Skelton cum Newby Parish Council

Minutes of the Ordinary Meeting held in the Village Hall Thursday 23 November 2017 at 7pm

Welcome The Chairperson called the meeting to order and welcomed everyone.

Present Councillor Jane Mosley (Chairperson) (JM), Councillor Brian Derry (BD), Councillor Lawrence Paterson (LP), Kath Rayner, Clerk (KRR) and 8 members of the public. County Councillor Robert Windass (RW) joined the meeting at 7:40pm and District Councillor Nick Brown (NB) joined the meeting at 7:45pm.

1. Apologies – JM advised the meeting that Susan Gibson had resigned as a councillor. JM went on to propose that Jim Spillings (JS) was co-opted as a Councillor and this was seconded by BD. The vote was carried unanimously. JS joined the rest of the Councillors at their table. KRR to arrange for JS to complete the necessary paperwork to become a Councillor.

2. • 2.1 Declaration of Interests – None. • 2.2 Applications for Dispensation – None.

3. Approval of the minutes of the Extra Ordinary meeting held on Monday 21 August 2017 and the Ordinary meeting held on Tuesday 19 September 2017 The minutes were approved and signed by the Chairperson.

4. • 4.1 District Councillor Nick Brown – the draft local plan was discussed with NB advising that this is unsustainable due to the number of houses being built in Kirby Hill/Langthorpe. NB stated that here would be 855 in thirty-four secondary service villages with 50% being in Kirby Hill/Langthopre. NB advised that he had spoken out against the housing increase at a recent Harrogate Borough Council (HBC) meeting.

HBC have placed a six-month moratorium on the Motorway Service Area application.

NB stated that, if the site at Flaxby were to be developed for housing, this would relieve pressure on other rural areas. NB is in favour of this rather than the site at Green Hammerton. The heat generated by the Allerton Park waste site could be piped to any new houses as part of a district heating scheme. NB stated he is against the building of a sugar beet plant at Allerton Park.

There is still an issue with raw sewage in Langthorpe and . NB is to still trying to meet with the leader of HBC as he feels that Water should be taken to task over this.

• 4.2 County Councillor Windass – RW reiterated that the company wanting to build the sugar beet factory at Allerton Park have offered County Council (NYCC) more than 1 of 4

twice what the land is worth on the open market. RW also stated that NYCC have to act in the best financial interests of its residents. The sugar beet factory is subject to planning permission from HBC. RW stated that, once he has seen all the information, he will then make a decision whether to support or oppose the application but would take into account what was in the best interests of the electorate.

TransDev have changed the local bus route so that there are no longer pick-ups in Kirby Hill. As there is no longer a subsidy from NYCC, the service between and Knaresborough is now every two hours rather than hourly.

The local schools have had good GCSE results.

Concerns were expressed by the members of the public and BD on the inability of the local infrastructure to cope with the large planned increase in housing in Boroughbridge.

5. Ongoing Issues Information was received on the following ongoing issues with further action being agreed where necessary: • 5.1 Speeding: o Following pressure from both the school and the Parish Council, North Yorkshire Police have agreed that the site outside the village school can be added to the village speed watch programme. A meeting between the speed watch co-ordinator and the speed watch liaison officer is to be arranged to find a suitable place to stand whilst undertaking the speed watch. • 5.2 Village Pond o Work is progressing slowly due to difficulty in getting the people involved together over the winter period. A large willow tree has been removed, flowers planted and the bench repainted. The pond has no water in it due to a broken drain. BD to contact Newby Hall with a view to getting the drain fixed. • 5.3 The Skelton Combined Commuted Sums May 2016: o £776 for outside sports facilities – No contact has been received from the Cricket Club despite email chasers from the Clerk.BD to follow up. o £615 for amenity green space and green corridors – Agreement given for a bench to be placed in the recreation area in Crowgarth. Bench purchased and awaiting subsequent reimbursement from HBC. BD to arrange fixing of the bench. o £497 for cemeteries - No contact has been received from the vicar following the initial telephone call made by the Clerk. The deadline for submission of applications has been extended and a meeting has been arranged with Sean Wright from HBC to discuss how the commuted sums can be utilised. • 5.4 Village telephone box – Thanks were extended to Jim Spillings, Bernard Gallantree, Jonathan Clayton, Richard Littlefair, Gary Needham and Brian Derry for all their work and assistance during the renovation. • 5.5 The Reading Room is now under the care of the Parish Council. Bookings can be made via the booking co-ordinator (Jane Mosley) or by emailing [email protected]. The aim is for the bookings to cover the running costs for the Reading Room. • 5.6 There are new EU regulations relating to data protection which come into force in May 2018. The Parish Council now have the required Data Protection Officer, Data Protection policy and Information Inventory but have not yet registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office. The Parish Council are not alone in not having registered and the decision was taken to hold off registering until 2018 pending further guidance from YLCA/NALC. The adoption of the new Data Protection policy and Inventory was proposed 2 of 4

by BD and seconded by LP and agreed unanimously. This and all other Parish Council policies will be placed on the website. KRR to place policies on website.

6. Other Items for Consideration • 6.1 Historically, the grass cutting in the village has been done free of charge. Lately, the cutting has been sporadic and has led to a number of comments from the residents. JM to pursue. • 6.2 John Holt lived in the Old School House a did a lot for the village including re-gilding the memorial outside the Reading Room. He also wrote two books about the village and the surrounding area. The Councillors wished to honour John and a bench plaque is to be purchased. JM to action. • 6.3 The Parish Council were contacted by NYCC and advised that they may own a piece of land at Hag Pot, Skelton. LP has investigated this and the piece of land is up High Moor Road. LP to ascertain if the piece of land has any value or potential liability risks with a view to insuring it and also to ascertain the whereabouts of the deeds. • 6.4 No objections were received to planning application no. 6.46.69.FUL 17/04847/FUL Acorns, Skelton on Ure. KRR to advise HBC. • 6.5 The use of green gyms is very popular and cost between £600 to £1,000 per item. The Parish Council are to look into the possibility of using some of the Commuted Sums monies to purchase an item(s). LP to contact Great Ouseburn Parish Council for details of their green gym. • 6.6 The Parish Council are unable to locate minute books prior to 6 February 1992. Peter Greenwood has been contacted but no response has been received.

7. Financial Matters • 7.1 A budget forecast for the 3 years ending 31 March 2020 was received and approved. • 7.2 A bank reconciliation to 31 October 2017, which had been signed and dated as correct by Councillor Paterson on 21 November 2017, was presented to the meeting and approved. • 7.3 Payment of the following accounts were ratified: o R C Compton Estate £30.00 (half yearly Reading Room rent); o Yorkshire Water £21.20 (quarterly charge 30 August to 07 November 2017). • 7.4 Payment of the following accounts were approved: o Clerk’s expenses £35.39 (printing £18.46; telephone costs £16.93); o NBB Recycled Furniture £671.97 (bench for the playing field); o Councillor Mosley £44.19 (Reading Room items); o R C Compton Estate Account £2,500.00 (2nd and final instalment for 2015 village hall refurbishment); o Jim Spillings £388.68 (telephone box refurbishment costs). • 7.5 The reclamation of VAT for previous financial years re Reading Room costs is still to be actioned. KRR to action.

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8. Date of Next Meeting – Thursday 11 January 2018 at 7pm in the village hall.

The meeting closed at 8.41pm.

Minutes submitted by: Kath Rayner, Clerk Approved by: Jane Mosley, Chairperson

Signed Date:

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