Items of interest from the May meeting of Cockfield Parish Council.

Retirement.

Alderman John Priestley retired from the Parish Council: John has devoted 40 years of his life to public service as a County, District and Parish Councillor and has made an outstanding contribution to village life: John was presented with an engraved crystal to mark his achievement and all of the Council wish John and his wife a long and happy retirement!.

Police Report.

PC Williamson, local beat officer, reported that there had been two arrests of youths for Criminal Damage at the Primary School: two drug warrants had been executed resulting in one arrest for possession of drugs.

The ‘Police & Community Together’ programme identified the villagers concerns over anti-social behaviour by young people: the Police will ensure that this is a PACT priority and will continue extensive weekend and evening patrols in the village.

Youth Shelter.

It was the youth of the village who asked for their own youth shelter and it was funded (£10000) entirely by donations: the Police impressed on the young people that this was ‘their space’, it had to be looked after, and there was no funding for repairs in the case of deliberate damage.

And now the bad news! - your Parish Council paid for the manufacture and installation of seating in the shelter and within three days vandalism had destroyed the seats: it is a joint decision of the Police and the Council that no monies will be allocated for repairs: the young of the village must learn to take responsibility for their actions!

Access to Councillors.

In the interest of best practice your Local Councillors now have specific role responsibilities as follows……………………… Clr. Pauline Charlton - County Councillor and liaison with the County Council Clr. Carol West - Village Greens and Open Spaces Clr. Keith Quigley - Youth Liaison Clr. Peter Wood - Area Action Partnership and responsible for Comm. Centre Clr. Alan Oakley - Allotments and Trees Clr. Linsey Vollans - General matters of Council Clrs. Neville & Brenda Singleton - Elderly and Disabled groups This gives residents of Cockfield direct access to a Councillor on specific topics Elections.

The new Chair of the Council is Councillor Peter Wood and the Vice-Chair is Councillor Brenda Singleton.

The Council record their thanks to Alan Oakley for his Chairmanship over the last twelve months.

Area Action Partnerships.

The Barnard Castle AAP is one of fourteen new committees that replaced district councils under the new Unitary Durham County Council.

Councillor Peter Wood is Cockfields representative on the new AAP and a well attended first meeting was held at Barnard Castle in late April.

Bus Shelters.

The saga of damaged bus shelters has a happy ending!

Damage to the plastic panels was caused when they were cleaned by the former Teesdale District Council.

Following a site meeting Durham County Council have agreed to replace the damaged panels at their cost.

And finally.

The Christmas Lights Committee was given approval to use the village green for their summer fete on the 19th June - your support would be appreciated!

Trevor Lewis.

Parish Clerk