Little Longstone Parish Meeting – 15th July 2026
LITTLE LONGSTONE PARISH MEETING
ON AT 7PM ON WEDNESDAY 15TH JULY 2026
IN LITTLE LONGSTONE CHAPEL
***** DRAFT *****
Present: Local Government Electors for the Parish of Little Longstone entitled to vote at Parish Assemblies: Mr J Cotterill (Chair), Ms G Blair (Vice Chair), Mrs S O Reilly, Mrs J Gledhill, Mrs A Whittlestone, Mrs E Lee, Mrs C Cotterill, Mr J Stokes, Mrs R Edwards, Ms K Askew, Mr G Brooke, Mrs A Plowright, Mr A Edwards and Mrs S Stokes (Clerk).
Other attendees: District Cllr H Froggatt, Mr S Headington.
The Chair opened the meeting at 7pm.
23/26 Apologies for absence. Apologies were received from Mr P Davey, Mr and Mrs K Adamson, Mr and Mrs J Longsdon, C Leatherday (DDDC) and County Cllr A Sutton (DCC).
24/26 Declarations of interest. Electors to declare any direct or indirect financial interest in items on this agenda before discussion begins. No declarations were made.
25/26 Minutes of the meeting of 28th May 2026. The minutes were proposed by Mrs A Whittlestone and seconded by Mrs S O Reilly. Approved.
26/26 Public Participation. Period of up to 15 minutes for persons who are not electors to address the meeting. Individual speakers limited to 3 minutes.
District Cllr Froggatt highlighted that amounts are now available from the local projects fund, use the District Council website to apply for this. Can ask for any project, be it a noticeboard etc. Noted the amount has increased this year.
District Cllr highlighted she will be keeping an eye on item 12 on the agenda (Car park lease – item 34/26 of these minutes).
The Chair thanked the Cllr, and said her support would be appreciated and the PM will keep her updated on the above.
27/26 Discussion of Confidential Matters: (Public Bodies (Admission to Meetings) Act 1960 S1(2)) – The members decided that no items in this assembly needed to be discussed with the public excluded.
28/26 Appointment of Deputy Clerk: Proposal to appoint Simon Headington as Honorary Deputy Clerk to the parish meeting. Proposed by Mrs A Whittlestone, seconded by Mrs R Edwards. Agreed, all in favour.
29/26 Standing Orders: adoption. To consider and adopt Standing Orders for Little Longstone Parish Meeting. Resolution: ‘That the Standing Orders attached to this agenda be adopted with immediate effect.’
Simon Headington explained that most Parish Meetings had very small budgets and undertook little activity. Given the scale of the operations of Little Longstone it was recommended that the draft standing orders, circulated in advance of the meeting, be adopted. It was pointed out that this, and the documents in the next two agenda items, had been adapted from documents produced by NALC for Parish Councils.
Two minor points needed correcting from the draft:
- Within item 3f the reference should be to item 3e.
- The note below item 16e should say “seven clear days” and not “three clear days”.
Item 3u. There is no formal guidance on the number of electors required to make a meeting quorate. The figure of five electors was proposed as the number to be used by Little Longstone.
It was pointed out that the standing orders can be changed by the assembly at any time and that it was good practice to review them each year at the Annual Parish Meeting.
It was noted that items in bold text are legal requirements and should not be changed without first taking appropriate advice.
The Standing orders, with the above corrections, were proposed by Mrs A Whittlestone, seconded by Mrs A Plowright. A vote was taken and it was agreed with all in favour.
30/26 Financial Regulations: adoption. To consider and adopt Financial Regulations for Little Longstone Parish Meeting. Resolution: ‘That the Financial Regulations attached to this agenda be adopted with immediate effect.’
The Financial regulations were proposed by Mr G Brooke and seconded by Mrs E Lee. A vote was taken and it was agreed with all in favour.
Cllr Froggatt left the meeting at 7.16pm.
31/26 Complaints Procedure: adoption. To consider and adopt the Complaints Procedure for Little Longstone Parish Meeting. Resolution: ‘That the Complaints Procedure attached to this agenda be adopted with immediate effect.’
