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Play area plans progressing well

MIDDLETON-IN-TEESDALE AND NEWBIGGIN

PARISH COUNCIL NewsletterSpring 2019

A core of 12 people (8 volunteers from the community and 4 parish councillors) continues to work on planning and fundraising for improvements to the play area at Wesley Terrace.

What the community wants Agreement has been reached that the play area will increase in size by a stretch of 3metres parallel to the existing fence and that a new lease will be offered of up to 25 years from the landowner. The community consultation during February provided really useful feedback on what children wanted and will supplement other information gathered through a SurveyMonkey questionnaire (111 responses), school assemblies, an initial ‘draw your ideal playground’

exercise, talks with teenagers, and door-to-door consultation with the play area’s close neighbours. The full report on the community’s wants and needs will provide the important evidence required by grant-giving organisations.

New equipment Now that the working group have the information about what people want, several specialist playground suppliers will be invited to prepare their design and quotation. Then, when the preferred option is chosen, the grant applications can be finalised and submitted.

Local fundraising Support from the local community has been fantastic, with many businesses, organisations and

individuals contributing, as well as the notable fun-fundraising events centred around the consultation in February and the children’s Easter Egg Hunt. To date, £4,477 has been raised locally; with pledges and grants already promised, total funds raised are just over £21,000.

Grateful thanks The Parish Council is appreciative of the tremendous effort going in to all aspects of the working group and has assured all the members that it admires and applauds the way they’ve come together to help provide an improved play facility for the village.

Part of an early possible design prepared by specialist supplier Hags. Quotations from several companies will now be invited, based on extensive local consultation about what people want and need.

Clerk salary

Litter picking

Grants / support

Grass cutting

Play Area

Benches and seating

Open spaces work

Footpath strimming

Footpath Focus project

New litter bins

Training

Publicity

Car parking

Dog poo bags

Cost of by-election

Administration, fees, audit, insurance etc

Community Forum/Annual Parish Meeting As previously reported, the new-style Community Forum held last May was a great success, with good attendance and people saying that they found it both interesting and enjoyable. Building on that success, the 2019 Community Forum, incorporating the Annual Parish Meeting, which gives local residents the opportunity to discuss whatever parish affairs they wish, will be on Tuesday 7 May, from 7pm, at Middleton Village Hall. Some of the 30+ organisations which operate in Middleton and Newbiggin will be

‘showcasing’ what they do, and all who attend will be made welcome — and provided with tea/coffee and biscuits. Footpath progress Since last November, nine volunteers (Andy, John, Ian, Ron, Nick, Kelvin, Sarah, Alan and Peter) have been voluntarily working on repairing footpaths in the parish, roughly once a month. During this time improvements have been made to several stretches of footpath, both along the riverside and other village paths, most noticeably footpath 61, adjacent to Park Field. The work has been interesting, invigorating and good fun, getting to know like-

minded people who are willing to help out ‘on their patch’. Removing tripping hazards like stones and tree roots, and rebuilding retaining walls and removing vegetation, generally figure in our work. The pay-off after a few hours’ hard work, is the knowledge and satisfaction of a job well done and better pathways for all. — John Miller

Parish Council budget 2019/20

Precept 2019-20

Property rental income

Parish Paths Partnership

Dog poo bag donations

VAT reclaimed

Use of reserves

Bank interest

Since the last newsletter went out in early January, the Parish Council finalised its budget for the financial year from April 2019 to March 2020. The council decided not to spend money on restoring the Bainbridge Memorial Fountain this year, but to contribute £5,000 to the play area improvements work, £2,000 to its Footpath Focus project and to allocate £1,000 for its benches/seating rolling programme of refurbishment or replacement. All spending decisions are made by the full Council. All Parish Council meetings are open to the public. Minutes of all meetings are available on the Parish Council website (see back page for details). And this is how that spending will be funded. Any surplus of income over expenditure is carried forward as reserves for the future. The Parish Council is building the level of reserves to the minimum recommended by Governance and Accountability good practice for smaller authorities.

This equates to a precept for 2019-20 of £51.45 per Band D household in the Middleton-in-Teesdale and Newbiggin Parish Council area. If you’re interested in the number of properties in each Council Tax band in this parish, or the amount paid for other Bands, please just ask!

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What does the Parish Clerk do?

The Parish Council employs a Clerk who is paid for 9 hours per week. The work is varied and covers the statutory functions of the council, administration, finances and communications. A large proportion of the administrative duties is taken up with preparation for meetings (not just of the full council but also committees, working groups, partners etc), minutes, reports, planning applications etc.

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News in brief

A Administration B Training/study C Communications / publicity D Finance/audit E Actioning Council decisions F Play area work G Development work H Incoming correspondence I Policy work J Footpaths Focus project

Spotlight on ...There are numerous groups, clubs, organisations and committees in upper Teesdale and whilst a small core of people are involved in many of them, there are some that people probably don’t know about, or have heard of but are not sure what they do. This regular feature hopes to shine a spotlight on as many groups as possible. If you’d like your group to feature, please drop an email to the Parish Clerk (clerk@upperteesdale.org) or call tel. 01833 640893.

The Stephen Mitchell Memorial Shoot by Nigel Mitchell

The Stephen Mitchell Memorial Shoot was set up in 2011 after the sudden and unexpected death of Stephen Mitchell, a well-known local businessman in Middleton-in-Teesdale.

Stephen was a very keen shooter and so his family decided to hold an annual clay pigeon shoot in his name to raise money for local good causes, groups or individuals that needed a little financial help to achieve something.

Saving lives One of the first things that we decided to buy were defibrillators to be placed around the dale, and to date we have bought, or helped to buy, eight defibrillators. We know that one person’s life was saved by the first defibrillator we installed, which makes it all worth while! We now have a portable ‘defib’ which can be taken to any event and then returned to me once the event has finished. We also replace the batteries and pads for all the defibrillators when needed.

