May 2021

Dalton with Newton Town Council

Minutes of the meeting held Monday 17th May 2021 in the Town Hall, Station Road, Dalton in Furness at 7pm

Present         Councillors C Fox, S Ronson, A Fox, N Perie, A Thurlow, W Maddox and  A Bowe

  1. Apologies Cllr R Crossley
  2. Minutes of the Previous Meeting It was agreed that the minutes of the previous meeting were a true record and the chairman was authorised to sign.
  3. Declarations of Interest   Councillor Maddox and Cllr Ronson declared an interest in any matters relating to Barrow Borough Council, Councillor Perie and Cllr Thurlow declared an interest in any matters relating to Dalton Community Association
  4. Police There was no Police presence at the meeting. Councillor Ronson gave a brief outline on the dedicated officer which has been allocated to Dalton. Although the particular officer allocated has been placed in Dalton for a period of three months Cllr Ronson confirmed that this is a permanent position.
  5. Reports from District/County Councillors

Cllr Ronson gave details of his recent walk-about of Dalton, Askam and Lindal with the two other Dalton North Councillors and the new PC allocated to the area.

  1. Matters Arising
  • Welcome Back Fund – This item was deferred
  • Keep Dalton Tidy Campaign Councillor Ronson gave details of a litter pick which had been arranged by the three Barrow Borough Councillors representing Dalton North. For Dalton this had been arranged on 5 June at 10am and everyone was welcome to help on the day.
  • Dalton Promotional video – Councillor Fox had discussed the possibility of having a professionally produced Town promotional film and had contacted a company who would be able to produce a film which would be 3 – 4 minutes in length with an option to have a local person do a voiceover or a professional. The cost would be in the region of £3,000, following discussion it was agreed that this be further investigated with a view to having a promotional film produced. It was noted that this may fit with the Borderlands criteria and this is to be raised with the CCC area support manager.
  • Co-Option to Council – Expression of Interest – Cllr C Fox reported that he had received an expression of interest from a local person who may be interested in being co-opted into one of the two vacant seats on the Council. The prospective councillor is to be invited for an informal interview on Monday 24th May at 7pm, interview panel will be Councillors C Fox, S Ronson and W Maddox.
  • Elliscales Quarry – Councillor Bowe reported that he has concerns over the designated SSSI site located at Elliscales Quarry. Councillor Bowe gave details of his concerns supported by photos but unfortunately has not been able to email to the clerk to pass on to Natural England. The Clerk has reported the issue directly to Natural England and Councillor Fox will also attend and take additional photos for submission.
  • Correspondence
  • The Clerk reported that a road closure order had been applied for covering Broughton Road to enable the safety of walkers talking part in the Keswick to Barrow walk on Saturday 18th September 2021.
  • Highways There were no highways issues to report at the current time. However Councillors Ronson and Perie reported two missing street signs at Dalton Fields Lane and Thornton Park for referring to the Borough Council.
  • Christmas 2021 Councillor Fox has arranged a meeting with the Town Council contractors to discuss the replacement of the Christmas Lights, members of the Christmas committee had been invited to attend to discuss the possibilities, a report will be made back to council when further details are available.
  • Finance
  • Zurich Municipal – Annual Insurance Renewal £999.55
  • Urofoam             £428.40
  • Friends of Dalton Leisure Centre £500
  • Rural market Towns £156.00

It was agreed that the above invoice be paid

7. Reports Councillors discussed the Shop Front grant scheme which the Town Council had offered to local business owners two years ago. Following discussion it was agreed that the Town Council repeat the scheme with a total budget allocation of £5,000 for this financial year and individual grant application limit of £200 per premises. Public Houses and national chains will be excluded.

Councillor Ronson suggested a scheme to help householders improve parking to deal with the problems. This item was deferred to the next meeting.

Planning

Councillor Ronson did not take part in the planning meeting as he was occasionally a substitute for the Barrow Borough Planning Committee.

B21/2021/0431         18 Myrtle Tce, Dalton

Single Storey rear and side extension to include living, kitchen, WC and utility extension

The Town Council have no objections

B21/2021/0406         48 Lord Street, Dalton

Construction of single storey side/rear extension forming sitting room, store and ground floor shower room (re-submission of B21/2020/0711 in a revised form)

The Town Council have no objections

B28/2021/0402         St Marys Church, Church Street, Dalton in Furness

Notice under section 211 of the Act (works to trees within a conservation area): T1 (Ash) to fell & T2 (Holm Oak) reduce crown by up to 1-2 metres.

The Town Council have no objections

B07/2021/0071         Proposed housing development at Long Lane/Newton Road.

Erection of 28 detached dwellings of a mix of single storey, two storey, two and a half storey, 4 flats including new site entrance and associated works (32 dwellings in total)

The Town Council would register an objection to this planning application.

The Local Plan for Barrow Borough has an allocation of 24 dwellings for this site, however the applicant is proposing 28 dwellings according to the consultation letter issued. The Town Council would request that the applicant be requested to reduce the number of proposed dwellings to comply with the local plan.

