Statement from Ennerdale and Kinniside Parish Council on Recent Misinformation

Following recent public discussions and statements, we wish to ensure that accurate information is available to residents. The following clarifications address misleading claims made regarding council decisions, legal matters, and governance.

Council Meeting Cancellations

Claim: The September meeting was cancelled unfairly, despite objections.
Fact: The majority of councillors agreed to cancel the meeting, due to the Clerk having worked excess hours dealing with various challenges from a very small minority of parishioners. There was no urgent business, and therefore the cancellation was viewed as a prudent cost saving measure. It was removed from the calendar before any objections were received.

Claim: The November meeting was cancelled and rescheduled without input from councillors.
Fact: Councillors were given multiple options, including holding a meeting with a locum Clerk or without a Clerk, or postponing. The majority, including Nancy Rowson, supported a short postponement of the meeting.

Claim: Meetings are cancelled due to the Clerk’s other work priorities.
Fact: No meetings have been cancelled due to the Clerk’s commitment to other employers.

Claim: The Town Council meetings are the day before the Parish Council.
Fact: That is incorrect, but also not relevant to E&KPC meetings.

Councillor Disqualification & Legal Responsibilities

Claim: The Clerk is responsible for preventing councillor disqualifications under Section 85 of the Local Government Act 1972.
Fact: It is a councillor’s duty to monitor their attendance and ensure they meet legal requirements. The Clerk has no obligation to track this on their behalf.

Claim: The Council wrongly ruled that absences due to COVID did not qualify as an approved absence and the LDNPA meeting did not count.
Fact: The terms "approved absence" and "qualifying attendance" have specific legal definitions. Because these criteria were not met, the disqualification was automatic in accordance with Section 85 of the Local Government Act 1972.

Claim: The Council failed to obtain independent legal advice.
Fact: Legal advice was obtained from a solicitor, as recommended by Cumberland’s Senior Legal Officer and was shared with councillors.

Claim: Public law allows for reasonableness and fairness.
Fact: Independent legal advice confirmed that the councillors were disqualified.

Handling of Complaints Against Former Councillor Taylor’s Bridge Construction Works

Claim: The Clerk forwarded complaints without giving the Taylors a chance to defend themselves.
Fact: The complaints were first brought to Mr. (Cllr) Taylor's attention privately, allowing him time to respond, before they were shared with councillors as required by procedure.

Claim: Mr. Taylor was reported to the police under the Localism Act.
Fact: The inference is that the Parish Council was involved. For clarity, this complaint was not instigated by the Parish Council. The monitoring officermade the report after Mr. (Cllr) Taylor refused to declare a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest (DPI) and leave the room during a discussion in which he had a financial interest.

Claim: Complaints were forwarded to external agencies without council approval.
Fact: The Council formally agreed in September 2022 (Minute 785/09/22) to refer complaints to the appropriate authorities. https://eandkpc.co.uk/media/Meetings/Minutes/2022/Approved%20minutes%20of%20meeting%2027-09-22.pdf

Claim: The Clerk’s actions were unauthorised and violated data protection laws.
Fact: Mr. Taylor submitted a data breach complaint to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). The ICO ruled that no breach occurred.

Defamatory Claims About the Council

Claim: The Council sent defamatory letters.
Fact: No defamatory letters were sent by the Council.

Claim: The Council falsified meeting minutes.
Fact: All minutes are approved by a majority of councillors before being signed as an accurate record. They are available for public inspection.

Common Land & Timber Decisions

Claim: Richard Taylor secured timber as an asset for the Parish.
Fact: He was delegated authority to confirm common land boundaries with Forestry England. Timber was never part of this discussion.

Claim: The Clerk took control of the timber discussions without authority.
Fact: The Clerk merely acknowledged an email from Forestry England's land agent and copied in Mr. (Cllr) Taylor. Mr. Taylor later chose to withdraw from the discussions, stating that he needed to do this himself, after the Clerk asked to be kept informed. He also issued a statement to the Council protesting that he’d had no contact with the land agent. However, the Clerk had copies of multiple emails proving that he had been in regular email and telephone contact with the land agent and had been attempting to arrange site meetings without informing the Clerk or the Council.

Claim: The Clerk authorised the removal of timber without council approval, resulting in a loss of £50,000–£100,000.
Fact: The Council debated this on a few occasions and eventually agreed to allow Forestry England to remove the timber. They had offered to leave the timber in situ, but there had been fears for safety and that it would become an eyesore. After the decision had been made and the agreement had been signed, the Council received an offer of £500 from a parishioner.

Parish Council Finances & Decision-Making

Claim: The Clerk’s salary has increased unfairly.
Fact: The Clerk has received only the annual national NJC pay settlement as contractually required. No discretionary increases have been granted.

Claim: The Clerk is in breach of her contract by working for another employer.
Fact: There is no breach of contract.

Claim: The Clerk was paid for attending a disputed meeting.
Fact: The Clerk’s timesheet, which was provided through a FOIA request to one of the speakers at the meeting of 27^th February, confirms that she was not paid for attending.

