Minutes for the Meeting of Allerston & Wilton Parish Council on Thursday 30th June 2022 at 7.30pm at Allerston Village Hall

ALLERSTON & WILTON PARISH COUNCIL

Website - allerstonandwiltonparishcouncil.com  E mail – clerk@allerstonandwiltonpc.co.uk

 

Minutes for the Meeting of Allerston & Wilton Parish Council on Thursday 30^th June 2022 at 7.30pm at Allerston Village Hall.
PRESENT: Cllrs D Hunter (Chair), S Muir, K Stead, G Blunt, C Read, Mrs L Myers (RFO) and Miss P Smalley (Clerk)

Members of the public: 37 residents and Cllr. William Oxley

1.   Welcome to all The chair welcomed all councillors and residents to the meeting. Cllr. Oxley was thanked for attending.

2.       To receive apologies for absence. Cllr. Davies, Cllr. Hall and Cllr. Briston

3.   Agenda item: Brook Garth’s land registry application
- The RFO read out a resident’s objection who was unable to attend
- The Clerk informed the residents and councillors that an extension has been confirmed for objections. The deadline is now 12pm on the 18^th of July 2022.
- A resident had found some records of the footpath that goes across the water gap on an OS map. It shows it as a footpath but not as a right of way. It was explained that the Parish Council have been liaising with land registry for many years to get the footpath reinstated. It has been a used footpath in the past and needs to be again. It would be likely that no one could claim the land if there was a registered footpath running through it. A resident confirmed that her neighbour frequently gets questions from passing walkers asking whereabouts the path from Allerston and Wilton starts and showing the footpath on their maps.
It was asked if the Clerk would enquire about the footpath application previously lodged. This was agreed.
- A resident found in her diaries all the activities that the Methodist Church have held on the water gap over the years, as well as photographs. This will be included in her objection. It was stated that corroboration and witnesses would give weight to objections too.
- It was confirmed that a previous clerk contacted an independent solicitor in 2008 and they stated that the land is unregistered land, not common land. Anyone can theoretically lay claim to it, including the Parish Council. Cllr. Oxley advised that it may well be worth the Parish Council applying to register the land and make it a community asset.
- Cllr. Oxley stated he was willing to write to whomever he needs to and reiterate the way this land had been used and express just how unhappy the villagers are with the current application. He stated that the meeting was well organised and well ordered that simply reflects the views of the village and that he was happy to sensitise the local MP about this issue. This was agreed and Cllr. Oxley was thanked for his help.
- A resident asked about the land when it was in ‘disrepair.’ The land was never in disrepair. In 2000 it was a track for tractors to use to access the fields. Children also would ride their bikes along the land when it was in this state. It was also stated by several residents that no livestock has accessed the field via that gate in recent years. There has been a padlock on the gate from at least 2007 so they get access from elsewhere.
- It was attested that if the house and the fields get sold separately in the future and this application was successful, the top field would be completely inaccessible
- Cllr. Read pointed out from the timeline provided that the applicant had previously requested ‘No Dog Fouling’ be put on the land. Cllr. Read questioned why the claimant would ask for no dog fouling signs if no-one used the land in the first place., It was also confirmed that the applicant requested from the Parish Council in 2019 that she fenced the area in question, but this was refused. It was asked again why she would have to fence the area if, like she has said in the land registry application, no-one used it.
- Cllr. Read acknowledged that the placement of the Jubilee bench on the land would show it has a real purpose – the residents want to use that land and commemorate an historical event.

 

Meeting closed: 8:35pm