At a meeting of the Council held in Eastgate Village Hall on 3rd September 2025
PRESENT: Cllr Mrs D Sutcliff, Cllr M Brewin, Cllr Mrs D Wright, Cllr J Shuttleworth, Cllr P Turton, Cllr E Buchanan, Cllr Mrs S Thompson, Cllr R Lawrie, Cllr Mrs S Smart Cllr D Craig – Chairman. Susan Anderson – Clerk.
Also present: 3 members of the public
Apologies for Absence Cllr C Burdis, Cllr L Blackett, Cllr Miss J Carrick, Cllr Mrs A Savory
To Receive any Declarations of Interest from Members None received
Minutes of the meeting held on 6th August 2025
Minutes were moved as a true and correct record and were signed by the chairman
Weardale Renewables CIC– Lawrence Barton No-one was in attendance.
Matters Arising
1. Frosterley School – There is a site visit at Frosterley School with Highways in September. Cllr Mrs Savory has arranged for the hedges to be cut back and for the Police to be there. A member of the public mentioned her concerns regarding the speeding problem. She would like to see more signage to slow down and 20mph signs outside of the school. Highways do have this area has high priority. A councillor asked if the head teacher had written to DCC and also do the teachers know there is a problem. The councillors feel that the school needs to write to DCC. Resolved: It was agreed to write to Frosterley school
2. Horn Hall entrance –Highways are going to look at the entrance road in and out of Horn Hall
3. Toilet over Christmas Holidays in Stanhope – waiting reply
4. School Taxi, Westgate – Resolved
5. Lydgate Lane Scheme- . Tracy from the AAP is looking into the cost of the Lydgate Lane Scheme
6. Flower Bed at Wearhead – Cllr Mrs Savory has arranged for the bed to be covered over properly
7. Flower Bed Planting – DCC agreed with members at the time were to undergo a floral reduction. All members at the time were informed of the areas planted which were funded by the two county councillors for the area. The flower group from Frosterley will let the Cllrs know which flower beds and tubs that they will be looking after but it will not be Stockley Grove.
8. Frosterley Church – The church issue has been reported to the planners who have been out and conducted a site visit and investigated. At this point in time the planners are satisfied that the works were to carry out to repair a leak which is affecting the structural integrity of the church. The situation will be monitored. 9. Unmetered Supplies – Our unmetered supplies originally had two MPAN numbers. Because of an industry change, one of the MPANs is no longer required, which is why the MPAN only (not any equipment) was disconnected. This does not affect any lamps we have connected to the account, it is purely an administrative change.
10. Glebe Field, Frosterley – A resident sent an email regarding a fence at the Glebe Field, Frosterley. This was sent to the Enforcement Officer at Durham County Council who is looking into the matter.
11. Phone Box, Stanhope Main Street – As the phone box is an KX100 it can only be adopted if a defibrillator is to be installed. As this is classed as last at site if we wanted to proceed it would be subject to a 90-day consultation to ensure there are no objections. The idea for a community book swap was to improve the state of the phone box. There are already defibrillators at the chemist and the Grey Bull. As it’s a BT phone box it’s their responsibility to come and clean it. Resolved: Clerk to write to BT to have the phone box cleaned
12. Weardale Practice Meeting – A meeting took place on 27th Aug with two councillors from Stanhope Parish and two councillors from Wolsingham. A reply has been received following the meeting which has been sent to all of our councillors. The Practice manager would like to reassure that she will be looking at the problem of the barriers to making the initial contact with the practice. She will not be changing the booking system but looking at the access before contact is made. The Practice is seeing patients for unplanned care within 10 days which means that they can provide support, intervention and referral quicker. Information was provided regarding total triage and stats regarding the volume of calls and the 8am rush. The 8am scramble for appointments has moved from telephone to online forms but as the week goes on this slows down. The call-back feature on the telephone system was a contractual requirement and it is a great option for patients. With regard to feedback this is anonymous. The Practice Manager is happy to have a follow up meeting in 2026. Cllr Mrs Smart mentioned that the booking system has been monitored and a Monday is busy. If you ring and there are ten people in the queue the eleventh will drop off. The admin staff will help elderly patients by filling the form in. St Johns Chapel is not closing. There are eight part time doctors, one full time doctor who works four days and two students who are seeing around two hundred patients. It is the Practice Managers opinion that the Wolsingham surgery building is not fit for purpose. In 2020 there was a change of Practice Manager and funding was not applied for, the school applied and they received the money through the planning. With the increase of people in Wolsingham with the new housing development the surgery 2 have no funding to cope and cannot get anymore GPs. Cllr Shuttleworth has a meeting with the NHS and will keep the Parish Council informed.
