Annual Meeting of the Bilton in Ainsty with Bickerton Parish Council
ANNUAL MEETING OF THE BILTON IN AINSTY WITH BICKERTON PARISH COUNCIL
HELD ON TUESDAY 13th MAY 2008
Chairman’s Report
1. / I welcome everyone to this meeting.2. / This is my report on the activities of the Parish Council (PC) over the past year.
3. / We have held 11 Council meetings during the year in Tockwith School and St Helen’s Church.
4.
4.1 / The business of the PC during the past year has covered the following:-
Planning applications – 17 received (previous year 14), of which three were withdrawn by the applicants, 7 were returned to Harrogate Borough Council (HBC) with objections (3 of these were refused), 2 were withdrawn, 1 approved and 1 pending. 2 applications were supported by the PC and were approved by HBC and 8 applications were returned with no objections, 6 of which were approved, 1 refused and 1 withdrawn.
Overall 9 were approved, 4 refused, 1 awaiting decision and 3 withdrawn.
The PC called an extraordinary meeting to discuss the concerns over the BCB Incineration plant development on Marston Moor Business Park.
The result of this meeting was a unanimous motion to support the Tockwith Residents Association in fighting the planning application. The PC has now agreed with TRA to fund specific studies in support of their overall campaign to oppose this development.
4.2 / The PC no longer receives planning applications associated with tree maintenance
4.3 / The Welcome Pack has been updated over the past few months and will be available for issuing to new arrivals in the community immediately after the new council is appointed.
4.4 / The PC was represented at the Consultation meeting with HBC held at Aldborough Village Hall. The PC representatives found this meeting disappointing as a “Consultation” meeting with little opportunity for meaningful interaction with the HBC representatives.
4.5 / There have been a number of meetings in the Villages with County Highways officials during the year. The roads within both Villages were repaired and resurfaced last summer.
Maintenance work was also completed on the surface of Rudgate by NYCC Highways. Leeds City Council carried out resurfacing work on their part of Rudgate but failed to repair the underlying structure, leaving a much poorer road than the NYCC section.
The PC continues to press for traffic calming measures on the B1224 and a speed limit on the B1224 through Bickerton. The bus service through Bickerton continues, despite occasional problems with parking obstructions within the Village.
4.6 / The maintenance of the highway verges within the Villages, continues to be managed by a local contractor on behalf of the PC. The PC take this opportunity to thank Tim Bilborough for the quality of his work and the improvement in the visual impact of the verges in the parish that he has provided.
4.7 / No significant new developments were reported by WARDEN during the last 12 months.
4.8 / The PC continues to support the development of a cycle track route to connect the two Villages with Tockwith and ultimately with Wetherby and York, but yet again no progress has been made with NYCC Highways.
4.9 / The bridleway gates in both Bilton in Ainsty and Bickerton have been installed but require regular monitoring by the PC and the community.
4.10 / The repainting of the rusting milestones has been raised with NYCC again
4.11 / The Parish Council is taking a more proactive approach for the disbursement of grants to local community organisations and will continue to provide support as appropriate.
4.12 / Construction of the Affordable Housing development in Bilton-in-Ainsty has still not commenced.
The PC have to question the effectiveness of HBC’s efforts in this area given that they over-ruled the PC’s objections when we could not see the need or justification for this development in a non-sustainable location.
4.13 / Risk Assessments for the PC’s assets were updated during the year and the insurance cover upgraded to reflect these assessments.
4.14 / The PC established a sub-committee to develop a set of Standing Orders and Financial Regulations. The work of this sub-committee was reviewed and approved at the April PC meeting.
These procedures now form the basis of how the PC operates and controls meetings and manages the financial assets of the PC..
4.15 / During 2007 the PC finance sub-committee proposed changes and extensions to the responsibilities of the Clerk that include the functions of Responsible Financial Officer.
The Clerk accepted these changes and these have now been included in the Clerk’s contract of employment. Through these and other actions the PC has addressed all of the recommendations of our auditor concerning how we manage the PC’s finances.