Claim: Expense claims are unchecked.
Fact: All expense claims are authorised by the council and supported by receipts.

Claim: The Clerk is not entitled to holiday pay.
Fact: The Clerk is hourly paid, and hours vary according to the workload. Holiday pay is calculated in line with national regulations and council procedures since 2016.

Claim: The public were excluded and asked to leave the room during the budget discussions. Fact: The budget was discussed in an open meeting and properly approved. The minutes are available here:https://eandkpc.co.uk/media/Meetings/Minutes/2025/Draft%20Minutes%20of%20Council%20Meeting%2021-01-25.pdf

Claim: The Council holds "secret meetings."
Fact: All decisions are made publicly in council meetings, except where confidentiality rules apply.

Claim: The Carlisle Monitoring Officer is currently investigating two separate Code of Conduct complaints against the Chair, including allegations of bullying and misuse of position.
Fact: A complaint was lodged in November 2023 and fully investigated. The final report in January 2025 found no evidence to support the allegations. If permitted, we will publish the full findings.

Claim: Despite evidence proving the letter’s falsehood, the Clerk and the council did nothing about a defamatory letter before the last election.
Fact: Mr Taylor was a member of the Council at the time and did not ask the Council to do anything. Despite this, the Clerk spoke to the Cumbria Association of Local Councils and Copeland Borough Council about the letter. They said that they could not take any action. They advised that if there was misinformation within the letter that related to the Council, then it could issue a statement to correct it. Mr Taylor had not provided any “evidence proving the letter’s falsehood”, and neither did any other councillor suggest that there were any inaccuracies within the letter that required correction.

Claim: Public participation is restricted.
Fact: Public comments must relate to agenda items, per NALC standing orders. Council meetings are to transact the business that is on the agenda and are not a public meeting. If you wish to discuss matters not on the agenda, please email the Clerk at least 48 hours before a meeting, and we may be able to provide you with an answer at the meeting, or in writing afterwards. Two individuals have been sanctioned, and are not allowed to speak, due to repeated unacceptable behaviour.

Claim: The Clerk is not responsive
Fact: The Clerk has received no correspondence from the complainant, so is unaware of what response is required.

Access to Accurate Information

To ensure transparency, we encourage residents to review publicly available meeting minutes, financial records, and policy documents on our website:https://eandkpc.co.uk/

We remain committed to fair, open, and fact-based governance. If you have any concerns, please contact Jane Ollerenshaw,Clerk@eandkpc.co.uk for clarification.

Ennerdale & Kinniside Parish Council
10^th March 2025

This statement is released in accordance with the Council’s Press and Social Media Policy.

Minutes from the meeting containing the incorrect information attached for reference.

You can find the latest edition of the Contact here.

Chairman’s Introduction to Parish Council Meeting 21 Jan 25

You may have heard rumours or seen social media spreading inaccurate conjecture regarding the disqualification of two councillors, Nancy Rowson and Paul Rowson, in accordance with the Local Government Act 1972.

The Council was challenged by members of the public regarding the non-attendance of Councillors Nancy and Paul Rowson over a 6 month period. The council meetings during this period were rearranged, and on one occasion, apologies were received from the councillors. The Clerk rebuffed the challenge as the councillors’ non-attendance was largely outside of their control. Further escalation of the issue required the matter to be referred to the Monitoring Officer at Cumberland Council and subsequently we were referred to seek independent legal advice.

It has been confirmed that both councillors are disqualified. It is regrettable that the councillors were unable to attend meetings, but the law is inflexible and leaves no room for discretion. It has been confirmed that their seats are vacant but there is no reason why they cannot apply for co-option back onto the Council once the waiting period has expired.

I wish to make it very clear that this is not a matter that the Council or any of us has chosen to pursue not least because there are ongoing matters with the Monitoring Officer which the public would be best served by having the Rowsons as councillors so that matters can be concluded.

It is fair to comment that the unexpected and unwelcome developments have caused a period of significant turmoil for the Council which has caused important business to be deferred while we took steps to ensure that the council operates lawfully. The meeting of 30^th December was cancelled as an inject from the Monitoring Officer’s team was received within an hour of the meeting and I was the only councillor who had seen it so it was unsafe for the meeting to proceed.

We now need to get on with that business, not least to agree our budget and precept for this year.

I remind you that public participation will consider only those matters which are on the agenda for decision and ask everyone to allow this meeting and fulsome agenda to proceed without interruption.

Please see the linked document from Cumberland Council, for details of lots of help available this winter.

Please see this link regarding proposed closures: https://www.lakedistrict.gov.uk/visiting/things-to-do/rowupdates/rowchanges

The meeting originally scheduled for 17th September has been cancelled. Apologies for any inconvenience.

https://planning.agileapplications.co.uk/ldnpa/application-details/80996

Please follow the link for details of the application

The feed for planning does not appear to be automatically updating on the website. This is possibly due to the new system being used by the LDNPA, but until it is resolved, we will post new applications in the news feed here.

https://www.forestryengland.uk/ennerdale

Please see attached document for notes from the meeting.

