Brafferton & Helperby Parish Council
Chairman’s report for the year ending 31st March 2022
This is the Chairman’s report for the period 1st April 2021 to 31st March 2022.
Last year’s Annual Parishioner’s meeting was the first public meeting we had been allowed to hold. We held a socially distanced meeting in the large hall.
Although we had numerous remaining restrictions over the last year including fears for Christmas restrictions and concerns rising about Omicron, it is a great relief that we can now go out and about and meet our family and friends without restriction. Sadly, the Ukrainian flag flying on Main Street demonstrating our community’s support for the Ukrainian people shows that although the threat from Covid has receded the rising threat of conflict with Russia and the consequences of the war in Ukraine could be with us for some time.
I would encourage everyone in our community to continue to work together and to look out for neighbours through the potentially difficult months to come.
Elections
Although technically outside of the period of the report, I feel I should mention the recent elections. Following the local council elections of 5th May, you have a new Council, although all of the sitting Councillors on your Parish Council were returned unopposed.
The elections on 5th May were notable for two reasons. Firstly, it marked the election of 90 Councillors to the North Yorkshire Council – the new unitary authority which will incorporate North Yorkshire County Council, and all the District and Borough Councils including Hambleton DC. This will change the way that local government works in North Yorkshire. The new North Yorkshire Council will take up its role from 1 April next year. Our new councillor is Alyson Baker and our Ward is the Hillside and Raskelf Ward. Our Parish boundaries remain the same, and although there are opportunities for additional powers to be devolved to Parish level, we do not at this time envisage any changes to the powers that your Parish Council will hold.
Secondly, the elections marked the retirement of former councillor Peter Sowray. Peter has been a North Yorkshire County Councillor for 33 years and he was also a Hambleton District Councillor for 20 years. This is a remarkable period of public service. Peter has provided outstanding service to our community and North Yorkshire and he has supported a wide range of projects on behalf of the village – the most recent being the vehicle activated signs of which I will say more shortly. I’d like to thank him again publicly for his many years of service to this Parish. He is an example to us all. The Parish Council marked his retirement at our April PC meeting, and we presented him with an engraved tankard which we filled for him in the Golden Lion after the meeting.
Council Composition
During the year Councillor Jean Featherstone and her husband John who sat on the Land and Maintenance Committee left the village to be nearer to family in Sheffield. Both John and Jean contributed greatly to the village, and I’d like to thank them both for their service.
We also welcomed a new councillor, Ben Carter to the Council to fill the vacancy left by Jean. Thank you for putting yourself forward Ben.
Trees
The Council received very positive feedback about the tree planting undertaken on Main Street last year. Sadly, the tree near the Methodist Chapel died, but has now been replaced. We also installed a tree guard around the more mature tree near the parish notice boards to protect it, as it had been struck by at least one vehicle previously. We will be contributing to the Queens Green Canopy project by planting three rowan trees on Swale Green in line with the existing rowan trees. We also plan to plant 2 x trees along the public footpath in the Spilman’s field which it has been suggested is named Jubilee Way. These trees will be planted in November and the type of tree will be determined.
The Council has continued with its programme of tree inspections and will undertake additional tree inspections as required on the Raskelf Road allotments.
The Platinum Jubilee
Planning for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee has been underway for some months and has been coordinated on behalf of the Parish Council by Councillor Matt Boyle. Every house in the Parish will shortly be receiving a flyer outlining the events for the weekend. We hope that the village will go all out to join in and enjoy this historic national event, in particular at the family fun day on the Friday, the village lunch on Saturday and the family church service on the Sunday.
In keeping with tradition, we will be presenting each child at St Peter’s Primary School and any child living in the village, for example pre-school children and secondary school children with a commemorative jubilee mug. Funding for the mugs has come from the Parish Council and also a generous donation from Councillor Dierdre Brown in memory of her late father Eddie Brown who made similar donations for past Jubilee celebrations. Thank you, Dierdre, for this generous contribution.
I’d also like to thank the Community Association for their offer of funding a picnic bench to be positioned on Swale Green to commemorate the Platinum Jubilee. I’m sure it will be appreciated by the community over the coming years. Thank you.
Planning Issues and the development of a Neighbourhood Plan
The scale and number of planning applications has raised concerns across the Parish over the last year. The applications have been:
- An application for 28 houses on the Boroughbridge road – outline planning permission was granted on appeal by the Secretary of State and the Council has just made comment about the current proposed layout and design of this development
- An application for 33 dwellings between Balk Avenue and Craven Court was objected to by the Parish Council and has now been withdrawn. We were considering this application at this time last year.
- An application for 5 x dwellings on Raskelf Road adjoining Manor Drive has been given outline planning permission and the Council has also commented on this in the last week.
- An application for 5 x executive dwellings on Boroughbridge road opposite the Old Vicarage was applied for but withdrawn.
