ILAM PARISH COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES
08 November 2016 @ 8:00 pm Ilam School
Present - T Prince, C Sellers, L Oulsnam, C Hibbert-Foy, Stuart Hudson, Richard Wain, Vera Nottage
P Watson (Clerk), M Morley (NT), R Gray (observer), K Warrington (observer)
Minutes of the meeting held on 13 September were read and signed as true and correct.
National Trust
● NT will meet the Peak Park Tree Officer to decide about the dead tree.
● Christmas tree sales will start on 26 November.
● Paul Mortimer will discuss NT’s new plans with the Parish Council next year.
Parking
● The Clerk wrote to Ilam School about proposed parking restrictions but received no response so far. He suggested it might be possible to designate the road outside the school as “no parking” but waiting be allowed for a maximum of 10 minutes for setting down and picking up children. However, the County Council, who were sent a copy of the letter, commented that they would not suggest or condone this as it would be unenforceable. The Clerk will invite the headmistress to the next Council meeting to discuss parking restrictions.
● The Clerk showed the Council maps he had prepared for the County Council showing where the restrictions should apply. The Council were in agreement and the Clerk will send a copy to NT at their request.
● Since the last Council meeting, the Clerk wrote to the police at Cheadle, who had been involved before, asking them to look out for illegal, obstructive parking and take appropriate action. Their response said that they have issued some warning notices and will continue to do so where appropriate. The Council considered that this was insufficient and there were still many cases of police cars ignoring such parking as they drive through the village. The Clerk will therefore raise the issue with the Chief Constable and the Police & Crime Commissioner.
● The meeting discussed the dates and times when parking restrictions should apply but reached no definite conclusions. It was noted that motorists often ignore single yellow lines but take notice of double ones. However, this would mean no parking 24 hours a day, 365 days a year and the County Council may well not agree to this everywhere but may be persuaded to have double yellow lines in some places.
● NT advised that they are looking at increasing their car parking from the current maximum of 200 spaces to 300 by closing the caravan site. If this goes ahead would take effect in 2018.
Highways
● The Clerk will write to the County Council thanking them for erecting the new village signs and for the extensive improvements to the drains in the village.
● Highways Department have said that they do not propose to provide any new grit bins on gritting routes. However, the Council noted that there used to be a bin by the cattle grid at the top of Blore Pastures that was destroyed. The clerk will request that it be replaced.
● It was noted that there are still major potholes on Lodge Lane despite the Clerk having reported them. The Clerk will try to raise the priority of dealing with the worst ones.
Planning
● Peak Park has approved the planning application for Lower Damgate Farm with an annual limit of 12 events subject to conditions, the detailed wording of which to be delegated to the Director of Conservation and Planning in consultation with the Chair and Vice Chair of the Planning Committee.
● Councillor Hibbert-Foy read a sworn statement of fact to the meeting.
Finance
● There is £622 in the account with outgoings for the rest of the financial year expected to be approximately £200.
Any Other Business
● BT are proposing to close the phone box in the village. The Clerk will write objecting to the closure as there is no mobile phone signal in the village.
● The Clerk will write to Brenda Anderson and to Bob Sellers thanking them for looking after the flowers round the monument and for mowing the verges in the village.
Provisional Dates of 2017 Meetings
● 10 January, 14 March, 09 May, 11 July, 19 September, 14 November