FERRIBY CONSERVATION SOCIETY

Minutes of the Committee Meeting

held at 10.30 a.m. on Monday, 26th January 2015

at 15, The Triangle, North Ferriby

Present:Brian Bannister (BB), Chairman

Thelma Bannister (TB), Treasurer

Margaret Swindin (MS), Secretary

Jean Henderson (JH)

Rosemary Suddaby (RS)

Marigold Vodden (MV)

Apology for Absence: An apologyhad been received fromKay Laister (KL), Planning Secretary

  1. Minutes of Meeting held on Monday, 6th October 2014

The Minutes of the previous meeting, whichhad been circulated, were accepted as an accurate record of the proceedings.

  1. Matters arising from the Minutes

There were no matters arising which would not be covered elsewhere on the Agenda.

  1. Ings Fields

BB read a letter which he was proposing to send to the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust seeking advice on preserving the wildlife in the Reed Pond when it was emptied at the end of July/beginning of August to enable the reeds to be cleared; this enquiry might have the added advantage of re-awakening their interest in the Fields. With regard to refilling the Pond after the reed clearance, BB had written to Yorkshire Water to enquire whether it might be possible to pump out water from the overflow storage tank for this purpose as it would not be possible to fill the Pond completely from the Humber via the sluice. RS commented that it would have refilled naturally with water draining from the top of the Fields had outlet valves been fitted through the flood wall from the gardens in the The Pickerings and Old Pond Place. JH suggested that Steve Martin of the North Cave Wetlands might be able to help with queries about the wildlife. The work on the pond had to be completed by the end of 2015 to comply with the conditions of the WREN grant.

  1. Finance

TB reported that all members except one had now paid their subscription. The outgoing Treasurer had handed on £17.71 as cash in hand and, with the subscription money, cash in hand was now £63.71. The bank balance remained at £447.48.

  1. Planning Developments

KL had prepared a report on planning developments which MS read:

a)Land South of 117-123 Ferriby High Road: An application for permission to build a house, south of the one allowed by the Planning Inspector, has been refused.

b)Land South of 125 Ferriby High Road: The application to build a bungalow has been refused.

c)Land West of 73 Swanland Hill: This application to build a detached dwelling with new vehicular access has been refused.

d)Site of Former O.K. Roses Nurseries, Ferriby High Road: Outline permission to build a car showroom, M.o.T., paint shop, servicing and off-road visitors’ parking and display has been granted.

e)Granddale Garage, 135 Ferriby High Road: A re-submitted application to demolish the present buildings and build three houses has been granted.

f)Land East of Wilson Close: Outline planning permission to build up to eighteen dwellings has been granted.

g)Yorkshire Larder, 5 Low Street: The owners have applied for a change of use to offices with a new shop front and the erection of a single-storey extension to the rear (south side). There have now been two amendments, the second because the E. R. Conservation Officer objected to the proposed new frontage.

h)Land East of 36 New Walk: This outline application is for two semi-detached three-bedroomed houses. *

i)Land East of 61 Woodgates Lane: Another outline application to build one new dwelling has been submitted. *

j)Land North-West of 32 Melton Road: (The previous application –made in November 2012 but not yet built - was granted in February 2013.) Thisapplication is to build one new dwelling with anintegral garage. *

* No comments have been sent to the Planning Department on these applications.

FORWARD PLANNING: E.R.Y.C. Local Plan – the Inspector had decided that it was illegal to impose a cap on the number of houses to be built in certain villages and that the 10% increase in housing stock should apply overall. This means an increase from 85 to 160 new houses in North Ferriby. BB clarified that East Riding was considering an appeal against this, but had to prepare for the plans to be modified in case the appeal was not successful. The St. Modwen appeal with regard to housing west of the village had gone through the due processes, but the developers had delayed publication of the findings by announcing an investigation into possible pollution of the land. It was suggested that this might be to avoid the decision being made until after the election in May, when there might be a change of Government with a Minister more amenable to the developer. The East Riding Council was concerned to get the Local Plan approved as quickly as possible because if there was not a Plan in place the Minister tended to favour the developer. East Riding was proposing that the additional 75 houses should be on land off Ferriby High Road opposite Tithe Farm, an extension to the original allocation. BB felt that it would be preferable to locate this housing further south, adjacent to the land at the end of Wilson Close, but said that the landowners were unwilling to release land if the access was across land owned by another party.

  1. Village Trusts

BB had been working on the Playing Fields documentation and had completed from circa 1670 to 1980. He hoped to complete this soon, which would mean that three would be finished, the other two being the Village Hall and the Allotments. The remainder were the Riverside Walkway, Reed Pond, Coronation Gardens and War Memorial. BB clarified that the Trust Deeds were already in place, some in Beverley and others elsewhere, and it had been suggested by Peter Greenfield a few years ago that it would be useful to have them all in one volume.

  1. Correspondence

BB was pleased to report that he had received a response to the three letters he had sent within the past year to Plantlife. However, the response was to the effect that the correspondent had seen on the Ferriby website that the Ings Fields were subject to a management agreement between Natural England, the local authority and the owner, which was not in fact the case. RS had been present when the agreement had been signed and recalled that, although a lady from Natural England had been very supportive, the signatories were Beverley Borough Council and the developer. BB and TB would go through the files and see what they could find.

  1. Any other Business

BB told the meeting that Kay Laister had indicated her intention to stand down as Planning Secretary at the AGM on 13th April. He still had in mind the possibility, after the conclusion of the St. Modwen appeal, of forging some kind of collaboration with the Save our Ferriby group, whose aims were largely the same as those of the Conservation Society.

  1. Date and Time of next Meeting

The next meeting of the Committee would take place on Monday, 23rd March 2015 at 15 The Triangle.

Margaret Swindin

27thJanuary, 2015