Agenda and draft minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors, Bawn, Dunn, Foster, Jones and Towns.

The minutes of the Castle Morpeth Local Area Committee held on Monday 16 September 2024, as circulated, to be agreed as a true record and be signed by the Chair.

The minutes of the Castle Morpeth Local Area Committee held on Monday 16 September 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 public questions were submitted.

(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:

Introduction of 30mph speed limit in Middleton

The attached report responds to the petition in which the Council is asked to recognise that Middleton is appropriate in size and occupancy to be designated as a 30mph restriction area. 

(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 new petitions were received.

(b) Petitions Previously Received –

 Introduction of 30mph limit in Middleton

The report provided a response to a paper petition received which requested the introduction of a 30mph speed limit in the village of Middleton which was located approximately 9 miles west of Morpeth.

Mr Thompson, Lead Petitioner provided an introduction to the petition and response to the report, advising that he was speaking on behalf of Wallington Demesne Parish Council.  His comments included the following:

·       He outlined two statements within the DfT document “Setting Local Speeds” in relation to item 135 highlighting that fear of traffic could affect the quality of life of people and that a 30mph speed limit should be the norm through villages, and item 132 which stated that the national speed limit of 60mph was only suitable for best quality C and unclassified roads with few bends, junctions or accesses.  He asked that the Committee bear the statements in mind when considering this petition report.

·       This issue had been raised by Wallington Demesne Parish Council over several years. Complaints have been made regarding general traffic through the village and specifically the area just to the east of the village’s public House, The Ox Inn, where the approach road from the direction of Morpeth dips through a wooded area hiding a view of the houses. At the other end of the village the busy village hall was another risk area.

·       The report stated that there were 24 residential properties in Middleton but that they were not solely on the C158.  He advised that all properties were accessed from the C158 and a copy of the map included with the report had been annotated to show the number of access points and related number of houses and was made available for the Committee to view. The relatively high number of 11 access points was a major contributory factor to the danger of general speeding traffic through the village.

·       The Report referred to a definition of what constituted a village as “that there was a continuous frontage development of 20 or more houses”. He had been unable to find a definition in either the DfT document Setting Local Speeds or in the recommended Traffic Advisory Leaflet 1/04 that included the word ‘continuous’ and questioned this.  The latter document did however state that local authorities were encouraged to use their discretion and consider the importance of the location of key buildings such as the village hall and public house, even if other criteria were not met.

·       During the week that the Speed Survey was carried out, the C157 Grange Moor to Belsay road, which ran past the western end of the village, had been closed for resurfacing.  This meant that Middleton was a dead-end with diversion signs in Hartburn on the approach from the east and most road users during that time would be local people.  During work on the petition it had seemed that most local people  ...  view the full minutes text for item 28.

The report provides an update on the pre-season preparations for the forthcoming 2024/25 winter services season, outlining key issues, staffing, operations, vehicle readiness, and management strategy.

The information report circulated with the agenda provided an update on the pre-season preparations for the forthcoming 2024/25 winter services season and outlined the key issues, staffing, operations, vehicle readiness and management strategy.  Members were requested to utilise the Council’s contact centre for emergency situations on 0345 6006400.   There was a video on the Council’s Facebook page which explained how the Council made decisions on where and when to utilise gritting operations using sophisticated equipment to minimise the wastage of this resource. 

Members welcomed the report and Councillor Sanderson took the opportunity to thank and express his gratitude to all staff involved in the provision of winter services.  Publicity in relation to the provision of warm zones and warm hubs was to be included on the Council’s website that week and a suggestion was made that information on how residents could ensure they were suitably prepared for adverse weather could also be provided on the website. 

RESOLVED that the information be noted.

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).

The work programme had been circulated for information. 

Following a presentation by the Thomas Pocklington Trust at Tynedale LAC, it was agreed that they be invited to attend a future Castle Morpeth Committee.

RESOLVED that the information be noted.

The next meeting of the Local Area Council will be on Monday 20 January  2026.  The time and venue are to be confirmed.

In view of the low attendance at LAC meetings, a discussion took place on the current separation of the Local Area Committee meetings to Planning meetings with Members agreeing that going forward both meetings should be held on the same evening.  The next meeting of the Local Area Committee would therefore be on Monday 13 January 2025 and would commence immediately following any Planning Committee business.