Skelton Cum Newby Parish Council

Skelton cum Newby Parish Council

Ordinary Meeting Thursday 31st March 2016 7pm in the Village Hall

Welcome

The Chairman called the meeting to order at 7pm and welcomed everyone.

Present

Cllr Peter Greenwood, Cllr Brian Derry, Cllr Peter Myatt, Cllr Philip Backhouse, Cllr Robert Windass, Cllr Nick Brown, Hilary Skevington Clerk and 10 members of the community.

Apologies

PC Waite

The Chairman reported that Jim Ramsden had died. Jim had been a loyal supporter of the Parish Council. The Chairman asked those present to stand for a few moments silence in memory of Jim.

1Resignations

Resignations have been received from Cllr Peter Myatt, Cllr Philip Backhouse and Hilary Skevington (clerk). The Chairman thanked both councillors for their long service to the Parish Council, and the clerk for all her work over the past year. It was hoped that Kath Rayner would take over as clerk.

2 Declaration of Interests None

3 Approval of Minutes dated 7th January 2016

The Minutes were approved and signed by the Chairman.

4 Matters Arising from Minutes

Village Maintenance.

The Chairman is still to meet with the Village Hall Committee to clarify roles of the committee and the Parish Council. Action: Chairman.

13 The Chairman explained that he was unable yet to deal with the drainage problems in front of number 29 as the weather had been so wet. He will however make sure this work, including excavating under the road, is attended to before the next meeting. Action: Chairman

15 Queens Birthday Celebration Arrangements. Newby has decided to hold celebrations on the Queens official birthday, on 11th June. A Beacon will be lit at Marton le Moor. Everyone is invited and refreshments will be served. It is estimated that the beacon will be lit around 10pm. More details to follow. Action: Chairman.

16 It was agreed to pay £15 a year for Dog Poo bags. This is to be paid by cheque annually at the AGM, to the women who empty the bins. A retrospective payment of £15 was made at this meeting.

A Newsletter was written at the end of January and distributed to the Parish.

5 Councillors Reports

Cllr Robert Windass

Cllr Windass explained the dilemma of regional devolution. At the moment no decision has been made as to which way Harrogate and Craven would go.

The waste site at Ripon is reducing its summer opening hours because of budget cuts and will now close at 5pm instead of 7pm.

Cllr Windass reported on the success of North Yorkshire’s schools. An Ofsted report rated North Yorkshire’s schools as consistently better than the national average, with 80% of Secondary Schools scored as good or outstanding, 86% of primary schools good or outstanding and 100% of Special Schools good or outstanding.

Cllr Nick Brown

Cllr Brown reported that Devolution meant that huge sums of money were at stake. He is concerned that if Harrogate and Craven join with Leeds they would be swamped and outer areas would get a poorer deal. York and the East Riding are keen for Harrogate and Craven to join with them. Negotiations are still at an early stage and no decision has been made.

Cllr Brown said that the Boundary Commission review would not affect Skelton directly but the Newby ward will have Bishop Monkton added and be renamed Bishop Monkton and Newby Ward. He is of the opinion that the name should be Newby and Bishop Monkton. Any comments on the proposed boundaries must be submitted by 4th April.

Harrogate’s 20 year Strategic Planning Review has been delayed by further work on the estimated numbers of new houses needed per year over the planning period. It is essential that this figure was robust to external challenge and was likely to be increased a little.

A question was asked from the floor about speeding. The main point being that substantial revenues,possibly £1million a month, are collected from people being caught speeding and having to attend speed awareness courses. If the point of this was road safety why was that revenue not made available to villages like Skelton to use on traffic calming measures? Cllr Windass responded that profits do go to road safety. Cllr Brown said that he would ask Julia Mulligan where the money goes.

Cllr Windass said he would raise the matter of the repairs to Bridge Hewick bridge again as it was now over a year since it was damaged. Action: Cllr Windass.

A question from the floor to Cllr Brown re grass cuttings being left after the council has cut the grass around the retirement bungalows. Elderly and infirm residents are not able to pick the grass up. Cllr Brown said he would look into it.

Cllr Brown finished by saying that in his new role as Mayor of Harrogate he would still be representing the Newby ward and vigorously promoting the attractions of the district.

6 Finance

The clerk circulated a financial report for the year 2015/16

The following expenses were approved: £120 subscription to YLCA, clerk’s expenses, the use of Autela for payrole, payment of tax to HMRC.

£155.44 VAT had been reclaimed. Grants of £450 and £900 towards the cost of the defibrillator had been received.

A balance of £2832.37 will be carried forward to next financial year. £2500 of that is still owed for village hall repairs.

It was decided to ask Jeff Newton to do an internal audit, with a view to getting the Annual Return in in good time. Action: Parish Clerk

7 Speeding

Speeding continues to be a concern. The clerk had investigated the cost of flashing speed signs and they seemed affordable but it is not clear if they are legal. Cllr Windass said he would investigate. Action: Cllr Windass.

The data collected by 95 Alive re speeding has not been received yet. It was thought that the outcome of the speed collection data wouldn’t be that useful as it was collected from around the school area where there were a lot of parked vehicles. The area of concern is the middle of the village but it wasn’t possible to set the equipment up there as there are no lampposts. The clerk was asked to contact PC Waite and remind him that he had promised to do checks in the village with a speed gun. Action: Parish Clerk.

8 Defibrillator

The Chairman thanked Cllr Windass for his grant of £450 towards the cost of the defibrillator. This was to be delivered during the week beginning 18th April. The Parish Clerk will liaise with Jane and Jonathan Moseley, who have volunteered to look after it. Action: Parish Clerk.

It was proposed to site the defibrillator on the Post Office to avoid having to apply for planning permission to site it on the Village Hall as it is a listed building. Newby Hall will discuss with the tenant of The Post Office, pay for the electricity used and arrange for one of their contractors to fit it. Action: Chairman.

9 Planning Applications: Newby Orangery

There were no objections.

10 Elections

Elections for councillors will be held on 5th May 2016. The clerk has nomination papers for anyone wishing to stand. The nominations have to be hand-delivered to the election Department of Harrogate Council by 4 pm on 7th April. Prospective candidates will need their electoral role number. This can be got from the clerk.

11 Pond

A path to the pond has been cleared. The drainage of the site is poor. The chairman said he would deal with it and also replace the gate to opening. Action: Chairman.

A member of the community has sourced some wood to lay as a walkway. The council approved a payment of approximately £130 for transport costs. The wood will have to be unloaded from the truck. The Chairman said if he knows when the wood is arriving he can organise a method of unloading it. Action: Chairman.

Newby has employed a man to tidy up the area. He will clean signs and pick up litter. He will also cut back the ivy at the pond and hang the gate. Action: Chairman.

12 Transparency Code

The following are now in place and are available on our website or on request from the clerk

Code of Conduct, Complaints Procedure, Publication Scheme, Risk Assessment, Standing Orders, Clerk Job description

The clerk submitted a draft Assets Register this was approved with one change and amendment. This is now available from the clerk and on the website.

It was decided that the New Financial Regulations would be reviewed after the elections.

AOB

It was agreed to provide a skip for use by residents, to be sited at Crowgarth. Action: Chairman.

Cllr Derry had contacted BT again about the Super Fast Broadband issue and is waiting for action over the next few weeks. Action: Cllr Derry.

The meeting closed at 8.30pm

Minutes submitted by: Hilary Skevington (Clerk)

Approved by:

Peter Greenwood Chairman signed …………………………………….…………….Date………………………………..