ILAM PARISH COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES

08 September 2020 @ 8 pm Warrington’s Garage

Present               C Sellers, N Taylor, L Oulsnam, K Warrington, R Wain, C Hibbert-Foy, E Wain (SMDC)

                             P Watson (Clerk)                          

Apologies           V Nottage

Minutes

●     Minutes of the meeting held on 28 July were read and signed as true and correct.

National Trust

●     The car park construction work continues to be on hold.

●     NT’s Anna Johnson will ask Paul Mortimer to find out who will be dealing with the Church Path in future.

Improving Village Environment

●     As planned, the planter from Thorpe Road has been moved to a new location by Gate lodge.

●     The Clerk reminded Councillors that there is still £140 available to buy seeds, bulbs, plants and shrubs.

●     It was decided that C Hibbert-Foy will buy some poppies decorations to be attached to lamp posts in the village.

●     R Wain will investigate the possibility of getting a memorial seat to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the end World War 2.  Hopefully the seat can be funded from the banking switch mentioned under Finance, below.

Highways

●     The No Through Road sign for Castern Spur has been collected from Warrington’s garage.

●     County Councillor, Gill Heath, has responded to the Council’s request for double yellow lines on Blore Pastures and improved direction signage to Dovedale. A site visit will be needed but it will be some time before this can be scheduled.

●     The congestion caused by cars queuing for Dovedale car park has worsened to the extent that farmers and workers cannot get through and visitors to local accommodation have reported delays of one and a half hours getting through Ilam.  The police have been contacted but do not seem interested in addressing the problem.  District Councillor Wain has talked to the car park owner, Bob Evans, suggesting a sign be put at the start of the access road when the car park is full. However, his response was that he had tried this before and visitors had just ignored it. The Clerk will write to our MP, the County Council and Bob Evans requesting a barrier that can block entry to the access road when the car park is full.

●     Cars continue to park in the coach lay-by, taking up much-needed space for coaches. County Council traffic wardens are unable to give parking tickets because the land belongs to Peak Park, who seem unwilling to address the problem themselves.  Therefore the Clerk will write to Peak Park suggesting they gift the land to the Parish Council so that they can police it themselves.

●     The Clerk will write to the Highways Department to express the Council’s appreciation of their efforts in repairing the various potholes, etc in the area.

Finance

●     There is £778 in the account. Expected expenditure for the rest of the financial year is £656 while income of £600 will be received. So the year-end balance at the end of March should be £722.

●     Bizzarely, the Council’s bankers, Natwest, have informed the Council that they can receive £1,250 by switching to another Bank. The clerk will investigate and, if there are no problems, effect the change.

Peak Park

●     Peak Park have invited the Council to provide updates and feedback on their parish statement.  The Council decided against doing this.

●     The Council have been invited to comment further on the planning application to increase the number of allowed events at Lower Damgate Farm. The councillor concerned, C Hibbert-Foy, left the meeting while the Council discussed the matter and agreed on a form of words that the Clerk will send to Peak Park.

AOB

●     The Lord-Lieutenant of Staffordshire has sent a thank you card to be forwarded to someone who has helped to provide support to communities during the COVID-19 pandemic.  The council decided to send the card to Bob Sellers for his tireless work throughout the pandemic and before.

Date of next meeting    The next meeting will be on 10 November 2020 at Warrington’s Garage.