The complaints procedure was proposed by Mrs A Whittlestone and seconded by Mrs S O Reilly. A vote was taken and it was agreed with all in favour.
32/26 ICO Registration: To note that the Parish Meeting has been registered with the Information Commissioner (Registration number ZC188583).
33/26 Legal case threatened against the Parish Meeting, Clerk and Trustees:
The Chair put forward two resolutions, the wording of this had been updated since the agenda had been published.
Resolution 33.1 Original resolution: “For the Parish Meeting to instruct solicitors relating to threatened legal action against the Parish Trustees, the members of the Parish Meeting and the Parish Clerk.”
It was proposed that this be amended to:
“That the Parish Trustees of Little Longstone, as the body corporate through which the Parish Meeting holds its assets, are authorised to instruct Solicitors to advise on and respond to the threatened proceedings, as an exercise of the Parish Trustees inherent capacity as a body corporate to defend legal proceedings brought against them, and to cooperate fully with the Parish Meeting’s insurers. The Chair, as one of the two persons constituting the Parish Trustees, is authorised to sign any instructions to Solicitors on behalf of the Parish Trustees, subject to the prior agreement of the insurers where the insurers are handling the matter.”
Amended resolution proposed by the Chair and seconded by Mr G Brooke. Agreed with all in favour.
Resolution 33.2 Original resolution: “For the Parish Meeting to cover any legal costs incurred, that are not already covered by the Parish Meeting’s insurance, defending actions against the Parish meeting and the Parish Trustees and Parish Clerk, that relate to actions taken on behalf of the Parish Meeting.”
It was proposed that this be amended to:
“That the Parish Meeting confirms that the Parish Trustees are entitled to be indemnified from the Parish Meetings reserves for any reasonable legal costs incurred in defending proceedings brought against them in the course of their duties on behalf of the community of Little Longstone. This indemnity extends to any person who has previously held the office of Chair and acted as a Parish Trustee in connection with the matters giving rise to the threatened proceedings, and to the Clerk of the Parish Meeting, past or present, who has acted in the course of their duties on behalf of the Parish Meeting in connection with those matters. Any costs not met by the Parish Meeting’s insurance will be met from reserves. The Clerk is instructed to report on the costs position at each subsequent assembly until the matter is resolved.”
Amended resolution proposed by the Chair and seconded by Mrs J Gledhill. Agreed with all in favour.
34/26 Car park lease: To receive an update on:
34.1 Update on formal complaint submitted to DDDC. DDDC had notified LLPM that they had received a formal complaint to the disposal of the Open Space at Monsal Head.
34.2 Feedback on a Freedom of Information request submitted. Shortly after the last meeting an extensive request for information, that fell under the Freedom of Information Act (2000) and the Environmental Information Regulations (2004) was received. Responding involved a significant amount of work, primarily conducting an extensive document search. The cost to the parish, of responding, £786 in staff time and disbursements.
A lesson from dealing with this request is that the Parish Meeting might wish to consider developing a website so that documents such as minutes of meetings and other documents that might be of interest could be made more easily available.
34.3 A summary of the history of the car parking area
The Deputy Clerk explained that following questions put forward at the May meeting, and those raised by the recent FOI request, a detailed review of the Parish Deeds Box was undertaken. The key time line, as currently identified, was:
1921 – A letter commenting on the popularity of the Monsal Head View point and problems with uncontrolled trading followed by the Duke of Devonshire’s offer to transfer the land in question to the Parish Meeting so that they could manage the area.
1922 – The County of Derby (Little Longstone Parish Meeting) Order 1922, which gave the Parish Meeting powers to manage the area. The land in question was transferred to the Parish Meeting the following month.
1924 – Introduction of the first byelaws. Correspondence from this period suggests that the parking of vehicles was not considered to be an issue and that this exercise was to control trading. The current leasing of an Ice Cream Van pitch, on the Short-Term Car park appears to be a direct continuation of this activity that has now gone on for over 100 years.
1970s – The Peak Park arranged with the Parish Meeting to undertake landscaping works that laid out the seating/viewing area.
