REPORT OF ALSTON MOOR PARISH COUNCIL MEETING

REPORT OF ALSTON MOOR PARISH COUNCIL MEETING
1 JUNE 2026

This report is an informal one, and should not be taken as an accurate and agreed record of the parish council meeting. It is written to give our local residents some general information about the meeting, but only the formal minutes, which will be posted later, are a proper record.

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MINUTES OF LAST MEETING, MATTERS ARISING
The minutes of the meeting on 5 May 2026 were confirmed. The parish council insurance bill for the coming year had still not been received this morning, so the Clerk had been in contact with them and received it this afternoon. It was therefore requested that all councillors should let the Clerk know if they saw any problems with the documents before the end of the week.

CO-OPTION OF COUNCILLOR
Andy Reay was co-opted as a councillor representing Nenthead

AGAR
The Annual Governance and Accountability Return is now on the website, and will be on all noticeboards. People have until 14 July to make comments.

POLICIES
This item was postponed to the next meeting, given the number of documents to be read.

GRISEDALE CROFT
Councillor Martin updated the council about progress in the working group. Its title has been changed to Alston Moor Health, as it has become clear that so much about Grisedale connects with wider issues from the period of the hospital beds being withdrawn, including the lack of wraparound services. The consultation hasn’t followed the Gunning principles; costings are not available, a proper Equality Impact Assessment has not been done, etc. The lack of follow-through on all the previous promises means there are no proper pathways for referral of Alston Moor residents from hospital to Grisedale Croft.

A group met with the relevant Westmorland and Furness councillor (Pat Bell) and the officer manaing the consultation (Nickie Phipps). they were told that there is agreed funding to purchase another building, but no information was provided about how much, where this is etc. Councillor Hanley, in his rôle as Westmorland and Furness councillor, had been told last October that W&F were looking at somewhere else for the care home, but no further information is available. However, this all makes clear that there is a push to the ‘preferred option’ which renders the consultation null and void.

It was agreed to refund to members of the working group any expenses they incurred. There was some discussion about whether any of this needed to go to tender, but given that no-one is being paid and this is purely about expenses, it was clear that this was not necessary.

WESTMORLAND AND FURNESS COUNCILLORS’ REPORT
Councillor Hanley had been been at a meeting with the new CEO of the Council, Miranda Cannon. She confirmed that the Grisedale Croft consultation was part of the council’s efforts to save £40million, given the shortfall in funding from central government.

NENTHEAD WARD MEETING
Among other issues, it was noted that Tony Pennell has now retired from the snowplough group, to which he has committed so much. It was agreed that the parish council would write to thank him for all his hard work over the years.

COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT CO-ORDINATOR
At the last meeting, it had been agreed to look into the possibility of contracting the Co-ordinator through the Town Hall, but it was clear this was not the possibility. However, Councillor Monk has looked into the possibilities for the parish council and there is the option of taking her on via a Direct Award, which waives the standing order, as Sarah Stamford has the knowledge and experience needed (and no-one else applied in response to the job description that was publicised). It would be for a maximum of a year, but as some further funding possibilities have now been identified, it is likely this will only be for around six months. It would be for an average of 15 hours a week. The job description is rather different from that which she has held with the Alston Moor Partnership. The tasks are linked to Alston Moor Parish council and are for the benefit of the community, including support for us at AMPC to get things done. All aspects of this were unanimously agreed.

WAR MEMORIAL – FENCE REPAIR
We wrote to check the situation, but we still have no full response from the conservation officer at W&F. Unitary authority Councillors Hanley and Robinson will look into this.

GARDEN WASTE BINS FOR AMPC
Bins are needed in Garrigill and Alston for the relevant waste from the work of the handyperson, and will be arranged and paid for. Nenthead could get one in the future if needed, but it would need to be arranged where it would be sited.

TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT GROUP
A number of issues were passed back to the parish council from the Traffic Management group.
(a) It has been agreed that the area in the Butts which has, for a long time, caused concern in relation to parking preventing emergency access for fire engines and ambulance, can be made a non-parking area. It was agreed to source some planters to be placed so that parking in the relevant area is not possible, possibly with some information about the Butts as a place of archery practice in the past.
(b) The issues concerning possible double yellow lines at Townhead and on Station Road were deferred to the next meeting.
(c) The Highways department no longer does ‘red squirrel’ warning signs. The red squirrel group would like to install rope bridges across the road, which have worked very well in other places. AMPC agreed to support the group in their efforts, involving permissions from Highways and others.
(d) In response to a letter regarding a parking matter in Garrigill, it was agreed for a letter to be sent to the four residents concerned, explaining the situation.

PLANNING
The one planning application received in time for the meeting was approved (Skelgill Rigg).

FINANCE
Payments approved. A councillor who has raised various issues concerning finance was not present, so the appointment that the Clerk intended to offer to discuss these matters could not be arranged. Councillors present asked that the Clerk keep a record of the time spent dealing with the frequent queries from this one councillor, as there is concern about the proportion of her time that is being used.

TRAVELLERS ON TYNE WILLOWS
The arrangements made with the temporary fence etc have largely worked as intended. It was agreed that signs will be put up next year to explain the arrangements, as there was some initial misunderstanding.

NEXT MEETING
The next parish council meeting is on Monday 6 July at Nenthead Village Hall.