A PARISH council says it will refer its row with Hambleton District Council over the upkeep of its cobbled town centre to the secretary of state.

A seven-year dispute over responsibility for maintaining Stokesley’s cobbled town centre conservation area recently came to a head when the town’s manorial lands trustees, made up of councillors, said they would no longer wait for permanent repairs to be carried out.

Many cobbles along the high street are missing or loose. Two large stones were recently knocked out by a passing car, narrowly missing some pedestrians. Both councils agree repairs need doing but who is responsible for those repairs is the subject of dispute.

Stokesley’s manorial lands trustees lease the high street land to Hambleton and says the terms of the lease state the cobbles should be maintained in the condition in which they were handed over.

But Hambleton council says the area is in need of wholesale repairs and according to the terms of the lease, that is the responsibility of Stokesley.

At the town’s parish council meeting last night the council decided it would refer the issue to the office of the Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Owen Paterson.

The meeting heard Hambleton had offered an informal meeting between a Hambleton council officer and a colleague, the chairman of Stokesley council and another Stokesley parish councillor.

Parish council clerk Jackie Wheeler told the meeting Hambleton wouldn’t agree to a meeting with a formal agenda, adding: “They feel informally they could come to an agreement.”

This offer was roundly rejected.

Chairman of the council, Andy Wake, said: “I personally am not happy with an informal meeting. We have to take it to the next level.”

Coun Mike Canavan said: “We need a full, written response. It has to be a statement of their position. I think the approach that they’ve adopted is not one which is encouraging and not professional.”

Coun Phil Wardle said: “This is a conservation area which is being undermined.”

The council decided to send a letter back to the district council, rejecting the offer of an informal meeting over the matter and then formally writing to the Secretary of State for the Environment over the issue.