Over the past eight years since the annual shoot started, we have given away just over £34,000 to local groups and individuals, to help with various projects.

Providing shelter Our latest project is erecting a

shelter at the school where adults can stand under cover while waiting for children coming out of school.

We have paid the annual license fee for the Farmwatch radio system for the past three years and intend to continue with this as long the fund keeps going.

We keep scrapbooks with a lot of pictures and letters from various groups and people we have given donations to, and these are on display at our annual shoot day.

This year’s shoot/family day is on Saturday 27 July. We don’t just cater for shooters, though — we try and make it a family day, with bouncy castles and children’s races and there will also be a ‘have a go stand’ for anyone that has never shot clay pigeons before! There is a barbecue and lots of homemade cakes etc, and a raffle which is drawn at the end of day and normally has around 70 prizes. Everyone is welcome to come along.

If anyone would like to be considered for a donation, all they

need to do is write a letter to us, explaining what the money would be used for. You can leave the letters at the corner shop (J Raine & Son in Middleton) or post them to Nigel Mitchell at Stotley Grange, Middleton-in-Teesdale DL12 0SA.

Some other groups which have benefited from the Stephen

Mitchell Memorial Shoot 1st Middleton Scouts

Middleton in Bloom

Friends of Middleton School

Makaton Training for staff at Middleton School

Middleton & Teesdale Silver Band

Middleton Cricket Club

Barnard Castle Rugby Club

Cotherstone School

Barnard Castle Boxing Club

Middleton Christmas Lights

Middleton Toddler Group

Middleton Village Hall

UTASS

Middleton Sports & Social Club Christmas Party

Eggleston Recreation

Middleton Messy Church

Stephen Mitchell was passionate about shooting

The annual Shoot is also a great family-focussed day out

Costs Printing and distributing 750 copies of this newsletter has cost approx. 19p per elector, including the cost of posting it to outlying addresses in the Middleton-in-Teesdale and Newbiggin Parish Council area. If you’ve received this through the post, then signing up to receive future newsletters by email will help bring down the costs of future newsletters. Would you be willing to do this? (See above for how to do this.)

Get the next PARISH COUNCIL direct to your email inbox by sending an email to clerk@upperteesdale.org, with the subject line ‘Please subscribe me’, with a note of your postal address so that we won’t deliver to your letterbox as well!

You can also view the newsletter - and other news and useful information, along with Council minutes, agendas and Councillor details on our website:

www.middletonandnewbigginparishcouncil.org Follow us on social media: @MinTeesdale Upper Teesdale

Community Page

There are currently two vacancies on the Parish Council for members to represent the Newbiggin ward (you don’t actually have to live in Newbiggin - as long as you’re within 3 miles of the Newbiggin boundary). Are you interested? Contact the Clerk (clerk@upperteesdale.org or tel. 640893) to find out more.

Could you be a councillor?

Newsletter

DID YOU KNOW? 4 useful little numbers

101 Police (non-emergency)

105 To report a power cut

111 NHS (non-emergency)

112 free-to-call-from-mobiles to reach emergency services (equivalent to 999)

The Parish Council needs to do business with a range of contractors for various projects throughout the year. The Council invites formal tenders for ongoing contracts such as grass cutting and footpath strimming, but there are often one-off jobs that need doing. If you’d like to be asked to quote for doing jobs for the Parish Council, please send details of your services and contact details to clerk@upperteesdale.org

Could you do work for the Parish Council?

What’s going on?

A simple directory of community organisations active in the upper dale is available through the Parish Council website at www.upperteesdale.org or on request to the Parish Council Clerk (tel. 640893).

For the Middleton-in-Teesdale ward:

Cllr Andy Mitchell (Chairman) andymitchellmail@btinternet.com

Cllr Sue Bainbridge suebainbridge01@btinternet.com

Cllr Bob Danby cllrbobdanby@btinternet.com or 07917 304685

Cllr Christine Gilbert 01833 640900 or 07724 555555 christine@odyssey-systems.co.uk

Cllr Adam Hearn adam@kingswaycentre.co.uk

Cllr John Miller john@mooredge.co.uk

Cllr Lynne Oxby (Vice-Chair) 01833 650172

Cllr Michael Wallbank 01833 641302 or 07875 628760

For the Newbiggin ward:

Cllr Nickie Hough hoodgillhough@btinternet.com

Cllr Julian Robinson j.robinson200@durhamlearning.net

Parish Council Meetings

The parish council meets on the third Tuesday of each month (with the exception of August, when no meeting is held). Meetings are held in Middleton Village Hall (though plans are afoot to meet in Newbiggin as well), starting at 7pm, and members of the public are always made welcome. Next meetings:

Tuesday 21 May Tuesday 18 June Tuesday 16 July

Councillors’ surgeries

A monthly opportunity is available for any resident to speak with a parish councillor in an informal setting. Two parish councillors will be at the UTASS offices on Chapel Row, Middleton-in-Teesdale, on the last Friday of each month, from 1pm to 3pm. No appointment is necessary - just turn up!

Next surgery: Friday 31 May

Your parish councillors

Durham County Council is responsible for a large range of services and is keen for residents to report problems, make applications, booking and payments and submit commits via its online system at:

Here’s a sample of things you can do: • join the garden waste scheme • report that your bin wasn’t emptied • apply for Single Person Council Tax

discount • find out about care and support • report a problem with street

lighting • report a pothole or highways issue • book a pest control appointment • apply for e-billing • report fly tipping

• apply for benefits

• apply for a school place

Save time — do it online

www.durham.gov.uk/doitonline