At the Annual Parish Meeting the Chair, David Peters welcomed nine parishioners and introduced County and District Councillor Brenda Gray and Sgt John Stephens. Sgt Stephens spoke of his new role as Community Sergeant for Sedbergh, Kirkby Lonsdale and Milnthorpe. He explained that there has been a restructuring of the force in the Kendal area due to financial constraints, but there has been no reduction in front-line officers. He reported that Natland has one of the lowest crime rates in South Lakeland. He advised householders to secure their fuel stores, as there has been an increase in fuel thefts in recent months. Police response times are 10 minutes in rural areas and five minutes in town.The Parish Council Annual Report for 2010-11 had been delivered to all households in the civil parish. Despite the report being longer than usual there were no questions. The Chair thanked the Clerk, Kevin Price for his excellent work during the year.
Brenda Gray explained that an experiment to provide "community toilets" in Kendal is being undertaken; businesses will allow public use of their facilities, with a financial incentive from SLDC.
Questions were asked about Land Allocation and the Localism Bill which is at present going through Parliament. One question revealed the common misconception that the Bill would empower communities to resist new development. On the contrary, its true intention is to enable communities to allow development to go ahead, despite the opposition of local planning authorities.
Reports were presented by eight village organisations and groups.
The Chair thanked all representatives for their work and everyone for their attendance.