HAVERAH PARK WITH BECKWITHSHAW PARISH COUNCIL

 

MINUTES OF THE ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING HELD ON Tuesday 8 May 2018

 

 

Location:     The Village Hall, Beckwithshaw

 

Present:       Councillors – Cllr M Nicholson, Cllr D Spence, Cllr A Ellis and Cllr Miss V Oldham.

Parish Clerk – Mrs J H Galloway

 

Commencing at 7.45pm the Annual General Meeting was held with 4 members of the public present. (Mr A Ross, Ms J Parish, Mr J Gordon and Mr T Muirhead))

 

1.       Apologies:             Cllr S Lumley.

 

2.       Election of Chairman :    

 

Cllr M Nicholson was proposed by Cllr Spence and seconded by Cllr Ellis. 

All in favour.

 

 

3.       Election of Vice Chairman :

 

                    Cllr D Spence was proposed by Cllr Nicholson and seconded by Cllr Ellis.

                    All in favour. 

 

4.       Chairman’s Report :

 

              

Thank you for attending our AGM and a very warm welcome to you all.

 

Firstly I would like to thank my fellow Parish Councillors for their continuing support and a special vote of thanks must go to our Parish Clerk Mrs Jean Galloway.

 

This last year has been busy for the Parish Council with the formation of the Local District Plan.  The progress has been watched over for us by Councillor Michael Clark who has been excellent at putting forward the Parish Councils’ point of view.  A big thank you to Michael.

 

With the help of funding from Knabbs Ridge, we have now got a defibrillator installed at The Smiths Arms with kind permission of the brewery and Nick Lloyd, and Andy Ross has very kindly volunteered to be the ‘guardian’.  Thank you to all involved.

 

Speeding and traffic in the village has been a huge concern to the Parish Council for many years and to this end we are very grateful to Jo Parish and her speedwatch team who have stood on the roadside to collect data on the speed of traffic to help persuade North Yorkshire police and Highways that we have a traffic problem.  In meetings we have had with these authorities they are very reluctant to admit that we have a problem.

 

We have instigated the possibility of installing flashing speed signs in the village, extending the 30mph limit area and reducing the speed limit past the school.  Sadly, we have met strong resistance from the police and North Yorkshire Highways.  With the help of our traffic working party we are revising our strategy.  We have not given up!

 

Planning issues are a major part of our duties and when applications come before us we must balance the needs of progress with the needs of the local environment whilst keeping within the parameters of planning law.  There is truth in the statement “you can’t please everyone”.

 

Broadband has never been very good in Beckwithshaw although there has been some improvement in some areas.  Councillor Tom Muirhead has taken on the case for the Shaw Lane area and this, with the involvement of North Rigton Parish Council and other local residents, is ongoing.

 

We have carried out litter picks both spring and autumn and a huge thank you to all residents and Councillors who have helped in this task.  It is very sad that the litter picks are necessary but without them our surrounding road sides would become very unsightly and more littering would be encouraged.  We have arranged for our spring litter pick to take place this coming Saturday, 14th April, starting at 10.00am in the village hall car park.  Please come and help us.

 

We carry out an annual inspection of Parish Council Property and have a contractor in place for the maintenance of the area of grass opposite Shaw Lane.  The work in the copse is carried out by volunteers.  Again, a big thank you to all who have helped.

 

Finally, I would like to thank everyone who has contributed to the workings of the Parish Council this last year.

 

Mark Nicholson

 

 

The Annual General Meeting closed at 7.55pm.