1980s – At the point the parking area was probably just “hard standing”. There were no walls along the side of the B6465 Castlegate Road or on the lane opposite the Monsal Head Hotel. This meant that vehicles could drive in and out from either road. There were concerns about the increase in traffic and visitor numbers and the risk from vehicles reversing onto the Castlegate Road. At this point the County Council widened the side road, between the car park and the hotel and changed the layout of the junction. The District Council took on a 25-year lease, from LLPM and they put in additional walls, created an entrance on the side road and tarmacked the surface of the car park.
1990s – A debate took place within Little Longstone about car parking at Monsal Head and after much discussion a formal poll took place on 24th August 1995, in which the community voted 57 – 9 in favour of allowing car parking at Monsal Head to continue. After this vote the Monsal Head Open Space Byelaws were updated, and this document was given formal approval by central government before coming into force on 21st January 1999. The Chatsworth Settlement confirmed in 1995 that they had no issue with the way in which the Open Space was being used and that they would follow the wishes of the community on this matter.
2013 – DDDC Lease was renewed for another 10 years.
2026 – The short-stay car park is now an essential part of the tourism infrastructure of the area and DDDC has reported that over 11,000 vehicles used it during the past year.
A key point that came out of the research is that whilst the lease of the car park to DDDC allows for a space, within the area, for the Parish Meeting to lease for the use of an Ice Cream Van, this right was not one that was given by DDDC; instead, it came from the powers granted by the 1922 order and the Parish Meetings own byelaws.
34.4 The current status of the lease signing. Chair reported – we are currently waiting on Derbyshire Dales District Council but hope to be able to bring the draft lease to the next assembly for formal approval.
35/26 Ice cream van pitch licence 2027-2029: The Chair reported that the Clerk will work with the Parish Meeting’s legal advisors with the aim to bring draft tender documentation to the next meeting, for approval by the assembly. The aim will be to advertise the next tender during the early part of the Autumn.
DDDC have confirmed today that electrical works are planned for October 2026, timed to coincide with the new payment machine installation (see late correspondence item 40/26). Once this work has been completed it will allow an option for ice cream vans, that can plug into an electrical supply to power their refrigeration equipment.
36/26 Policy documents: The Clerk was instructed to prepare the following for consideration and adoption at the next ordinary meeting.
36.1 Budget 2026/27;
36.2 Privacy Policy, updating the 2018 version for the current UK GDPR framework;
36.3 Data Protection Policy;
36.4 Freedom of Information Publication Scheme;
36.5 Records Retention Policy, updating the 2018 version;
36.6 Risk Management Policy and Risk Register;
36.7 Code of Conduct.
Note that Biodiversity and Tourism policies are to be developed in co-ordination with the Neighbourhood Plan Steering Group. The Neighbourhood plan group are always looking at others to help, if members want to get involved.
37/26 Financial matters
37.1 Bank Statements as at 30 June 2026
RBS Current A/C = £1,000.25
RBS Deposit A/C = £6,866.37
Bank statements noted. Member asked for figures from savings account – to be brought to the next meeting.
37.2 To approve payments since last meeting.
B Cardona. Mowing £1,095
J Cox Mowing £1,895
The payments were proposed by Mrs A Whittlestone and seconded by Mrs R Edwards.
37.3 To approve payments to be made.
Allen West and Foster Audit £430
Chapel Room hire £80
The payments were proposed by Mrs J Gledhill and seconded by Ms K Askew.
38/26 Planning matters – to review any planning applications received since the agenda was issued. None.
39/26 Any correspondence not covered elsewhere in the agenda. None.
40/26 Late Correspondence.
15/07/26 DDDC. Electrical work.
15/07/26 DDDC. Monsal Head short term car park.
15/07/26 Letter from a resident of Chelmorton containing 18 questions. Clerk and chair to consider how to respond.
41/26 Date of next meeting. August date TBC.
On behalf of the Parish Meeting a member thanked the Chair, Vice Chair, Clerk and Honorary Deputy Clerk for all their hard work since the last meeting. The statement was also supported by other members.
The Chair closed the meeting at 7.47pm.
Sarah Stokes, Clerk to Little Longstone Parish Meeting,
Longstone Byre, Little Longstone, Bakewell, DE45 1NN.
Tel: 01629 640851
Email: clerk@littlelongstoneparishmeeting.gov.uk
