At the parish council meeting Cllr Ellison restated his intention to stand down as chairman at the end of the meeting. To enable the council to continue, a new chairman must be elected at the beginning of the next meeting from the four new councillors and Cllr Clark. No pressure there then. Here are the full Minutes of the meeting.
The main item discussed at the meeting was concerning traffic, roads, pavements and related safety issues. Of great concern is the situation for residents of Castlesteads, especially those on mobility scooters, who face the perils of crossing the A65 exacerbated by lack of dropped kerbs and the poor condition of the inadequate footways. A councillor in the know reported that these issues had been raised when Castlesteads was at the planning stage but had been ignored in the planning consent. This seems to be a recurring theme for planning consents.
One could write a book about the road and traffic issues in the village with chapters on speeding, inconsiderate driving and parking, poor road surface and the second rate repairs made to such, flooding, Crow Park bridge, closure of roads, restricted visibility at junctions and obliterated road markings. The council continues to report these issues but residents can report them directly to Westmorland and Furness Council Highways using this link.
At the next meeting the council will decide whether to install the Speed Indicator Device and if so where. Contact a councillor if you have any ideas on a location.
Re-siting of the Parish Notice Board to a more convenient location came next. The front runner suggestion seems to be on the now redundant bus shelter by the church gate or even demolishing the bus shelter and replacing with a Notice Board.
It was worth not nodding off for Financial matters for the one bit of fairly good news. There is now £6,700 from the Community Infrastructure Levy. This is the levy imposed on builders of a development and can be spent by the parish on infrastructure projects. This golden egg is somewhat tarnished by the fact that Westmorland and Furness council get the lion's share.
The next meeting (election of a chairman permitting) is on Monday 31st July at 7pm in the Village Hall. All welcome but no refreshments.
From K.S., our on the spot reporter.