Click here for the draft minutes
FROM YOUR ON THE SPOT PARISH COUNCIL REPORTER
On a very cold night 6 cllrs, 2 members of the public and Westmorland and Furness cllr Doug Rathbone shivered in attendance at the January parish council meeting. The news from W&F council is that after consultation council tax is likely to go up by 4.99% and that half that increase would go to social care.
The issue of whether to move the parish notice board, demolition of the now redundant bus shelter, and repairs to the pavement outside the church gate, were all considered together. The council were split on whether the notice board should be moved (so more people would read notices in passing by) and if so, could the bus shelter be used in some way for the board, The decision was made a bit easier by Cllr Rathbone offering £500 from his funds (not his really it comes from W&F but he has an allocation for his parishes) to help fund a new notice board.
So a plan will be drawn up to remove the bus shelter, site one new council notice board in the vicinity of the church gate and in consultation with the church do repairs to the pavement. The 2 notice boards on the village hall wall will be left in situ.
There is still no response from W&F to the letter sent about road safety on the A65. Cllr Rathbone said he would follow this up but in the meantime the CEO of W&F is going to make a site visit to the length of the A65 causing concern. Knowing that this will all take some time the parish council would like to see some temporary measures, specifically crossing lights at Castlesteads. There is some hope for lowering the speed limits on the A65 as there is a strong possibility that Helmside Rd might be designated a 20mph zone.
Cllr Rathbone was also asked to add weight to request for drains to be cleared. The gully pots most needing clearing are those on Sedgwick Rd and the one on Helm Lane at the junction with Abbey Gardens. It was also noted that W&F response to filling in pot holes had been quite speedy but the quality was not good.
Plans are progressing to hold a Defibrillator training session. It now looks like this will be in March in the village hall – I think at a previous meeting the parish council agreed to meet any costs. If you are interested details will be put out in various places, but keep an eye on the Parish News and the Natland Blog site.
A cllr noted that The Vicarage would probably be put on the market for sale sometime in the future. As the village is desperately short of parking, especially in the school area, it was decided that at least a marker should be put down with the relevant authority that some of the Vicarage land could be most usefully used for that purpose.
And finally just to note that any increase in your council tax will not be due to the parish council. The precept for Natland will be submitted at £11,000 – the same as 2023/24.