Tarset and Greystead Parish Council

The local parish council is Tarset and Greystead Parish Council.  Tarset Civil Parish (CP) and Greystead CP lie within Tynedale, Northumberland in North East England.  They have a combined population of around 290, located in around 130 households (source Office for National Statistics, April 2001).

The Council meets monthly at 7.30 p.m. in the Village Hall at Lanehead (directions) on the third Wednesday of every month and invites public debate. Parish council meetings are publicised on the noticeboards at the Village Hall, Lanehead, in Tarset News and on the community events page.  Minutes of meetings from February 2011 onwards are available to download. The Parish Council website is regularly updated and continues to be a useful information source for residents and others seeking information about Tarset and Greystead.

Other parish council documents are available to download:

• Parish council contacts
• Standing orders adopted
• Policies and procedures
  • Complaints procedure
  • Exclusion of press and public from meetings
  • Freedom of Information model publication scheme
  • Grants and donations policy
  • Information Commissioner model publication scheme
  • Public speaking at Council meetings

The Clerk to the Council is Keith Murray-Hetherington.  Contact details for parish council business are:

• Telephone 07952 405 036
• Email tarsetandgreysteadpc@hotmail.co.uk

Government and community

The Office for National Statistics' website has maps of Tarset CP and Greystead CP in Tynedale non-metropolitan district.  Note these are different to the Church of England parish boundaries (of Bellingham, and Falstone with Greystead & Thorneyburn). Historical information is linked from the main community page.

There are also more detailed statistics from the 2002 census for Tarset CP and a neighbourhood summary for Tynedale.  Council tax is collected by Northumberland County Council.

The Parish extends over a total area of some 73 square miles of rugged countryside combining the two original separate parishes, now wards. The sparse population lives in isolated dwellings and farmhouses across the fells and commons with two hamlets at Lanehead and Greenhaugh, the latter has an excellent inn serving good food.

The fells are dotted with the former industry of the area in the form of medieval stone pits, lime kilns and 19th & 20 century quarries. Industry today revolves around farming and tourism, the area is large and peaceful and ideal for the “getaway” holiday. The ward of Greystead is mainly laid to productive forest.

The fells also indicate the turbulent past of the area. There is the ruined Tarset castle, there are old bastles (defensible farmsteads) including the Black Middens Bastle House just north of Greenhaugh. The pele towers (defensible houses) and many other ruins date back to the 15th & 16th centuries. Those defensible houses grew out of the rise of the raids of the Reivers, the lawless families that roamed the border areas. Some reiver surnames are still common in the area today like Armstrong, Charlton, Dodd, Elliott, Hetherington, Milburn, Robson.

Parish picnic

The parish picnic is held in the Greenhaugh allotments during the summer.

Allotments

The allotments at Greenhaugh are no longer in active use and the parish council conceived the idea of creating a fruit orchard.  The fruit trees were planted during March 2010.

Skills and training

The Parish Council has funded Emergency Life Support Training (ELS) courses for local people.

Emergency address notices

Emergency contact numbers and property national grid reference numbers have been distributed to every household.

Northumberland parish and town councils

Northumberland County Council's website lists the neighbouring parish and town councils.