Election of officers
Nominations were invited for the position of chair. Councillor J Armsby was nominated for a second year.
Nominations were invited for the position of vice chair. Councillor N Flower was nominated for a further year.

Report from county councillor
County Councillor Kenyon reported that the county council had put significant resources into Oakridge CP School which seems to have addressed the problems there. As far as highways issues are concerned the maintenance of Hinderwell High Street and speeding traffic along it remains a problem as does parking in Staithes lower village.
There will be a meeting next week between county council and NYMNPA to try to resolve their differences over the Whitby park and ride scheme with NYCC wishing to negotiate and resubmit the scheme or having to consider appealing to the secretary of state against the decision by NYMNPA. There is a time pressure as the ring fenced funds cannot remain so indefinitely.

Reports from representatives on various bodies

Oakridge CP School
Councillor J Armsby reported that the school had a new head who started in September 2007 and that the school had come on in leaps and bounds since then. It has been removed from special measures and the latest Ofsted report placed it in Category One (skipping Category Two altogether) and that the next step was to achieve an outstanding rating. Pupil numbers are once again climbing, albeit slowly and although two children had left the school this was due to a move out of the area and not because of any problems at the school. The nursery is expected to be oversubscribed next year.
Councillor Armsby has been appointed as chair of governors and praised all the staff, pupils and the support received from Jane Kenyon and NYCC as well as John Thorpe, Diane Jeuda and everyone who had been involved over this very difficult and challenging period. The school, he is pleased to report, is once again the happy and well run unit it once was.
The older children will be sitting their SATS in the next couple of weeks and their results were eagerly awaited with the children expected to do quite well.
Chairman Mitchell offered his thanks and congratulations to Councillor Armsby and his colleagues for all their efforts at the school on behalf of the council and the community. Councillor Armsby felt that most of those sentiments should go to his colleagues but Chairman Mitchell felt he was being too modest.

Hinderwell Village Hall
Councillor Barwick reported that Hinderwell Village Hall was both active and viable and that over 25 organisations had used the hall last year. They were still running training courses (mostly for IT and over 350 people had received training there since it reopened. New drapes had been purchased and fitted in the main hall.
There are ongoing maintenance issues with the building contractors who are now refusing to return to deal with them but repairs must be made and a meeting was arranged with architects to see what they could do.
Chairman Mitchell offered thanks to Councillor Barwick and praised the efforts of everyone involved with the running of the village hall.

Affordable Housing Sub-committee
Councillor Mitchell reported that both of the potential sites in Hinderwell had now been lost as had one of the two sites at Staithes. The site at Staithes had progressed a very long way down the route before being completely vetoed by Yorkshire Water who absolutely refused permission to attach to the main sewer system.
The second site at Staithes is a brown field site and had originally been intended for around six homes. However, with the loss of the other site sit had been looked at again and an initial survey of the area indicates that if the total site were purchased along with the rights of access from the roundabout adjacent to bank top car park a total of 20-30 homes (over a prolonged period) could be built. As this is former industrial land, before any scheme can progress, a very detailed survey must be carried out to test for ground contamination and we are unsure at this time where the funding for this survey is coming from. HPC will continue to make every effort to progress this scheme. Chairman Mitchell offered thanks to the present owner of the remaining Staithes site for all his efforts in doing all he can to assist in bringing this project forward.

Staithes Harbour Commissioners
Councillor N Fowler reported that the harbour was still suffering from the movement of stones and slumping of the rock armour on the bell end. The harbour continues to silt up and they have spent their entire income for this year dredging the harbour at their own expense – Scarborough Borough Council are providing to be no help at all, certainly not in a timely manner. The silting can be a problem when it comes to launching the lifeboat but they now launch using a tractor although periodically this becomes stuck in the silt and the repair bills are large.
The fisherman's store now has lights, water and drainage very kindly donated by a local resident and six new moorings have been provided to users relieving the pressure on the existing moorings in the beck.

