The meeting was opened, with Clr. Hirst in the chair. Several councillors were away, so the meeting was a little sparse this month. The previous minutes were accepted, with no matters arising.

Mr. Barton reported on Backdale Quarry, stating that the situation had changed little in the last few months. Following the judicial review, RMC are required to submit an environmental assessment by January 2000, but as they are no longer interested in quarrying at Backdale, it would be unlikely that they would want to do this. RMC would probably prefer to pass the issue on to another company and end their involvement. Nothing definite is known, and everything is still in limbo.

Planning approval was given for a conservatory Glebe Court, but with objections to a part of the proposal. The installation of roof lights at Orrs Farm was also objected to. PPPB approval of an extension at Honeysuckle Cottage was noted.

Financial Matters: Various minor payments were approved for payment. The Clerk reported to the council that he was having problems sorting out some of the transactions related to the Village Hall improvements, and so the completion of the accounts for last year would be delayed.

On the Village Hall front, Clr. Askew reported that the Art Show had returned a healthy profit. Some of the proceeds had already been donated to various local organisations, and some more monies remained to be distributed.

In the absence of Clr. Fawcett, the Playground Equipment and Millennium items were held over until next month.

Work on the Village Cross was almost completed, only the retaining straps needing to be fitted. Although the new stone looks a little out of place, the mason has said it will rapidly weather and blend with the rest of the cross.

Mr. West has contacted the PPPB about the Allotment Land, and the PPPB have said that grants will be available for improvement of the allotments will be available. The transfer to the Parish Council has not yet taken place, but it is hoped there will be progress very soon.

Following a site visit, the Council has decided that a new Notice Board is required, as renovation of the old will not suffice. This will be further discussed at the next meeting, to draw up a specification of requirements in order to get quotes for the work.

On the Recreation Ground, the Cricket Club has removed the steelwork on the old nets. There was some confusion about overhanging trees, but a local contractor will be asked to cut back a tree on the ground that is overhanging adjacent property. The issues of dogs loose and dog fouling on the recreation ground was raised. As all of the ground is used for sport or as a children’s play area, this is a particular problem. Several councilors were puzzled as to where the signs on every entrance about the restrictions on dogs had gone. It was resolved to install new signs and the Clerk was instructed to contact DDDC to obtain advice on signing.

A reply has been received from the county Trading Standards office in response to the council’s letter about Turners. The reply was described as "as unhelpful as it could have been" and did not contain any information to add to that already known. The PC felt there was no particular problem at the moment, but will continue to monitor the situation.

Parking outside the Post Office was not felt to be any problem except at the peak times of school starting and ending, which was only to be expected. However, Clr. Fawcett would be asked to raise the issue of car use again, at the next school governors meeting.

Three quotes have been obtained for resurfacing Feemouth Yard, but as this work also involves part of the churchyard, for which the Chuch will contribute, the Church authorities have to be involved. They have asked for more quotes to be obtained. Clr. Finney pointed out that this issue has been ongoing for months and that the Feemouth Yard work really needed doing as soon as possible. The council thought that to do this work separately to the other work would raise the cost, and so it would have to wait until the whole could be done in one go.

A response from DDDC has been received following the council’s letter of complaint about grass cutting on the verges. The DDDC is contracted to do five cuts per year, but this year the early cuts had been delayed by bad weather, thus letting the grass grow unchecked. The DDDC claim their cutting is now back on schedule, and the verges should be maintained satisfactorily. Several councilors disputed this claim, and felt that the DDDC’s performance was poor, and not for the first time. Paying for extra mowings was briefly discussed, but the cost was thought to be excessive. Several councillors thought that the current level of maintenance on verges was not good enough, and alternatives should be explored. The issue of dog fouling on verges and paths was again discussed. Although the village greens have become noticeably cleaner in the past few weeks, there are areas of the village which are still suffering this unpleasant problem. The council discussed whether "name and shame" would be an acceptable means to tackle this problem, but decided against this at present. It was felt that taking any action against dog owners was down to individuals seeing the fouling happening, who should contact the local Environmental Health Officer with details.

Various correspondence has been received, including a copy of the modified Local Plan, from the PPPB. This covers many aspects of local life such as road traffic, mining, tourism, and is worth reading. It should be available in Bakewell Library. Longstone has won an award in the Best Kept Village competition, and will receive it at a presentation on 29^th September.