8 April 2024 – Parish

HAVERAH PARK WITH BECKWITHSHAW PARISH COUNCIL

MINUTES OF THE OPEN MEETING HELD ON Monday 8 April 2024

Location: The Village Hall, Beckwithshaw

Present: Councillors – Cllr D Spence (Chairman), Cllr A Ellis, Cllr J Parish, Cllr Mrs S Swires and Cllr Steven Swires..

Parish Clerk – Mrs J H Galloway

Commencing at 7.30pm the Open Meeting was held and 3 members of the public were present.

Apologies: Cllr M David and Cllr N Hull.

Minutes of the last Open Meeting:

The approval of the minutes of the last Open Meeting on 11 April 2023 were incorporated into the immediately following Parish Meeting (9 May 2023).

Chairman’s Report:

Good evening and welcome to the annual open meeting.

During the past year our councillors have grown together to become an increasingly integrated team in pursuit of the interest of our parishioners.

We have continued to maintain the grassed areas which fall within our responsibility. Engaged specialists to work in the Copse to ensure the health and safety of the trees and to comply with our insurance liabilities. Leaves, overgrown hedges and rotting vegetation in the area close to the roundabout and Copse have been cleared which will now be an annual undertaking.

We would like to thank Steven McEwan for clearing the footpath from Shaw Lane junction into the village making it safer for all users.

We are pleased to report a positive response from NYC to requests to clear the footpath from Harlow Carr to the village.

Cllr Jo Parish has continued her work with the “20’s Plenty” campaign to introduce 20 mph through villages like ours. NYC has listened but continues to prevaricate.

We continue to report to NYC pot holes, broken signs, blocked drains overgrown verges etc. with some success.

We have reviewed our policy towards litter picking following our recent dangerous experiences experienced by our volunteers but would urge residents to safely clear any litter from their local area. Equipment is available from the Parish Clerk.

Through our relationship with Cllr Nathan Hull we continue to fight our cause for 106 monies from the proposed housing developments in our Parish for road safety improvements in the Village.

Following the receipt of a grant from Cllr Nathan Hull we have purchased a bench to be installed at the entrance to the Harlow Hill Grange estate. We are currently waiting for the site management team to contact us to arrange fixing the bench.

Together with a grant from Cllr Nathan Hull and P.C. monies we have ordered a new notice board to replace the existing board outside the Village Hall. The notice board will be for the use of the P.C., the Village Hall and other community groups.

With a Government grant and P.C. monies we have purchase and installed a Defibrillator at the Squinting Cat.

Thanks to the effort of Cllr Marcus David, supported by Cllr Andrew Ellis we are in the process of updating our website to make it more reflective of our current issues and hopefully interactive.

Looking Ahead:-

We will continue to comment on Planning Applications which affect our area and report road defects etc..

We are in the process of finalising a list of improvements to NYC requesting the following:-

Reinstatement of the ‘Rural’ footpath connecting the Village to the Cricket Club.
Improvements/realignment of the pedestrian crossing adjacent to the roundabout.
A pedestrian crossing in the village between the Smiths Arms and the Church.
A crossing to provide safe access from the Otley Road footpath to Horticap for pedestrians and wheelchair users.
Remove the self-seeded saplings overgrowing the main footpath adjacent to the roundabout.

A reminder that all Parishioners are welcome to join the activities of the P.C. and to attend our monthly meetings.

Thank you for your attendance.

Comments/Questions from the floor:

A comment was made about litter picking. Due to the dangerous situations encountered at

the last litter pick (mainly speeding traffic putting volunteers lives at risk) it was suggested

that a review be made, maybe more and younger volunteers.

The Open Meeting closed at 8.00pm