4.16 / The Parish precept that is collected for us by HBC, was held at the same level as last year.
The cash balance of the PC has increased primarily as a result of the income from the car park adjacent to the Chequers Inn.
The reserves have been reinvested in a 1 year bond to maximise the value of the reserves.
4.17 / NYCC Highways Department continues to be the service provider that the PC have found the most difficulty in achieving progress with when dealing with problems and future plans. We are working closely with John Savage our District and County Councillor and we are hopeful of achieving improvements during the coming year.
4.18 / The service from NY Police has noticeably changed and improved since the new Chief Constable Graeme Maxwell has started to implement his changes to rural policing.
The Community Policing team have significantly increased their visible presence and particular thanks go to PC Paul Haydon for his attendance at our meetings.
4.19 / The largest single project that was overseen by the PC during the past two years, was the commitment to develop a Parish Plan. The Parish Plan was launched at a public meeting in the Chequers Inn on 26th June.
Copies of the Parish Plan have been distributed to all of the key service providers for our community including HBC, NYCC and NYP.
All of the recipients have commented very positively on both the quality of the content and the professionalism of the final report.
We now need to build on this outstanding effort by the steering committee and the community in order to build and enhance these partnerships, in particular with the District and County Councils and other funding agencies and encourage community activities and self help to achieve the objectives set out in the Parish Plan.
Once again, thank you to all the members of the Parish Plan Steering Committee for their commitment and endeavour in producing the Plan and to Jo Buffey of YRCC in supporting them. Thanks also to Heritage Lottery Fund’s Awards for All, for the grant that has supported this work. Finally, thank you to all of the community in the Parish, for supporting this initiative and we look forward to continuing support during the implementation of the action plans.
4.20 / A sub-committee of the PC has managed the development of a web site for the Parish Council and this is now ready to go live.
This will facilitate improved communications and provide a more open availability of PC documentation to the community.
Particular thanks go to Rob Loach for leading this sub-committee.
5. / The following Councillors served during the year:- Cllrs D J Gill, S Gray, R Loach, L J Paul, E B Pope,
T Smithson, and myself as Chairman.
Rob Loach is standing down as a Parish Councillor due to personal and work commitments.
I would like to thank Rob for his support during the past year.
5.1 / I and all the members of the PC offer our thanks to Trevor Grant for his work as both our Clerk and Responsible Financial Officer over the past year.
We have continued to see a notable improvement in the quality of administration since his appointment as Clerk.
5.2 / Councillor John Savage has represented both Harrogate District and North Yorkshire County Councils for the past twelve months and has achieved a very high level of attendance at our PC meetings.
John has represented our interests and lobbied on our behalf most effectively over the past year.
Thank you to John for his personal commitment and we look forward to continuing this strong working relationship.
5.3 / The PC and Parochial Church Council (PCC) funded the installation of a memorial of lime trees to Tom and Margaret Pick in the spring of this year, in recognition of over 50 years of service to the local community.
The PCC and PC are to fund a dedication to Tom & Margaret in the Book of Remembrance at St Helen's Church, using wording agreed by both organisations
5.4 / Mazars Accountants have continued to act in auditing and approving our accounts. Mr Alan Pennington of Clifford PC has continued in his role of our internal auditor and we thank him for his services and advice.
5.5 / Once again this has been a very busy year. The consultation process used in developing the Parish Plan has identified a number of key areas that the PC and the community need to address during the coming years and we now have a clearer view of the priorities of these issues. The PC believe that we have represented the community fairly in our dealings with HBC, NYCC and other bodies during the last 12 months. Even though some issues take longer to resolve that we would hope, the outcomes have generally been in the best interest of the whole community. We believe that we have a successful organisation both working for the community and with good financial stewardship.
Finally I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of my colleagues on the PC for their help, commitment and support over the past twelve months.
B J Smythe Chairman of the Parish Council
13th May 2008