The Town Council have serious concerns at the proposal to install residential access (vehicular and pedestrian) from the site directly onto long Lane. The location of the new access would be at a point where the highway ‘dips’ at the bottom of a rise, despite site lines being stated on the proposed site layout at 60m this would mean oncoming traffic on the main carriageway approaching the access from over the brow of the rise, this includes fully laden HGV’s which significantly increases the stopping distance.

The Applicant has submitted a transport statement as a supporting document for the development and the Town Council would point out that the traffic survey was prepared at the 12th August 2015, therefore the data contained in the report is 6 years out of date. It is also noted that the survey was conducted during a period when schools were on holiday and although at 3.6 the transport statement advises that the results have been factored up to allow for this, the Town Council would question the adequacy of this calculation and would also question if the traffic survey has allowed for the fact that there is a nursery and primary school at Newton Village. The pupil limit for Newton School is 75 children, the majority of whom travel from outside the village therefore using the Long Lane/Newton Cross Road junction, if the factoring calculation is adequate perhaps the applicant could be asked to explain the allowance for only 39 vehicles (cars & LGV’s) travelling to Newton and only 27 travelling in the opposite direction in the 0800 – 0900 period, this figure is presumably also taking into account the traffic flow from approx. 120 dwellings at Newton village and the hamlet of Woodbine and vehicles who use Newton Cross Road as a short cut to Holbeck and Roose.  The figures showing traffic flow in the period 1700 – 1800 completely disregard school finishing time and therefore a significant number of vehicles.  Local knowledge suggests that there is also a ‘busy period’ of traffic flow just prior to the 0800 survey times used by the applicant. The predicted traffic flow with the development in place still only records 85 vehicles travelling to Newton and 59 travelling from the Newton direction the Town Council consider this to be a significant shortfall in the actual numbers.

At 3.7 of the Traffic impact and Transport Assessment the applicant refers to the Crashmap Data used by the applicant (2010-2014) is now 7 years out of date and is no longer relevant. The Town Council would draw attention to the fact that crashmap.co.uk only shows accidents with recorded injuries. Locally this junction is regarded by the public as an accident ‘blackspot’ with numerous non injury collisions per year which would not be shown on crashmap.co.uk, a check with Cumbria Constabulary and/or CCC Highways should easily establish an accurate number of incidents, assuming their presence was required at the time. The Town Council would expect that every collision/accident would be taken into consideration, the fact that an accident does not have injuries recorded should not mean the incident is disregarded for the purpose of this application.

Para. 3.8 states Overall, the total number of recorded injury accidents during the last three years on the local highways network is, relatively, low and the accidents were of a slight severity.  Therefore, there are no significant highway safety problems on the local highway network.

The Town Council would point out that the proposal by CCC Highways to install a roundabout (with a contribution from the developer) would not be considered necessary if there were no significant highway safety problems as suggested in the transport statement, by installing a new access on to Long Lane the development site would completely bypass the safety improvements proposed by the County Council. 

The application form submitted refers to vehicle parking at 9.  The applicant is proposing to provide 98 parking spaces which appears adequate, however any future lack of parking provision could have a detrimental effect on existing properties on the nearby estate and could lead to parking on the main Highway (Long Lane) adding to problems with highway safety as seen in other newer developments in the Town (Hollygate Road).  Should planning permission be granted the Town Council would request that as part of the planning conditions the developer works with CCC Highways and funds the installation of double yellow lines on Long Lane from its junction with Mill Brow to its junction with Newton Road to prevent parking on the main carriageway and to maintain free flowing traffic.

SUDS             The developer has indicated that drainage from the proposed individual properties will be by soakaway (SUDS). The effectiveness of which relies on annual maintenance.  The Town Council would ask what arrangements the developer has in place to ensure the ongoing maintenance to remove the risk of flooding to the individual properties and nearby Long Lane once they are in private ownership and the developer is off site.  It is difficult to obtain adequate maintenance from CCC Highways for existing properties all over Dalton so to expect the maintenance to be carried out as a matter of course without prior arrangement should be avoided.

Radon protective measures The Town Council note that the site is in an area affected by Radon Gas, the Town Council would request that the applicant be requested to provide details of proposed measures to be applied to deal with the risk.

In Summary the Town Council object to this development and make the following comments:

The applicant be requested to reduce the number of proposed dwellings to comply with the Local Plan.

Ask that the applicant is requested to conduct and prepare an up-to-date Traffic Impact and Transport Survey taken during school term time in order that accurate information can be used to make a properly informed decision.

Provide up-to-date information from Crashmap.co.uk and relevant information from CCC Highways and Police including information on non-injury collisions at the Long Lane/Newton Cross Road junction.

Provide details of the proposed measures to deal with the risk of Radon gas to individual properties.

Town And Country Planning Appeal APP/W0910 – Crompton Drive

For information only

Meeting Closed 8.17pm

About us

Dalton is the ancient and historic capital of Furness and has approximately 8,000 residents at the current time. Ideally located less than thirty miles from the Lake District and close to the Irish Sea coast and nature reserves, Dalton is home to one of the Counties largest tourist attractions, South Lakes Wild Animal Park.