Clerk's annual report
The clerk presented her annual report to the council and this was accepted.
Chairman D Mitchell offered his thanks to the clerk for all her hard work throughout the year.

Annual financial statement
The clerk presented the preliminary year end accounts as they had not yet been finalised. This would be done and they would be available for inspection from the end of May.

Matters raised by the general public
Mr H Thompson raised the matter of the state of the cemetery particularly the turfing of newly opened graves and the lack of topsoil. Councillor Mitchell agreed to look into the provision and storage of a supply of topsoil at the cemetery. Mr Thompson also questioned the new storage building wishing to know whether it was necessary, whether it needed to be as large as it is and what was being kept in it.
Mr Thompson also questioned the closing of the back steps to St Hilda's Church and was informed that HPC have been attempting to obtain funds from Scarborough Borough Council as the steps have been regarded as dangerous for some time. Recently an elderly lady had slipped and fallen down them and the decision had been taken to close them until it could be addressed. All representations to Scarborough Borough Council had fallen on deaf ears and the council were now seriously considering some if not all of the cemetery back to Scarborough Borough Council to maintain.
The arguments for doing so were strengthened by the fact that Scarborough Borough Council were in the process of renegotiating all the model agreements and at a meeting on Friday 2 May with Scarborough Borough Council the clerk had advised Jim Dillon, CEO of Scarborough Borough Council that in its current new form she could not recommend that HPC sign up to such an agreement.
Mrs A Ellis asked if parishioners were being 'double taxed' with regard to the cemetery and the clerk responded that there may be a very small element of double taxation as Scarborough Borough Council had been extremely difficult to deal with when it came to finding additional funds for the major repair works that had been necessary. However, any overspends from the model agreement and cemetery income had been minimal and largely been offset by savings from other areas of the budget (ie the training budget).
Mr D Manship raised the issue of parking and inadequate double yellow lining in the lower part of Staithes and Councillor Mitchell reported that NY Police had agreed that they will ticket any vehicle causing an obstruction but that reporting and photographic evidence of the culprits would be necessary. PC Harry Baker agreed to work with HPC, Jane Kenyon and Nick West of Scarborough Borough Council to address the issue and a site meeting is to be arranged urgently.
Mr Smith raised the issue of dogs at Runswick Bay beach further to his attendance at last week's parish council meeting. The clerk and Councillor Dalton had both carried out their own research into this matter and had clarified things with Scarborough Borough Council.
Mrs Ellis raised the matter of vehicles along Hinderwell High Street parking not only on double yellow lines but also on the pavement such that residents in invalid carriages or pushing prams etc cannot pass. The clerk also observed that on occasions vehicles park so far on the pavement that a person cannot even walk pass sideways. The police are to look into this.
Mrs Ellis questioned whether minutes of HPC meetings were sent to the Whitby Gazette. The clerk confirmed that they are forwarded by post every month. Apparently the Whitby Gazette website is still showing October 2007's minutes. Chairman Mitchell confirmed that the minutes are sent and it is up to the Whitby Gazette whether or not they put them on to their Website. Mrs Ellis questioned whether they could be sent electronically and the clerk confirmed that they could but HPC do not currently have an email account or broadband. Mrs Ellis suggested that the clerk might like to avail herself of some IT training at the village hall.
Mrs Ellis asked whether councillors had seen the Quality of Life Survey and they confirmed that they had and believed it to be an unmitigated load of rubbish. Some of the comments made were nearly actionable, many were extremely offensive to various sections of the parish residents. Mrs Ellis felt that people were entitled to their opinion. Councillor Fowler agreed but felt that if they wanted to express such xenophobic and offensive opinions they should be prepared to stand up and put their name to it instead of remaining anonymous. The survey was carried out by the Coast and Moors Voluntary Action Group, who it was noted, did not provide any contact details anywhere on the report.