14 April 2025 – Parish

HAVERAH PARK WITH BECKWITHSHAW PARISH COUNCIL

MINUTES OF THE OPEN MEETING HELD ON Monday 14 April 2025

Location: The Village Hall, Beckwithshaw

Present: Councillors – Cllr D Spence (Chairman), Cllr M David, Cllr Mrs S Swires

and Cllr N Hull.

Parish Clerk – Mrs J H Galloway

Commencing at 7.30pm the Open Meeting was held and 2 members of the public were present.

Apologies: Cllr A Ellis, Cllr J Parish, and Cllr Steven Swires.

Minutes of the last Open Meeting:

The approval of the minutes of the last Open Meeting on 8 April 2024 were incorporated into the immediately following Parish Council Meeting (13 May 2024).

Chairman’s Report:

Good evening and welcome to our annual open meeting.

During the past twelve months our team of councillors have met and worked together to represent the needs of our parishioners and fulfil the statutory obligations of a working Parish Council.

We have continued to engage a Contractor to maintain the grassed areas for which we are responsible and to maintain the Copse as an accessible space for the enjoyment of all.

We have worked with Contractors and NYC representatives to cut back hedges on the approach to Shaw Lane to ensure that the road signs remain visible.

We continue to report pot holes, broken signs blocked drains, overgrown verges etc to NYC and to respond to Planning applications

Thanks to the efforts of Cllr David and our Parish Clerk we have updated our website to make it more interactive and we hope everyone will make increasing use of it. I would like to thank everyone who submitted photographs illustrating Parish life and environment.

The new notice board we purchased last year has been fixed outside the Village Hall. The notice board is for the use of the P.C., the Village Hall and the Church and other community groups by arrangement with the Parish Clerk.

We have managed and maintained our Defibrillators at the Smiths Arms and the Squinting Cat. The Defibrillator at the Squinting Cat has been used twice and we hope it helped someone at a time of need.

We are endeavouring to work with TWM to repair/replace our speed sign.

We have liaised with Chris Blackburn NYC Highways Customer Communications Officer in an attempt to establish better lines of communicating our concerns regarding infrastructure issues. On the 26^th of February Cllr Ellis and myself met with Chris for a ‘walk’ through the Village and a drive through the wider Parish to identify outstanding problems/defects with roads, junctions, footpaths and verges, flooding, signage and overgrown hedges. We particularly pressed for a safe crossing in the village, the reinstatement of the rural footpath from the roundabout to the Cricket Club and improvements to the Shaw Lane junction. We are waiting for a response from Chris to see what works NYC is prepared to fund.

Cllr Spence has represented the P.C. at three meetings of the N.Y Strategic Planning Committee to voice and present concerns regarding the lack of infrastructure improvements being proposed by the Developers of the three Major sites in our Parish which have now been granted Planning Permission. We have particularly majored on safety measures in the village requesting a controlled crossing in the village and roundabout improvements and upgrading our lanes to a standard to cope with expected increased traffic flows all of which should be funded from 106 monies and not the public purse.

Looking ahead we need to interpret and understand the implications of the proposed boundary changes will have on our Parish.

I would like to take this opportunity to remind all Parishioners that you are welcome to attend our monthly meetings to raise and discuss your concerns.

Thank you for your attendance.

Comments/Questions from the floor: None.

The Parish Meeting closed at 8.00pm