Announcements

The Council next meets on Monday 12th May – please click on the link below for a copy of the agenda

140512 Agenda

Northumberland County Council has introduced new local telephone numbers should you need to get in touch with the Council.  The number to call from Riding Mill is

01434 400388

The existing number 0845 600 6400 is still valid but can incur high charges from certain telephone service providers.

Notice from Northumberland County Council:

As you may be aware the bridge across the river Tyne at Corbridge is to be closed to road traffic, starting on Thursday 23rd January at 9 am.  The closure will be in place from 9 am to 3.30 pm on Mondays to Fridays, until 14th February.

During the periods of closure local buses which normally cross will be unable to do so.  Buses on Go North East route 10 (Hexham-Newcastle) will omit their diversion into and out of Corbridge village and call near the Lion roundabout, on the south side of the river.  Buses on Go North East routes X84 and X85 (Hexham-Newcastle), also Arriva 85 and Stagecoach 685 (Carlisle-Newcastle) will run via the A69 between Hexham and Corbridge; they will call near the Angel on the north side of the river but omit their usual stops on the south side.

Access for pedestrians across the bridge will be maintained at all times.

To assist with travel across the bridge NCC have arranged a wheelchair-accessible minibus to run between Hill Street in Corbridge, and the Angel, across the A68 bridge to Riding Mill, with a connection there with buses on Go North East route 10.  This bus will run hourly during the period of closure of the bridge at Corbridge.

NCC have arranged for notices with details of these arrangements to be placed at the bus stops affected, and have asked the bus operators to ensure information is available through their usual channels. 

21.01.14

Superfast broadband update

There should be announcements shortly in the press about a more detailed timetable for the rollout. The tentative plan for Riding Mill is for us to get it between June and September this year.  Everyone currently has a direct line to the exchange so the plan will be to just directly upgrade that exchange. The default will be for everyone to get access to FTTC with faster FTTP  potentially available on demand to individuals to wanted to invest in that.  If there was a whole group of people  living close together wanting FTTP then potentially costs would be lower as the engineers would only need to dig a trench once [FTTP  has cable all the way to the home,  whereas FTTC  uses the existing copper cable from the exchange].

The core village should be covered in this initial rollout, around 380 properties. The outlying houses  may still  get a speed bump,  even if not reaching superfast speeds, by virtue of the exchange being upgraded (the signal degrades the longer the copper wire is).  There may be subsequent specific solutions for the further away properties, but this will be dependent on the exact geography and money left in the pot.  For example it is likely that the main cable route will run parallel with the A68,  so it will be easier to put a break in and feed properties close to the A68.  For Slaley road  properties things should be clearer when the engineers look at what existing cabling and ducting there is.

We are currently looking for new ideas for change on the website and so any thoughts or ideas would be gladly appreciated. Please comment these ideas on this post.

We are also looking to update the photos on the website so if you have any that you think would fit on the website then can you send them to me at:

josh.turner@nw1design.com

The Parish Council has been notified that the signs are not functioning correctly and would like to compile a report of all such instances to send to the installers. 

 If you notice the signs flashing when there are no cars about or failing to trigger on other occasions please report such events to the Parish Clerk by either emailing her at ridingmillclerk@gmail.com or through the contact page on this website. 

 Thank you

The Village Shop will be closing at midday on Saturday 30th November.  It is not expected to re-open for at least a month.  When there is firm news, it will be posted on the notice boards and put on the village website, ridingmill.org.  Alternative arrangements for the medical basket are being explored. It would be helpful if you indicated to the Surgery if this is an important service for you.

For a copy of the agenda of Monday’s meeting please click on the link below:

131111 Agenda

FOR INFORMATION:

www.northumberland.gov.uk

The Northumberland County Council website has undergone some recent changes.  It has been redesigned based on customer feedback to make it much easier to complete the tasks that people want to do online.

• Parking
• Pest control
• Bins, recycling and waste disposal
• Report a pothole
• Report a missed bin
• Report a street light
• Grass cutting
• Report fly tipping
• Bin collections (and new online bin collection date checker)
• School term and holiday dates
• Adult learning
• New website for schools music service
• ‘What to do in Northumberland’
• Bereavement guide
• New Morpeth Bypass website
• ‘Your councillors, your council’ – local democracy page
• About the council (budget, structure etc)

WELCOME TO THE NEW CLERK

The Parish Council is delighted to welcome Catherine Harrison as the new Parish Council Clerk. Catherine will be starting work on Monday 16^th September.

From that date all formal communication with the PC should go through the Clerk. Catherine can be contacted on ridingmillclerk@gmail.com or at 10 Church Close, Riding Mill, Northumberland, NE44 6DP.  Where possible please give the new Clerk some time and space to organise materials and settle into the post.

The lead Councillors dealing with particular areas are as set out in the minutes of the May 2013 meeting posted above (with the exception of former Cllr Howe). Parish Councillors may be consulted individually on an informal basis.

Malcolm Reid,  Chairman                         14^th September 2013