3/89 Minutes of the Annual Parish Meeting held at Town Hall, Settle on Monday, 29th April 2019 at 7:00 pm. Present: Town Cllrs Balsamini (Chair) Handford, James, Linley, Lord, Taylor and District Cllr Hull Clerk: Rebecca Hill Assistant Clerk: Ian Orton Public: 5 Chairman - Councillor Balsamini welcomed all present and declared the meeting open. 1. Apologies - Town Cllrs Bellfield, Catherwood, Presland and Wood. 2. Minutes of the Annual Parish Meeting 26TH April 2018 were approved. 3. Mayors Report 2018-19 Chairman Dan Balsamini In what will be my tenth year of being a Settle Town Councillor, I take pleasure in presenting the Mayor’s Annual Report for 2018-19. The annual report to the electors provides the opportunity to summarise the work of the Town Council over the last year. 2018-2019 represented a year of change for Settle Town Council. Local elections took place last May and 4 councillors were re-elected to the council. Through co-option this number now stands at 10 councillors and represents a good mix of experience in local politics and new comers with fresh ideas and enthusiasm to bring to the council. We do still have one casual vacancy so please get in contact with either myself or the clerk if you would like to find out more about being a councillor. We also gained a new deputy clerk in Ian Orton who joins us having previously been clerk at Burley-in- Wharfedale and brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to the town council which I’m sure will come in useful in years to come. It has been an exciting year as several big projects continue to progress. Late last year we completed the Castlebergh Crag Feasibility Study and Master Plan, the aim of which was to encourage greater use of the site by local people and visitors regardless of age, gender or disability. We appointed Newground as the contractor to carry out the study which coupled with a public consultation last July, has enabled us to create a bold plan to improve a fantastic local asset. We have recently secured £10,000 from Stories in Stone and The Yorkshire Dales Millennium Trust to start some of the works recommended in the report so parishioners can expect to see this project moving forward soon. We have also made significant progress with the skate park project, having secured £120,000 in funding required to start the build. The Town Council are pleased to announce that we have appointed STAL as the project manager in place to oversee this project to completion. 3/90 Minutes of the Annual Parish Meeting held at Town Hall, Settle on Monday, 29th April 2019. The Design and Build tender specification went out to 4 companies -Bendcrete, Canvass Ltd, Maverick Industries and Gravity Parks. Following a public consultation on the designs along with a recommendation report from the project manager the town council decided to appoint Bendcrete as the Design and Build Contractor. We have applied for planning permission for the lighting scheme and are working towards a completion date of October 2019. I’d also like to thank all the volunteers who have worked hard over the past 15 years to bring the project to life. Over the past 12 month we have allocated funding through our grants scheme to: £1000 – Settle Rotary Club for Settle Christmas Lights Switch on £500 – Gallery on the Green for their 10th anniversary event £221 – St John Methodist Church for keep clear marking £900 - Settle Folk Gathering for hire of Victoria Hall £612 – Settle Community Library for signage We welcome applications twice a year in February and September so please contact the council if you would like to apply. The Town Council continues to manage and maintain the 3 play areas, Settle Community Cemetery and Garden of Rest, The Pinfold, Millennium Gardens and we will also be taking ownership of the play area on Falcon Park in the near future once the necessary land transfer has been completed. The Town Council has completed some substantial drainage works on the Dog Meadow allotment site which we hope should resolve the issues that the site has had for a number of years. We are also investigating a water supply for the allotments at Cammock Lane, in the mean time we have secured a water bowser for the site which should help allotment holders in periods of low rainfall. The Town Council continues with our programme or repairing or replacing street lights across Settle. This is a longstanding project and will continue for some time. The Market continues to perform well given the changing the landscape of high street retailing. We have a healthy budget for advertising and recently took advertisements in Whitefriars car park. We are looking into more permanent signage for the market. We now have dedicated office hours if parishioners would like to speak to the clerk regarding council business, these are Tuesday 1pm until 4pm Wednesday 10am until 1pm Thursday 1pm until 4pm The Clerk can also be contacted via email: [email protected] or Tel: 01729 823617 I’d like to take this opportunity to thank all the hard work the councils staff do on our behalf of the town council as well as the people of Settle, who continue to make Settle a great place to work and live. 3/91 Minutes of the Annual Parish Meeting held at Town Hall, Settle on Monday, 29th April 2019. 4. County and District Councilors’ reports District Councillor Hull reported that during her year as Chairman of Craven District Council every attempt had been made to put Settle in the spotlight with an emphasis on local businesses promoting the town and working with young people to provide both additional facilities and much needed housing. Craven DC’s Market Town strategy included Settle and was being developed around three strands: An improved web site that was being developed with the Chamber of Trade, activities for Young People and building on the Settle imagery of market, buildings old and new and helping boost the local economy. The Chair thanked Cllr Hull for her hard work in promoting Settle. 5. North Yorkshire Police Report The Mayor introduced a report from North Yorkshire Police giving details of 1535 reported incidents in Settle, Long Preston, Hellifield, Horton in Ribblesdale, Stainforth, Langcliffe, Giggleswick, Rathmell, Wigglesworth and Halton West. Of the 1535 reported incidents North Yorkshire considered that there were 175 reported crimes covering 38 reports of Violent Crime, 37 accounts of Criminal Damage and accounts of Anti-Social Behaviour, Road Traffic Collison both classes as injury and damage only. Working with volunteers North Yorkshire Police are in the process of setting up a community watch scheme in Craven. The Mayor added details of a number of North Yorkshire Police Web Sites where volunteers could help support the work of the local police. 6. Castlebergh Crag: Masterplan The Mayor gave details of the progress with the Castlebergh Crag Masterplan outlining the role of the Scouts and Guides within the masterplan; adding that there were documents in the papers for the Annual Meeting and there would be an opportunity to ask questions in the Open Forum. 7. Castlebergh Hospital: Update The Mayor introduced a report giving details of the Castleberg Mobilisation Meeting held in April 2019. It was anticipated the new facility would be open in late July/early August 2019. District Cllr Hull added that to release land from the site for housing would generate funds for additional facilities to be developed within the site. District Cllr Hull added North Yorkshire CC were still investigating an option to move the GP Surgery and Clinic to the Settle Middle School Site. 8. Skate Park The Mayor gave an update on the progress with the Skate Board Park adding that the draft design was only the start of the process and thoughts on the final design were welcomed. 3/92 Minutes of the Annual Parish Meeting held at Town Hall, Settle on Monday, 29th April 2019 at 7: 9. Open Forum A member of the public stated concern about the agreed site for the skateboard park pointing out that as a former school governor he was familiar with the issues of allowing older and younger children to play in one small park area. The member of the public added that the middle school site adjacent to the swimming pool was much better and he had approached North Yorkshire CC who indicated they were not aware of the request to use the middle school site for a skate board park. Cllr Lord confirmed that North Yorkshire CC were fully aware of the request by the Town Council to use the site. Cllr James explained concerns about the Bond Lane Play Park and young people had been raised at the Drop in Session on 17th April 2019 but it was recognised very young children would be supervised while playing in the park. Cllr Taylor spoke of the consultation process that had led to the Bond Lane site and land ownership linked to Sport England Funding adding that a lot of thought had gone into ensuring the play park could be used by young people of all ages. Another member of the public spoke of the two play areas for old and young children in Skipton. A member of the public added he had two children and he fully supported the concept of a skate board park but wanted assurance that all other options for the skate board site had been exhausted. Assurance was needed that North Yorkshire CC still would not support a skate board park on the middle school site.