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Drigg & Carleton – Minutes – Annual Parish Meeting 2025

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MINUTES OF THE ANNUAL PARISH MEETING 2025 OF THE

DRIGG & CARLETON PARISH

Held in Drigg Village Hall on 22nd May 2025 at 7 pm

Attended:          Chris Gigg                         (Chair)                               Sadie Clarke

Jimmy Naylor                                                              Martin Clayton

Karen Warmoth               (Clerk)                               Andy McMillan

Apologies:          Andy Pratt                                                                   John Jennings

 

Also attended by 8 members of the public

  1. More information on the birds and the beach nesting bird project is available on the Drigg website: https://drigg.org.uk/notices/beach-nesting-birds-project-drigg-point/

 

  • Minutes of last year’s Annual Parish Meeting
    1. Minutes: proposed by SC and seconded by MC that the minutes of the Annual Parish Meeting 2024 were a true and accurate record, with all in favour
  • Drigg & Carleton Parish Council: Report
    1. The Chair gave a report on the activities of the Parish Council over the last year. All the activities are captured in more detail in the minutes of the Parish Council meetings
      1. The Chair gave a brief outline of Parish Council powers
      2. Work done in the background includes:
        • Lobbying for improvements to the B5344
        • Providing three defibrillators in the parish
        • Liaising with LLWR to minimise the impact it has on the village
  • Planning: the Community Led Plan – Action Plan was updated regularly
  1. Warm Hub: well attended by parishioners every week, with soup being delivered to the housebound. Run by local volunteers, assisted in winter by LLWR staff volunteers
  2. Website: regularly updated coverage over the winter of the A595 road closures
    • Also has Parish Council minutes, local news and events
  3. Parish improvements
    • Gates: new gates at Drigg Holmes
    • Disabled access: crosshatched lines at the village hall to discourage parking too near the doorway and facilitate access to the hall for those with prams, scooters, etc
    • Planters: planted up and tended by volunteers
    • Beach benches: installed by the NDA on their land at the beach
    • Flagstones: put round the bench on Shore Road to make it easier to use the bench
    • Energy efficiency: improvements to the Village Hall to be detailed in the Hall Report
  • Future plans
    • Licence to Grow: currently being actioned to provide planters for volunteers to grow flowers and vegetables at the old Council tip. The Parish Council signed a five year licence with Cumberland Council and is applying for funding to launch the scheme (planters, tools, plants, etc). Interested volunteers are encouraged to come forward
  • Village maintenance: grass cutting of the verges, with a bulbs and wildflower planting scheme along the church dip verge
  • Drigg & Carleton Parish Council: Annual Financial Report
    1. The Annual Financial Report 2024-2025 has been approved by the auditor
    2. The Annual Governance and Accountability Return 2024-2025 is available on the Drigg Village Hall noticeboard and on the website: drigg.org.uk
      1. Total income: £8,844.83
      2. Total expenditure: £11,487.29 (accommodated by the previous year’s surplus)
  • Total balance in the Parish Council account on 31st March 2025: £186.73

 

  • Drigg Charity Report
    1. The Chair read a report on the activities of the Drigg Charity over the last year
      1. Bursary fund: six bursaries were awarded to parishioners for education or training, plus four awards for transport costs for post-16 students who have to pay to go to sixth form
      2. Community events: the Charity supported Drigg Gala, the Drigg Fireworks/Bonfire, and the Christmas Singalong party, as well as gifts to senior households at Christmas
  • Community Awards: support for grass cutting at St Peter’s church; a subsidy for local groups hiring the village hall; new shutters for the screen in the main hall; support for the Village Hall Energy Efficiency project; and a donation to the Bursary fund to support education and training in the parish
  1. Village maintenance: funding cutting the grass on the verges, with a bulbs and wildflower planting scheme along the church dip verge, as well as supporting the Parish Council planters project by funding the shrubs and plants they contain

 

  • Village Hall Report
    1. In the Chair’s absence, the Village Hall report will be given by the Vice Chair Sadie Clarke
    2. The Village Hall is owned by the Parish Council as sole trustee for the benefit of parishioners
    3. It is run by a committee of volunteers who also manage the planters and garden at the hall
    4. Hall board: the board outside the hall with details about the village is being redesigned and updated with funding from LLWR. Funding to replace the beach board has been applied for and it is hoped it will be designed and installed within the next 8 weeks with the help of NDA
    5. Energy Efficiency improvements: volunteers applied to the National Lottery via ACTion with Communities in Cumbria and received £25,000 funding to improve energy efficiency in the hall. The Drigg Charity supplemented this by £9,000. The project provided:
      1. Savings in gas and electricity costs via the upgraded solar panels and battery storage
      2. Resilience: in the event of a power cut, the Village Hall can be used as a warm hub using battery power
  • Gas Central Heating is zoned, so only those rooms in use need to be heated
  1. Push button timers with automatic cut off, so heating can’t be left on accidentally
  2. Reductions in gas costs have already emerged, even though the building was only zoned for half of last winter; greater savings will be seen next year
  3. Disabled access: automatic doors make it easier for those using mobility scooters and prams to enter the hall; doors closing means that less heat is lost
  • Hand dryers and push taps: both should be effective is reducing energy costs
  • Blinds: reflect the heat back into the room, with blackout capability for cinema nights
  1. Cinema equipment: application sent to the GDF CIF fund for a large screen with surround sound which will integrate with current IT equipment and connect with the hearing loop

 

  • Questions raised by parishioners
    1. The Chair was pleased to report that every issue raised at the Annual Parish Meeting 2024 was subsequently actioned in the Drigg & Carleton Parish Council meetings
    2. Cinema screen: query where it would go?
      1. The new screen will be very large and will go in front of the shutters
      2. The cine equipment will include high quality sound
  • An application has been made to the GDF CIF fund for this project
  1. Road repairs: road south of LLWR is in poor state of repair. Can they help improve the road?
    1. DCPC has tried to use the argument of the national infrastructure of the LLWR requiring a greater commitment to road quality – 120 HGV movements per month
    2. Resurface of A595 cost £1 million per mile funded by Central Government; to resurface the B5344 through the village would cost £4-£5 million
  • The NDA has had a budget cut – though capping and GDF are ring-fenced
  1. Neither Cumberland nor NWS can afford to resurface the road
  2. Meeting arranged with the Director of Cumbria Highways to walk the road
  3. Opportunity to show that spray tar and chips is not adequate
  • DCPC asked Cumberland and NWS to lobby Central Government to provide a better road for a national infrastructure resource such as LLWR
  1. Children’s party: why does it no longer take place?
    1. Not enough primary age children in the village to justify it; party naturally concluded
    2. Those who organised it previously have older children now
  2. New House farm: why was it demolished and will it be rebuilt?
    1. The farmhouse, barn and piggery were falling down, damp and becoming dangerous
    2. NDA demolished them but DCPC asked for materials to be recycled eg sandstone, tiles
  • NDA will rebuild house and outbuildings up to current standards on the same footprint
  1. No Planning application to rebuild has yet been submitted
  • Close of meeting
    1. The Chair thanked the speaker for her presentation and all the parishioners for attending
    2. The Chair encouraged parishioners to attend Parish Council meetings and contact the Parish Council via the Clerk if they wished to raise any issues
    3. Meeting closed at 8.10 pm

 

Karen Warmoth
Parish Clerk
Drigg & Carleton Parish Council
24th May 2025