Agenda and draft minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Bawn, Dickinson, Murphy and Towns.

The minutes of the Castle Morpeth Local Area Committee held on Monday 12 February 2024, as circulated, to be agreed as a true record and be signed by the Chair.

The minutes of the Castle Morpeth Local Area Council held on Monday 12 February 2024, as circulated, were agreed as a true record and signed by the Chair.

To reply to any questions received from members of the public which have been submitted in writing in advance of the meeting or asked at the meeting. Questions can be asked about issues for which the Council has a responsibility. (Public question times take place on a bimonthly basis at Local Area Committee meetings: in January, March, May, July, September and November each year.)

As agreed by the County Council in February 2012, the management of local public question times is at the discretion of the chair of the committee.

Please note however that a question may possibly be rejected if it requires the disclosure of any categories of confidential or exempt information, namely information:

1. relating to any individual;
2. which is likely to reveal the identity of an individual;
3. relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person
4. relating to any labour relations matters/negotiations;
5. restricted to legal proceedings
6. about enforcement/enacting legal orders
7. relating to the prevention, investigation of prosecution of crime.
   
   

And/or:

?      is defamatory, frivolous or offensive;

?      it is substantially the same as a question which has been put at a meeting of this or another County Council committee in the past six months;

?      the request repeats an identical or very similar question from the same person;

?      the cost of providing an answer is disproportionate;

?      it is being separately addressed through the Council's complaints process;

?      it is not about a matter for which the Council has a responsibility or which affects the county;

?      it relates to planning, licensing and/or other regulatory applications

?      it is a question that town/parish councils would normally be expected to raise through other channels.

If the Chair is of the opinion that a question is one which for whatever reason, cannot properly be asked in an area meeting, he/she will disallow it and inform the resident of his/her decision.

Copies of any written answers (without individuals' personal contact details) will be provided for members after the meeting and also be publicly available.

Democratic Services will confirm the status of the progress on any previously requested written answers and follow up any related actions requested by the Local Area Committee.

No questions had been submitted in advance or were asked at the meeting. 

(a)    Receive any new petitions:

This item is to receive any new petitions. The lead petitioner handing in a petition at the meeting is entitled to briefly introduce their petition, and a response to any petitions received will then be organised for a future meeting.

(b)   Consider reports on petitions previously received:

(c)      Receive any updates on petitions for which a report was previously   considered: any updates will be verbally reported at the meeting.

(a) Receive New Petitions – No petitions were received.

(b) Petitions Previously Received – None

(c ) Receive any updates on petitions for which a report was previously considered:

Island outside Blossom Park, Pegswood

In response to a request for an update from Councillor Towns, Members were advised that whilst there had been some delays to the works being undertaken due to inclement weather, the works had now been completed and the buildout removed with the necessary road marking and signage put in place.

To receive a presentation from Ivan Hewitt, Rural Business Growth Programme Manager on two Business Funding Programmes which are available in the rural community.

I Hewitt, RAMP Programme Manager was in attendance to provide presentations on two new programmes to support businesses within rural areas.  A copy of each of the presentations would be attached to the signed minutes of the meeting, uploaded to the Council’s website and circulated to Members.

The Northumberland Small Business Service

The Programme which was available to small/micro businesses (those with 50 or less employees) had three clear objectives:

1.    To increase business resilience and support rural businesses with growth potential and ambition to develop and implement business growth and resilience plans.

2.    Develop a more diverse business base by creating new businesses and supporting rural businesses to grow, safeguarding and creating new employment opportunities, become more resilient and increasing productivity.

3.    Stimulate investment in the growth of existing private sector rural businesses.

The four distinct strands of support available to individuals and small/ micro businesses across Northumberland were outlined and information provided on each as follows:

·       Growth and Resilience Support – Businesses must have been trading for at least 12 months, be located within Northumberland, and operating within an eligible sector.  They would have access to an evolving workshop programme and technical specialist support.

·       Farming Advisory Service – This was being delivered on the Council’s behalf by Northumberland National Park Authority and could support start up businesses and diversification but could not be used to purchase farm equipment.  The support would be available to all farm enterprises that were located within rural Northumberland and were defined as a small or micro business and was within subsidy control thresholds.