ACTion with Communities in Cumbria is working with the Lake District National Park Partnership (LDNPP) to ask a wide range of people about their views on transport in the Lake District and especially people's appetite for change.

We are starting from the perspective that change is necessary, due to - frustrations of visitors and locals, carrying capacity of the services, and the longer term impact on the environment that visitors – both local and wider come to see. But we recognise that change will be gradual due to resources and therefore needs a longer-term vision.

This research forms part of a wider research programme, the results of which will be used to inform LDNPP policy development on sustainable travel and transport.

Please access the survey here using this link https://online1.snapsurveys.com/TransportOptionsLakeDistrict

The Chairman's annual report to the parish meeting.

http://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/HWcoproduction

Please follow the link to a survey from Healthwatch Cumberland about public involvement in the planning of services - part of the Integrated Care Board's efforts around listening to and working with the community. It can be completed by community members in both Cumberland and Westmorland & Furness.

The survey is for residents as well as professionals in health, social care and the voluntary sector.

Please see the attached list of candidates for the elections on 4th May.

MAKE A CHANGE BECOME A COUNCILLOR

Are you passionate about your community? Do you want to help make a long-lasting change? Do you have innovative ideas for the council? Do you have concerns about a specific issue and want to do something about it? If this is you, then we need you. We need people from all backgrounds and experiences who reflect their community to put themselves forward for election. Make a change and become a councillor.

The Council wrote to Forestry England regarding the proposed methods for the beaver consultation as agreed. This letter and their response letter are both attached.

The Council wrote to Forestry England with support from Copeland and Cumbria councillors, requesting a meeting to discuss the timber lorry operations within the valley. Attached are our request and their response to this letter:

Acceptable forms of identification are a passport, driving licence, Blue Badge, an identity card with a PASS mark, certain concessionary travel cards, a biometric immigration document, a defence identity card and a national identity card.

Those who don’t have photo ID, can apply for a free Voter Authority Certificate, by 5pm on April 25, at www.gov.uk/apply-for-photo-id-voter-authority-certificate

If you require a Voter Authority Certificate and are unable to apply online call Copeland Council on 01946 598300 or email info@copeland.gov.uk.

It is with great sadness that the council hears of the passing of Cumbria County Councillor Arthur Lamb.

Arthur was a regular attendee at our parish council meetings and worked tirelessly to advise and represent the parish at county level.

Aged just 31, he passed peacefully in his sleep at home on Friday night, 20th January. Our thoughts are with his family and friends at this very sad time. He will be greatly missed by many people.

Don't forget everybody, it's hedge cutting season again. Please make sure to cut yours back so that roads and footpaths are kept clear and safe.

There is an online presentation and discussion about sustainable transport in the lake District. Please see attached document for further details and joining instructions.

https://www.change.org/p/save-frizington-surgery       Online petition to save Frizington surgery

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/Frizington                Please complete this questionnaire about Frizington surgery if you can.

Sustainable Warmth Cumbria - information about available grants.

As no election has been called for, we are now inviting applications for co-option onto the council to fill the vacant seat. Please see the attached documents for more information or contact the clerk clerk@eandkpc.co.uk

We've been asked by a couple of people why there was a big jump in the precept this year and where the money has gone that the council had in reserves. I hope this will explain, but if you do still have any questions, please email me (clerk@eandkpc.co.uk) and I'll try to answer them.

As part of the budget, Councils are also required to keep a general reserve for unexpected expenditure. This is advised as between 3 and 12 months of the planned expenditure, but as we are a smaller authority with no buildings to maintain, any unplanned expenditure is likely to be much smaller. As Responsible Financial Officer for the Council, I recommended that between 3 and 6 months would be adequate for our circumstances.

In April 2015, the Council held a reserve of just over £10,000. Annual budgets were set at around £8,000, so £10,000 was too high a reserve; it should have been between £2,000 and £4,000. At the same time, the Council was only requesting a precept of between £3,000 and £4,000, around half of the budget, and one of the lowest precepts in Copeland. Naturally, the deficeit between budget and precept had to come from somewhere, so this meant that the reserve was reduced over time. Our anticipated reserve at the end of March 2022 was around £2,500.

The Council was faced with the tough decision between keeping the inevitable precept increase to a minimum and providing minimal services, or accepting that the shortfall needed to be addressed and committing to actioning some of the improvements to the village that have been requested. In addition, as this is the Queen's Platinum Jubilee year, the Council wanted to ensure that funds were available to celebrate this as a community. Ultimately the Council decided that it was better to have the increase implemented in this financial year, so that people would be able to see the benefits almost immediately, rather than dragging the process out by making what would still be large increases, incrementally over a number of years, yet offering no visible return from it.

I hope that this answers your questions and while I appreciate that increases may not be popular, I hope that you can see that this has not been done lightly. Some items on the budget are a one-off, such as the Queen's Jubilee, and once purchased, planters and benches will only require mainenance, not replacement - for a number of years at least. Because of this, there may be a reduction in next year's precept, or we may find we have sufficient funds to be able to make bigger improvements. I hope you have already seen some of the changes as plans start to take shape. Don't forget to let us know if there is something that you would like to see happen and we'll see if we can help.