The Council is in the process of writing a Neighbourhood Plan which is intended to give the Community more of a say in what development can be undertaken and where. It will take into account the needs of the community and will align with the District Plan, which has just been issued. The purpose of the Neighbourhood Plan is not to block development, but we will seek to control any development which is out of proportion to the village or will overload its infrastructure and services. This will take us some time to develop, but a start has been made under the chairmanship of Councillor Peter Mitchell. We will provide updates as to progress through the Parish Council and public notices.
Traffic
The speed and volume of traffic through the village is a consistent concern within the village. As soon as the raising of lockdown restrictions allowed a return of ‘normal’ traffic volumes, the Council arranged for traffic volume and speed measurement devices to be installed on the Raskelf road, at the top of York road near the Hall and in the middle of the village near the parish notice boards. The purpose was to give the Council some objective data on which to base its plans for traffic management. The outcome showed that there is a significant speeding problem both in and out of the village on the Raskelf Road. There is not a significant speeding issue in the centre of Main Street, with average speeds below 30 mph and at the end of Main Street on the York Road speeds were at around 30mph. All data gathered is on the Council’s website for review.
The Council decided to create the ability to place a vehicle activated sign on each of the entrances to the village and to purchase a electronic sign. This whole project cost over £5K and we were helped with a locality grant from North Yorkshire County Council by former Councillor Peter Sowray.
As you will have seen the sign is now in place and was first positioned on Raskelf Road. Local residents have informed us that is has reduced traffic speeds. The sign is currently on the Boroughbridge Road and it will next go onto the York Road. We will be gathering traffic data from it when we have the systems available to download it and we will monitor both speeds and volumes.
The rise in traffic volume following any development is one of the principal reasons why your Parish Council has not supported the developments I mentioned earlier. We will continue to look at measures that can be taken to reduce the speed of traffic through the village including chicanes and the potential for a 20 mph limit in the area of Main Street.
A resident has raised some concerns about the chicane on the Boroughbridge road which we will look at to see if improvements can be made.
The Cobbles
Minor repairs to the cobbles have been undertaken in the area of the parish notice boards by Steve Laux and John Featherstone, and I’d like to thank both of them for their work in doing this. We have been awarded a grant from the making a difference fund to undertake more widespread repairs in the area of the war memorial and frontage of Kirkholme and we are in the process of identifying a contractor to undertake repair and renovation work. We will keep the community updated with this through the Parish Council.
Allotments
Back in 2015, Helperby Parish Council started the process of registering the allotments down the Raskelf Road with the Land Registry. I’m pleased to report that after many delays that a representative of the Land Registry has surveyed the allotments and we are now in the final stages of registration.
Unfortunately, I’m not yet able to report progress on other pieces of property where ownership is unclear but we will continue to work at this.
The Council has agreed a new allotments policy which is aligned with the National Allotment Society guidelines which improves the ability for the Council to manage how allotments are used and cultivated and to ensure that wherever possible allotments are leased by people who want to cultivate them. I encourage people to contact the Parish Clerk if they wish to have an allotment. There is currently not a waiting list.
Ukrainian Flagpole
The flagpole including flag on Main Street was erected by individuals from the community with the permission of the Parish Council to show the community’s support for the people of Ukraine in their fight against Russia’s invasion of their country. This is a temporary arrangement, but the idea of a purpose-built flagpole seems to be popular in the village and it is something that the Council will consider making a more permanent feature in the coming months if this idea enjoys public support.
Clerk and Councillors
In my report I’ve mentioned the main activities that the Council has undertaken over the year. Much of the work of the Council is routine and often unsung. But it is important that it is done correctly, and the views of the community are taken into account. I’d like to thank all of my fellow councillors for their contributions over the year and their support of the Council’s work. The active involvement of your councillors in your community is important and I would encourage people to put themselves forward should a vacancy arise in the future.
I’d also like to thank our Clerk, Roger Clements, for all the work that he does. Roger, I know that you go above and beyond in your role, and I’d like to thank you for all that you have done over the last year.
Christmas Tree
I’d like to finish my report by talking about the Christmas tree which was erected for the second year in the hole where the flagpole currently sits. There were a number of volunteers involved in the Christmas tree project. I’d like to thank David Moorey and his sons for assisting with its collection and installation, John Fox from Pete Nelson’s motors for providing the battery for the lights, Martine Laux for assisting with the selection and decoration, John King for helping with the tree dismantling, but most of all Steve Laux for coordinating all aspects of the Christmas tree and maintaining the lighting throughout the Christmas period. Thank you to everyone involved.
I think the tree is welcomed by everyone and becomes a focus for the community at Christmas. I think it makes people happy and it is another demonstration of the strength of our community volunteering and working together for the benefit of everyone. We will have another Christmas tree next year and I think this is a good way for me to finish my report.
Nigel Denison