·       Enterprise and Start up Support – This would provide a dedicated service of tailored business support to help stimulate business growth and creation and would be focussed on providing individuals and businesses with the skills and knowledge they required to set up, establish and run successful businesses.  This support was available to all Northumberland residents aged 16+ at pre-start with a business idea and new businesses within 12 months of starting up and located within Northumberland.

·       Grant Investment Fund – This was a £2m Capital Grant Fund to support small and micro businesses in the rural areas of Northumberland only with a clear growth plan to expand productive capacity or diversify into new markets or products.  This could include capital investment in machinery, equipment, and business premises. 

Information was provided on the eligibility for each strand of support and the grant application process.  Details on how to register could be found at the following website: www.northumberlandsmallbusiness.co.uk

In response to points raised by Members of the Committee, the following information was provided:

·       Free advice was available to applicants and assistance could be provided to complete the application process.

·       Work was being undertaken internally between departments to try to work to the same objective in relation to planning, climate change and business resilience.  The team could also point businesses to other sources of funding.

·       Whilst it was recognised that some businesses would not succeed, start up businesses needed the opportunity to get  ...  view the full minutes text for item 25.

John Cooper, Strategic Programmes Manage, Digital and IT, will give a presentation on the transition from analogue to digital landlines by Openreach and to address concerns around resilience in the event of power cuts and/or major storms.

J Cooper, Strategic Programmes Manager, was in attendance to provide information on the national initiative, led by the telecommunications industry, to transition from analogue to digital landlines.  A copy of the presentation would be filed with the signed minutes and uploaded to the Council’s website.  The Committee were advised that the Council was not directly involved in this programme but had taken the decision to raise awareness with residents, businesses and community groups and signpost those with concerns to the relevant organisation for support.  The Council did not have access to switchover pans and timescales for individual communications providers.

It was explained that the new digital phone lines would use broadband network for calls and would allow new features to be used.  This would only impact residents who still had a landline and for the majority of users the switchover would be straightforward.  Residents would be contacted by their own communication provider i.e. BT, Sky etc.  However, there were approximately two million people across the UK who were more dependent on their landline and who may need additional support such as those living in an area with no mobile phone signal, vulnerable people with additional needs, users of healthcare alarms, elderly people and those who do not have a broadband service.   Whilst those who were dependent on their landline should not be being switched at the current time, the Council had been made aware of numerous examples within Northumberland where this has happened.  Residents who use their existing analogue lines for more than voice calls were also being encouraged to speak directly to their supplier. 

Members were advised that whilst a corded analogue phone line would work in the event of a power cut that digital lines required additional equipment requiring a power supply to work and therefore would not be able to be used for any calls.  Work was underway with the telecoms industry to try to mitigate the risks associated with this and some communication providers had committed to providing some equipment free of charge to certain more vulnerable or landline users, however there had been some examples within Northumberland of charges being incurred by residents in those specific categories.    

Those who were identified for switchover would be notified at least 28 days before the switchover occurred and at any point during that period any concerns should be raised with the supplier.  In some instances, a request could be made for the switchover to be delayed, however this could not be delayed beyond December 2025.

Concerns were expressed by Members regarding the vulnerability of broadband equipment being damaged and residents being left with no phone or broadband connections.  In respect of residents who did not have broadband advice was provided that there were phones available which had a router in the phone itself and the residents would only need a new handset.  However, it was stressed that it was important for residents to raise any concerns with the supplier before being switched as once this had happened then  ...  view the full minutes text for item 26.

To note the latest version of agreed items for future Local Area Committee meetings (any suggestions for new agenda items will require confirmation by the Chairman of Council after the meeting).

RESOLVED that the work programme be noted.

The next meeting will be held on Monday 20  May 2024 at 6.00 pm.   The venue is still to be confirmed.

The date of the next meeting was Monday 20 May 2024 at 6.00 pm and the venue was still to be confirmed.

To consider such other business, as in the opinion of the Chair, should, by reason of special circumstances, be considered as a matter of urgency.