LOCAL AREA COUNCIL ROUND-UP: Toilets, speed limits and elderly care

“They are much better now,” said Coun Guy Renner-Thompson, member for Bamburgh ward.

He also revealed that there are plans to install a defibrillator on the outside wall of the public toilets in Beadnell.

The possible introduction of timed 20mph zones near Northumberland schools is to be investigated further.

Flashing amber lights at school start and finish times are seen as a useful way of slowing drivers down to improve safety.

Coun Gordon Castle, chairman of the North Northumberland Local Area Council, had asked officers about them.

“I’ve found them to be very effective when I’ve seen them in other areas,” he said.

He was supported by other committee members and officers will now examine the costs involved.

Duchess’s Community High School in Alnwick was viewed as a potential candidate, while members heard a petition had been submitted calling for a 20mph limit near Lowick First School.

The council already has an ongoing commitment to introduce 20mph speed limits outside all schools, provided it is feasible to do so.

It is envisaged the Berwick Infirmary site could be transformed to provide specialist care facilities for the elderly and disabled.

That is the idea envisaged by healthcare experts exploring the idea of a new hospital alongside health, social care and leisure services.

Plans for a new four-bedroom, two-storey home, set into a hillside at Felton Fence Farm have been approved by Northumberland County Council.

The home, which will provide a view over the River Coquet and landscape beyond, was given the green light even though it is in open countryside.

Plans to build a single-storey, low-energy Passivhaus on land north-east of 26 Main Street in Felton have also been approved.

The scheme, by Richard and Carol Evans, incorporates simple principles of being airtight and highly insulated.