13. Speeding Motorbikes – Cllr Mrs Wright mentioned that the police motorbikes have been out on a weekend. She has seen signage “Think Bike slow down” and “is it worth to die for”. Cllr Mrs Smart mentioned how dangerous the bridge is at Eastgate, Cllr Mrs Wright said that all incidents should be reported so that the police can look at the data, the more data the stronger the case.
14. A member of the public who lives in Ashcroft mentioned that he feels that Ashcroft should not be in Stanhope Rural but should be in Stanhope Urban. He feels disconnected from the rest of the town. DCC legal department would have to be contacted. Resolved: Clerk to write
Correspondence Received 1. The CRAGGS family records start in Weardale mid 1500s. A family member would like to put a stone in the Old Cemetery with the single word Craggs on it. If we give approval then Mr Craggs will submit a drawing of the proposed stone. Resolved: Councillors gave their permission.
2. An email has been received concerning the rubbish being left at Bollihope Common. The photographs have been sent to all of the councillors. The council do come and empty the bins and tidy the rubbish up but it is like fly-tipping. Any help in pointing the lady in the right direction as to who to contact would be appreciated. Motorbikes and boy racers racing through Bollihope and Hill End is relentless; the Police are aware of this. The email has been sent to D Hunt who will contact the Neighbourhood Warden.
3. Durham Community Action’s survey on Housing Needs has been received and sent to the councillors. Currently the survey is running at over 80% of respondents in favour of new ‘affordable’ housing. If the councillors want to see the final report Susan Tron would be delighted to return at some point to share the results with them.
4. The Weardale Museum has sent an on-line survey which will help in the continuing development of the Weardale Museum and Heritage.
5. An email has been received from a resident of the east end of Stanhope who for many years has been concerned by the speed at which the traffic passes the property. Some cars are exceeding the statutory speed limit very quickly after leaving the 30mph zone. Also, vehicles particularly motor bikes approaching the village from the east are often doing excessive speeds. Some years ago an extension to the speed limit was placed at the west end of the village by the addition of a section of 40mph limit beyond the 30mph limit. This practice has been put in place in several villages around the region, a good example being Fir Tree where 40mph limits have been added at both ends of the village on the A68 and on the B6286 towards Holden le Wear. The email has been sent to all of the councillors. Resolved: Clerk to send the email to Highways and to the Police
6. The deadline for submissions to Call for Sites consultation has been extended to Friday 5th September. This extension provides additional time for anyone who may still be preparing site information.
7. Tracy from the Weardale Area Action Partnership is leaving her job.
8. It was brought to the councils attention that there is regular fly-tipping on some land down The Butts in Frosterley.
Planning Matters
DM/25/02027/FPA Siting of ground mounted solar panels together with the associated creation of hard standing (part retrospective) Far Place Sidehead Westgate Far Place Animal Rescue. Clerk to send an objection letter to DCC on the grounds that it is not in -keeping with the area. It will be visible from the road; it will be an eyesore. Excessive number of panels. Must preserve the countryside.
