Minutes of the meeting of Old Hutton and Holmescales Parish Council on the 23rd January 2017

170123-1 Present
Steve Capstick (chairman), John Heap, Ruth Rigg, John Shorrock, Arthur Robinson (clerk), Stan Collins (CCC) and
four parishioners
170123-2 Apologies
Alison Nelson, Peter Thornton, and Chris and Ted Bowness
170123-3 Acceptance of the minutes of the previous meetings
The chairman signed the minutes of the parish council meeting held on 09-11-2016 as a true record.
170123-4 Chairmans announcements
a) At the Greaves Solar Farm 1000 trees and 5000 to 6000 bushes have been planted as part of the landscaping
requirement of the planning permission.
b) Under the new auditing arrangements for smaller authorities with a turnover of less than 25,000, the auditors
will be PKFLittlejohn LLP for the period 1st April 2017 to 31st March 2022
c) A dog attacked and injured a sheep recently. Pregnant sheep might abort if stressed by a dog chasing them.
Parishioners are asked to keep their dogs on leads when walking through fields containing sheep.
d) A map and old correspondence about land ownership at the church, school and public hall have been placed
with other records held by the parish clerk.
170123-5 Declaration of interests
John Heap declared an interest in item 9(c)
170123-6 Open session
a) Concern was expressed about the late payment of the community fund by the company (Solar Frontier) to the
Greaves Solar Farm Community Fund. The Committee is pursuing the matter.
b) There was also concern about poor drainage along Popplemire Lane. CCC has been contacted to supply a
drainage map of all roads in the parish.
170123-7 Planning applications
a) Applications submitted requiring council comments:
SL/2016/1151 Outline permission for a detached dwelling at Low Bleaze. The parish council agreed to support
this application and to speak at the SLDC Planning Committee.
b) The progress of the following application was noted:
SL/2016/0946 Open fronted animal shelter and food store at Reservoir Road. The parish council had no
objection to the application for retrospective permission at its previous meeting. Permission was granted on
01-12-2016.
170123-8 Payment of accounts
Payment of the following amounts was authorised:
280.00 to TGT & PJ Strickland for hedge cutting
150.00 to Old Hutton Church for grass cutting in the graveyard in 2016
333.34 to County Durham Community Foundation for the B4SW project loan costs. Banks paid the loan of 10,000
to B4RN on the 21st December 2016. B4RN will repay 1000 to the Armistead Community Fund on or about the 12 th
December each year from 2017 to 2026.
170123-9 Extension of the B4RN broadband network to the parish
a) It was reported that 78.3% of all houses and businesses in the parish have expressed an interest in
connecting to the broadband network when it is built. Installation of the trunk and spurs part of the network has
been delayed by B4RN but they have now checked the design of the network in Preston Patrick and our
parish. Meanwhile progress is being made in talking to residents in hamlets to decide the exact routes for
service lines to houses. So far, this task has been completed, or nearly so, at Eskrigg End, Middleshaw,
Bleaze and St.Johns. Equipment is being bought to facilitate the installation of service lines, and the
electronics cabinet will soon be placed at its site next to the tennis court.
b) The item concerning the hiring of a micro-digger (with the other parishes) so that installation of the trunk route
can be speeded up and to facilitate the installation of service ducts through parishioners gardens was
combined with item 9(c)
170123-10 Financial report
a) The budget for the administration fee for the loan from Banks to B4RN was 500 but the fee was only
333.34. It was resolved that the remaining 166.66 is vired to the heading for small items for broadband
installation.
b) The current account balance is 3704.36 which includes 366.66 to be spent in the next few weeks on small
items for the broadband project. An application for a VAT refund of 70.00 has been posted to HMRC. The

projected balance for the end of the financial year is 3215.45. The balance of the Business Saver Account is
638.88.
c) The best estimate for the current account balance on 31-03-2017 is 3215.45, excluding any micro-digger hire
fees incurred before that date. It was resolved to include a heading of 1295.84 (excluding VAT) for the hiring
of a micro-digger in the budget for 2017/18 (proposed by Ruth Rigg, seconded by John Shorrock). The
projected balance remaining on 31-03-2018 was judged to be sufficient.
170123-11 Correspondence
The following items of correspondence received since the last meeting were noted:
19-11-2016 from CALC November newsletter [forwarded to councillors]
22-12-2016 from CALC December-January newsletter [forwarded to councillors]
24-12-2016 from the LAP 2016 LAP newsletter [forwarded to councillors]
170123-12 SLDC consultation on draft development management policies
SLDCs policies governing the approval of planning applications are being revised. Drafts can be seen at
www.southlakeland.gov.uk There are 28 policies. The following are the ones which particularly apply to our rural area:
Policy DM2 Achieving high quality design
Policy DM3 Historic environment
Policy DM4 Green infrastructure and open space
Policy DM5 Rights of way and other routes providing pedestrian and cycle access
Policy DM8 Telecommunications and broadband
Policy DM12 Self-build and custom build housing
Policy DM13 Housing development in small villages and hamlets
Policy DM14 Rural exceptions sites
Policy DM15 Essential dwellings for workers in the countryside
Policy DM16 Conversion of buildings in rural areas
Policy DM18 Tourist accommodation caravans, chalets, log cabins, camping and new purpose built self-catering
accommodation
Policy DM19 Equestrian related development
Policy DM21 Renewable and low carbon energy
The following comments will be returned to SLDC:
DM4 - statements throughout DM4 should refer to the planting of native species in order to prevent foreign species
which do not support wildlife as well
DM8 all developments (not two or more) should have provision for fast broadband
DM8 paragraph 2.8.3 reference to Openreach should be removed to give equality to all providers
DM13 point 5 a minimum of 10 dwellings is too big. The parish council favours a more flexible approach in the
context of the criteria for rounding off and infilling, the minimum size of hamlet being 5 dwellings.
DM14 it is not clear that DM14 is a policy for new buildings; rural exception sites are allowed by national policy if
they involve the conversion of disused buildings such as barns.
DM15 paragraph 4.5.2 in the reasoned justification section as with DM14 it should be made clear that this policy is
for new buildings and not the conversion of disused ones.
DM16 in point 1 the meaning of significant needs to be defined. Failure to give this will result in inconsistency
across the District.
DM19 field shelters for horses should be screened by planting native bushes and trees.
170123-13 Date of the next meeting
The next meeting will be at 7.30pm on Monday 13th March at the Public Hall.
This meeting will be followed by the AGM of the Greaves Solar Farm Community Fund Committee.
Arthur Robinson, parish clerk, Over Bleaze, Old Hutton, Kendal, LA8 0LU
Telephone 01539-725955
e-mail ohpclerk@gmail.com

www.oldhutton.org.uk