Chairman’s Report
Mr Bryan Craig, Dalston Parish Council Chairman, reported on the activities of the Council during 2011. He began by introducing our new Clerk, Mrs Sue Haynes. He reminded the audience that Sue would be working from both her home and Forge Green and that she would be available for public consultation between 9.30am and 12.30pm on Wednesdays.

While not mentioning specific names he thanked a number of people and groups for all their hard work in 2011. While he did not have the figure for the number of bags of litter he did tell the audience that an average of 60 bags of dog poo were being picked off the Green every week.

He reminded the audience that Cumbria in Bloom would soon be upon us and that Sue would be co-ordinating the Dalston entry this year as Liz Auld had moved on to be administrator for the county Cumbria in Bloom organisation.

He mentioned a number of important issues which had been dealt with by the Parish Council, highlighting in particular the work in the cemetery. He took a show of hands on the question of whether the audience felt that the grass area between the wall and the Church, an area which traditionally had been left to grow as a conservation area; 20 were in favour of it being cut shorter and 5 preferred to leave it longer. Further consultation would be carried out.

The Chairman referred to the on going problem of traffic and parking. Indeed no Annual Parish Meeting would feel complete without that issues coming to the fore. He reported that the Parish Council plan to provide 43 car parking spaces down the Kingsway was progressing and that the County Council Local Committee had approved the various traffic orders necessary. He indicated that the project was likely to cost in the region of £150,000 and that the Parish Council had been making provision to pay the interest on a capital loan since 2006. He indicated that the Council would want to find ways whereby the businesses in the centre of the village might contribute to the eventual cost.

The Chairman reported that the Parish Council had awarded £4,230 in grants to local organisation.

The audience were delighted to learn that the County Council had awarded the contract to repair the White Bridge to Story Construction and that the work could start as early as 1st June. The job would take about 2½ weeks.

Other projects which the Parish Council would look at in the coming year included the cemetary footpaths, re-painting some of the cast iron sign posts, additional planters for the Square and the renovation of number 1 Forge Green kitchen.

Financial Report - Sue Haynes read out the finalcial report which had been prepared by her predecessor, Andrea McCallum.

Keynote Address - this was given this year by Mr Stuart Kemp, the Nuclear Issues Manager at Cumbria County Council. He explained that of the original three proposed sites for a new nuclear development, only the site immediately north of Sellafield remained a possibility. Braystones and Kirkstanton had been rejected by the County Council. The decision whether or not to go ahead with a two reactor site will be made in 2015 with a proposed project completion in 2025. The current cost estimate is around £8 billion with an operating life of 60 years. It is estimated that the construction workforce would be between 4m500 and 6,000 with 300 operating staff per reactor needed to run the plant over its 60 year life. Cumbria County Council expected a Health and Safety Executive decision on the proposed Westinghouse APR 1000 and Areva EPR designs by the end of this year.

Mr Kemp went on to speak about the issues surrounding the power transmission from a new plant to the grid at Harker and Hutton. It is likely that the existing 132KV ring would be replaced with a larger system. The National Grid will consult locally.

Stuart Kemp then told his audience about the current proposals around the subject of nuclear waste and described the work of the West Cumbria Managing Radioactive Waste Safety Partnership (Cumbria County Council, Copeland, Allerdale and CALC). More information can be found at the MRWS website - click here.

Future missions were outlined and these included plutonium management, centralised fuel storage and a plan for Sellafield decomissioning.

Following Mr Kemp's address, there were many questions to him about nuclear developments in West Cumbria.

Dalston Festival - Alan Dinning outlined the program for teh 2011 Dalston Festival.

The Chairman then asked for general questions. Two requests were made: (1) that the Parish Council approach the Environment Agency about the flood designation at Riverside as insurance policies were being affected, and (2) that a bus shelter might be considered at Nook Lane.

The meeting ended with delicious refreshments provided by Dalston WI.