DM/25/02062/FPA Demolition of existing agricultural building and erection of 1 no dwelling with detached garage Land North east of Horsley House Eastgate
DM/25/02150/LB Renewal of front door 1 The Butts Stanhope
DM/25/02152/FPA Alteration of existing French doors to hardwood sliding inline patio doors, to allow easy wheelchair access to the rear of the property. Adaptation of existing ramp to door, to fit new opening and creation of a ground mounted solar array to provide annual energy approximately equal to our average consumption to use in conjunction with existing Tesla Powerwall batteries Swealweseld 1 High Grain Cowshill
DM/25/02216/VOC Variation of condition 2(time to re-build wall) pursuant to planning permission DM/24/01838/LB to allow for an extended time frame to re-build wall The Bonny Moorhen Hotel 25 Front Street Stanhope DM/25/02316/LB Replacement of the existing front door with a new door to match the existing style and material 2 Butts Crescent Stanhope
Planning Permission Granted
DM/24/01022/VOC Variation of conditions 2 (approved plans) condition 3 (materials) and condition 6 (windows and doors) pursuant to DM/20/02778/FPA (amended drawings received 5th March) Agricultural Buildings to The South of Chapel House Wearhead
DM/25/01373/AD Installation of a circular sign approx. 100cm in diameter above the doorway 63 Front Street Stanhope
DM/25/01534/FPA Two storey side extension Virginia Cottage 6 Harthope Road St Johns Chapel
DM/25/01590/PA56 Prior approval for proposed building designed specifically for livestock Pursuant to DM/25/01145/PNA Westernhopeburn Farm Eastgate. Finance
1. The Scarecrow competition was judged on 19th August by Mr G Dobson from Wolsingham. The entries were really lovely and there are winners from all of the sites. The overall winner was from the Stanhope Old Hall site. Mr Dobson said the winner was a good old original Worzel Gummidge scarecrow. The winner of the children’s scarecrow came from the Westgate site. Prizes are : Years free rent for the overall winner. Goody bag for the children’s winner. A bottle of Bells Whisky for Mr Dobson
2. The bank reconciliation figures were sent to the councillors.
CDALC Nothing to report
Accounts for Payment S Anderson Salary HM Rev S Anderson Home as Office S Anderson Expenses DIRECT DEBIT Wave Daddry Shield Public Conveniences Wave Old Cemetery, Stanhope Wave Allotments Willard Grove EE EON Ashcroft Accounts moved.
New Matters for discussion
£925.81 £82.53 £35.00 £69.11 £89.27 £23.35 £90.07 £30.00 £23.66 1.
Cllr Lawrie mentioned the Planning Application for High Street, Stanhope. The photo that had been taken showed few cars parked on Graham Street. A resident will take a photo of the street when both sides have cars parked on it. Graham Street is narrow and the emergency services will never get into the proposed development; it’s a disaster waiting to happen. Resolved: Clerk to write that our objection still stands
2. Cllr Mrs Thompson mentioned the article four on multiple occupancy. Apparently this will not affect our area it will be Durham and the East Coast.
3. Cllr Turton mentioned that the save St Thomas Church Hall group will have a stand in the marquee at Stanhope Show.
4. Cllr Mrs Wright mentioned the changes to the Church and that individual comments can be sent in along with comments from the Parish Council. Resolved: Clerk to write
5. Cllr Mrs Sutcliff brought up the bridge at St Johns Chapel. The repair work will now take place during October half-term for two weeks. The work will be done this year.
6. Cllr Mrs Smart mentioned the Notice Board at Eastgate. Resolved: Clerk to chase up
7. Cllr Craig would like some more signage on the speed limit through Daddry Shield. Resolved: Cllr Shuttleworth will ask the question
8. Cllr Craig wondered if a “Keep Clear” could be painted on the road opposite the opening by the Hare and Hounds at Westgate. Resolved: Cllr Shuttleworth will ask the question
9. The councillors would like the heating on in good time for the October meeting. Resolved: Clerk to contact Eastgate Village Hall
Clerks Business Nothing to report
Meeting Closed at 8.10pm Date of next meeting Wednesday 1st October 2025 at Eastgate Village Hall commencing at 7pm
