at the possibility of developing a cluster of local tourist related businesses. 3.Introduction to Arts Development Officer: Hayley is the new Arts Officer. The FC are custodians of the existing. Artworks which is a big responsibility. Grizedale Arts have an archive that goes back 30 years. She has been round all the sculptures and will draw up a priority of maintenance work schedule. There will be a space in the new Visitor Centre for the arts archive. Part of her remit is to reinvigorate the arts programme and source new works to keep the programme fresh as Grizedale has lot of repeat visitors. She is also responsible for the production of an arts strategy for the future. She is setting up an external advisory group and felt it would be good if a member of the LCG could be present on that. She has also been holding meetings with the local staff to see how they feel about the arts and what they would like to see. 4.Update of progress of project to date: The FC are looking into refreshing the Grizedale Logo to tie in with the Redevelopment. People associate with the name Grizedale and the boar logo. The FC have to keep their corporate identity. Mark showed some examples of the proposal for the new logos. The boar had become more stylised. The reaction was that the boar didn’t really look like a boar. The current design had lasted 20 years and it wasn’t felt that the proposed one would last that long. Would people know what it was if they didn’t know about the boar. A suggestion of the silhouette of the current boar to be used. Mark was happy to get the feedback as it was a work in progress and that the boar was seen as the central theme linked with the name. The FC are also looking into interpretation. Important to meet the visiting publics needs. Promote what the FC are doing and what is on offer on the site. Possible to link with other local businesses. Keen to have fluid boards that can change easily. Put info on from Police about theft etc make people more aware. There would be small CCTV cameras located at high-risk areas around the sight. Expensive equipment would be fitted with smart water unique blend of chemicals which can be traced. There had been some issues with the lighting in the car park being left on over night. This was due to the work being carried out in the Resource Centre when the power went off the timer was not being reset. This would be rectified one the works had been complete. The lights are on a sensor that would come on at dusk. The Resource Centre is about complete. Good progress has been made on Phase II with Team Northern. Mainly concentrating on the old theatre, new VC and new café. The foundations for the new woodfuel building would be laid next week. Tenders for the café had gone out as the currently occupants had decided to give up after 7 years. The temporary café will be located in the walled garden. Tender for woodfule chips has gone out. Would be a good opportunity for a new business some money available to help set up business. Whole site to be finished at the end of June or early July. 5.Issues and Incidents: Nothing raised. 6.Date for next meeting: 1st May.

(ii) Said he had emailed Julie Birkett, LDNPA Compliance Team on 10th April: I spoke to you on 28 March about construction activity near Tent Lodge on the East of the Lake Road, Coniston. I am still receiving enquiries about it from unhappy residents. Please provide me with a PA assessment of the situation; and, presented an email from Julie Birkett sent on 11th April: Thank you for your email yesterday about the work near Tent Lodge. I visited the site on 4 April and I have also spoken to the owner of the land. The track has been constructed to aid the construction of the replacement dwelling to the rear of Tent Lodge. This replacement dwelling received planning permission under application reference 7/2006/5402. The track is only required for a temporary period and will be removed when the house is built. There are permitted development rights which allow temporary development in connection with other works which have planning permission. The only restriction is that the land is restored to it former appearance once works are complete. It appears that the track is permitted development, so there is no breach of planning control. I will keep an eye on the site to make sure work starts on the replacement house.

12. DATE OF NEXT MEETING: RESOLVED: to confirm that the next Meeting will follow the Annual Meeting and the Annual General Meeting on Monday 12 May 2008 at 7pm in the Library.

Meeting closed at 9.40pm.

TO BE SIGNED: …………., Chairman DATE: 12 May 2008